John Clum
Encyclopedia
John Philip Clum was an Indian agent
Indian agent
In United States history, an Indian agent was an individual authorized to interact with Native American tribes on behalf of the U.S. government.-Indian agents:*Leander Clark was agent for the Sac and Fox in Iowa beginning in 1866....

 for the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation
San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation
The San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation, in southeastern Arizona, United States, was established in 1871 as a reservation for the Chiricahua Apache tribe. It was referred to by some as "Hell's Forty Acres," due to a myriad of dismal health and environmental conditions.-Formation:President U.S....

 in the Arizona Territory
Arizona Territory
The Territory of Arizona was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 24, 1863 until February 14, 1912, when it was admitted to the Union as the 48th state....

. He implemented a limited form of self-government on the reservation that was so successful that other reservations were closed and their residents moved to San Carlos. Clum later became the first mayor of Tombstone
Tombstone, Arizona
Tombstone is a city in Cochise County, Arizona, United States, founded in 1879 by Ed Schieffelin in what was then Pima County, Arizona Territory. It was one of the last wide-open frontier boomtowns in the American Old West. From about 1877 to 1890, the town's mines produced USD $40 to $85 million...

, Arizona Territory
Arizona Territory
The Territory of Arizona was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 24, 1863 until February 14, 1912, when it was admitted to the Union as the 48th state....

, after its incorporation in 1881. He also founded the still-operating The Tombstone Epitaph on May 1, 1880. He later served in various postal service positions across the United States.

Early life

John Clum (September 1, 1851 - May 2, 1932) was born on a farm near Claverack, New York
Claverack, New York
Claverack is a town in Columbia County, New York, United States. The population was 6,401 at the 2000 census. The town name is a corruption for the Dutch word for "Clover Fields" or "Clover Reach"....

, USA. His parents were William Henry and Elizabeth van Deusen Clum; he had five brothers and three sisters.

In September, 1867, he entered the Hudson River Institute (later known as Claverack College
Claverack College
Claverack College, also known as Washington Seminary and Hudson River Institute, was a coeducational boarding school in Claverack, New York, United States. It was in operation from 1779 until 1902.-History:...

), a military academy in Claverack, New York
Claverack, New York
Claverack is a town in Columbia County, New York, United States. The population was 6,401 at the 2000 census. The town name is a corruption for the Dutch word for "Clover Fields" or "Clover Reach"....

. He also attended religious services at the Dutch Reformed Church. In September, 1870, enrolled at Rutgers College. He obtained a classical education, studying among other subjects Latin, Greek, Mathematics (including algebra), Natural History (including physiology) and Rhetoric. He was a member of Rutgers' football team. Although Clum was on the team, he did not play on the first intercollegiate game between Rutgers and Princeton on November 6, 1869, but played on the second game in the fall of 1870. Clum’ strenuous activity and competitive athletics left him ill and in his second year of college he was unable to earn enough money to pay his tuition. He returned to his father’s farm in the summer of 1871. Clum read in a newspaper story that the federal War Department in Washington, D.C. was organizing a meteorological service. He applied for and was inducted into the US Army Signal Corps on September 14, 1871 with the rank of Observer Sergeant. Two weeks later he was dispatched to Santa Fe
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is the fourth-largest city in the state and is the seat of . Santa Fe had a population of 67,947 in the 2010 census...

, New Mexico, where he became a weather observer.

Indian Agent

President U.S Grant established the San Carlos Apache Reservation on December 14, 1872. After an investigation of political abuses
Political corruption
Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...

 within the Office of Indian Affairs, the government gave Protestant religious groups the responsibility for managing the Indian reservations. The Dutch Reformed Church
Dutch Reformed Church
The Dutch Reformed Church was a Reformed Christian denomination in the Netherlands. It existed from the 1570s to 2004, the year it merged with the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands to form the Protestant Church in the...

 was given charge of the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation
San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation
The San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation, in southeastern Arizona, United States, was established in 1871 as a reservation for the Chiricahua Apache tribe. It was referred to by some as "Hell's Forty Acres," due to a myriad of dismal health and environmental conditions.-Formation:President U.S....

. They sought out a candidate to run the reservation at Rutgers and were connected with Clum. Clum knew that a number of Indian Agents had already come and gone. Some Indian agents sought the position only as a means to line their own pocket, selling government-supplied food and clothing and keeping the profits for themselves.

