A Refined and Elegant Man

By Gary Ledoux – Western History Author

Tombstone Epitaph  October 2006

Today, we remember John P. Clum as the Mayor of Tombstone at the time of the OK Corral gunfight as well as the founder of the Tombstone Epitaph in May, 1880.  But he was more than that – much more!

Clum had a very exciting a fascinating life first as a weather-observer for the US Army, then as an Indian Agent for the San Carlos Apache reservation in Arizona.  After Tombstone, Clum worked as a Postal Inspector for the US Postal Service in various parts of the country but most notably in Alaska during the gold rush of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.

On November 8 1876, John Clum wed Mary Dennison Ware in Ohio.  On October 20 1878, they became proud parents of a baby boy, Henry Woodworth Clum.  Woody would later gain some notoriety as an editor and author when, in 1936, he published Apache Agent: The Story of John P. Clum formulated from a manuscript started by his father and discovered after his father’s death in 1932. 

Henry Woodworth would marry Ann Bernhardi and they would have a son named Woodworth Bernhardi Clum, better known as “Bill”.  Bill would eventually marry Minna Vann and from that union would be born two girls and two boys, one of the boys being Woodworth Bernhardi Clum II.  It was Woodworth Bernhardi Clum II that was most generous with his time to be interviewed for this article and represent that side of the family.

Mary Dennison Ware Clum, John Clum’s first wife died at Tombstone in December, 1880.

On February 24, 1883, John Clum married Belle Atwood.  From that union, on December 24, 1883, a daughter, Caro Kingsland Clum, was born.

Caro became Mrs. Peter Vachon, that union producing three children; Constance Vachon who died as a child from the effects of polio, John Davidson “Dave” Vachon, and Hortense “Vickie” Vachon.

“Vickie” became Mrs. Joseph Emory Grant.  The couple would become parents to two daughters, and son Gregg Grant.

Vickie Grant, John Davidson Vachon and Gregg Grant all were gracious enough to spare some time for me for this article and represent Caro’s side of the family.

The Saturday Matinee

If you have ever seen the 1969 movie, “Airport” starring Burt Lancaster and George Kennedy, you’ve seen John Clum’s grandson, John Davidson “Dave” Vachon – or at least you’ve seen his work.

Starting out as a Navy pilot during WWII, Dave went on to pilot aircraft for the Flying Tigers, moving cargo all over the world.  As his last assignment with the Flying Tigers, Dave taxied an aircraft up and down a runway in Minneapolis for the movie “Airport”.  The plane was specially painted to represent the fictional “Trans-Global Airlines” depicted in the movie.  Dave lamented that he taxied that plane up and down the runway for 30 days, for what became about 30 minutes of film.

When asked for his perspective on the OK Corral gunfight, Dave was simply at a loss for words.  The whole Tombstone saga has had little bearing on Dave’s life.  He chuckled, “Had I known my grandfather was going to be such a celebrity, I would have remembered more about him – I would have taken some notes!  I just never realized that all this would happen!”

When asked about any memories of his famous ancestor, Dave noted that as a youngster, he had no idea that his grandfather had any notoriety about him – except as being a loving grandfather.  He remembered as a child, visiting his grandfather at his farm in San Dimas, California.  “In those days”, Dave noted, “a ride from Santa Monica (California) to San Dimas (California) was big ordeal.  There were no Interstate freeways.  It was one long, arduous ride – a big deal!  That was around 1927 or 1928.”

When asked about any memories he had of his mother (John Clum’s daughter, Caro) Dave thought for moment, then laughed when he remembered the premier in 1956 of the movie “Walk The Proud Land”, the story of John Clum as the Indian Agent for the San Carlos Indian reservation from 1874 to 1877.

Dave beamed with pride as he recalled, “My mother was very proud of that movie!  She wanted to make sure everyone saw it so she took all her friends to the Saturday matinee!”

