Old Man Clanton
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article does not cite any references or sources. (September 2007) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
Newman Haynes Clanton (1816-1881) was the father of the four Clanton brothers of Tombstone, Arizona Territory, including Billy Clanton and Ike Clanton.
[edit] The Clantons
The Clantons and their ranch hands and associates were known as "Cow-boys", and also had a reputation at best for reckless behavior. Old Man Clanton was the undisputed leader. By late 1877, Old Man Clanton had built a cattle empire, which was at that time the largest and most profitable in Arizona Territory.
At worst, those in his employ were known to steal livestock (Cattle rustling) from across the U.S.-Mexico border, as well as other acts of banditry. Although history has since portrayed him as a leader of an outlaw gang, this was not the case. For all practical purposes, he ran his cattle ranch with great financial success, and didn't involve himself in other matters. There also is no evidence at all that he ever met any members of the Earp faction.
Despite Hollywood's portrayals in film, the "Cow-boys" themselves, as a group, were loosely connected, and not organized. Often portrayed as being tight-knit and clannish, they in reality were little more than an association of friends and/or coworkers. Men who considered themselves members of the Cow-boys were often participants in robberies and cattle rustling, but this was rarely, if ever, an organized planned out affair, and was most often without the knowledge of "Old Man" Clanton until after the fact. It was though, ironically, most likely due to one of these disorganized criminal acts that led to his demise.
"Old Man" Clanton was killed along with four other men in August, 1881, in what was dubbed the Guadalupe Canyon Massacre, probably by Mexicans in retaliation for an earlier ambush by rustlers associated with the Clantons.
His youngest son, Billy Clanton, would be killed two months later in the O.K. Corral gunfight, and buried in Tombstone's "Boot Hill" Cemetery beside the McLaury brothers. In 1882, two of Clanton's surviving sons removed the elder Clanton's body from its original grave in Guadalupe Canyon, and re-buried it next to Billy Clanton in Boot Hill. By 1887, another son, outlaw Ike Clanton, was killed in a gunfight with lawmen. The Cow-boys for all practical purposes ceased to exist following the now famous Earp Vendetta Ride of late 1881.
