“Doc”: dentist, gunfighter and player (9 photos)

John Henry "Doc" Holliday is an outstanding and versatile personality in every way. This guy was a strange combination of good and bad luck.





The boy was born with a serious defect for his time. This is now cheiloschisis - a cleft lip is corrected quickly and almost imperceptibly. And then two of John’s medical relatives had to work hard to provide the boy with the opportunity to speak and eat normally.



John Henry "Doc" Holliday

Apparently, this important point determined Halliday’s choice of profession. The guy graduated from dental college. It seemed that all roads were open to the young promising dentist.

But the disease – tuberculosis – made its own adjustments. It was impossible to cure him, only to prolong his life. John's mother and brother had previously died from it. And Holliday decided to move to the most favorable region with a dry, warm climate - Texas.





The doctor's rending cough frankly frightened his patients. I had to give up my practice. And in order to somehow get by, the man decided to remember his childhood skills and try himself at card games, which his maid once taught him.



He soon became one of the best players in Dallas. But poor health did not allow him to participate in the brawls that regularly happened after games. And to the list of his talents, the dentist also added excellent weapon skills. I even ordered special suits for pistols.



Mary Catherine Horony

An educated, gallant guy from a good family turned into a gunfighter who made his living by robberies and murders. The former dentist also found a girlfriend to match himself. In one of the saloons he met Mary Catherine Horony, nicknamed Long-Nosed Kate. The girl was also educated and well-mannered. And although she was not distinguished by beauty, she could have become a wife and mother, but instead she chose the path of freedom and the oldest profession.



In films, gunfighters' skirmishes are usually shown in the style of noble cowboys: a couple goes out onto a dusty road, deliberately slowly. The guys squint, and then the one with the best reaction wins. In reality, everything was much less noble and graceful: the one who shot first won. A shooter hiding in an ambush or approaching from behind had a greater chance.



Wyatt Earp

“Doc” understood this principle perfectly. Therefore, he had a lot of successful cases on his account. And corpses. The man met Wyatt Earp, an equally high-class gambler who became “Doc”’s loyal friend. This couple was responsible for the shootout at the O-K corral that has become a cowboy classic. During the local conflict, Earp, his brothers and Holliday actually came face to face with a group of cowboy horse thieves. The duel lasted a record 32 seconds. And the decisive factor was the shot from Doc’s doublet, which killed the leader from a shotgun.



John got caught several times. But, apparently, he was too charming for prison and was invariably acquitted by the jury. He died on November 8, 1887 at the age of 36. The outstanding Halliday was finished off by tuberculosis, although he sarcastically told Mary that he expected to die in one of the shootouts, and not in his own bed.



Val Kilmer in the 1993 film Tombstone

Several works of different genres are dedicated to “Doc”. It was most vividly embodied in films by Kirk Douglas (1957's Gunfight at the OK Corral) and Val Kilmer (1993's Tombstone).