Doc Holliday Essay, Research Paper

The story of John Henry Doc Holliday is somewhat different from what most people think. He served no government. He wasn t the victim of social oppression. He was not one who you would want to be your enemy. He was on of the coolest killers ever to snatch a gun from hiding. This is the story of his life and his legendary friend ship with Wyatt Earp. Doc was a dentist whom necessity had made a gambler; a gentleman whom disease had made frontier vagabond; a philosopher whom life had made a caustic wit; a long, lean ash-blond fellow nearly dead with consumption, and at the same time the most skillful gambler and the nerviest, speediest, deadliest man with a six-gun I ever knew . -Wyatt Earp The story of Doc Holliday begins in Georgia. He was born on August 14, 1851 to Henry Burroughs and Martha Eleanora Holliday in Griffin, Georgia. He was given the name John Henry Holliday and baptized on the 21st of March 1852. Holliday was taught to shoot when he was young by his father and was taught to gamble by his slavegirl nanny. While growing up he was close to his mother until he death on the 16th of September 1866. This was a very traumatic experience, which was made worse when his father remarried only 3 months after her death. The family moved to Valdsta, Georgia soon after this marriage.Then in 1870, Doc Holliday enrolled in the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery. While there he wrote his thesis on Disease of the Teeth and served his required time as an apprentice with Dr. L.F. Frank. Doc graduated with a degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery. After his graduation, on March 1st, 1872, Doc entered into dental practice in Atlanta with a Dr. Arthur C. Ford. While practicing as a dentist, Doc was diagnosed with consumption or what is now called tuberculosis. All the doctors he visited said that he had only months to live, but he might add some time to his life if moved to a drier climate. Doc left Georgia at the age of 22 in search of a better climate. He fount that climate at the end of the railroad in Dallas, Texas. Once in Dallas, he became an associate with Dr. John A. Seeger. It was October of 1873. Doc s dental practice soon came to an end because of the horrible coughing spells brought upon by his tuberculosis.After his dental practice ended, Doc could no longer support him self. Therefor he turned to something that he discovered he was naturally good at gambling. Since this was the old west, and gambling was a dangerous profession, Doc started practicing every day with his pistol and knife. During his stay in Dallas Doc Holliday had his first confrontation. The date was January 2nd, 1875, and the opposition was a saloonkeeper. Neither Holliday nor the saloonkeeper was injured in the duel and both were released soon after their arrest. A few days later, Doc was involved in another violent confrontation that resulted in the death of a prominent citizen. He then fled Dallas with the local authorities on his tail and ended up in Jackson, a town that was close to the army base named Fort Richardson.In Jackson, Holliday took up the trade of dealing Faro. The close proximity to the fort proved troublesome to Doc after he kill a soldier from the fort. This time he left with local, federal, and military authorities on his heels. Doc ended up in Colorado and spent time in the mining towns of Central City, Leadville, Georgetown, and Pueblo. He killed another man in a gambling dispute and fled again. This time Doc traveled through Wyoming and New Mexico, and finally ended up at Fort Griffin, Texas. Fort Griffin was the place that Doc met Big Nose Kate Elder and Wyatt Earp. Kate was a local prostitute and dancehall girl. She and Doc met while he was dealing cards at John Shanssey s saloon. Kate had a hot temper and she liked to drink a lot. This usually resulted in violent arguments. Their relationship was a rocky one. However, she and Doc usually ended up back together in the end. Doc met Wyatt Earp when Earp came into town searching for a train robber. Their friendship was a strong bond for the rest of their lives and was Doc s biggest influence until his death. After a while Doc ran in to some trouble that resulted in the death of Ed Bailey. So Doc and Kate fled from Griffin and ended up in Dodge City. In Dodge City both Doc and Kate tried their hands at a respectable living. Doc tried to start up his dentistry practice and Kate gave up prostitution. This straight life didn t last long. One day, a group of Cowboys had ganged up on Wyatt in the Long Beach saloon. IN response to his friend situation, Holliday coolly stepped up to the gun rack, removed his revolver and broke up the party by shooting one of the rustlers in the shoulder. He then helped herd the out laws across the street to the jail. This only helped to strengthen the bond between the two friends. Doc eventually left Dodge City for a while. He first tried to settle in a place called Trinidad, Colorado where he found a young gambler and aspiring gunfighter named Kid Colton . Colton made the fatal mistake of riling Doc in to a gunfight. Doc made quick work of the Kid and, not wanting to wait around for his place at the