User:Btphelps/sandbox/John Clum

John P. Clum is perhaps best known as Tombstone's Mayor during that town's most violent period. But that was just one small slice of a long and fascinating life! Blazing a trail across the American frontier, John Clum engaged in a multitude of exciting careers.

As a "Storm Sergeant" he telegraphed the first weather report from a post-Civil War Santa Fe, New Mexico.

As an Indian Agent and one of the earliest advocates for Indian rights, he founded the first successful Indian self-ruling government complete with an Indian Police force, a concept later adopted by the US government for all reservations. He would use his Indian Police to help capture the renegade Apache, Geronimo - the only time Geronimo was ever taken at gun-point!

He founded, what is today, the second oldest continuously operated newspaper in Arizona, the Tombstone Epitaph, an enduring icon of the old west.

He became an enemy of Tombstone's cow-boys including Curly Bill Brocious, Johnny Ringo and Ike Clanton when, as Tombstone's Mayor, he supported the Earp/Holliday "faction", surviving an assassination attempt.

The Apaches called him Nantan. Tombstoners called him Mayor. Wyatt Earp called him a friend. Supporters called him heroic, brave and daring. His detractors called him bombastic, impudent and brash.

From http://www.trafford.com/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?Book=186913

Nantan - The Life and Times of John P. Clum

Clum was a life-long friend of Wyatt Earp and was one of Earp's pallbearer at his funeral. http://cp1237.com/frankandtom/towners.htm#clum

Newspapers were hardly beacons of objectivity. News was served up with equal helpings of politics and passion. When The Tombstone Epitaph was founded in 1880, John Philip Clum did not discuss the need to report the goings  on in Tombstone without fear or favor, or about being “fair and balanced.” What  mattered to Clum were Puritan ethics and the blessings of capitalism. Echoing John Winthrop’s words upon the founding of Massachusetts, Clum called the  bustling silver camp “a city upon the hill.” The comment surely captured Clum’s  belief that religion was necessary in the process of settling down. Clum said the new paper would be “a representative mining journal,” a vehicle for  enhancing Tombstone’s founding industry.

Clum had little need to mask his bias in the biggest story of his newspaper career – coverage of the October  1881 gunfight at the O. K. Corral. The gunfight broke the town’s “quietness and good order,” Clum wrote, a solitude that law enforcement had brought over the  previously “fractious” and “dreaded cowboys.” With three cowboys dead and the  Earp brothers walking tall, Clum immediately concluded, “EARP BROTHERS  JUSTIFIED.” With references to “the best class of citizens” and “all good  citizens” and “the better portion of our citizens,” Clum’s view of the matter  was settled. That he repeatedly used the word “citizen” conveyed special meaning. To Clum, cowboys were not citizens; citizens had settled down and respected law and order. The cowboys’ decision to come into town while armed was sufficient evidence they were not  behaving as citizens in a well-ordered city on a hill. If there was an alternate explanation of the day’s events, a different side to the story, it  was not going to be part of The Epitaph’s immediatecoverage.

Why? As a representative mining journal, the paper’s job was to align itself with the forces that were intent  on consolidating mining capital in a land that was posed for economic growth.In the leapfrog nature of western  development, California’s  Sierra foothills represented capital’s first big mark on the West. That was followed by the smaller impression made by Nevada’s Comstock. Did Ed Schieffelin’s silver discovery mean that Arizona was next in line? Moreover, parked in the mind of every person associated with western mining was the idea  that livestock and pastoral activities were becoming quaint. Clum was a Republican. And Republicans of the early 1880s believed in several things – an industrial plant and transportation system fashioned of iron and steel, a money  supply backed by precious metal, and a laissez fair market economy. This was at some remove from the older, Jeffersonian view of a nation of free-holding  agriculturalists who tended crops and animals, bartered face to face in local  market towns and whose nature was more communitarian than commercial. To Clum and the western modernizers, that was just so old school.

