54 Facts About Ike Clanton

Joseph Isaac Clanton was a member of a loose association of outlaws known as The Cowboys who clashed with lawmen Wyatt, Virgil and Morgan Earp as well as Doc Holliday.

On October 26,1881, Ike Clanton was present at the Gunfight at the OK.

Ike Clanton filed murder charges against the Earps and Holliday but after a 30-day preliminary hearing, Justice Wells Spicer ruled that the lawmen had acted within their lawful duty.

Ike Clanton was implicated in the attempted assassination of Virgil Earp on December 30,1881 but other Cowboys provided an alibi and he was released.

Six years later Ike Clanton was killed attempting to flee when he was shot by a lawman seeking to arrest him for cattle-rustling.

Ike Clanton's father worked at times as a day laborer, a gold miner, a farmer, and by the late 1870s, a cattleman in Arizona Territory.

Ike Clanton stayed with the family when they moved to Tombstone, Arizona Territory, around 1877.

At that time, Newman Clanton was living with his sons Phin, Ike, and Billy.

Ike Clanton's notoriety is based largely on his conflict with Wyatt Earp and Wyatt's friend Doc Holliday.

Ike Clanton repeatedly boasted in public, drank heavily, and had a quick temper.

Ike Clanton thought catching the March 15,1881 robbers of the Benson Stage would help him win the sheriff's office.

Corral, Ike Clanton claimed to have raised and purchased about 700 head of cattle during the past year, and the Ike Clanton ranch was one of the most profitable cattle ranches in that part of the country.

Ike Clanton had told others that Doc Holliday, Virgil Earp, Wyatt Earp, and Morgan Earp had all confided in him that they had actually been involved in the Benson stage robbery.

On October 25,1881, while Ike Clanton was in Tombstone, drunk and very loud, Holliday accused him of lying about the Benson stagecoach robbery.

Ike Clanton testified later that he saw Virgil take his six-shooter out of his lap and stick it in his pants when the game ended.

Not having rented a room, McLaury and Ike Clanton had no place to go.

Boyle spoke to Ike Clanton, who had been drinking all night, in front of the telegraph office.

Boyle encouraged him to get some sleep, but Ike Clanton insisted he would not go to bed.

Later in the morning, Ike Clanton picked up his rifle and single-action revolver from the West End Corral, where he had stabled his wagon and team and deposited his weapons after entering town.

Ike Clanton reported in his testimony afterward that Wyatt Earp cursed him.

Ike Clanton said Wyatt, Virgil, and Morgan Earp offered him his rifle and to fight him right there in the courthouse, which Clanton declined.

Ike Clanton was fined $25 plus court costs and after paying the fine left unarmed.

Ike Clanton testified that he picked up the weapons from William Soule, the jailer, a couple of days later.

Ike Clanton gave the shotgun to Doc Holliday who hid it under his overcoat.

Ike Clanton had previously deputized Morgan and Wyatt and deputized Doc Holliday that morning.

Witnesses later testified that Ike Clanton had spent all day, even after his arrest and disarming, threatening to gun down the Earps.

However, when the gunfight broke out, Ike Clanton ran forward and grabbed Wyatt, exclaiming that he was unarmed and did not want a fight.

Ike Clanton testified that the Clantons and Frank McLaury raised their hands after Virgil's command, and Tom thrust open his vest to show he was unarmed.

Ike Clanton backed up Cochise County Sheriff Johnny Behan's testimony that Holliday and Morgan Earp had fired the first two shots and that the next several shots came from the Earp party.

Under cross-examination, Ike Clanton told a story of the lead-up to the gunfight that did not make sense.

Ike Clanton said the Benson stage robbery was concocted by the Earps and Holliday to cover up money they had "piped off" to pay bribes.

Ike Clanton claimed that Doc Holliday and Morgan, Wyatt, and Virgil Earp had separately confessed to him their role in the Benson stage holdup, or else the cover-up of the robbery by allowing the robbers' escape.

Ike Clanton proved a better witness for the defense than the prosecution.

Ike Clanton said that Doc Holliday, Virgil Earp, Wyatt Earp, and Morgan Earp had all confided in him that they had actually been involved in the stage robbery.

Ike Clanton further claimed that Holliday had told him that Holliday had "piped off" money from the stage before it left.

Ike Clanton said Holliday had confessed to him about killing the stage driver.

Ike Clanton testified that Earp had threatened to kill his confederates because he feared they would reveal his part in the robbery.

Ike Clanton said he feared that Wyatt wanted to kill him because he knew of Wyatt's role.

Spicer noted that Ike Clanton had claimed the Earps were out to murder him, yet on both occasions that day the Earps had not killed him, and allowed him to escape unchallenged during the fight.

Ike Clanton was later accused, along with his brother, Phin Ike Clanton, and friend Pony Diehl, of attempting to kill Virgil Earp on December 30,1881, a shooting which left Virgil with a crippled left arm.

Ike Clanton concluded that only way to deal with Morgan's murderers was to kill them.

The next morning Ike Clanton rode up and Brighton recognized him.

Ike Clanton turned his horse to run and drew his rifle from his scabbard.

The next morning, while they were at breakfast, Ike Clanton came riding up to the front door.

Just at this time, Mr Miller stepped to the door, to be ready to render any assistance needed, and when Ike Clanton saw him he wheeled his horse and attempted to get under cover of the thick cover which grows close to Wilson's home, at the same time pulling his Winchester from its scabbard.

Ike Clanton reeled in his saddle and fell on the right side of his horse, his rifle falling on the left.

When Brighton and Miller walked up to where Ike Clanton lay they found he was dead.

In late June 1996 a Clanton family descendant, Terry "Ike" Clanton, along with former Citadel professor and grave expert James A Browning, searched the area near Eagle Creek in what is Greenlee County, Arizona, where Ike was reportedly buried.

Ike Clanton has been portrayed in a number of films and television series since the 1940s, many of which were highly fictionalized.

Ike Clanton was played by Victor Jory in Tombstone, the Town Too Tough to Die.

Ike Clanton was portrayed by Grant Withers in the John Ford classic My Darling Clementine.

Ike Clanton appears in the Doctor Who story "The Gunfighters", played by William Hurndell, which is largely based on the Sturges film.

Ike Clanton was later replaced in the role by Rayford Barnes.

Ike Clanton was played by William Tannen in the episode "After the OK Corral" of the syndicated western anthology series, Death Valley Days.