end of a rope; Doc left for New Mexico. Doc found him self in Las Vegas, New Mexico. In Las Vegas, Holliday made a half-hearted attempt at dentistry. This was in 1879. He soon gave up on the practice and bought him self a saloon on Center Street. Within a few weeks Doc was in trouble again. So Doc left Las Vegas and since he had no real friends anywhere else, he headed back to Dodge City only to find that Wyatt and his brothers, Morgan and Virgil had left for the town of Tombstone. With Wyatt gone Doc had no reason to stay in Dodge City so he headed after his friend. Upon his arrival in Tombstone Doc set up his residency with Kate, whom he had found in Prescot on his way to Tombstone, in a room between a funeral parlor and a winery. Holliday had a strange since of humor and his love for practical jokes made Doc one of the most unliked people in Tombstone. Doc started making enemies form the start and unfortunately most of these new enemies were all in the same gang of rustlers who called them selves the Cowboys. The Cowboys threatened to kill Holliday and the Earps. The out come was the most famous gunfight ever to happen in the west. On October 26th, 1881 the biggest gunfight on record happened in the streets of Tombstone. On that cold day in October Virgil and his brothers found out that some of the cowboys were carrying guns in side the Tombstone City limits, which at the time was illegal. As the Earp walked down the street to disarm the Cowboys, Doc joined their ranks. The shootout occurred at the corner of the O.K. Corral. The shooting started when two of the Cowboys, Billy Clanton and Frank McLaury, cocked their guns. It s never been determined which side shot first. Early in the fight Frank McLaury was shot in the stomach but returned to the fight. Then Tom McLaury caught a charge of buckshot from Holliday s shotgun. The volleys of fire continued and Virgil Earp took a slug to the leg. Billy Clanton was shot three times in the battle ended with Frank Mclaury sitting in the street aiming his gun at Doc Holliday saying I ve got you now , Doc looked at him coolly and said Blaze away. You re a Daisy if you have. With that Frank McLaury shot at Holliday just barely grazing Doc s hip. With that last shot Doc Holliday and the Earps unloaded on Frank McLaury. With that the gunfight at the O.K. Corral was finished. Three Cowboys lay dead: Billy Clanton, Tom McLaury, and Frank McLaury. Doc went with Wyatt on Earp s trail of vengeance. It is unclear whom who shot but in the end 19 Cowboys were hunted down and killed by the Earp posse. It has been rumored that Holliday was responsible for most of the kills. After Wyatt and Doc left Tombstone for good they ended up in back in Colorado. In May of 1887 Doc went to Glenwood Springs to see if the sulfur fumes would help his tuberculosis. However it was too late for that Doc s last 57 days were spent bed ridden. On November 8th, 1887, Doc awoke drank a glass of whisky and said This is funny , he then died. He was buried at Linwood Cemetery. The Life of Doc HollidayBy Jared Martin BiblyographyBooksMyers, John Myers. Doc Holliday. University of Nebraska: Lincoln and London. !955Tanner, Karin Holliday. Doc Holliday: A Family Portrait. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. 1998Tefertiler, Casey. Wyatt Earp the Life Behind the Legend. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc. 1997. MagazinesHogan, Richard. Doc Holliday: A Family Portrait The Journal of American History, June 1999 .pg.265-266 The story of John Henry Doc Holliday is somewhat different from what most people think. He served no government. He wasn t the victim of social oppression. He was not one who you would want to be your enemy. He was on of the coolest killers ever to snatch a gun from hiding. This is the story of his life and his legendary friend ship with Wyatt Earp. Doc was a dentist whom necessity had made a gambler; a gentleman whom disease had made frontier vagabond; a philosopher whom life had made a caustic wit; a long, lean ash-blond fellow nearly dead with consumption, and at the same time the most skillful gambler and the nerviest, speediest, deadliest man with a six-gun I ever knew . -Wyatt Earp The story of Doc Holliday begins in Georgia. He was born on August 14, 1851 to Henry Burroughs and Martha Eleanora Holliday in Griffin, Georgia. He was given the name John Henry Holliday and baptized on the 21st of March 1852. Holliday was taught to shoot when he was young by his father and was taught to gamble by his slavegirl nanny. While growing up he was close to his mother until he death on the 16th of September 1866. This was a very traumatic experience, which was made worse when his father remarried only 3 months after her death. The family moved to Valdsta, Georgia soon after this marriage.Then in 1870, Doc Holliday enrolled in the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery. While there he wrote his thesis on Disease of the Teeth and served his required time as an apprentice with Dr. L.F. Frank. Doc graduated with a degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery. After his graduation, on March 1st, 1872, Doc entered into dental practice in Atlanta with a Dr. Arthur C. Ford. While