A Refined And Elegant Man

Like her brother Dave, Vicki Grant also played a part in WWII.  As a Red Cross volunteer, Vicki found herself on a ship headed to Europe not long after D Day and traveled throughout Europe providing aid for the sick, injured and dying.  The highlight of the trip was meeting Winston Churchill.

Returning to the States, she worked for Douglas Aircraft, then in Santa Monica, California.  Given her close proximity to the aircraft industry, Vicki took an active interest in flying, obtained her pilot’s license, and flew observation runs for the Civil Air Patrol.

“When people think of Tombstone and the OK Corral, they think of Wyatt Earp, not Grandpa Clum” said a laughing Vicki Grant, grand daughter of the former Tombstone mayor.  “So that whole OK Corral incident has had very little influence on my life”.

The OK Corral, and the whole Tombstone story were quite foreign to Vicki until three years ago when a certain Clum biographer contacted her.  “We knew Grandpa Clum had had a very interesting life and had been a lot of places and had done a lot of things.  But his part in the OK Corral incident did not play as very prominent” she noted.

Asked about her memories of her grandfather Vicki recalled that she had attended his funeral and was around thirteen years old at the time.  (John Clum died in Los Angeles on Monday, May 2, 1932)  Vicki remembers, “The funeral was well attended by a number of people and the press.  Oh, there were so many people there from the press – and plenty of photographers.  Harry Carr from the Los Angeles Times was there.  He interviewed several family members.  There were also reporters from the Herald Express, and other local newspapers.  We weren’t used to all that attention.  To us, he was just Grandpa Clum, a refined and elegant man.”

Vicki remembered her Uncle Woody attending the services (this would have been Henry Woodworth Clum, John Clum’s son) along with his daughter Marjorie.  (Other luminaries attending John Clum’s funeral included Tombstone diarist George W. Parsons, then current Indian Agent for the San Carlos Indian reservation James B. Kitch, and famed Arizona lawman, Fred Dodge.)

Vicki also remembered seeing her grandfather’s widow, Florence at the services.  Vicki remembered her as fondly as her own mother, “Her name was Florence, but we called her ‘Lady Florence’ because she was so kind, thoughtful, elegant and refined.  She was also a great cook!”

Upon John Clum’s death, Lady Florence bought another house and took in borders establishing a sort of “retirement home” for refined ladies.  Vicki remembered visiting her and seeing all the ladies at the house and how well they all dressed and carried themselves.

When asked about the fondest memory she had of her “Grandpa Clum” Vicki noted, “We didn’t see him too often but it was always a pleasure when we did.  We had a deep love and affection for him – he was wonderfully elegant and had a nice bearing about him.  He always wore a suit and a bow tie – as if he were always ready to go to work in a law office.  He was a city gentleman.  We never saw him in a cowboy hat or anything like that.  Even when we visited him at his farm in San Dimas, he always wore a decent shirt and pants, never looking sloppy or dirty.”

Vicki recalled a polar-bear rug on the living room floor of her grandfather’s home in San Dimas.  The mouth was open in a seemingly menacing snarl.  “We kids loved to play on the rug and sit on its head.”

Naturally, Vicki had more memories of her mother, John Clum’s daughter, Caro Clum.  “She was a wonderful woman, always very elegant – just like Grandpa Clum.  She had a good singing voice.  She was very meticulous, her hands always manicured, very feminine.  She was always generous – and carried herself well.  She was always the ‘lady of the house’ – a great hostess.  And she was a smart businesswoman too helping daddy take care of his business.  And when dad died, she went to Alaska to continue operating the business.  She was about 65 years old at that time in an era when women typically did not run businesses!  And if that wasn’t tough enough, there was a war on!”

(Author’s note: Caro Clum married Alaskan trader Peter Vachon on September 2, 1908.  Peter died in 1942 and Caro assumed the operation of the business traveling back and forth between Santa Monica, California and Fairbanks, Alaska by rail and boat.  She was 59 years old at the time.)

Vicki noted that her father never drove, but that he purchased a Model T Ford.  “I remember you had to turn the crank on the front to start it!” she noted.  Her mother always had to drive her father around – everywhere he went.

