1. John Philip Clum was an Indian agent for the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation in the Arizona Territory.
29 Facts About John Clum
1. 2.
John Clum implemented a limited form of self-government on the reservation that was so successful that other reservations were closed and their residents moved to San Carlos.
3.
John Clum founded the still-operating The Tombstone Epitaph on May 1,1880.
4.
John Clum later served in various postal service positions across the United States.
5.
John Clum was born on a farm near Claverack, New York, US.
6.
John Clum's parents were William Henry and Elizabeth van Deusen Clum of Dutch and German descent; he had five brothers and three sisters: Henry W Clum, Jane E Clum, Cornelia Clum, Sarah E Clum, George A Clum, Robert A Clum, Cornelius N Clum, and Alfred Clum.
7.
John Clum attended religious services at the Dutch Reformed Church.
8.
John Clum obtained a classical education, studying among other subjects Latin, Greek, Mathematics, Natural History and Rhetoric.
9.
John Clum returned to his father's farm in the summer of 1871.
10.
John Clum read in a newspaper story that the federal War Department in Washington, DC was organizing a meteorological service.
11.
John Clum applied for and was inducted into the US Army Signal Corps on September 14,1871, with the rank of Observer Sergeant.
12.
John Clum was first married on Nov 8,1876, in Delaware County, Ohio to Mary "Mollie" Ware.
13.
John Clum was married a second time on Feb 6,1883, in the District of Columbia, to Belle Atwood.
14.
John Clum knew that a number of Indian Agents had already come and gone.
15.
On February 26,1874, under these difficult conditions, John Clum accepted a commission as Indian Agent for the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation in the Arizona Territory.
16.
John Clum arrived at the San Carlos Reservation on Tuesday, August 4,1874.
17.
John Clum encouraged them to take up the peaceful pursuits of farming and raising cattle.
18.
John Clum granted them three days to round up their kinsmen.
19.
John Clum hid 100 of his Apache police in the commissary building at Ojo Caliente and on April 21,1877, they surprised Geronimo, seizing his rifle and throwing him in shackles.
20.
John Clum's success gave the US Army a black eye; it was the only time Geronimo was captured at gunpoint without a shot fired on either side.
21.
John Clum left his post as Indian Agent at noon on July 1,1877, nearly three years after he had arrived.
22.
John Clum's successor freed Geronimo and his men, leading to fifteen years of bloodshed and Indian wars until Geronimo was re-captured by General Miles on September 4,1886, finally ending the Indian Wars.
23.
John Clum was replaced by a series of agents who were renowned for their corruption.
24.
John Clum organized the "Anti-Chinese League", and a "Vigilance Committee" to end lawlessness in Tombstone, and his association with that group helped get him elected as Tombstone's first mayor under the new city charter of 1881.
25.
John Clum was certain the hold-up was cover for an attempt to kill him, so didn't reboard the stage, but walked until he found a horse he could borrow.
26.
John Clum got to Benson the next day and then returned to Tombstone.
27.
In 1898, John Clum was appointed Postal Inspector for the District of Alaska and was commissioned to establish a territorial postal service there.
28.
John Clum was later named postmaster for Fairbanks, Alaska, and served in that position until 1909.
29.
John Clum spent several years touring the country for the Southern Pacific Railroad, giving hundreds of lectures all over the country to promote tourism and passenger-use of the railroad.