Doc Holliday Biography

Doc Holliday Biography Doc Holliday (born John Henry Holliday, August 14, 1851- November 8, 1887) was  an American  gunfighter, gambler, and dentist.  A  friend of fellow gunslinger  and  lawman  Wyatt Earp, Holliday became an iconic  character  of the  American Wild West  through  his role in the  gunfight at the O.K.  Corral.  Despite his reputation for  having gunned down  Ã¢â‚¬Å"dozens† of men, more recent research suggests Holliday killed no more than two men.  Over the years, Holliday’s character and  life have been depicted in many movies and television series. Fast Facts: Doc Holliday Full Name:  John Henry (Doc) Holliday  Known For:  Old West American gambler, gunfighter, and dentist. Friend of Wyatt Earp  Born:  August 14, 1851, in Griffin, GeorgiaDied:  November 8, 1887, in  Glenwood Springs, ColoradoParents:  Henry Holliday and Alice Jane (McKey) HollidayEducation:  Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery, D.D.S. Degree, 1872  Key Accomplishments:  Fought beside Wyatt Earp against the Clanton Gang in the Gunfight at the OK Corral. Accompanied Wyatt Earp on his Vendetta Ride  Spouse:  Big Nose Kate  Horony  (common-law)  Famous Quote:  Ã¢â‚¬Å"All I want of you is ten paces out in the street.† (to gunfighter Johnny Ringo).   Early Life and Education     Doc Holliday was born on August 14, 1851, in Griffin, Georgia, to Henry Holliday and Alice Jane (McKey) Holliday. A veteran of both the  Mexican–American War  and the  Civil War, Henry Holliday taught his son  to shoot.  In 1864, the family moved to Valdosta, Georgia, where Doc attended first through tenth grade at the private Valdosta Institute.  Considered an outstanding student, Holliday excelled at  rhetoric, grammar, mathematics, history,  and Latin.   Doc Holliday. John van Hasselt / Getty Images In 1870, the 19-year-old Holliday moved to Philadelphia,  where he received a Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery on March 1, 1872.   Holliday Heads  West   In July 1872,  Holliday joined a  dental practice in Atlanta,  but was soon diagnosed with tuberculosis. Hoping the drier climate would help  his condition, he moved to Dallas, Texas, eventually opening his own dental practice. As his  coughing spells increased and his dental patients abandoned him, Holliday turned to gambling to support himself. After having been arrested twice for illegal gambling  and being acquitted of murder, he left Texas in January 1875. Gambling his  way west through states and cities where betting was treated as a legal profession, Holliday settled  in  Dodge City, Kansas, in the spring of 1878. It was in Dodge City  that Holliday befriended assistant city marshal Wyatt Earp.  Though there were no reports of the incident in the  Dodge City newspapers, Earp credited Holliday for saving his life during a shootout with outlaws at the  Long Branch Saloon.   The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral   In  September  1880, Holliday  rejoined  his friend Wyatt Earp  in the wild and booming silver mining camp town of Tombstone,  Arizona  Territory.  Then a  Wells Fargo  stagecoach  security agent, Wyatt joined  his brothers, Deputy U.S. Marshal Virgil Earp, and Morgan  Earp as Tombstone’s â€Å"police force.†Ã‚  In Tombstone’s gambling  and liquor-fueled atmosphere, Holliday soon became involved in the violence that would result in the  Gunfight at  the O.K. Corral.   Opposing the  Earps  for control of Tombstone  was the infamous  Clanton Gang, a  group of  local  cowboys  led by  the notorious cattle rustlers  and murderers  Ike Clanton and Tom  McLaury. On  October 25, 1881,  Ike  Clanton and  Tom  McLaury  came to town for supplies. Over the  course of the  day, they had several  violent  confrontations with the Earp brothers. On the morning of October 26,  Ike’s brother Billy Clanton  and Tom’s brother Frank  McLaury, along with gunfighter Billy Claiborne,  rode to town to provide backup for Ike and Tom. When Frank  McLaury  and Billy  Clanton learned that the  Earps  had  just  pistol-whipped their brothers, they  vowed revenge. At  3 p.m. on October 26, 1881, the  Earps  and  the hastily-deputized  Holliday faced the Clanton-McLaury  gang behind the OK Corral. In the 30-seconds of gunfire that ensued, Billy Clanton and both  McLaury  brothers were killed.  Doc Holliday, and Virgil and Morgan Earp were wounded. While he was present at the gunfight, Ike Clanton was unarmed and fled the scene. Though a territorial court found that the  Earps  and Holliday had  acted within their duties as lawmen at the O.K. Corral, Ike Clanton was not satisfied. In the following  weeks, Morgan Earp was killed and Virgil Earp was permanently maimed by a group of unknown cowboys.  In what has become known as the  Earp Vendetta Ride, Holliday joined Wyatt Earp as part of a federal posse that pursued the suspected outlaws  for over a year, killing four of them.   Later Life  and Death  in  Colorado   Holliday moved to Pueblo, Colorado, in  April 1882.  In May, he was arrested  for the murder of Frank Stilwell, one of the cowboys he had chased down while riding with Wyatt Earp’s federal posse. When Earp learned of the arrest, he arranged  to have the request to extradite Holliday  to Arizona  denied.  Ã‚   In the winter of 1886,  Holliday met his old friend Wyatt Earp for a final time in the lobby of the Windsor Hotel in Denver. Earp’s common-law wife Sadie Marcus later described  Holliday as a constantly-coughing skeleton standing on â€Å"unsteady legs.†Ã‚  Ã‚   Holliday spent the last year of his life in Colorado, dying of tuberculosis in his bed at the Glenwood Springs Hotel on November 8, 1887, at age 36.  He  is  buried in Linwood Cemetery overlooking Glenwood Springs, Colorado.   Legacy   One of the best-recognized characters of the American Old West, Doc Holliday is remembered for his friendship with Wyatt Earp.  In an 1896 article, Wyatt Earp said  of Holliday:   â€Å"I found him a loyal friend and good company. He was a dentist whom necessity had made a gambler; a gentleman whom disease had made a vagabond; a philosopher whom life had made a caustic wit; a long, lean blonde fellow nearly dead with consumption and at the same time the most skillful gambler and nerviest, speediest, deadliest man with a six-gun I ever knew.†Ã‚   Sources and  Further Reference Roberts, Gary L. (2006).  Doc Holliday: The Life and Legend.  John Wiley and Sons, Inc. ISBN 0-471-26291-9  Doc Holliday- Deadly Doctor of the American West. Legends of America.  Ã‚  OK Corral. History.net  Urban, William L. (2003).  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Tombstone. Wyatt Earp: The Ok Corral and the Law of the American West.† The Rosen Publishing Group. p. 75. ISBN 978-0-8239-5740-8.