John Henry "Doc" Holliday (14 August 1851 – 8 November 1887) was an American gambler, gunfighter, and dentist of the Wild West. He was best known for his friendship and partnership with Wyatt Earp during his war with the Cochise County Cowboys in Tombstone, Arizona.
Biography[]
Holliday at the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
John Henry Holliday was born in Griffin, Georgia on 14 August 1851, and he became a dentist at the age of 21, earning himself the nickname "Doc". However, he was soon diagnosed with tuberculosis, the same disease which had killed his mother when he was 15, and he decided to move to the American Southwest to find more suitable weather for his condition. He took the Hungarian prostitute Big Nose Kate as his wife and became a reputed gambler in Prescott, Arizona, having several confrontations over the next few years. He saved Wyatt Earp's life during his confrontation with Dave Rudabaugh in 1878, and they became lifelong friends. In 1879, Holliday joined Earp in Tombstone, where the Cochise County Cowboys spread rumors that Holliday was a stagecoach robber. However, Wyatt's brother Virgil deputized Holliday, and an attempt to disarm the Cowboys in Tombstone led to the 30-second Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Following this shootout, the Cowboys crippled Virgil and killed Morgan Earp, and Wyatt deputized Holliday and embarked on a "Vendetta Ride" against the Cowboys. Wyatt then arranged for Colorado Governor Frederick Walker Pitkin to waive an extradition order for Holliday, and Holliday died of tuberculosis in Glenwood Springs, Colorado in 1887 at the age of 36.