Billy Clanton

Billy Clanton
Billy Clanton (right) in his coffin with the McLaury brothers beside him
Born
William Harrison Clanton

1862 (1862)
Hamilton County, Texas, Confederate States
DiedOctober 26, 1881(1881-10-26) (aged 18–19)
Cause of deathGunshot wounds
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)Ranch hand, miner, rustler
Parent(s)Old Man Clanton and Mariah Sexton Kelso
AllegianceThe Cowboys
Notes
His brothers were Phineas Clanton and Ike Clanton.

William Harrison Clanton (1862 – October 26, 1881) was an outlaw Cowboy in Cochise County, Arizona Territory. He, along with his father Newman Clanton and brother Ike Clanton, worked a ranch near the boomtown of Tombstone, Arizona Territory and stole livestock from Mexico and later U.S. ranchers.

He was a member of group of loosely organized outlaws who had ongoing conflicts with lawmen Wyatt, Virgil, and Morgan Earp. The Clantons repeatedly threatened the Earps because they interfered with the Cowboys' illegal activities. On October 26, 1881, Billy, Tom McLaury, and Frank McLaury were killed in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in the town of Tombstone. His brother Ike was unarmed and ran from the gunfight. The shootout was his only gunfight. Ike filed murder charges against the Earps, who were later exonerated as having acted within their duty as lawmen.