John Henry "Doc" Holliday - Page 3

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Suddenly, a voice sounded behind Morrison. "No, friend, you draw – or throw your hands up!” It was Doc, his revolver to Morrison’s temple. Doc had been in the back room his card game interrupted by the havoc out front. "Any ofyou bastards pulls a gun and your leader here loses what’s left of his brains!" The cowboys dropped their arms. Wyatt rapped Morrison over the head with his long barrel Colt, then relieving Driskill and Morrison of their arms he ushered them to the Dodge City Jail. Wyatt never forgot the fact that Doc Hollidaysaved his life that night in Dodge City. Responding later Wyatt said "The only way anyone could have appreciated the feeling I had for Doc after the Driskill-Morrison business would have been to have stood in my boots at the time Doc came through the Long Branch doorway."  

Later, Kate and Doc, in their constant love-hate relationship, had another of their frequent, violent quarrels. Furious, Doc saddled his horse and headed out, winding up in Trinidad, Colorado.  Shortly after he arrived, he was goaded into a fight by a young gambler, known as "Kid Colton”. The "Kid”, either wishing to make himself a reputation, or very unaware of Doc's gunmanship, wound up in the dusty street with two bullets.

Inside the Long Branch Saloon, courtesy Ford County Historical  Society

Not wanting to linger, Doc rode on to Las Vegas, New Mexico, where, in late summer of 1879, he hung out his shingle for the last time. However, this idea was short lived and only a few weeks later he bought a saloon.

In late August, 1879 Doc got into an argument with a local gunman, named Mike Gordon. The two took the argument to the street where Doc politely invited Gordon to start shooting whenever he felt like it. Gordon obviously accepted this invitation and wound up dead with three shots in his belly.

Again, a lynch mob formed with plans to lynch Holliday and Doc headed back to Dodge City. However, he arrived only to find that Wyatt had gone to a new silver strike, in a place called Tombstone, Arizona. Big Nose Kate was also nowhere to be seen in Dodge City. There being nothing to hold him there, Doc struck out West, bound for Tombstone .

Many times when "Big Nose” Kate visited Holliday, they were known to have frequent arguments, most of which were not serious until Kate got drunk. Often, her drunkenness would escalate to abuse, and in early 1881, Doc had finally had enough and threw her out.

On March 15, 1881, four masked men attempted a hold up on a stagecoach near Contention and in the attempt, killed the stage driver and a passenger. The Cowboy faction immediately seized upon the opportunity and accused Doc Holliday of being one of the holdup men. The sheriff who was investigating the hold-up, found Kate on one of her drunken binges, still berating Doc for throwing her out. Feeding her yet even more whiskey, the sheriff persuaded her to sign an affidavit that Doc had been one of the masked highwaymen and had killed the stage driver.

While Kate was sobering up, the Earps were rounding up witnesses who could verify Doc's whereabouts on the night in question. When Kate realized what she had done, she repudiated her statement and the charges were thrown out. But, for Doc, this was the "last straw” for Kate, and giving her some money, he put her on a stage out of town. 

Throughout the summer of 1881, the threats against the Earp Brothers by the Clantons increased. The Cowboys, as they were referred to, were often heard telling bar room stories of how they were going to send Wyatt Earp to Boot Hill.

On Tuesday, October 25th, Ike Clanton spent the day getting drunk, moving from one saloon to the next, and making threats against the Earps and Holliday to any who would listen. That night, he made his way to the Occidental Saloon for a card game with Tom McLaury.

Continued Next Page 

"The only way anyone could have appreciated the feeling I had for Doc after the

Driskill-Morrison business would have been to have stood in my boots at the time

Doc came through the Long Branch doorway."

-- Wyatt Earp

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