Volume 17 , Issue 40

Walking With Sadie

NW Okie says for me to take you back to the nineteenth century, 1896 to be exact, to research for the four Earp brothers sister, Jessie Earp Clanton. We find in The Times, out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, dated 30 March 1896, the following headlines: "How Jessie Earp Was Pursued."

Found on Newspapers.com

They say it was the most tragic story of all told of the Earp brothers. Their sister loved Clanton. It is a tale of hatred and revenge that will never die out of the memories of wild Arizona. How a trembling bride was hid in a mine and later shot through a window.

Tombstone, the mining camp inSouthern Arizona, was the grave of more romance and adventure, hair-breadth escapes and deeds of daring than any other region in America. tombstone was about sixteen miles from the Mexican boundary line, and for four or five years was the headquarters of all the leading desperadoes of the West. The four Earp brothers, toughs all; Doc Holliday, Frank and Jack Stilwell, Ike Canton and his brother Billy, Jack McLowry and his brother Bob, Jack Ringo, Bill Dodge and several gentlemen known as Curly, Slim, Shorty, Texas, Buffalo and similar cognomens, were frequently seen on the street together.

All had a reputation to sustain, and some were so eager to do themselves justice that they would not rely upon the ordinary 44-calibre revolver, but had the barrels of shotguns cut off to about a foot in length, and, thus abbreviated, that terrible engine of destruction, when properly loaded, became a part of their personal adornment. There were two factions in Southeastern Arizona in 1879, one being known as the stage robbers and the other as the rustlers. The Earps and Doc Holliday were the recognized chiefs of the stage-robber faction, and Ike Clanton and Jack Ringo were the acknowledged bosses of the rustlers. The factions came into frequent conflict.

The hates of the factions in those days were something appalling. All the tough elements had to take sides, but the respectable portion of the community was never bothered. The rustlers were cattle thieves. They stole in Texas and sold in Arizona, they stole in Arizona and sold in Mexico, and stole in Mexico and sold in California. They spent the proceeds of their forays in Tombstone. They were a royal set of thieves. When they were flush they scorned to drink anything but Rogederer or Pommery Sec, and the markets were gutted to provide them with luxuries. The leader of the gang, Ike Canton, was a handsome fellow, 6 feet high, with yellow, curling locks, and a complexion, in spite of the Arizona sun and regular exposure, that a belle would envy. He was a ready and straight shooter. He face death a hundred times, and met it at last. He hated the Earp brothers with all the intensity of an unbridled passion, and loved their sister with equal force. Jessie Earp was a beautiful girl of 19 at the time. She had the courage and grace of her brothers, and was, of course, a partisan of theirs in the factional fight without being in sympathy with their habits of life and career of rapine and murder.

Ike Clanton and Jessie Earp met at a dance at Tombstone. Ike and the Earp boys were then at war, and carried guns cocked and primed for each other. Between Ike and Jessie it was a case of love at first sight. Her brothers became furious when they heard it, and Virgil, the oldest of the family and the keeper of the family headquarters, wanted to turn her out of the house and disown her, but Wyatt, the brains of the family, said this would be playing into the hands of the arch-enemy, Canton. He would immediately marry her, and both would be happy. This would not suit the Earps, and they resolved to keep the fire away from Clanton, and prevent meeting or communication between them if possible. The girl was educated in a California convent, and, while as full of romance as an egg is of meat, she had a sense of honor that made her sustain her family in the quarrel with the faction of which her lover was chief. It was a marvel to many people why the Clanton gang did not attack the Earp headquarters immediately after reaching tombstone to revenge the death of the McLowery boys and Billy Clanton. The reason was that Jessie was confined in her brother's quarters, and Clanton would not run the risk of killing her. When the ears retreated fromTombstone they took their sister with them. This was the reason perhaps why Clanton refused to become a member of the Sheriff's posse and join in the pursuit of his enemy.

Three months later, however, when the Earps were living at Bunion, Colorado, and, of course, were running the town, their sister mysteriously disappeared one night. The result of inquiry convinced them that she had fled in company with Ike Canton. This was pouring alt and vinegar into their festering wounds. The whole band, comprising Virgil, Wyatt and Julian Earp, Doc Holliday, Curly Bill, Sam Saunders, texan Ike and Monroe Tucker, armed, mounted and pursued. The lovers had about four hours head start, but they were easily trailed. They headed for Arizona. They expected pursuit and lost no time. They reached Lake City, eighty miles from Gunnison, in twelve hours. Both were on horseback. From Lake City they started to Ouray, 100 miles by regular road, but getting afraid of pursuit, they left the road and crossed over the trackless mountains, going 13,000 feet above sea level, and finally reached San Miguel - thirty hours without food.