Vicki also remembered her mother as a strong-willed person leaving Alaska before the birth of her third child, John Davidson.  She did not want to give birth to another child, and have to endure not only the trials and tribulations of childbirth in the still-rough area that Fairbanks Alaska was, but other health concerns had made life in Alaska too harsh for her.

Vicki noted that her son Gregg, would perhaps be the last generation of the family to take an interest in “Grandpa Clum” and the family relation to the Tombstone saga - that time and other family interests would dilute the memories.

I assured her that her grandfather, John P. Clum, would always have a place on the pages of history, as long as writers had an interest in the old-west.

It Was The Aftermath…

If the Clum side of the family had printer’s ink in their veins, the Vachon/Grant side of the family had aircraft fuel in theirs.  Not to be outdone by his high-flying mother and uncle, but keeping his feet mostly on the ground, Gregg Grant is a retired TWA accountant and now real-estate investor.

Gregg had been aware of his family’s roots, and was aware that he had a great-grandfather named John Clum, but knew little about him.  When asked what effect the OK Corral gunfight had had on him personally he replied, “Not much… until I was contacted by a certain writer / historian, a few years ago, who piqued my interest about my ancestry!”  Gregg has since taken a great interest in his famous great-grandfather reading a number of books about him, and the Tombstone saga.

When asked how the gunfight affected American history in general and old-west history in particular, Gregg mused that had it not been for the street fight, Clum would probably have stayed in Tombstone, and his life may have turned out differently.  He may not have gone to Alaska as a postal inspector and postmaster.

”He loved orderliness” Gregg mused, “and he was always at the ready whenever action was called for”.  Gregg was referring to the moments immediately following the gunfight when the town Vigilance Committee was mustered, Clum being at the head of that organization.

Gregg also marveled at the ease, and frequency at which Clum, and others, moved about the country, at a time before aircraft and when the words “travel” and “comfort” were never used in the same sentence.  Clum traveled back and forth between Arizona and Washington D.C. on many occasions, even as early as the mid-1870’s when he served as an Indian Agent at San Carlos.

Gregg then directed my attention to a story that was first published in the book, The Truth About Geronimo, written by Lt Britton Davis, a soldier who served at the San Carlos Apache reservation in the mid-1880’s.  (Clum was the Indian Agent at San Carlos from August 8, 1874 to July 1, 1877.  One of Clum’s most trusted Indian allies during that time, and continued to be a friend long after, was the Arivaipa chief, Eskimizin.)

The story related by Davis about Eskiminzin is this:  In the early 1870’s Eskiminzin was a sworn enemy of the whites and Mexicans.  With a small band of followers he remained in the mountains around southern Arizona, occasionally raiding a ranch or some settlers for supplies and food.  He was in a constant state of warfare. 

One by one, his followers tired of subsisting by raiding and came out of the mountains, some being killed or captured by soldiers.  But Eskiminzin was crafty and determined and avoided capture.

A few miles from Old Camp Grant there lived a trapper, about the only white man that Eskiminzin called a friend.  Eskiminzin would stop and visit with the trapper from time to time, sharing meals and stories and enjoying the shelter of his cabin.  He was the only white man that Eskiminzin trusted, and the trust seemed mutual.

One evening Eskiminzin stopped by, spent the night in the shelter of the cabin, awoke the next morning and the two men enjoyed breakfast together.  Then, without warning or provocation, Eskiminzin turned and shot the trapper dead.

Eventually, the trapper was found where he fell, and Eskiminzin was captured along with a few of his followers.  When asked why he had killed the trapper, his only friend, he reportedly replied, “To teach my people that there must be no friendship between them and the white men.  Anyone can kill an enemy, but it takes a strong man to kill a friend.”

Gregg wondered first if this story was indeed true, and assuming it was, if Clum had known about it.  Assuming that he was aware of it, Gregg wondered if there was ever a hint of distrust between the Indian Agent and the Apache.  This is an interesting thought, especially after reading so much first-hand information about the relation between Clum and Eskiminzin, and the fact that, on many occasions, Clum put his life in the hands of Eskiminzin, and other Apaches.

