Ike Clanton

Ike Clanton
Ike Clanton, c.1881. Photo by C. S. Fly.
Born
Joseph Isaac Clanton

c. 1847
DiedJune 1, 1887(1887-06-01) (aged 39–40)
Cause of deathGunshot wound
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)Ranch hand, miner, outlaw, rustler
Criminal statusFelony not indicted
Parent(s)Newman Haynes Clanton and Mariah Sexton Kelso
RelativesBrothers Phineas Clanton and Billy Clanton.
AllegianceCochise County Cowboys
Criminal chargeMurder, cattle rustling

Joseph Isaac Clanton (c.1847 – June 1, 1887) 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, Clanton 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, in which his 19-year-old brother Billy was killed.

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