The office was very political, as the military commanders and civilian agents contested for control over the reservation and the money associated with the responsibility. The Apaches, who were supposed to be fed and housed by their caretakers, rarely saw the results of the federal money and suffered as a result. Soldiers and their commanding officers sometimes brutally tortured or killed the Indians them for sport. On February 26, 1874, under these difficult conditions, Clum accepted a commission as Indian Agent for the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation in the Arizona Territory
Arizona Territory
The Territory of Arizona was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 24, 1863 until February 14, 1912, when it was admitted to the Union as the 48th state....

.

He arrived at the San Carlos Reservation on Tuesday, August 4, 1874. The very next day Apache scouts presented him with the severed head of Cochinay, a Tonto Apache
Tonto Apache
The Tonto Apache is one of the groups of Western Apache people. The term is also used for their dialect, one of the three dialects of the Western Apache language...

 renegade they had tracked down and killed. He inherited a legacy of violence and mayhem where the Indians had been abused by self-serving Indian Agents who took their position only to line their own pockets at the expense of the Indians, and a military presence which showed both animosity toward the Indians and disdain for the civilian Indian Agents.

To the distant politicians in Washington, D.C., all Indians were alike. They did not give consideration to the different tribes, cultures, customs and language. They also ignored prior political differences and military alliances. They tried to apply a “one-size-fits-all" strategy to deal with the “Indian problem”. As a result, friends and foes alike were forced to live in close proximity to one another.

Implements self-government

During Clum's tenure at San Carlos, he treated the Apaches as friends, established the first Indian Tribal Police and a Tribal Court, forming a system of Indian self-rule. The Apaches nicknamed him "Nantan Betunnikiyeh", “Nantan”, meaning boss or leader, “Betunnykahyeh” meaning high-forehead, or “Boss With The High Forehead”, referring to his baldness. Clum encouraged them to take up the peaceful pursuits of farming and raising cattle.

The Army disliked Clum's actions, as it prevented them from raking off part of the funds that passed through the reservation. Clum tired of the Army’s constant meddling in his management of the reservation and the lack of support from the Indian Bureau, the very people who a short time prior had sought him out specifically as a man who would make a good Agent.

Moves Chircahua tribe

In September, 1872, Cochise
Cochise
Cochise was a chief of the Chokonen band of the Chiricahua Apache and the leader of an uprising that began in 1861. Cochise County, Arizona is named after him.-Biography:...

 negotiated a reservation for his people in the Dragoon Mountains on the west to the Peloncillo Mountains
Peloncillo Mountains (Cochise County)
The Peloncillo Mountains of Cochise County, , is a mountain range in northeast Cochise County, Arizona. A northern north-south stretch of the range extends to the southern region of Greenlee County on the northeast, and a southeast region of Graham County on the northwest...

  on the east. It included the Chiricahua Mountains and ran south to the Mexican border. Some members of the tribe continued raids into the Mexican states Sonora
Sonora
Sonora officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 72 municipalities; the capital city is Hermosillo....

 and Chihuahua
Chihuahua
Chihuahua officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Chihuahua is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. Its capital city is Chihuahua....

. Governor Pesqueira of Sonora complained bitterly about the raids, and General Crook tried to figure out how to force their relocation to the San Carlos Reservation. Thomas J. Jeffords
Tom Jeffords
Thomas Jonathan Jeffords was a U.S. Army scout, Indian agent, and later a stagecoach driver in the Arizona Territory. His friendship with Apache leader Cochise was instrumental in ending the Indian wars in that region....

, who was Indian Agent to the reservation, lost influence when Cochise died on June 8, 1874. In 1876 Jeffords was relieved of his responsibility and on May 3 the government ordered Chum to transfer the Chiricahuas to San Carlos.
After waiting in vain for military reinforcements to help with the move, Clum began relocating the tribe in early June. Cochise's sons Taza and Naiche agreed to the move and killed several Chircahuas, including Eskinya, Cochise's trusted ally, when he insisted they go to war. The Nednhi Chirica led by Juh also requested transfer. Clum granted them three days to round up their kinsmen. They used that time to elude the cavalry and flee south. Of the more than 1,000 Chiricahuas enumerated in Jeffords's infrequent censuses, only 42 men and 280 women and children accompanied Clum north.

The firing of Jeffords and the abolition of the reservation in southeastern Arizona drove the Chiricahuas deeper into Mexico or over to the Ojo Caliente
Ojo Caliente, New Mexico
Ojo Caliente is a small unincorporated community in Taos County, New Mexico, United States. It lies along U.S. Route 285 near the Rio Grande. The state capital, Santa Fe lies south of Ojo Caliente, which sits between Espanola and Taos, approximately 50 miles southeast of Ghost Ranch. The community...

