I
don't know what 34 year old Joseph Isaac "Ike" Clanton was
thinking on the evening of Tuesday, 25 October, 1881 as he drove his buckboard into Tombstone (above). It remains unclear why Ike made the 4 hour
drive from the Clanton Ranch near Antelope Springs across 12 miles of
blowing sand on this particular windy evening. The wagon he was
driving carried only a saddle and tack, with a single horse on a lead
behind. Seated beside him was Tom McLaury, and the horse in tow seems
evidence Tom had come along as an idependent agent, there to keep an
eye on Ike and maybe cut lose if the mission went awry. But what
exactly was the mission this cold autumn evening?
His arrival was not a surprise to the Earp brothers, but it was very troubling. A few hours earlier
the Wells Fargo agent in the mill town of Charleston, J.B.
Ayers, had telegraphed a warning that 2 well known Cow Boy actors, Billy Clanton and Billy Claiborne, were in his town, freely talking about traveling to Tombstone tomorrow, to meet Ike Clanton and Tom McLaury. And their behavior made Ayers suspicious, prompting him to alert the law officers in Tombstone. And now, here were Ike and Tom entering town, late in the afternoon, too late to do much business. It looked to the Earps as if the Clantons and McLaury's were planning something for Wednesday.
Issac
had always been the odd son out. Since coming to Arizona Territory
in the late 1870's, his father Newman Hawes, older brother "Phin"
and younger brother "Billy" Clanton had built the family
business of rustling, robbing and murdering in Sonora, Mexico, while
north of border posing as lawful suppliers of beef to Tombstone. But Ike had also tried a different course.
In 1878 the
then 31 year old had opened a "luncheonette" in Milltown (above),
on the San Pedro. But even with a family discount on fresh beef, and
a business model based at least in part on laundering money stolen in
Sonora, Isacc's little restaurant had failed. And it was a curious
choice of business, given that his friends Curley Bill Brocius and
Johnny Ringo and even his own father had owned saloons. Perhaps his
family had learned Ike could not be trusted around alcohol. Perhaps.
But for such a well known braggart, Ike remains a cypher, the
mysterious central character in the final 24 hours before the
Gunfight at the OK Coral. But we do know that during most that time he would be drunk.
It
had been a hard summer for Ike. In late May there had been the
supposedly secret deal with Wyatt Earp, to turn in three Cow Boys who
had botched the Benson Stage robbery and killed a popular driver. But
it seems the secret betrayal had leaked almost immediately. On
Thursday, 9 June, 1881, Ike was drinking in an Allen street saloon
when he was confronted by a gambler, "Denny" McCann. It has been said that Ike had insulted McCann, but what was undisputed
was that the gambler had slapped Ike. Both men were unarmed, per
city ordinance number nine, but they agreed to "get heeled"
and meet in front of the Wells Fargo Office, on the south side of
Allen, between Fourth and Fifth Streets.
Virgil
Earp (above), who had been privy to the deal, got wind of the potential fight
and stepped between the two before shots were exchanged - proof again
that the ordinance saved lives because it bought time. And in this
case, it seems likely the life saved had been Ike's. But more
significantly, upon sober reflection, Ike must have begun to
comprehend the trap he had stepped into by agreeing to the deal.
Any
leak would double the enemies the Clantons and McLaurys faced. Not
only the Earps were now a threat, but also any ambitious member of
the Cow Boys with suspicions. In the chain of command, a boss who
betrays his followers receives and deserves no support from them.
And Ike could have little doubt that if faced with a revelation, the
McLaury's would pin the entire debacle on Ike. That may have
explained his morning bender even before his meeting with Denny
McCann.
Things
got worse when Joe "Hill" Olney returned from New Mexico in
late June with word of the plan's collapse. All the suspects in the Benson robbery were dead. Tensions increased even
more thanks the frame thrown over Doc Holliday for the botched
holdup. That had been the work of County Marshal Johnny Behan (above), and
for his own reasons. But it was natural that Doc would blame Ike
Clanton. Doc had been looking for Ike in Charleston on the night of
the robbery. He might have been lured there to implicate him. And
then in mid-August had come the devastating news from Guadalupe
Canyon. Not only had Ike's father been killed, but the pipeline from
Sonora to Tombstone, the source of all Clanton wealth and power, had
been turned off. And who could say for how long it would remain closed?
A few months, or years?
So
whatever Ike Clanton's reasons for coming to Tombstone this Thursday,
the trip left Ike looking like the prodigal son. Ike stabled the buckboard and horse at the West End Corral, and then he and Tom McLaury checked into rooms at the
Grand Hotel, on the south side of Allen, next to the Wells Fargo Office. Then they parted company. Around midnight, on his own,
Ike went to dinner at the narrow Alhambra Saloon, just across Allen
Street from the Grand. And there he ran into a slightly
drunk and very angry 30 year old John Henry "Doc"
Holliday.
Doc
had a lot to be angry about. For the last 8 years he had been living
with a death sentence, diagnosed with Tuberculosis just a year after
beginning his dental practice in Atlanta, Georgia. He moved to Dallas
Texas in 1874, hoping the dryer climate would improve his health,
but it did not. When his coughing fits drove away patients, Holliday
was forced to shift to poker for an income. In 1875 he moved to
Denver and took on the nom de plume of "Tom Mckay" He
found that faro provided a dependable income, but after "Tom"
almost killed another gambler in a knife fight, Doc was forced to
move on. Following gold and silver strikes, faro providing him a
steady and comfortable income.
