All Things Wyatt Earp

Boothill Graveyard: Tombstone, AZ

Tombstone Boothill

Visiting Tombstone’s Boothill Graveyard is free. After all, it’s a public cemetery. But it takes considerable willpower not to stop at the gift shop on the way out and buy a souvenir. We have several. Newman (Old Man) Clanton was born in 1816 and was killed by Mexican troops in Arizona Territory on August 13, 1881, about 10 weeks before his youngest son, William (Billy) Clanton would die of wounds sustained in a blaze of gunfire on Freemont Street near the OK Corral in Tombstone; October 26, 1881. Another son, Issac (Ike) Clanton, a mean-spirited, loudmouth cowardly drunk was instrumental in fomenting that gunfight between the Earps (Virgil, Wyatt, Morgan and Doc Holliday) and 3 Cowboys (Frank & Tom McLaury & Billy Clanton). The “Old Man” was, by many accounts, a successful rancher and cattle rustler. It is unlikely he ever met the Earps or Holliday because he had moved … Continue reading

Earp Vendetta Ride

Wyatt and Doc

The Gunfight at the OK Corral in Tombstone was only the beginning of the murderous conflict between the Earp Brothers and their friends, and the outlaw gang known as ‘The Cowboys’. ‘The Cowboys’ were about two-dozen hard riding, hard drinking ranchers and rustlers, their hired hands and gunslingers. Most notable among them were the Clanton Brothers, Ike and Billy; the McLaury Brothers, Frank and Tom; Johnny Barnes; “Curly Bill” Brocius; Florintino Cruz, aka “Indian Charlie”; Frank Stilwell; and Johnny Ringo. … Continue reading