By the time he reached Tombstone in 1880, Clum knew much about new school. Born in New   York in 1851, Clum came to Santa Fe, N. M., in 1871 and initially worked  in the new information industry by sending weather observations to Washington,  D.C., by telegraph. As a new face in the countryside, Clum was schooled in one of the biggest problems in the West, the continuing unrest between native  people and the newcomers. Drawing on his government service and his Dutch Reformed Church faith, Clum decided he might succeed in finding a way to  achieve peace between the newcomers and Apaches in the Southwest. Direct orders backed up with physical force, the way of the U. S. Army, had not brought peace  to Arizona’s San Carlos Indian Reservation or lands beyond. While Clum was sympathetic to Apache concerns, his was a paternal sympathy. Clum did not believe in Indian rights to self-determination, as the term is used today. He envisioned Indians settling down. The approach was to relocate Indians to reservations where they would have limited self-government under the watchful  eye of the Office of Indian Affairs. But the comforting idea of a settled reservation was thwarted by off-reservation Apaches, including Geronimo, who  were not ready to give up traditional lifeways just because it fit the agenda  of settlers and the federal government.

Clum had been the only government agent – civilian or military – to capture Geronimo, and had recommended  unsuccessfully that Geronimo be executed for numerous killings. Clum, however, was on his way out of the Indian business. In 1875, the Army decided it would take a tougher line at San Carlos. What would happen to the Indian police force that Clum had appointed? Stung by the criticism heaped on his idea of using Apaches to police Apaches, Clum began his move toward the exit, and finally left in 1877. After San Carlos, Clum moved in two directions. He studied law and quickly was admitted to the bar in Pinal County, Ariz. With other businessmen, he purchased a  seven-year-old newspaper, the Tucson  Citizen, renamed it the Arizona  Citizen, and moved it to Florence. It was not Arizona’s first paper – that honor goes to the Weekly Arizonian,  which was launched in Tubac, then in New Mexico Territory, in March 1859.

Clum’s first venture into newspaper publishing was not particularly notable, save his use of the Citizen’s pages to justify his paternal approach in dealing with the Apaches – as  opposed to the Army’s tougher strategy. Florence did not prove to be the newspaper town that Clum envisioned. Within two years, he moved the publication back to Tucson, took back its old name and switched to daily circulation.By 1879, two years after Schieffelin’s  silver discovery southeast of Tucson, Clum’s attention was drawn to the  razzle-dazzle of Tombstone. Clum sold his interest in the Citizen in January 1880, moved to Tombstone, and launched the iconic Epitaph with an afternoon  issue on Saturday, May 1, 1880. Now more than 130 years old, The Epitaph is the oldest continuously published newspaper in Arizona.

Not that the start-up was very easy. Clum had to purchase printing equipment, land and building material, and support his wife and son. Two partners, both printers, joined him in the new enterprise. In a wonderful turn of a phrase, Clum declared, “no Tombstone is complete without its epitaph.” While true epitaphs are just so much gloss about  a decedent’s life, Clum’s first Epitaph read as prophecy. Clum saw Tombstone as a wealth-producing engine of change. “Millions In It!” he exclaimed in the first issue. The town’s underground riches would attract investment capital that would set the stage for continued  growth and development. The city would mature to that “city upon the hill” and become a beacon as bright as “ancient Rome.”

The problem with most beacons is that they sometimes flicker or go dark. Tombstone’s early years were marked by mudslinging, gunslinging, murky land dealings, and the ill effects of water and  fire in the wrong places at the wrong times. In two years, Clum went from Tombstone mayor to a position in the U. S. Post Office’s inspection department in Washington, D.C.  What had gone wrong? Boomtowns moved at a boomtown’s pace – those on the ground floor were anxious to preserve their position at all costs – and Clum wanted to  apply the brakes. When Clum arrived, a townsite was in the making under federal land laws. Townsite lots were to be sold by the village of Tombstone to legitimate occupants, with proceeds used to underwrite public services. Clum’s contention was that the mayor, Alder Randall, illegally transferred more than  2,000 town lots to some close chums, James Clark and Michael Gray. In rapidly developing conditions, squatters had taken to some lots, while others had been  sold by people who claimed to the rightful owners. Based on the deed from Mayor Randall, “Clark, Gray and Company” asserted it was the only lawful land broker. Clum and others saw the situation much differently. “Tombstone has been handed over to the speculators,” Clum asserted. “Our citizens are being ousted from their homes.”

