Doc Holliday dies of tuberculosis
On this day Doc Hollidaygunslinger gambler and occasional dentistdies from tuberculosis.Though he was perhaps most famous for his participation in the shootout at the O.K.Corral in Tombstone Arizona John Henry Doc Holliday earned his bad reputation well before that famous feud.Born in Georgia Holliday was raised in the tradition of the southern gentleman.
He earned his nickname when he graduated from the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery in 1872.However shortly after embarking on a respectable career as a dentist in Atlanta he developed a bad cough.Doctors diagnosed tuberculosis and advised a move to a more arid climate so Holliday moved his practice to Dallas Texas.By all accounts Holliday was a competent dentist with a successful practice.
Unfortunately cards interested him more than teeth and he earned a reputation as a skilled poker and faro player.In 1875 Dallas police arrested Holliday for participating in a shootout.Thereafter the once upstanding doctor began drifting between the booming Wild West towns of Denver Cheyenne Deadwood and Dodge City making his living at card tables and aggravating his tuberculosis with heavy drinking and late nights.Holliday was famously friendly with Wyatt Earp who believed that Holliday saved his life during a fight with cowboys.
For his part Holliday was a loyal friend to Earp and stood by him during the 1881 shootout at the O.K.Corral and the bloody feud that followed.In 1882 Holliday fled Arizona and returned to the life of a western drifter gambler and gunslinger.By 1887 his hard living had caught up to him forcing him to seek treatment for his tuberculosis at a sanitarium in Glenwood Springs Colorado.
He died in his bed at only 36 years old.
