Joseph Isaac Clanton, The Cowboys Outlaw Who Got Away & 5 Free Chapters

Joseph 'Ike' Isaac Clanton

 Joseph Isaac Clanton (1847-1887), most well-known simply as Ike Clanton, was a heavy drinker, possessed a quick temper and tended to talk too much. But he lives in infamy because he was an enemy of Wyatt Earp. 

This enmity was triggered in 1880 when Wyatt learned Ike and his ranch hands stole his horse. Wyatt and friend Doc Holliday rode out with legal papers from Tombstone to the Clanton Ranch in Charleston, Arizona Territory, to retrieve it. 

This so angered Ike that a lifelong war started between them.

During the confrontation, insolent eighteen-year-old Billy Clanton handed the

Billy Clanton

horse over to Wyatt with the snide remark, “You got any more horses to lose?” That didn't sit well either.

Ike Clanton was one of seven children born to Newman and Maria Clanton. His father ‘Old Man Clanton’ worked as a day laborer, gold miner, farmer, and later a cattleman in Arizona Territory. Old Man Clanton allowed a group of outlaws known as The Cowboys to base their operation on his Arizona ranch.

The animosity between Ike and Wyatt grew through several different conflicts. 

In October 1880, Wyatt Earp arrested William ‘Curly Bill’ Brocius, one of The Cowboys, for the murder of Tombstone marshal Fred White. When Brocius was found not guilty, tensions intensified.

Wyatt Earp

Wyatt believed The Cowboys were involved in a bungled stagecoach robbery in March 1881. Two men on the stage were killed. Ike Clanton blamed Doc Holliday instead.

In July 1881, Curly Bill Brocius and gunfighter Johnny Ringo headed for New Mexico to kill two brothers, William and Isaac Haslett. A few weeks earlier Cowboy members Bill Leonard and Harry Head died during an attempted robbery at the Haslett brothers’ general store.

Later that month, Curly Bill led an ambush against a Mexican trail herd at San Luis Pass. They killed six vaqueros and tortured eight.*

William 'Curly Bill' Brocius

When Old Man Clanton died in the Guadalupe Canyon Massacre of August 1881, Curly Bill took over The Cowboys. 

Some have portrayed the town of Tombstone as living in fear of The Cowboys. This was not the case. With the exception of Ike Clanton, who was widely disliked, most of The Cowboys were seen as harmless or merely a nuisance.
All of that changed with the gunfight at the OK Corral on Lot #22, Block 17. 

On a cold day, Wednesday afternoon, October 26th, 1881, 3:00 p.m., in Tombstone on a lot eighteen feet wide, over thirty shots were fired. In thirty seconds. Three Clantons were killed. 

Unarmed Ike Clanton ran away without firing a shot. 

The Earps and Doc Holliday hated him the most, but they didn’t shoot him. After all, he had no weapon. That’s the way things were done in the Old West. The Code. 

Ike Clanton's run-ins with the law were not over. Charged with cattle rustling,

Ike Clanton

Ike and his brother Fin were cornered by detective Jonas V. Brighton on June 1, 1887, in Springerville, Arizona. Fin Clanton surrendered. Ike resisted and was shot dead.

*My husband Stephen once hiked into the canyon where the Mexican smugglers were ambushed. Don’t think of these smugglers as evil, violent men. They were usually merchants who wanted to bypass the often corrupt officials at custom houses on both sides of the border.

Stephen mentioned this ambush, a part of the backstory of the OK Corral gunfight, in cowboy poetry he wrote entitled, “Ridin’ The Divide.” You can find it here: http://www.blybooks.com/2015/11/ridin-the-divide-cowboy-poetry/

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Janet Chester Bly

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Janet Chester Bly has written and co-written 32 books with her late husband, Christy Award winning western author Stephen Bly. She and her three sons completed Stephen’s last historical novel for him, Book 7 of the Stuart Brannon Series: Stuart Brannon’s Final Shot. Can a committee write historical fiction? The Bly family had a four month deadline to find out. Read about the story of the writing process here: http://www.blybooks.com/category/finishing-dads-novel/. Stuart Brannon’s Final Shot, a Selah Award Finalist, is set near Portland, Oregon in 1905.