 Reservation in the New Mexico Territory
New Mexico Territory
thumb|right|240px|Proposed boundaries for State of New Mexico, 1850The Territory of New Mexico was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from September 9, 1850, until January 6, 1912, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of...

. In April 1877 the Interior Department ordered Clum to remove the bands at Ojo Caliente to San Carlos as well. Victorio and the Chihenne Chiricahuas acquiesced at first.

Captures Geronimo

Geronimo
Geronimo
Geronimo was a prominent Native American leader of the Chiricahua Apache who fought against Mexico and the United States for their expansion into Apache tribal lands for several decades during the Apache Wars. Allegedly, "Geronimo" was the name given to him during a Mexican incident...

, on the other hand, was defiant. Clum hid 100 of his Apache police in the commissary building at Ojo Caliente and on April 21, 1877, they surprised Geronimo, seizing his rifle and throwing him in shackles. His success gave the US Army a black-eye. It was the only time Geronimo was captured at gunpoint without a shot fired on either side. A total of 453 Chiricahuas, 100 from Geronimo's band and the rest under Victorio, reached San Carlos in late May. From the very beginning they quarreled with the other Apaches confined there.

Clum resigns

Clum's feuds with the military escalated. Faced with superior officers who strongly disagreed with his methods, dogged by an uncaring Indian Bureau administration and under constant harassment by the Army, Clum was frustrated. He left his post as Indian Agent at noon on July 1, 1877, nearly three years after he had arrived. His successor freed Geronimo and his men, leading to fifteen years of bloodshed and Indian wars until Geronimo was re-captured by General Miles on September 4, 1886, finally ending the Indian Wars. Throughout his life, Clum believed that his work among the Apache was the finest and noblest work he had ever done.

He was replaced by a series of agents who were renowned for their corruption. Two months later, Victorio, Loco, and 308 other Chiricahuas bolted for New Mexico, killing twelve ranchers before surrendering at Fort Wingate in early October.

Journalist

Clum and his wife moved to Florence
Florence, Arizona
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 17,054 people, 2,226 households, and 1,540 families residing in the town. The population density was 2,056.2 people per square mile . There were 3,216 housing units at an average density of 387.7 per square mile...

, Arizona Territory
Arizona Territory
The Territory of Arizona was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 24, 1863 until February 14, 1912, when it was admitted to the Union as the 48th state....

 and bought a weekly newspaper, the Arizona Citizen then operating in Tucson but moving it to Florence. Eventually he moved the paper back to Tucson. For more than two years he published editorials criticizing "the Army of Arizona and the political double-crossers in Washington".

Following the great silver strike in Tombstone
Tombstone, Arizona
Tombstone is a city in Cochise County, Arizona, United States, founded in 1879 by Ed Schieffelin in what was then Pima County, Arizona Territory. It was one of the last wide-open frontier boomtowns in the American Old West. From about 1877 to 1890, the town's mines produced USD $40 to $85 million...

, in 1877, Clum moved to Tombstone and began publication, on Saturday, May 1, 1880 of the The Tombstone Epitaph. He helped organize a “Vigilance Committee
Vigilance committee
A vigilance committee was a group formed of private citizens to administer law and order where they considered governmental structures to be inadequate. The term is commonly associated with the frontier areas of the American West in the mid-19th century, where groups attacked cattle rustlers and...

” to end lawlessness in Tombstone, and his association with that group helped get him elected as Tombstone's first mayor under the new city charter of 1881. Wile mayor he became lifelong friends with Wyatt Earp
Wyatt Earp
Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp was an American gambler, investor, and law enforcement officer who served in several Western frontier towns. He was also at different times a farmer, teamster, bouncer, saloon-keeper, miner and boxing referee. However, he was never a drover or cowboy. He is most well known...

 and one of his greatest supporters. His friendship with Earp made him a target for the outlaw Cowboys
The Cowboys (Cochise County)
The Cowboys were a loosely associated group of outlaw cowboys in Pima and Cochise County, Arizona Territory in the late 19th century. They were cattle rustlers and robbers who rode across the border into Mexico and rounded up cattle that they then sold in the United States...

. On December 14, he was leaving Tombstone to travel to Washington, D.C. to spend Christmas with his parents and son. The stage in which Clum was riding was held-up, and Clum managed to escape harm by heading out into the desert on foot. He and others were convinced the hold-up was cover for an attempt to assassinate hiim.

After the OK Corral shoot out, the political tables turned and the Earps, and everyone associated with them (including Clum) were labeled as miscreants, responsible for much unwanted violence and mayhem that scared-away much-needed eastern capital. Clum and the Earps were finished in Tombstone. Clum sold The Tombstone Epitaph and moved on. The newspaper is still published today as a nationally distributed chronicle of the old west.

