Holliday's dental school graduation photo, age 20, 1872
Posted on 11/08/2007 6:58:23 AM PST by DogByte6RER
On This Day In History
November 8, 1887
Doc Holliday dies of tuberculosis On this day, Doc Holliday--gunslinger, gambler, and occasional dentist--dies 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at history.com ...
Holliday's dental school graduation photo, age 20, 1872
Thanks, Doc, for that list of tips you passed on to Dentists everywhere. Using them, we have sown fear at the very mention of the profession.
Autographed photo of Holliday taken in 1879 in Prescott, Arizona
“Ah know it ain’t easy, bein’ my friend Wyatt, but I’ll be there for you when you need me...”
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Great movie. I had never known anything about Earp’s backstory, but it did inspire me to do some reading.
Supposed photo of Holliday in Tombstone, AZ. 1882.
How do you get tuberculosis? Couldn’t he have given it to his patients?
One of the original live hard, die young men.....
Film clips of “Doc” Holliday portrayed by Val Kilmer in the movie Tombstone:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yDgkvWh3JQ
By all accounts, he was a good friend.... hard to find these days.
When somebody who has TB is contagious, the virus is passed when the sufferer coughs and the virus is transferred through the air. “Doc” Holliday may have contracted the TB virus from one of his dental patients (who coughed near Holliday while he performed dental work.) Of course, Holliday probably passed on the TB virus to a variety of others. Back then, very little was known about viruses and how TB spread.
Sometimes it's so exciting we need the nurse immediately...
Thanks for posting this. I sent it to hubby, because we were discussing this very thing last night when we heard about the recent spike in TB.
Kilmer was downright spooky in that role! Fantastic
Kilmer was downright spooky in that role! Fantastic
TB is nasty stuff:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/tuberculosis.html
Tuberculosis (TB) is a bacterial infection caused by a germ called Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The bacteria usually attack the lungs, but they can also damage other parts of the body...
I remember cringing when reading about a case of tuberculosis of the testicles, decades ago...
I think Kilmer has a reputation as a stuck-up jerk in real life — but I don’t care. I always enjoy his work, and to the best of my knowledge, he doesn’t pass himself off as a political pundit.
It was probably a good thing he gave up dentistry.
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