Thinking further about Clum’s time with the Indians and especially his capture of Geronimo at Ojo Caliente in April 1877, Gregg noted that Clum should have pressed for a trial and the eventual full-incarceration of the Apache medicine-man.  (Geronimo was returned to San Carlos from Ojo Caliente in New Mexico in shackles, eventually being turned loose by the military who sought so hard to control the wily warrior.)

Clum was proud of having captured Geronimo.  In a reflection of this event in later years, Clum noted; “This fine achievement was the more pleasing to me for the reason that every objective had been attained without firing a single shot.  No one had been killed or wounded and no property had been destroyed during our campaign.”

Clum himself would also later note, “Geronimo should have been hanged forthwith.  Instead he was turned loose.  In 1881, he went on the warpath again killing and robbing white settlers for the next six years.”

Considering his great-grandfather’s career as a newspaperman, Gregg offered that he may have been better off financially had a he kept the Arizona Citizen.  (In the fall of 1877, upon leaving the San Carlos Apache reservation, Clum moved to Florence, Arizona and purchased Tucson’s Arizona Citizen moving it to the then Territorial capital; Florence.  After only ten months in Florence, Clum would move the newspaper and himself back to Tucson.  Clum moved on to Tombstone and the founding of the newspaper you are presently enjoying, the Tombstone Epitaph.  The Arizona Citizen became the Tucson Citizen.  On December 29, 1976, Gannet Company Inc. purchased the paper from the then owners, the Small family, which netted them $30.2 million.  The paper exists today as the Tucson Citizen.)

Returning to the more immediate question of the OK Corral gunfight incident, Gregg offered, “The gunfight was a mere 30 seconds, less then the blink of an eye in terms of historical time.  It was the aftermath, Wyatt’s vendetta ride, and the all the events that were a precursor to the fight that made the whole thing interesting, and what continues to fascinate us today!”

There Is Much To Be Admired About Your Grandfather

Today, Woody Clum is a semi-retired, and quite successful businessman, dividing his time between homes in northern and southern California – and he is acutely aware of his family name and the history that goes with it.  He knows his great-grandfather was an amateur athlete, weatherman, Indian Agent, mayor, publisher, postal inspector, postmaster, lecturer, author and amateur thespian.

An original theater poster from the film “Walk The Proud Land”, the 1956 Universal Studios movie about his great-grandfather’s adventures as an Indian Agent at Arizona’s San Carlos Apache reservation is prominently displayed in the small family theater in his home.

“The OK Corral gunfight was turning point, or perhaps better put; a ‘tipping point’, noted Woody.  “Everything changed after that point.”

Woody went on to note that, had it not been for the OK Corral shootout and the growing animosity between the cow-boys his great-grandfather may have stayed around Tombstone a while longer.  “He loved Tombstone and wanted to see it grow and prosper and was likely very disappointed when he had no choice but to leave”.

Woody noted that another result of the gunfight was that it caused all the players in that tragic episode of history to scatter.  And with the players, went an era in Tombstone’s history, short as it was, that would be re-lived and written about for the next 125 years – and beyond.

As previously mentioned, the book Indian Agent, The Story of John P. Clum as edited by his son, Henry Woodworth Clum, debuted in 1936; and remains popular today. 

What is not widely known is that the first few copies, perhaps ten, were very lovingly bound in leather, destined for select family members.  Henry Woodworth Clum; son of John P. Clum signed one especially for his son, Woodworth Bernhardi (Bill) Clum with the special inscription; “There is much to be admired about your grandfather”.

This book was passed to his son, Woodworth Bernhardi (Woody) Clum II with equal reverence, as it will eventually pass in succession to future Clum family members.

“Much to be admired…” is a strong statement, but echoes the sentiments of the Clum descendants.  Woody Clum admires his great grandfather for what he was – and what he wasn’t. 

