Background
A number of outlaw Cowboys had on numerous occasions crossed the border into Mexico where they stole cattle and re-sold them to the booming mining camps. The Mexican government at the time placed high tariffs on goods transported across the border, making smuggling a profitable enterprise.
In July 1881, several Mexican smugglers headed for Tucson or Tombstone carrying silver were ambushed and killed in an area called Skeleton Canyon. The killers were never positively identified, but Mexicans just across the border always suspected that those murders were committed by outlaw Cowboys. A ranch owned by "Old Man" Clanton was used at times by the smugglers as a way station for selling the stolen cattle. Old Man Clanton was suspected of directly participating in the smuggling. Although his ranch did not own a brand, required for cattle operations, it was one of the most profitable cattle ranches in that part of the country.
Read more about this topic: Guadalupe Canyon Massacre
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