Now doubling as postmaster and an editor-publisher, Clum ventured farther into the political arena. Having gone to court to end the town lot sales by Clark and Gray, Clum decided to run for  elective office. As a mayoral candidate under the newly former Citizens Protective Party, Clum sought a settled town in which he would “defeat corruption”  while bringing “peace and prosperity to our city.” He was elected mayor on Jan. 4, 1881.

Now wearing three hats, Clum faced the challenge of what he labeled “the county ring.” When Cochise County  was made a freestanding political jurisdiction, several Democrats won covered  appointed offices doled out by the territory’s Republican governor, John C.  Frémont. In essence, Clum broke ranks with the territory’s best-known Republican figure. In addition, Clum drew a close association between the “ring” and local ranchers who were allied with outlaw elements. Thus, Tombstone cleaved into two factions. In one, Clum, The Epitaph, local Republicans, mining capital and the Earp brothers; in the other, the rival Nugget, local Democrats, the ranch trade and several so-called  cowboys, including the Clantons and McLaurys.

If the former group won the battle on a cold afternoon in October 1881, Clum’s vision of a settled and  prosperous Tombstone remained elusive. Eight months before the infamous gunfight at the O. K. Corral, The Epitaph reported, “water has been struck in one of the leading mines of the district.”  This was not a cause for concern, the experts said, because good water meant  good silver could not be far behind. Five years later, Tombstone’s silver mines were silenced by water in volumes too great to pump away. And four months before the shootout, Tombstone’s  core – “largely made up of combustible material” – was destroyed by fire. Fire safety ordinances, which Clum had supported editorially, hadn’t been adopted. It took a second fire, 11 months later, to bring fire protection.

By mid-1882, Clum had enough. Whatever role The Epitaph had played in helping Tombstone to settle and settle down, it was not enough to hold Clum’s interest. He had lost a wife, a daughter, and, in an undignified move by superiors, his job as  postmaster. With his term as mayor also over, Clum was left with The Epitaph, which he sold – ironically, to interests in the “ring” he had fought since arriving in Tombstone in 1880. http://www.tombstoneepitaph.com/epitaphhistory1.html

Born on 1 September 1851 near Claverack in the Hudson Valley of New York, John Philip Clum attended Rutgers University, but dropped out of college for health reasons and came West. Arriving in Santa Fe in 1871, he soon became a government astronomical observer with the Signal Corps. From 1874 until 1877, Clum served as Apache agent on the San Carlos Indian Reservation in Arizona Territory.

He adeptly handled the Apache outbreaks from the reservation by asking the military to withdraw to a distance of five miles from the reservation. To limit confrontations between the Apaches and the nearby settlers, Clum helped the Indians to implement agricultural pursuits which would make them self-supporting. He also encouraged them to set up their own law enforcement and judicial systems. As a result of these practices, Clum succeeded in converting many of the Apaches to a more sedentary existence. It was his Apache police force which tracked and captured Geronimo in 1877. Clum soon became a victim of the political situation in Washington. The Indian Commissioner had given the Army permission to once again come onto the San Carlos Reservation. Discouraged by the government's indifferent and unfair treatment of his Indian charges, Clum protested to Washington, and resigned from the Service when hisobjections were ignored.

In 1877, Clum became editor of the Tucson Citizen. In 1886, after three years 	 as editor of the Citizen, Clum founded and became the first editor of the 	 Tombstone Epitaph, having been attracted to 	 that town by news of the rich silver strike there. Besides publishing the 	 Tombstone Epitaph, Clum was elected Mayor of 	 Tombstone and was appointed Postmaster from 1884-1886.

