Tombstone Epitaph

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The Tombstone Epitaph is a community newspaper in Tombstone, Arizona that has been published for more than a century. It is noted for its coverage of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in 1881.

[edit] Beginnings

The Epitaph published its first edition on May 1, 1880. The newspaper was founded by John Philip Clum, a former Indian agent and Tombstone's first mayor.

Clum was living in Tucson, Arizona and publishing a newspaper, the Tucson Citizen, when word began to spread about the discovery of silver in Tombstone in the late 1870s. Clum decided that Tombstone was a favorable location for a new journalism venture.

Clum had a new hand printing press shipped from San Francisco to Tucson. The press was transported from Tucson to Tombstone by oxcart.

Clum named his new publication the Epitaph as a rebuff to associates who predicted the newspaper's early demise. The Epitaph proved successful, though Clum's term as publisher and editor ended when his two partners outvoted him on a buyout offer for the newspaper from parties at odds with Clum's crusade to clean-up Tombstone.

[edit] Later History

In 1975 publication of the Epitaph became a project of journalism students at the University of Arizona. Today the Epitaph is published twice a month during the fall and spring academic semesters.

The Epitaph also has the distinction of being one of the last newspapers in the United States to sell for only 10 cents an issue. When the Epitaph raised its price to 25 cents in 1982, the Blowing Rocket in Blowing Rock, North Carolina was the only remaining National Press Association-affiliated newspaper charging 10 cents per copy.