“None of those people were saints” Woody asserts.  “They were simply people caught up in a situation and did the best with what they had.  It was a tough time, which called for some tough decisions and even tougher action.  John P. did little that was negative, and a lot that was good.  He was not known for killing anyone, not known for any corruption in his administration as an Indian Agent, Mayor or Alaskan Postmaster.  He is known for his most admirable work with the Apaches at San Carlos, a pride that continues with the Clum family today”.

As a young child first learning about his family’s heritage, Woody was exposed mainly to the contents of Apache Agent, and John Clum’s time at the San Carlos reservation in Arizona Territory.  It was during this time that Woody realized that he had a proud family heritage, not only in the taming of the west, but was part of the legacy of Indian treatment in America.

Woody is especially proud of the work his great grandfather did with the Apaches at San Carlos, establishing Apache self-rule, and making the Indians more self-sufficient and peaceful.

He points to a television program of a few years ago where actor/singer Kenny Rogers hosted a show on western history.  One particular episode pointed to the operation of Indian reservations in the west and how many of the Indian Agents were corrupt, lining their pockets at the expense of the Indians they were sworn to protect.  The program pointed out that few were honest and really tried to help their charges; pointing to John Clum as the example of how it was supposed to be done.  Woody watched the show with great pride, and was able to secure a video-taped copy of the show for presentation to future Clum descendants.

It wasn’t until later in life that Woody realized that his great grandfather was part of the Tombstone saga, and it opened his eyes to a whole new realization about his family history.  “I dislike movies and television shows that show John Clum and the Earps in a bad light” notes Woody.  “They were all caught up in a situation and did what they had to do.”

When asked specifically how the OK Corral incident affected his life, Woody answered, “That whole thing has been blown out of proportion over the years through TV shows, Hollywood movies and so many books and magazine articles.  That 30 second blink in time has defined every person that was associated with it, especially Wyatt Earp – who just happened to be very lucky that day that he wasn’t shot or killed.  But a man’s life should be defined by more than just a 30 second slice of time.  It may have forever associated Mayor John Clum with the Earps and Doc Holliday, but John Clum was certainly more that just the Mayor of Tombstone in 1881.  He was a fascinating guy unto himself.”

About the time that Woody discovered his great grandfather’s association with the Earps and Tombstone, he also discovered his ancestor was one of the first weathermen in Santa Fe New Mexico, a newspaperman in Florence and Tucson prior to coming to Tombstone, a Postal Inspector and Postmaster in Alaska, an amateur thespian, and most prolific writer. 

“John P. was adventurous” noted Woody.  “He was an idealist.  He liked to lead and liked people to follow him.  He was a natural born leader, even from his early school days.  What he lacked in physical strength and stature, he more than made up for when he discovered that the pen is mightier than the sword, battling the United States Army on the pages of Arizona newspapers over the question of civil and military rule on the Arizona and New Mexico Indian reservations.  Ironically, it may have been those same bitter words that circumvented his political aspirations.”

John Clum fancied himself first as the Governor of Arizona and later as governor of Alaska, neither plan coming to fruition.

When asked specifically how the OK Corral incident affected history and those directly associated with it, Woody noted that October 26, 1881 was certainly a turning point for all involved.  “John P. put a lot of faith in Tombstone for himself and his family.  He was a constant promoter of the west in general and Tombstone in particular.  He wanted the place to grow, and so too would his fortunes grow.  After that cold October day, it all fell apart – for many people.  Many, including John P. and Wyatt Earp then looked towards Alaska for the next new beginning”.

Woody and his wife, Lou have a beautiful painting of Mary Dennison Ware in their home – Mary being John Clum’s first wife who died not long after they arrived in Tombstone.  Woody noted, “There’s hardly a day that goes by that I don’t stop and look at that painting of my great grandmother and admire her.  Here was a woman of station, leading a privileged and comfortable life, who took off to the wild frontier with a dreamer and idealist.  It must have been tough.  There is much to be admired about them both!”