Clum went to work for the U.S. Postal Service in Washington, D.C. in the 		late 1880s, but in the early 1890s, he was out west again, serving as Postal 		Inspector in the western judicial district of Texas. On 5 March 1898, Clum was 		appointed Post Office Inspector for the Territory of Alaska and charged with 		the organization and extension of the postal service there. He retired from 		this post in 1908.

After his retirement, John P. Clum traveled a great deal. A fine 		speaker, he was employed by the Southern Pacific Railroad as a lecturer. Also, 		Clum began to write his memoirs, which, after his death, his son Woodworth 		completed. The resulting book, 	 Apache Agent, was later made into the motion 	 picture, 	 Walk the Proud Land, starring Audie Murphy.

John P. Clum died of a heart attack 3 May 1932 at the age of 81.

http://www.azarchivesonline.org/xtf/view?docId=ead/uoa/UAMS284.xml;query=;brand=default

The third paper, the Epitaph, which was started as a weekly in May, 1880, by John Clum, Charles D. Reppy and Thomas R. Sorrin, in a tent, on a  lot where the two story Epitaph building was subsequently erected. That was at 326 Fremont St., opposite the Nugget, which was housed in a building about where  the City Hall has stood the past 55 years.

Mr. Clum, prosperous from his lately terminated job of  Indian agent at the San Carlos Apache Reservation expanded the Epitaph to a  daily about two months after it was founded and employed a competent editor  named O. F. Thornton, while he devoted most of his own time to the post  office.

Clum had previously bought the Citizen, at Tucson, moved it to Florence for a short time, then back to Tucson where he sold it and joined  the stampede to Tombstone. There he looked around and saw that the place needed a Republican paper and a post office---it was still getting its mail through the  Tucson post office, 75 miles away, although the new locality had been growing  for nearly two years. So he went East, arranged for the postmastership and bought print shop equipment and returned to Tombstone as postmaster and  publisher.

He is reputed even to have gone down into his well-filled purse and paid out one thousand Indian dollars to furnish the post office for  which generous, though unauthorized expenditures. Uncle Sam did not reimburse him.

Partisan politics were violent on that faraway frontier. It was logical that Mr. Clum should ally himself with the Republican faction of the  town, which was then being dominated by the Earps. But when the Earps had finally been besmirched with suspicion of stage robbery and even murder, Clum  with the sagacity of Nebuchadnezzar, road the handwriting on the wall and  decided to get out. He sold the Epitaph to a group which included Harry M. Woods, and the tough old town was at the mercy of two democratic newspapers,  until a journalist named W.D. Crowe came along and started the Tombstone  Republican.

As there was an insufficient field for two Democratic newspapers, the Nugget began began to assay less and less pay dirt and finally  quit all together. In the summer of 1882, with Pat Hamilton as editor, the  ephemeral Tombstone Independent was started. In the same year, a lawyer named Sam Purdy came up from Yuma to edit the Epitaph. He was succeeded by Dick Rule, formerly of the Nugget, and followed successfully by John O. Dunbar, Charles D.  Reppy, George Peck, Stanley Bagg, William (Tarantula Bill) Hattich, and various  others of a grand host of other scribes, who ably edited Tombstone's newspapers. Of the group, only the good old Epitaph survives, in the competent hands of Walter H. Cole."

http://www.oldwesthistory.net/old_writings_on_our_tombstone.html

John Philip Clum was born to William Henry and Elizabeth Clum on September 1, 1851, in New York. When old enough John entered the Hudson River Institute and in 1870 gained entrance to Rutgers College. It was here that he played in the first intercollegiate football game between Rutgers and Princeton. Extremely short of funds, he was forced to drop out of college to seek employment after the first year. Shortly after his twentieth birthday, he was employed by the weather department, and in October, 1871, he headed west to Santa Fe.

In November, 1873, Clum received an official letter from the Indian Bureau in Washington. It seemed that the Apaches at the San Carlos Reservation had been turned over to the Dutch Reformed Church. John Clum was a member of that church and his classmates at Rutgers, knowing that he was in New Mexico, had volunteered him for the job of Indian agent.

Inquiry revealed that the last three agents had not been very successful. Johnny Logan had been stabbed to death by a renegade; Almy had been murdered in a like manner; and the last agent had been shot at so often he resigned his job and went back East.

