n this era of failing local newspapers and a shift to digital publishing, the longevity of is heartening. Arizona’s oldest continually operated newspaper started up its press on May 1, 1880. Founding editor John Clum was warned he would find nothing in Apache country but his own death, thus the newspaper’s macabre name. But Clum had already earned respect as an agent to the Apaches and had even managed to detain Geronimo—albeit briefly—without firing a shot. In Tombstone the law-and-order editor organized a vigilance committee, served as postmaster, was elected mayor and befriended Wyatt Earp. In the wake of the Oct. 26, 1881, gunfight near the O.K. Corral Clum ran the unambiguous headline Earp Brothers Justified, prompting an attempt on his life by the Cowboy gang of outlaws. He left town in 1882, 30 years before locals posed by and atop a stagecoach for the inset photo. A handpress still graces the office, though today the is a monthly.