practicing as a dentist, Doc was diagnosed with consumption or what is now called tuberculosis. All the doctors he visited said that he had only months to live, but he might add some time to his life if moved to a drier climate. Doc left Georgia at the age of 22 in search of a better climate. He fount that climate at the end of the railroad in Dallas, Texas. Once in Dallas, he became an associate with Dr. John A. Seeger. It was October of 1873. Doc s dental practice soon came to an end because of the horrible coughing spells brought upon by his tuberculosis.After his dental practice ended, Doc could no longer support him self. Therefor he turned to something that he discovered he was naturally good at gambling. Since this was the old west, and gambling was a dangerous profession, Doc started practicing every day with his pistol and knife. During his stay in Dallas Doc Holliday had his first confrontation. The date was January 2nd, 1875, and the opposition was a saloonkeeper. Neither Holliday nor the saloonkeeper was injured in the duel and both were released soon after their arrest. A few days later, Doc was involved in another violent confrontation that resulted in the death of a prominent citizen. He then fled Dallas with the local authorities on his tail and ended up in Jackson, a town that was close to the army base named Fort Richardson.In Jackson, Holliday took up the trade of dealing Faro. The close proximity to the fort proved troublesome to Doc after he kill a soldier from the fort. This time he left with local, federal, and military authorities on his heels. Doc ended up in Colorado and spent time in the mining towns of Central City, Leadville, Georgetown, and Pueblo. He killed another man in a gambling dispute and fled again. This time Doc traveled through Wyoming and New Mexico, and finally ended up at Fort Griffin, Texas. Fort Griffin was the place that Doc met Big Nose Kate Elder and Wyatt Earp. Kate was a local prostitute and dancehall girl. She and Doc met while he was dealing cards at John Shanssey s saloon. Kate had a hot temper and she liked to drink a lot. This usually resulted in violent arguments. Their relationship was a rocky one. However, she and Doc usually ended up back together in the end. Doc met Wyatt Earp when Earp came into town searching for a train robber. Their friendship was a strong bond for the rest of their lives and was Doc s biggest influence until his death. After a while Doc ran in to some trouble that resulted in the death of Ed Bailey. So Doc and Kate fled from Griffin and ended up in Dodge City. In Dodge City both Doc and Kate tried their hands at a respectable living. Doc tried to start up his dentistry practice and Kate gave up prostitution. This straight life didn t last long. One day, a group of Cowboys had ganged up on Wyatt in the Long Beach saloon. IN response to his friend situation, Holliday coolly stepped up to the gun rack, removed his revolver and broke up the party by shooting one of the rustlers in the shoulder. He then helped herd the out laws across the street to the jail. This only helped to strengthen the bond between the two friends.

Doc eventually left Dodge City for a while. He first tried to settle in a place called Trinidad, Colorado where he found a young gambler and aspiring gunfighter named Kid Colton . Colton made the fatal mistake of riling Doc in to a gunfight. Doc made quick work of the Kid and, not wanting to wait around for his place at the end of a rope; Doc left for New Mexico. Doc found him self in Las Vegas, New Mexico. In Las Vegas, Holliday made a half-hearted attempt at dentistry. This was in 1879. He soon gave up on the practice and bought him self a saloon on Center Street. Within a few weeks Doc was in trouble again. So Doc left Las Vegas and since he had no real friends anywhere else, he headed back to Dodge City only to find that Wyatt and his brothers, Morgan and Virgil had left for the town of Tombstone. With Wyatt gone Doc had no reason to stay in Dodge City so he headed after his friend. Upon his arrival in Tombstone Doc set up his residency with Kate, whom he had found in Prescot on his way to Tombstone, in a room between a funeral parlor and a winery. Holliday had a strange since of humor and his love for practical jokes made Doc one of the most unliked people in Tombstone. Doc started making enemies form the start and unfortunately most of these new enemies were all in the same gang of rustlers who called them selves the Cowboys. The Cowboys threatened to kill Holliday and the Earps. The out come was the most famous gunfight ever to happen in the west. On October 26th, 1881 the biggest gunfight on record happened in the streets of Tombstone. On that cold day in October Virgil and his brothers found out that some of the cowboys were carrying guns in side the Tombstone City limits, which at the time was illegal. As the Earp walked down the street to disarm the Cowboys, Doc joined their ranks. The shootout occurred at the corner of the O.K. Corral. The shooting started when two of the Cowboys, Billy Clanton and Frank McLaury, cocked their guns. It s never been determined which side shot first. Early in the fight Frank McLaury was shot in the stomach