The position appealed to John Clum, and, though but 22 years of age, he accepted the responsibility of several hundred savage Apaches. The President issued his commission on February 27, 1874. As Clum began to assimilate information concerning the government and the Apaches, he was astounded to discover that the Indian had kept his word more often than the white man.

Logically, he reasoned that the Apache had roamed the wilds of Arizona and New Mexico for over a thousand years. When Gadsden bought it for the government, he purchased it from people who did not really own it. Spain, Mexico, the United States, or any country had no authority to buy or sell land over which the Apache had had undisputed possession for more than ten centuries.

Clum had long known of the Apache from the white man's p0int of view; now he began to see it from the Apache's. From the very first he felt certain that most of the Apache troubles were caused by injustice. He was determined that the red man would be treated fairly while he was the Indian agent.

His first actions were to disarm all the Apaches on the reservation, order the soldiers off reservation land, and to choose a police force from the Apaches to preserve order. Grizzled cavalrymen, veterans of many Apache campaigns, shook their heads in utter disbelief and prophesied doom. "He'll be scalped by his own police within a month."

They were all wrong; what Clum did was earn the trust and respect of every Apache on the reservation by giving them control of their own affairs. Not only did his Indian scouts police the reservation, but they were also instrumental in rounding up the renegades.

Clum, bald since the age of 20, was made a full brother of the Apache nation and given the Apache name of Nantan-betunnykahyeh, which means "Boss with-the-high-forehead." On one occasion Clum had a brief moment of trouble with Disalim, Chief of the Tontos. He had earlier upbraided this particular Apache for continually mistreating and abusing one of his wives. Disalin came into the agency plainly with the intention of shooting Clum. Thwarted by the timely arrival of the janitor and Dr. Chapin, Disalin fled toward the guardhouse to shoot the Chief of police.

Two shots rang out and Disalin fell dead. He had been shot twice by Tauelcleyee - his brother. Following his action he spoke these words to Clum: "Enju, I have killed my own brother - and my chief. He was trying to kill the white man and I am a policeman. I did my duty."

In 1876, John Clum made plans to journey back East to be married. As the fierce Apache had never been seen there he thought it would be a great idea to take a bodyguard of Apaches with him. When he announced his plans, 4500 Apaches clamored to go along.

Clum finally departed for the East with 22 Apaches; Marijildo, the interpreter; Dr. S. B. Chapin; and two teamsters on July 29, 1876. The group participated in a show called "Wild Apache" at intervals along the route to pay expenses. While in Washington the Apaches toured the national capitol and met several times with the Commissioner of Indian Affairs.

A tragedy occurred during the Apache's stay in the white man's capitol - Tahzay, son of Cochise, developed pneumonia and, though given all available medical attention, died within a few days. Tahzay was buried in the Congressional Cemetery.

After leaving Washington Clum and his Apaches visited the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. At that point Marijildo took the Apaches back to San Carlos and Clum journeyed an to Delaware, Ohio where he married Mary Dennison Ware on November 8, 1876.

By 1877 every Apache in Arizona was on the San Carlos Reservation-five major tribes. Law and order was maintained by Apache policemen and justice dispersed by Apache judges. Renegade bands of Apaches, led by Geronimo, would come out of old Mexico, raid, burn, and murder in Arizona, then disappear into the mountains of Sonora.

Eleven troops of United States Cavalry could not capture the elusive war chief, but Commissioner Smith asked that Clum and his Apache police do the impossible and bring in Geronimo. Clum took forty Apache police and marched, on foot, 400 miles to Silver City. After a month on the trail they located Geronimo at Ojo Caliente. A messenger was sent into the renegade camp to ask for a talk. Backed by 22 Apache police, Clum, faced the most feared Apaches known - Geronimo, Francisco, Ponce, and Gordo, and their warriors.

The young agent called Geronimo a thief, murderer, liar, and a treaty breaker, then told him that he was there to take all of them back to San Carlos. Geronimo replied that he did not like Clum's words and that he had no intentions of going back to San Carlos and that neither would the agent or his Apache police, as Geronimo would leave their bodies for the vultures.

