Nantan - The Life and Times of John P. Clum
Volume 1: Claverack to Tombstone 1851-1882
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About the Book
John P. Clum is perhaps best known as Tombstone's Mayor during that town's most violent period. But that was just one small slice of a long and fascinating life! Blazing a trail across the American frontier, John Clum engaged in a multitude of exciting careers.
As a "Storm Sergeant" he telegraphed the first weather report from a post-Civil War Santa Fe, New Mexico.
As an Indian Agent and one of the earliest advocates for Indian rights, he founded the first successful Indian self-ruling government complete with an Indian Police force, a concept later adopted by the US government for all reservations. He would use his Indian Police to help capture the renegade Apache, Geronimo - the only time Geronimo was ever taken at gun-point!
He founded, what is today, the second oldest continuously operated newspaper in Arizona, the Tombstone Epitaph, an enduring icon of the old west.
He became an enemy of Tombstone's cow-boys including Curly Bill Brocious, Johnny Ringo and Ike Clanton when, as Tombstone's Mayor, he supported the Earp/Holliday "faction", surviving an assassination attempt.
The Apaches called him Nantan. Tombstoners called him Mayor. Wyatt Earp called him a friend. Supporters called him heroic, brave and daring. His detractors called him bombastic, impudent and brash.
He could handle a gun and a town council meeting with equal aplomb. And it is all included here in Nantan: The Life and Times of John P. Clum - both sides of an extraordinary man.
About the Author
A native of New Hampshire, Gary Ledoux has had a long-time love of the old-west; his interest focused on Tombstone and its characters, legend and lore.
He is a member of several old-west organizations including the Western Writers of America and the Western Outlaw and Lawman History Association
His articles have appeared in various old-west magazines including True West and the Tombstone Epitaph. His YesterWest column appears in the national edition of the Tombstone Epitaph and the Tombstone Times.
His first book, Tombstone: A Chronicle In Perspective debuted in October, 2002.
He has been a featured writer at the Warren Earp Days Book Festival held in Willcox, AZ in 2003, a featured writer for the Tombstone Book and Film Festival held in Tombstone in 2004 and a similar event held in Tucson in 2005 and again in Tombstone in 2006.
He was a contributor for the October, 2006 OK Corral 125th Anniversary Event in Tombstone giving a speech on Tombstone's Allen Street, in character, as Mayor John Clum.
Gary and his wife, Rachel, presently live in southern California.