Nine-tenths of what has been said or written about him, including Hollywood's versions, is hype. Doc Holliday wasn't a great marksman. He didn't kill everyone he met. He wasn't drunk 24/7. Yes, he could be as mean as a snake. But when you clear away the Old West myth, he's still compelling, tragic and admirable. A classically-educated Southerner who obtained his dental degree in Philadelphia, Holliday was restless, heartbroken, poetic, irreverent, bold, outspoken, and fiercely loyal to those, in his view, who had the right stuff.
Told in his early 20s, at the beginning of his dental practice, that he had but a few months to live, he moved West. He became a binge-drinking rogue, womanizer and prankster who scared witless about half the people he met. Tuberculosis did finally claim him at age 37. Even the most sober historical sources on Holliday also seem to agree on one thing. If a friend needed him, he was there in a flash. No hesitation. You didn't have to ask. He didn't need to think about it. He just did it.
John Henry Holliday (1851-1887).
Above: Pennsylvania School of Dental Surgery graduation, 1872.
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