At these words twenty-two, rifles, held by the police, centered on Geronimo. The war chief thought long about using the rifle he held; but he knew he was outbluffed and surrendered. His braves laid down their weapons and stepped back. That was the one and only time that Geronimo was ever captured. He did, at various times, surrender to the United States Army, to obtain government food, blankets, and weapons, but he was never captured except by John P. Clum and his Apache police.

When the Cavalry arrived, Clum had Geronimo and his chiefs in irons and under guard. The army was completely bewildered at this turn of events. To further embarrass the horse soldiers that night Victorio came in with 400 of his people and surrendered to Agent Clum. The success of Clum's handling of the Apaches was attributed to his one philosophy: Be kind to the good ones and tough with the bad ones.

In the three years that Clum had served as Indian agent his salary was still $1,600 per year. In that time four other reservations had been closed and the Indians sent to Clum at San Carlos, increasing the number of Apaches from 800 to 5,000. Seven other Indian agents had been fired as they were not needed. Clum was very unhappy with the situation and a final blow came when the Indian Bureau moved the Army in to periodically inspect Clum’s charges.

The 26 year old Clum sent a brash telegram to Washington saying that if his salary was increased and he was allowed two more companies of Indian police, he would assume control of all the Apaches in Arizona and that all the army troops could be removed. Politicians could not allow this to happen as they were making a great deal of money because of the presence of the army.

Unable to accept the governmental policies Clum resigned in July 1877. When he left the San Carlos Agency all his Apaches turned out to bid him farewell. After his resignation Clum and his wife bought a newspaper, "The Arizona Citizen" and moved to Tucson. Things there were pretty dull for the Clums and in December, 1879, John rode south to take a look at the new silver boomtown, Tombstone.

It was unbelievable, but in spite of all his crimes, Geronimo was able to convince the Army that he was really a good Indian. They foolishly allowed him the freedom of the reservation. This was a tragic mistake as, once freed, Geronimo and his warriors disappeared. They left a trail of fire, death, and terror across Arizona and New Mexico. Hundreds of whites were to die before Geronimo and his warriors finally surrendered in 1886.

Quite taken with the excitement of the boomtown, Clum sold "The Arizona Citizen" to R. C. Brown and moved to Tombstone early in 1880. As he said, "every Tombstone must have an epitaph," so he provided the Tombstone Epitaph. His decision brought about the birth of the newspaper that still exists in the "town too tough to die."

When Clum arrived in the camp that had literally erupted on Goose Flats he found saloons, gambling halls, houses of ill repute, hotels, stores and restaurants, all doing a fantastic business. But nowhere could he find a building in which to start his newspaper.

Still determined to build his Epitaph, John Clum bought a load of rough lumber and a large sheet of canvas. With these materials he had a wooden framework built and covered it with the canvas. In this makeshift building the presses rolled, protected from the elements.

Two printers worked day and night and on May 1st the first edition of the Epitaph was released. Clum’s front page editorial "The First Trumpet” said, "Tombstone is a city upon a hill promising to vie with ancient Rome upon her seven hills in a fame different in character but no less in importance." He fully believed in the town and was extremely outspoken in the ideas that he thought would be beneficial to the community. In short he established an editorial policy that all Epitaph editors have always followed religiously.

Clum followed up that first edition with a series of editorials exposing the sheriff's strange relationship with members of the outlaw gang. From there he wrote of the lawless exploits of the Clantons and McLowrys, who posed as honest cattlemen.

Wyatt Earp, a noted peace officer, and then a shotgun messenger for Wells Fargo, wanted to be the first sheriff of newly formed Cochise County. Clum approved of Earp and endorsed him on the Republican ticket. He chose a loser as Johnny Behan, a Democrat, won the election.

Upon this turn of events, Clum, knowing Behan to be on friendly terms with the outlaws, and fearing for law and order, announced his candidacy for mayor. Though the criminal element did their utmost, Clum, backed by the Law and Order League, won by an overwhelming majority.