Later Years and Death

In 1898, Clum was appointed Postal Inspector for the Alaska Territory
Alaska Territory
The Territory of Alaska was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from August 24, 1912, until January 3, 1959, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Alaska...

. During a five-month period he traversed 8,000 miles in the Alaskan territory, equipping existing post offices and establishing seven new post offices.

While in Nome, Alaska
Nome, Alaska
Nome is a city in the Nome Census Area in the Unorganized Borough of the U.S. state of Alaska, located on the southern Seward Peninsula coast on Norton Sound of the Bering Sea. According to the 2010 Census, the city population was 3,598. Nome was incorporated on April 9, 1901, and was once the...

 in the summer of 1900, Clum met his old friends, Wyatt Earp and George W. Parsons
George W. Parsons
George Whitwell Parsons was a licensed attorney turned banker during the 19th century Old West. He is remembered due to his having kept an accurate diary of his days in the west, which gave detailed accounts of his interaction with Old West notables such as Wyatt Earp and "Curly Bill"...

. Wyatt was operating the Dexter Saloon at the time. Clum was later named postmaster for Fairbanks, Alaska
Fairbanks, Alaska
Fairbanks is a home rule city in and the borough seat of the Fairbanks North Star Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska.Fairbanks is the largest city in the Interior region of Alaska, and second largest in the state behind Anchorage...

, and served in that position until 1909.

After his tenure as the Fairbanks postmaster, Clum spent several years working for the Southern Pacific Railroad
Southern Pacific Railroad
The Southern Pacific Transportation Company , earlier Southern Pacific Railroad and Southern Pacific Company, and usually simply called the Southern Pacific or Espee, was an American railroad....

, giving hundreds of lectures all over the country to promote tourism and passenger-use of the railroad. In 1928 he moved to Los Angeles, where he lived until his death, in 1932 at age 80. He was survived by his third wife, Florence, son Woodworth, and daughter Caro Kingsland Clum Vachon.

His descendants still reside in the Los Angeles area and in Carmel and Rancho Mirage, California
Rancho Mirage, California
Rancho Mirage is a resort city in Riverside County, California, United States. The population was 17,218 at the 2010 census, up from 13,249 at the 2000 census, but the seasonal population can exceed 20,000. In between Cathedral City and Palm Desert, it is one of the eight cities of the Coachella...

.

In film

  • Frontier Marshal
    Frontier Marshal (1934 film)
    Frontier Marshal is a 1934 western film directed by Lewis Seiler. Produced by Fox Film and Sol M. Wurtzel, the film is the first based on Stuart N. Lake's enormously popular but largely fictitious "biography" of Wyatt Earp, Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal...

    (1934) Russell Simpson
    Russell Simpson (actor)
    Russell McCaskill Simpson was an American character actor.Born in San Francisco, California, Simpson is best known for his work in the films of John Ford and, in particular, for his portrayal of Pa Joad in The Grapes of Wrath in 1940.Simpson reportedly prospected for gold in Alaska in his youth,...

     played the part of “Editor Pickett” based on Clum in the first of two movies of the same name based on Stuart Lake’s book Wyatt Earp Frontier Marshal.
  • Frontier Marshal
    Frontier Marshal (1939 film)
    Frontier Marshal is a 1939 western film starring Randolph Scott as Wyatt Earp. It is the second film produced by Sol M. Wurtzel based on Stuart N. Lake's highly fictionalized account of Earp, Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal. An earlier version was Wurtzel's Frontier Marshal, filmed in 1934...

    (1939) Harry Hayden played the part of Mayor in the second movie based on Stuart Lake’s book on Wyatt Earp.
  • Tombstone, the Town Too Tough to Die
    Tombstone, the Town Too Tough to Die
    Tombstone: The Town Too Tough to Die is a Western film released in 1942, starring Richard Dix and Kent Taylor, and directed by William McGann.-Plot:...

     (1942) Clum's role as mayor and newspaper editor was split, with Charles Halton playing “Mayor Dan Crane” and actor Emmett Vogan playing the part of “Editor John Clum”.
  • My Darling Clementine
    My Darling Clementine
    My Darling Clementine is a 1946 western movie. It was directed by John Ford, and based on the story of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral between the Earp brothers and the Clanton gang. It features an ensemble cast including Henry Fonda, Victor Mature, Ward Bond, Walter Brennan, and others.The movie...