but returned to the fight. Then Tom McLaury caught a charge of buckshot from Holliday s shotgun. The volleys of fire continued and Virgil Earp took a slug to the leg. Billy Clanton was shot three times in the battle ended with Frank Mclaury sitting in the street aiming his gun at Doc Holliday saying I ve got you now , Doc looked at him coolly and said Blaze away. You re a Daisy if you have. With that Frank McLaury shot at Holliday just barely grazing Doc s hip. With that last shot Doc Holliday and the Earps unloaded on Frank McLaury. With that the gunfight at the O.K. Corral was finished. Three Cowboys lay dead: Billy Clanton, Tom McLaury, and Frank McLaury. Doc went with Wyatt on Earp s trail of vengeance. It is unclear whom who shot but in the end 19 Cowboys were hunted down and killed by the Earp posse. It has been rumored that Holliday was responsible for most of the kills. After Wyatt and Doc left Tombstone for good they ended up in back in Colorado. In May of 1887 Doc went to Glenwood Springs to see if the sulfur fumes would help his tuberculosis. However it was too late for that Doc s last 57 days were spent bed ridden. On November 8th, 1887, Doc awoke drank a glass of whisky and said This is funny , he then died. He was buried at Linwood Cemetery. The Life of Doc HollidayBy Jared Martin BiblyographyBooksMyers, John Myers. Doc Holliday. University of Nebraska: Lincoln and London. !955Tanner, Karin Holliday. Doc Holliday: A Family Portrait. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. 1998Tefertiler, Casey. Wyatt Earp the Life Behind the Legend. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc. 1997. MagazinesHogan, Richard. Doc Holliday: A Family Portrait The Journal of American History, June 1999 .pg.265-266 The story of John Henry Doc Holliday is somewhat different from what most people think. He served no government. He wasn t the victim of social oppression. He was not one who you would want to be your enemy. He was on of the coolest killers ever to snatch a gun from hiding. This is the story of his life and his legendary friend ship with Wyatt Earp. Doc was a dentist whom necessity had made a gambler; a gentleman whom disease had made frontier vagabond; a philosopher whom life had made a caustic wit; a long, lean ash-blond fellow nearly dead with consumption, and at the same time the most skillful gambler and the nerviest, speediest, deadliest man with a six-gun I ever knew . -Wyatt Earp The story of Doc Holliday begins in Georgia. He was born on August 14, 1851 to Henry Burroughs and Martha Eleanora Holliday in Griffin, Georgia. He was given the name John Henry Holliday and baptized on the 21st of March 1852. Holliday was taught to shoot when he was young by his father and was taught to gamble by his slavegirl nanny. While growing up he was close to his mother until he death on the 16th of September 1866. This was a very traumatic experience, which was made worse when his father remarried only 3 months after her death. The family moved to Valdsta, Georgia soon after this marriage.Then in 1870, Doc Holliday enrolled in the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery. While there he wrote his thesis on Disease of the Teeth and served his required time as an apprentice with Dr. L.F. Frank. Doc graduated with a degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery. After his graduation, on March 1st, 1872, Doc entered into dental practice in Atlanta with a Dr. Arthur C. Ford. While practicing as a dentist, Doc was diagnosed with consumption or what is now called tuberculosis. All the doctors he visited said that he had only months to live, but he might add some time to his life if moved to a drier climate. Doc left Georgia at the age of 22 in search of a better climate. He fount that climate at the end of the railroad in Dallas, Texas. Once in Dallas, he became an associate with Dr. John A. Seeger. It was October of 1873. Doc s dental practice soon came to an end because of the horrible coughing spells brought upon by his tuberculosis.After his dental practice ended, Doc could no longer support him self. Therefor he turned to something that he discovered he was naturally good at gambling. Since this was the old west, and gambling was a dangerous profession, Doc started practicing every day with his pistol and knife. During his stay in Dallas Doc Holliday had his first confrontation. The date was January 2nd, 1875, and the opposition was a saloonkeeper. Neither Holliday nor the saloonkeeper was injured in the duel and both were released soon after their arrest. A few days later, Doc was involved in another violent confrontation that resulted in the death of a prominent citizen. He then fled Dallas with the local authorities on his tail and ended up in Jackson, a town that was close to the army base named Fort Richardson.In Jackson, Holliday took up the trade of dealing Faro. The close proximity to the fort proved troublesome to Doc after he kill a soldier from the fort. This time he left with local, federal, and military authorities on his heels. Doc ended up in Colorado and spent time in the mining towns of Central City, Leadville, Georgetown, and Pueblo. He killed another man in a gambling dispute and