Ike Clanton

Who was Ike Clanton?

Joseph Isaac Clanton was a member of a group of outlaws known as the The Cowboys that had ongoing conflicts with lawmen Wyatt, Virgil, Morgan Earp and Wyatt's friend Doc Holliday due to disputes over the town's gambling business. On October 26, 1881, Ike was present at the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in the boomtown of Tombstone, Arizona Territory, but was unarmed and ran from the gunfight. His 19-year-old brother Billy was killed in the gunfight. Ike filed murder charges against the Earps but after a 30-day preliminary hearing, Justice Wells Spicer ruled that there was not enough evidence to indict the Earps. Ike was implicated in the attempted assassination of Virgil Earp on December 30, 1881, but was released for lack of evidence. Ike died in the saddle six years later when he was shot by a lawman pursuing him on cattle-rustling charges.