    (1946) Roy Roberts played the part of the Tombstone Mayor.
  • Walk the Proud Land
    Walk the Proud Land
    Walk the Proud Land is a 1956 Western Technicolor CinemaScope film directed by Jesse Hibbs, starring Audie Murphy and future Academy Award winner Anne Bancroft. It was filmed at Old Tucson.-Plot:...

    (1956) Audie Murphy
    Audie Murphy
    Audie Leon Murphy was a highly decorated and famous soldier. Through LIFE magazine's July 16, 1945 issue , he became one the most famous soldiers of World War II and widely regarded as the most decorated American soldier of the war...

     played Clum in the movie based on the 1936 biography Apache Agent written by Woodworth Clum.
  • Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
    Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957 film)
    The film was based on a real event which took place on October 26, 1881. It was directed by John Sturges and featuring a screenplay written by novelist Leon Uris, and the movie's supporting cast included Rhonda Fleming, John Ireland, Jo Van Fleet, Martin Milner, Dennis Hopper, Jack Elam, Lee Van...

    (1957) Whit Bissell
    Whit Bissell
    Whitner Nutting Bissell , better known as Whit Bissell, was an American actor.-Early life:Born in New York City, Bissell was the son of prominent surgeon Dr. J. Dougal Bissell. He trained with the Carolina Playmakers, a theatrical organization associated with the University of North Carolina at...

     played Clum.
  • The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp
    The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp
    The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp is a Western television series loosely based on the adventures of frontier marshal Wyatt Earp. The half-hour black and white series ran on ABC-TV from 1955 to 1961 and featured Hugh O'Brian as Earp. An off-camera barbershop quartet sang the theme song and hummed...

    , a TV series. (1960-1961) Actor Stacy Harris
    Stacy Harris (actor)
    Stacy Harris was an American actor with hundreds of film and television appearances.Harris was best known for his role as agent Jim Taylor on ABC Radio's This is Your FBI and, later, for playing varied characters, often villains, on shows produced by Jack Webb's Mark VII Limited, such as Dragnet,...

     played Clum.
  • Hour of the Gun
    Hour of the Gun
    Hour of the Gun is 1967 Western film starring James Garner and depicting Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday during their 1881 battles against Ike Clanton and his brothers in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, and the gunfight's aftermath in and around Tombstone, Arizona.The film is based on the non fiction...

    (1967) Larry Gates
    Larry Gates
    Larry Gates was an American actor probably best known for his role as H.B. Lewis on daytime's Guiding Light and as Doc Baugh in the film version of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof...

     played Clum.
  • Doc
    Doc (film)
    Doc is a 1971 American western film, which tells the story of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral and of one of its protagonists, Doc Holliday. It stars Stacy Keach, Faye Dunaway and Harris Yulin. It was directed by Frank Perry, while Pete Hamill wrote the original screenplay...

    (1971) Dan Greenberg
    Dan Greenberg
    Daniel "Dan" Greenberg is an American politician. He was a Republican member of the Arkansas House of Representatives from 2006 through 2011...

     as Clum.
  • Tombstone
    Tombstone (film)
    Tombstone is a 1993 American action film set in the Old West directed by George P. Cosmatos, along with uncredited directorial efforts by actor Kurt Russell and writer Kevin Jarre. The storyline was conceived from a screenplay written by Jarre....

    (1993) Terry O'Quinn
    Terry O'Quinn
    Terry O'Quinn is an American actor, most famous for playing John Locke on the TV series Lost. He made his debut in a 1980 television movie called F.D.R.: The Last Year. Since then, O'Quinn has had minor supporting roles in films and TV movies such as Young Guns, All the Right Moves, Silver Bullet,...

     played Clum.
  • Wyatt Earp
    Wyatt Earp (film)
    Wyatt Earp is a 1994 American semi-biographical Western film, written by Dan Gordon and Lawrence Kasdan and directed by Kasdan. It stars Kevin Costner in the title role as lawman Wyatt Earp, and features an ensemble cast that includes Dennis Quaid, Gene Hackman, Isabella Rossellini, Mark Harmon,...

    (1994) Randal Mell played Clum.

Additional reading

  • John P. Clum, Tombstone Epitaph - 1950 Arizona Newspapers Association Hall of Fame
  • John P. Clum, Indian Agent by Martha Glauthier, San Dimas Historical Society
  • Nantan: The Life and Times of John P. Clum Volume 1 Claverack to Tombstone (2007) by Gary Ledoux / Trafford Publishing]
  • Nantan: The Life and Times of John P. Clum Volume 2 Tombstone to Los Angeles (2008) by Gary Ledoux / Trafford Publishing
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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