In
1877 Doc returned to Texas, where he was shot and almost killed by
fellow gambler Henry Kahn. While recovering in Fort
Griffith, Texas, Doc met the only woman he would ever have an
emotional connection with, the "tough,
stubborn and fearless," prostitute Mary Katharine "Big Nose
Kate" Harony (together above). Also in Fort Griffith, Doc first met lawman Wyatt
Earp. In 1878 Doc and Katherine moved to Dodge City, Kansas where
Wyatt was a deputy marshal, and a faro dealer. While there, Wyatt
credited Doc with saving his life. After a short stay in Las Vegas,
New Mexico, Doc and Katherine followed Wyatt again, this time to
Tombstone, arriving in September of 1880.
Then
in March of 1881 came the Benson stage robbery. When Doc insisted on
joining the posse with Wyatt, Katherine went on a drinking binge.
Cochise County Marshal Johnny Behan took advantage of a miserable and
drunken Kate, getting her name on an affidavit claiming Doc had
confessed to taking part in the robbery. Returning from the posse,
he was arrested on the charge. When Wyatt sobered Kate up, she
repudiated the affidavit, but the haunted dentist felt betrayed. He
left Kate and took a room of his own, at 312 Fremont Street. Lonely and feeling isolated, the final straw came
when Ike Clanton told Wyatt that Doc Holliday was spreading the truth
about the betrayal of the Benson stage robbers. And this Thursday
was Doc's first opportunity to confront Ike Clanton with the accusation,
in the Alhambra saloon.
You
could understand Doc's frustration. He had just sacrificed the woman
he came closest to loving, to protect his relationship with Wyatt
Earp. And now Ike was telling a lie which seemed designed to cause
the law man to distrust him. And you could almost feel sorry for Ike.
He was sitting on a sprung trap, whose teeth could slam shut at the
first hint of his betrayal of his fellow Cow Boys. And there he was,
reasonably sober in the Alhambra saloon, trying to eat a sandwich,
when the volatile and drunk Doc Holliday started a verbal assault loud
enough to draw attention. The next words out of the tubercular
dentist's mouth might have put a target Ike's back. They certainly
put him on the defense. So he started to yell back. So Doc yelled
louder. So Ike stood up. And Doc stepped back.
If either man were armed, somebody would have been shot or stabbed right there, and again
it would probably have been Ike Clanton. But Wyatt Earp had been
watching the confrontation and warned Deputy City Marshal Morgan
Earp (above), who was working security for the Alhambra. Morgan stepped
between the two, and walked Doc out into cold air of Allen Street. Remember, being lawmen, the Earps had guns. No one else in town was supposed to. Ike followed the two outside and the argument continued in the
center of the wide dirt road, until Deputy Federal Marshal Virgil
Earp appeared and threatened to arrest them both for disturbing the
peace. The Earps seemed to be keeping a close eye on Ike Clanton this evening. Everywhere he turned, it seems an Earp was waiting to catch him, as if he were a tube of nitroglycerin.
Threatened with arrest, Doc
Holliday staggered pasted Fourth Street and one block over, to his room in the 2 story 12 room boarding house at 312 Fremont Street, owned and managed by 32 year old Camillus "Buck" Sydney
Fly, and his 34 year old wife, Mary E. "Mollie" Fly. Behind this, and up a 15 foot wide alley was the couple's photographic studio, where they
both practiced the alchemy of photography. By one that morning, John "Doc" Holliday was asleep in his
bed, awakened only periodically by his own coughing.
Ike
Clanton however was faced with the visage of 33 year old Wyatt Earp (above). But
Ike had reached his breaking point. He would confront Doc Holliday in
the morning , he told Wyatt, Then he added, "I'll be ready for
you in the morning." And he reminded Wyatt he had his guns just across the street. Wyatt told him to leave them there, and walked into the Oriental
Saloon. Ike followed again, and after a drink at the bar, in his passive
aggressive way, warned Wyatt again , "You must not think I won't be after
you all in the morning."
Wyatt
left, and Ike then joined a poker game with Johnny Behan, Tom
McLaury, and a few others. After a few minutes they were joined at
the table by Deputy Marshal Virgil Earp. Those four, with a few
others, continued to drink and play cards far into the night. The
game didn't break up until the cold morning sky was brightening. The big loser of the night was Ike Clanton. It was the morning of Wednesday, 26 October, 1881.
And as Virgil Earp stood, Ike
Clanton saw the lawman had his big Colt revolver sitting on his lap,
and that startled the drunken Cow Boy. Maybe Virgil was just more
comfortable sitting for hours with the gun out of his pocket. But what if
Virgil had been expecting trouble? What if the plan, whatever it was, for the next day, had been blown? , Had Virgil sat at the table, intending to shoot Ike, or
defend Ike? And what would Behan and McLaury think, if they had
noticed the gun? Whatever the reality, in Ike's befuddled mind, Virgil's
caution had been an insult.
Tom
McLaury urged Ike to go back to his room and sleep. And after buying a bottle of whiskey at the bar, Isaac Clanton did return to the Grand Hotel. But he did
not go to bed. Instead he checked out. It was the only way the desk
clerk was authorized to return his Winchester rifle and revolver to Isaac Clanton. When the now armed Isaac stepped outside, the wide cold expanse of Allen Street was almost deserted.
There
were how less than 7 hours until the first shot of the Gun Fight at
the OK Corral.
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