Ben Sippy, who had been elected town marshal, was pretty well rattled by the antics of the cowboys. It is evident that he considered the job too: much to handle and the town too tough, so he conveniently disappeared. When it was apparent that Ben Sippy was gone for good, Mayor Clum called a meeting of the city council and made Virgil Earp town marshal.

As could be expected, Clam's Epitaph spouted law and order, while the Democratic Nugget, unhappy at Clum's election as mayor, the increasing power of the Epitaph, and Virgil Earp's appointment to town marshal, sided with the outlaw cowboys.

Clum's fears were soon realized. Holdups and stage robberies were frequently conducted in broad daylight; honest citizens were shot down, and fear kept them off the streets. Everyone seemed to know exactly who the guilty parties were - everyone except the new- sheriff and his deputies.

The Earps and the Clanton-McLowry gang had had several minor clashes since the murder of Marshal White and now the time for violence was near. On October 24, 1881, Curly Bill, Ringo, Ike Clanton, and the McLowry brothers boasted in the Allen Street saloons that they intended to run the Earps out of town.

Then on October 26, 1881, guns roared and thundered in the O.K. Corral leaving Billy Clanton, Frank and Tom McLowry dead, and Virgil and Morgan Earp seriously wounded. Judge Spicer heard all the evidence and opinions and ordered the Earps and Doc Holliday released from all charges.

Retaliation from the cowboy faction was sure to come. Several prominent citizens were marked for death by the outlaws. As to be expected these names were the Earps, Doc Holliday, John Clum, Judge Wells Spicer, E. B. Gage, and others of the Law and Order League.

Their first move was against Judge Spicer in the form of a note threatening him with death if he did not leave Tombstone immediately. A few days later the stage, in which John. Clum was riding, was riddled with bullets by night riders.

Then near midnight on Wednesday, December 28, 1881, bushwackers struck from ambush. Virgil Earp, making his rounds as marshal, left the Oriental and started across Fifth Street when the flame and roar of shotguns blasted at him from the darkness.

Two of the shots struck Virgil, one badly shattering his left arm and the other entering his left side. Dr. Goodfellow removed four inches of shattered bone from Virgil's left arm and twenty buckshot-from his side. Three of the shots went through the windows of the Eagle Brewery Saloon (now the Crystal Palace). Nineteen holes from the shots fired at Virgil were found in the outside wall.

It was not long before the assassins struck again. This time their victim was Morgan Earp. He was playing pool with Bob Hatch at Campbell & Hatch's saloon when a shot fired from the darkness of the alley struck him in the back and snuffed out his life.

A hastily convened coroner's jury ruled his death murder and named his murderers as Frank Stilwell, Indian Charlie, Pete Spence, and Joe Doe Fries. Though there is little bonafide evidence, legend tells that Wyatt accounted for most of his brother's killers. At any rate several of them were found mysteriously dead or simply disappeared.

Clum's wife died while in Tombstone and was laid to rest in Boothill. His small son was living with his parents in Washington, D. C. Perhaps he grew tired of his one man war on crime in Tombstone or it could be that he simply ceased to care. At any rate on May 1, 1882, exactly two years from the day he started the Epitaph, Clum sold his newspaper and moved away.

Though he left Tombstone at the height of its boom, John Clum could no more stay away from the boomtowns than a moth the flame. He spent his life moving from one camp to another - California, Nevada, and the frozen north. He joined the gold rush to the Yukon and was commissioned by the government to establish a territorial postal service there. While he was working at this job he met a number of his old Tombstone acquaintances, among them Wyatt Earp and Nellie Cashman.

Eventually Clum returned to Arizona and settled in Tucson. He even became friends with Johnny Behan, his old political enemy, who also had settled in Tucson. Neither of them would ever admit that he was wrong in the stand taken in Tombstone. John P. Clum lived a long life, beyond 80 years, long enough to bury all his old friends, even Wyatt Earp, up to May 2, 1932.

http://www.jcs-group.com/oldwest/tombstone/clum.html