Doc Holliday

JOHN HENRY HOLLIDAY was a gambler, gunman, and occasional dentist in America's wild, wild west. According to Wyatt Earp, who himself was a tough character, Doc Holliday "was the most skillful gambler and the nerviest, fastest, deadliest man with a 6-gun I ever saw."

Holliday was raised in Georgia in the mannerly Old South tradition, graduated from the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery in 1872, and headed west for drier climate. In Dallas, Texas he practiced dentistry for a brief time, but soon realized his talent as a gambler which caused him to continue drifting. In 1880 he wound up in Tombstone, Arizona where he married Kate Elder and earned a reputation as a drinker, fighter and killer.

Holliday first met Wyatt Earp in Dodge City and afterwards, in Tombstone, joined the Earp brothers in their famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral against the Clanton gang. In 1882 Holliday abandoned Kate Elder, continued drifting and died 5 years later in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. where he had gone for tuberculosis treatment.

According to Holliday, he almost lost his life some nine times. He was shot in five gunfights and four attempts were made to have him hanged. In May 1887, as his health was steadily worsening, he traveled to Glenwood Springs to try the sulfur vapors, but Holliday was already too far gone. He spent his final days in bed, often delirious, and on November 8, 1887, he awoke and requested a glass of whiskey which he drank down with enjoyment and is believed to have said, "This is funny," and then died.