Wind in the Wires, Book 1, Trails of Reba Cahill, is her first solo adult novel. It’s

Wind in the Wires
Trails of Reba Cahill Series

a 1991 western mystery. It’s a road adventure with a touch of romance. It’s Cowgirl Lit. Janet is working on Book 2 now with a scheduled Spring 2016 release.

More info about the Blys here: http://www.BlyBooks.com  

Free! 5 Chapters of Wind in the Wires to receive right now when you sign up for Bly Books Almost Monthly News here: https://blybooks.leadpages.net/5-chapters-witw-optin/

Ghosts Towns--From Gone to Still Thriving--AND a Book Giveaway!!

By Miralee Ferrell

I've found I'm drawn to ghost towns when I'm researching for a new book. In fact, three of my books have been set in (what is now) a ghost town or a town that's been preserved the way it was in its heyday, and doing so kept it from becoming a ghost town.

Current Main St of Tombstone, AZ

Case in point, Tombstone, AZ. After the silver mines played out, Tombstone appeared to be doomed and ready to be buried (pardon the semi-pun). But the residents of the now tiny town didn't want it to die, so they put their heads together and decided a way to save the city. They started Helldorado Days, and preserved the three-block long stretch of East Allen, the main street, which is still dirt and closed to motor traffic, as well as another section nearby.

This is in Tombstone, but these ladies could be straight out
of my book Blowing on Dandelions

Shaded boardwalks line the business district composed of gift shops, saloons, and eateries, along with a city part which is the location for the OK Corral which offers a reenactment of the historic shooting. My husband and I had so much fun visiting the museums, seeing the jail and gallows area where notorious outlaws were housed and punished, along with seeing the worlds oldest rose bush, planted in 1885, that now covers an incredible 8,000 sq feet! There was so much history here, that it was hard to even take it all in...a treasure trove for an author.

This used to be the main street through Last Chance.
My husband Allen and I

The original main street of Last Chance, CA

On the other side of the scale was Last Chance, California, a true ghost town, minus the town. You can still see the remnants of foundations, pieces of 100 year old broken bottles and glass are poking their way through the soil, and we even found century-old cedar fence posts still holding square-headed nails.

The cemetery containing tombstones dating back to shortly after the town's birth in the 1860's was up on a hill, a short trek from what used to be the main street and is now nothing more than a dirt road lined with trees.

We traveled over an hour and a half by car from the nearest town, up and down deep gullies with a drop of 5,000' elevation, exclaiming over the terrain that mules teams had to trek to make it into the town. It's amazing how resilient and hardy our pioneer forefathers were, and what an incredible legacy they left us!



Please leave a comment telling me if you've ever visited a ghost town, and what you liked about it, if you'd like to win a copy of Wishing on Buttercups, book two in my Love Blossoms in Oregon series. Book three, Dreaming on Daisies, releases Oct. 1, and while you don't need to read the entire series, it would help to read book 2 before you move on to book 3. Be SURE you give me a way to contact you if you win. Drawing closes midnight on Aug. 20.


Dreaming on Daisies

When her father's debts, brought on by heavy drinking, threaten Leah Carlson's family ranch, she fights to save it. When handsome banker Steven Harding must decline her loan request, he determines to do what he can to help. Just as he arrives to serve as a much-needed ranch hand, Leah's family secrets—and the pain of her past—come to a head. They could destroy everything she's fought for. And they could keep her from ever opening her heart again.

This is western historical romance that offers hope and healing to the deepest wounds in a woman's past.

