Sunday, April 26, 2009

"Doc Holliday (1852-1887)" Compiled by Urilla



"His mother, near death when Doc was 14, was deeply anxious about the faith of her only child." -- Unnamed contemporary

"(On New Year's Eve, Holliday and an angry saloon-keeper) relieved the monotony of the noise of firecrackers by taking a couple of shots at each other. -- Dallas Weekly Herald, 1875

"John H. Holliday, Dentist, very respectfully offers his professional services to the citizens of Dodge City and surrounding county during the Summer. Office at Room No. 24 Dodge House. Where satisfaction is not given, money will be refunded." -- Doc's 1878 Dodge City 'shingle' at his boardinghouse

"The young fellow who came into the office was so slim as to give a mistaken impression of his height, and was unusually pallid for the plains country. He was about five foot ten inches tall, but couldn't have weighed more than one hundred and thirty pounds. If his face had not been emaciated, he might have been handsome; he looked to be a man of intelligence and good breeding.

"From the moment I laid eyes on him, Doc Holliday's appearance haunted me -- it does to this day -- with his large blue eyes set deep in a haggard face, his heavy head of wavy ash-blond hair, and his neatly trimmed moustache, his really fine nose and his very expressive mouth." -- Wyatt Earp

"He was a slender, sickly fellow, but whenever a train was robbed or a row started, Doc was one of the first to saddle his horse and report for duty." -- Virgil Earp, Tombstone marshal & Wyatt's brother

"He was always expecting to die and really wanted to be killed." -- George Earp, Wyatt's cousin

"Shed your hardware." -- Doc to a mob of Texas cowboys about to shoot at Wyatt Earp in Dodge City

"As far as I can recall, Doc had but three redeeming traits. One was his courage; he was afraid of nothing on earth. The second was the one commendable principle in his code of life, sterling loyalty to his friends. The third was his affection for Wyatt Earp. The depth of this sentiment was shown not only by Doc's demonstrated willingness to stake his life for Wyatt without second thought; it was even more clearly established by the fact that, despite his almost ungovernable temper and his maniacal love of a fight, Doc Holliday could avoid trouble when there was a possibility that such an encounter might prove embarrassing to Wyatt." -- Bat Masterson

"He was not a constructive citizen." -- John Clum, Tombstone mayor

"His hands are small and soft like a woman's, but the work they have done is anything but womanly. The slender forefinger which has dealt the cards has dealt death to many a rustler with equal skill and quickness, and the slender wrist proved its muscles of steel ... Holliday was dressed neatly in black, with a coloured linen shirt. The first thing noticeable about him in opening the conversation was his soft voice and modest manners." -- Denver Republican, 1882

"Holliday is the most thoroughly equipped liar and smoothest scoundrel in the United States." -- Charles Reppy, Tombstone Daily Epitaph editor

"Holliday is a killer and professional cutthroat." -- Contemporary Las Vegas Optic

"I'd have shot a horse and got the bullion." -- Doc, dismissing rumors of his being a stagecoach robber

"Doc was the only person who ever helped me at all." -- Lee John White, a destitute Denver newsboy Doc put through school and later college after a chance meeting

"If God will let me live long enough, he will see me." -- Doc, hearing that Ike Clanton was looking for him the day before the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral

"That's a hell of a thing for you to say to me." -- Doc, upon being told by Wyatt the upcoming showdown was not 'his fight'

"I've got you now!" -- Frank McLaury to Doc just prior to grazing Doc's hip at the O.K. Corral shootout

"Blaze away!" -- Doc to Frank McLaury

"That son of a bitch shot me, and I mean to kill him." -- Doc after being hit by McLaury (who 'cashed in his chips' that day)

"It's just awful ... No, I am not hurt." -- Doc, to Big Nose Kate immediately after the gunfight, probably referring to the more seriously wounded (except for Wyatt) Earp brothers

"Good-bye old friend. It will be a long time before we meet again." -- Doc's final words to Wyatt a few years later

"Well, I'll be damned. This is funny." -- Doc's last words

"Few men have been better known to a certain class of sporting people, and few men of his character had more friends or stronger champions." -- From Doc's obituary in the Denver Republican

"It used to worry me ... to think that I must die, and I mixed up with everything that came along so as to forget myself. It occupied me and took my mind off my troubles." -- Doc Holliday

"With all of Doc's shortcomings and his undeniably poor disposition, I found him a loyal friend and good company. At the time of his death, I tried to set down the qualities about him which had impressed me.

"The newspapers dressed up my ideas considerably and had me calling Doc Holliday 'a mad, merry scamp with heart of gold and nerves of steel.' Those were not my words, nor did they convey my meaning. Doc was mad, well enough, but he was seldom merry. His humour ran in a sardonic vein, and as far as the world in general was concerned, there was nothing in his soul but iron. Under ordinary circumstances he might be irritable to the point of shakiness; only in a game or when a fight was impending was there anything steely about his nerves.

"To sum up Doc Holliday's character as I did at the time of his death: he was a dentist whom necessity had made a gambler; a gentleman whom disease had made a 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

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