Boothill Graveyard: Tombstone, AZ

Visiting Tombstone’s Boothill Graveyard is no longer Free. Currently, April 2017 it is $3. It cost money to maintain the graveyard. 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 to New Mexico before they arrived in Tombstone in late 1879.

Billy Clanton was only 19 when he and several of his “Cowboy” friends were confronted by Marshall Virgil Earp and his 3 deputies because they were armed in violation of Tombstone City Ordinance. Blowhard Ike Clanton & would-be gunslinger Billy Clayborne wisely chose to run. Billy Clanton, along with Frank & Tom McLaury, chose to fight … perhaps a slight error in judgment.

Frank & Tom McLaury were “leaders” of a loosely organized gang of horse thieves, cattle rustlers, and stagecoach robbers called “The Cowboys”. Confronted by Marshall Virgil Earp & his 3 deputies on that cold October afternoon, Frank was not about to surrender his weapon. Had he done so peaceably, it is highly unlikely the most famous gunfight of the American Old West would have occurred – at least then and there. Some say Tom McLaury was unarmed. More credible eyewitnesses say otherwise.

Deputy Wyatt Earp, believing Frank was the more dangerous of the three, shot him first at very close range. Frank, ever the personification of rugged determination, would be hit several more times in the next 30 seconds before Deputy Morgan Earp, also wounded & on the ground, put him out of his misery with a head shot from about 10 yards.

Following the gunfight, Tombstone was divided. Many supported The Cowboys while others supported the Earps. The funeral that followed was the largest in Tombstone’s history. More than 300 people followed the hearse to Boothill and 2,000 watched from the city’s sidewalks.

There are many interesting characters from Tombstone’s past buried in Boothill, including China Mary, the undisputed ruler of Hop Town; and Dutch Annie, one of Tombstone’s most notorious madams. If you visit Tombstone, Boothill is a must. Here is more information on Boothill Graveyard and How They Lived and Died.

If you’re stuck with a fixed view for eternity, this one isn’t all that bad.