josephinemarcus

Josephine "Josie" Sarah "Sadie" Marcus born in New York around 1861. One of three children, her family moved to San Francisco when she was young. At the age of eighteen she and her friend Dora Hirsh ran away to join the theatrical company, where they were hired as dancers. As members of Paulina Markam's Traveling Theater Company, they traveled all over the west.

While in Prescott, Arizona Territory she met Johnny Behan, then a Yauapai County Sheriff's Deputy. Josie became homesick and went back to San Fransisco with Johnny Behan hot on her trail. He asked her to marry him, but she refused, leaving Behan to return to Arizona. Shortly after that she changed her mind and returned to Tombstone where she lived with a lawyer, while working as a houskeeper for Behan. Versions of her return differ, some say she lived with Behan while prostituting and that the lawyer was her pimp.

In 1881 Josie would leave Behan and start up a relationship with Wyatt Earp. Behan would suffer public embarassment due to the public thinking they were married. This may have been one of the many factors contributing to the Gunfight at the OK Corral, October 26, 1881.