fled again. This time Doc traveled through Wyoming and New Mexico, and finally ended up at Fort Griffin, Texas. Fort Griffin was the place that Doc met Big Nose Kate Elder and Wyatt Earp. Kate was a local prostitute and dancehall girl. She and Doc met while he was dealing cards at John Shanssey s saloon. Kate had a hot temper and she liked to drink a lot. This usually resulted in violent arguments. Their relationship was a rocky one. However, she and Doc usually ended up back together in the end. Doc met Wyatt Earp when Earp came into town searching for a train robber. Their friendship was a strong bond for the rest of their lives and was Doc s biggest influence until his death. After a while Doc ran in to some trouble that resulted in the death of Ed Bailey. So Doc and Kate fled from Griffin and ended up in Dodge City. In Dodge City both Doc and Kate tried their hands at a respectable living. Doc tried to start up his dentistry practice and Kate gave up prostitution. This straight life didn t last long. One day, a group of Cowboys had ganged up on Wyatt in the Long Beach saloon. IN response to his friend situation, Holliday coolly stepped up to the gun rack, removed his revolver and broke up the party by shooting one of the rustlers in the shoulder. He then helped herd the out laws across the street to the jail. This only helped to strengthen the bond between the two friends. Doc eventually left Dodge City for a while. He first tried to settle in a place called Trinidad, Colorado where he found a young gambler and aspiring gunfighter named Kid Colton . Colton made the fatal mistake of riling Doc in to a gunfight. Doc made quick work of the Kid and, not wanting to wait around for his place at the end of a rope; Doc left for New Mexico. Doc found him self in Las Vegas, New Mexico. In Las Vegas, Holliday made a half-hearted attempt at dentistry. This was in 1879. He soon gave up on the practice and bought him self a saloon on Center Street. Within a few weeks Doc was in trouble again. So Doc left Las Vegas and since he had no real friends anywhere else, he headed back to Dodge City only to find that Wyatt and his brothers, Morgan and Virgil had left for the town of Tombstone. With Wyatt gone Doc had no reason to stay in Dodge City so he headed after his friend. Upon his arrival in Tombstone Doc set up his residency with Kate, whom he had found in Prescot on his way to Tombstone, in a room between a funeral parlor and a winery. Holliday had a strange since of humor and his love for practical jokes made Doc one of the most unliked people in Tombstone. Doc started making enemies form the start and unfortunately most of these new enemies were all in the same gang of rustlers who called them selves the Cowboys. The Cowboys threatened to kill Holliday and the Earps. The out come was the most famous gunfight ever to happen in the west. On October 26th, 1881 the biggest gunfight on record happened in the streets of Tombstone. On that cold day in October Virgil and his brothers found out that some of the cowboys were carrying guns in side the Tombstone City limits, which at the time was illegal. As the Earp walked down the street to disarm the Cowboys, Doc joined their ranks. The shootout occurred at the corner of the O.K. Corral. The shooting started when two of the Cowboys, Billy Clanton and Frank McLaury, cocked their guns. It s never been determined which side shot first. Early in the fight Frank McLaury was shot in the stomach but returned to the fight. Then Tom McLaury caught a charge of buckshot from Holliday s shotgun. The volleys of fire continued and Virgil Earp took a slug to the leg. Billy Clanton was shot three times in the battle ended with Frank Mclaury sitting in the street aiming his gun at Doc Holliday saying I ve got you now , Doc looked at him coolly and said Blaze away. You re a Daisy if you have. With that Frank McLaury shot at Holliday just barely grazing Doc s hip. With that last shot Doc Holliday and the Earps unloaded on Frank McLaury. With that the gunfight at the O.K. Corral was finished. Three Cowboys lay dead: Billy Clanton, Tom McLaury, and Frank McLaury. Doc went with Wyatt on Earp s trail of vengeance. It is unclear whom who shot but in the end 19 Cowboys were hunted down and killed by the Earp posse. It has been rumored that Holliday was responsible for most of the kills. After Wyatt and Doc left Tombstone for good they ended up in back in Colorado. In May of 1887 Doc went to Glenwood Springs to see if the sulfur fumes would help his tuberculosis. However it was too late for that Doc s last 57 days were spent bed ridden. On November 8th, 1887, Doc awoke drank a glass of whisky and said This is funny , he then died. He was buried at Linwood Cemetery. The Life of Doc HollidayBy Jared Martin BiblyographyBooksMyers, John Myers. Doc Holliday. University of Nebraska: Lincoln and London. !955Tanner, Karin Holliday. Doc Holliday: A Family Portrait. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. 1998Tefertiler, Casey. Wyatt Earp the Life Behind the Legend. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc. 1997. MagazinesHogan, Richard. Doc Holliday: A Family Portrait The Journal of American History, June 1999 .pg.265-266