Doc Holliday: The Deadly Dentist

John Henry “Doc” Holliday, was born in Griffin, Georgia, on 14 August, 1851. His father was a Confederate Army veteran, his mother died from tuberculosis in 1866, when John was aged just 14. She died from the disease that was to blight his own life, and it was almost certainly inherited from his mother. Despite the premature death of his mother, John’s early life was stable and happy. He is remembered as being an amiable, well-spoken and polite young man. Though on one occasion furious that some Negroes were bathing in a part of the river he liked to use himself he fired shots over their heads, the Negroes fired back and a gunfight ensued, but on this occasion at least, no one was hurt.

John was educated at the Valdosta Institute, Georgia, where he learned grammar, rhetoric, mathematics and history. He was also fluent in French, could speak Latin and Ancient Greek, and could play the piano passably well. By the time he completed his studies, John Holliday was every inch the polished southern gentleman. In 1870, he left Griffin, Georgia, to study dentistry in Philadelphia from where he graduated in March, 1872. But by this time, the pitifully thin, ashen faced Holliday had already been diagnosed with tuburculosis and given just a few months to live. In response to this, he decided to move south-west where it was thought the drier climate might improve his health.

John Henry “Doc” Holliday

In September, 1873, he settled in Dallas, Texas, where he opened a dental surgery. It wasn’t a success as people stopped visiting once they found out about his condition. Already a heavy drinker and regular in the local saloons he soon found gambling to be a more lucrative source of income than his chosen profession. However, after being arrested for murder following a gunfight and his subsequent acquittal, and several other incidents, he decided to quit the State of Texas altogether. Imbued with a fiery temper and an innate volatility of character that was only exacerbated by his condition topped up, as it was, with copious amounts of alcohol, Doc, as he was by now already known, seemed always to be involved in some dispute or other. As his tuberculosis worsened so his drinking increased. Often intoxicated he let it be known that he preferred a violent death than having to succumb to illness. Travelling further West, Doc made a living as a gambler and faro dealer in towns such as Denver and Deadwood, and he soon gained a reputation as a violent man. It was also around this time that he met Mary Kate Horony ( Big Nose Kate ) a prostitute of Hungarian birth, who was to be his partner and accomplice for the rest of his life.