Miralee Ferrell and her husband, Allen, live on 11 acres in the Columbia River Gorge in Washington State. They have two grown children and recently their son and his wife presented them with a beautiful new granddaughter. Miralee loves interacting with people, ministering at her church, (she is a certified Lay Counselor with the American Association of Christian Counselors, riding her horse with her daughter, and playing with her dogs. She speaks at various women’s functions and has taught at writers’ conferences. Miralee, an award-winning author of Western fiction, has been writing since 2005, and her first book was published in 2007. Since then, she’s had 9 books release, both in women’s contemporary fiction and historical fiction, with another 5 under contract. Her newest release, Forget Me Not, is the third in a four book series set in Baker City, Oregon, 1880s. Miralee recently started a newsletter, and you can sign up for it on her blog.

You can find her at:

Web site and blog:  www.miraleeferrell.com

Facebook Author page:  www.facebook.com/miraleeferrell

The Old West Lives On in Tombstone

By Miralee Ferrell

How many little girls grow up wishing they’d been born during the 1800s and lived a wild, free life on the range? I certainly did. My sisters and I played farmer and rancher, my friends and I played cowboys and Indians, and I spent hours reading books about horses and cowboys. Then there were the TV shows—Bonanza, High Chaparral, Gunsmoke, Roy Rogers, Wagon Train, Maverick, and so many more. Doesn't that bring back wonderful memories for all of you Old West fans?  And let’s not forget the Western books, with Zane Grey and Louis L’ Amour topping the list during my teens and twenties. How I wished I’d been born in that era and could ride the range, sit around the campfire and experience all the exciting adventures with the heroes and heroines in the books I devoured.

I didn't get to follow that dream, although I did buy my first horse when I was twenty and have owned one since. But the Lord gave me something even better, the opportunity to live out some of my dreams through writing historical fiction, and with it, the opportunity to research some Old West towns. I'd have to say my favorite so far is Tombstone, Arizona.

Tombstone was a blast! It was like walking into the past as we traipsed the dirt streets of the three block section of old town that’s been preserved. Many of the buildings have stood the ravages of time since the last fire in the 1880s that wiped out much of the town….it was rebuilt shortly after and those are the buildings we were privileged to visit.

Hearse

One of my favorite spots was the Bird Cage Theater, which had only a small change to the interior. Almost every artifact inside was authentic, including an area on the old theater stage that houses a large number of historical items from the town including the hearse that carried people to Boot Hill. The theater contained bullet holes from gunfights along with an actual faro table and other gambling           paraphernalia.

Wyatt Earp's Home

We stayed for four days in a room at a small hotel used many times by John Wayne while he was there shooting movies. We visited the underground mines, talked to the locals, poked around in Wyatt Earp’s house (truly!), meandered through museums and had a picture taken of me in an Old West saloon setting. A new passion ignited in my heart. Who knew that researching and writing historical romance could be so much fun! 

Do Dandelion Wishes Actually Come True?

Katherine Galloway knew this moment of calm wouldn't last, blown away like the dandelion seeds she scattered as a girl. In 1880, three years after her husband’s death, she struggles to run an Oregon boardinghouse and raise two girls alone. Things don't get easier when her critical, domineering mother moves in. Katherine must make the situation work, but standing up for herself and her family while honoring her mother isn't easy. Then she crosses paths with Micah Jacobs, a widower who could reignite her heart, but she fears a relationship with him might send things over the edge. She must find the strength, wisdom, hope, and faith to remake her life, for everything is about to change.

Miralee Ferrell’s debut novel released in the fall of 2007, and six more books have followed, with another six under contract with David C. Cook. Her historical western romance, Love Finds You in Sundance, WY, won the Will Rogers Excellence in Western Fiction award in 2012, and her first book in the three-book Love Blossoms in Oregon series, Blowing on Dandelions, released June 1, with the next two releasing in 2014. Miralee and her husband have been married over 40 years and live in the beautiful Columbia Gorge in WA State, where she loves to ride horses, garden, take walks, play with her dogs, and minister to women at her church. 

You can find Miralee at:

www.miraleeferrell.com 

www.facebook.com/miraleeferrell