Here they rested for two days, being convinced that the pursuit they expected was off their track. They were to a certain extent right, and to a certain extent mistaken. The Earp party went to Ouray and, finding no trace of the fugitives, became convinced that they had made a short cut to San Miguel. From Ouray to San Miguel is less than thirty miles, but the way is over a pathless, precipitous mountain and yawning gulches.

The ears tackled the journey and made it within less than twenty-four hours. They reached San Miguel about 10 o'clock in the morning, and as they rode down the winding trail the fugitives saw them. Canton and the sister of his arch enemy had been man and wife about twenty minutes. They were married by Dr. Hoge, and Episcopal clergyman, whose name is held in grateful remembrance by every person familiar with the early days of Colorado.

When the newly-wedded pair saw the horsemen approach they recognized the situation at a glance. Clinton, though as brave as any man, knew that it was hopeless to join combat with seven or eight men practiced in in the use of firearms. But, being accustomed to danger, he knew how to act. He grasped his tumbling bride, rushed from the cabin where they were resting and made his way to the nearest mine tunnel. The miners were just changing shift and were surprised at the haste of the visitors. Clinton told the miners his story as sincerely and eloquently as he could. The miners were all Irishmen, and Irishmen love lovers. They became partisans of the fugitives without thought or consideration. Clinton interested his bride to one of the miners, who took her into the bowels of the earth away from all danger. Soon the Earps arrived and demanded the fugitives. The miners answered with more spirit than politeness.

The Earps invited a parley, which the miners granted. The Earps said that Canton sought to dishonor their sister because of hatred to them. Clinton, who stood in the tunnel within easy communication, sent word back that the lady they sought to dishonor and reproach as his wife. The Earps tried diplomacy, which failed, and finally they announced their determination to storm the mine if the fugitives were not surrendered. In those days an armory was a necessary department of every well-regulated mine, and the mine in which Clanton and his bride sought refuge was no exception. The miners presented arms and announced their readiness to receive an attack. The Earps taunted them with sheltering a coward, who had to seek the bowels of the earth like a squirrel to evade just punishment. Clinton sent back word that he was ready to meet any of the Earp party in single combat. The Earps held a conference, and Julian, the youngest and bravest of the tribe, volunteered to fight Clanton. It did not take long to arrange the preliminaries. The Earp party were required by the miners to move off about a quarter of a mile, and the miners i turn obligated themselves to remain in the tool house, from which the tunnel cut into the hill.

When all was ready Clanton emerged from the tunnel pistol in hand. Julian Earp was awaiting behind an ore pile a hundred yards away. The two men approached each other with pistols elevated. When they were within twenty paces Earp fired and missed. Before the report of his shot had ceased echoing Clanton fried and lodged his bullet in the heart of his enemy. Julian Earp fell dead. Clinton retired tot he tunnel, and forty miners, fully armed, turned out and served notice on the Earp party that Clanton had proved his bravery and sincerity and they were ready to defend him. The Earps buried their dead. Then the miners held a meeting, passing resolutions sustaining Clanton and ordering the Earp party to move on.

The Earps, understanding the miners and the characteristics of the people they were dealing with, retired. When they were out of sight Clanton and his wife came out of the mine and took their departure in the direction of Rico. The Earps, though making a promise that they would not return, merely made a circuit and rode around San Miguel, striking the Rico road about ten miles from the former place. They found fresh horse tracks on the road and concluded that those they were in pursuit of were in front of them. They followed on with haste and overtook Clanton and his wife at Rico. The Earps reached town while Clanton and his wife were at supper. Then they discovered them they fired a volley through the window of the hotel. One bullet struck the bride and the husband escaped. He grasped his wife in his arms and rushed to the back yard, and from here tot he corral where his horses were quartered. He mounted the first saddle horse he met, and, with his wife bleeding and insensible in his arms, rode into the night. It was in October and already cold in that latitude and altitude. He rode all night, tenderly caring for the precious burden in his arms, and at sunrise next morning she died.

Two years later Ike Canton and Curly Bill, a cousin of the Earps, met accidentally in a gambling room at Socorro, New Mexico. Two shots are fired simultaneously and ten minutes afterwards Curly Bill was a corpse, Clanton being uninjured. About a year and a half ago Clanton went to Phoenix, Arizona. There he met Virgil and Wyatt Earp. The moment the old enemies saw each other they began to shoot. Clinton was killed and Wyatt Earp was so badly wounded that he was no longer numbered among the desperadoes of the west.

Good Night! Good Luck! Woof! Woof!
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