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On This Day In History - November 8, 1887: John Henry "Doc" Holliday Dies Of Tuberculosis
History.com ^ | November 8, 2007 | History.com

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 ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; US: Arizona; US: Colorado
KEYWORDS: banglist; dentist; doc; docholliday; earp; gunfighter; gunslinger; history; holliday; okcorral; oldwest; tombstone; wyattearp
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R.I.P. Doc...
1 posted on 11/08/2007 6:58:24 AM PST by DogByte6RER
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Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket Holliday's dental school graduation photo, age 20, 1872
2 posted on 11/08/2007 6:59:16 AM PST by DogByte6RER ("Loose lips sink ships")
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To: DogByte6RER

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.


3 posted on 11/08/2007 6:59:57 AM PST by theDentist (Qwerty ergo typo : I type, therefore I misspelll. <br> "What happens if neutrinos have mass?")
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Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket Autographed photo of Holliday taken in 1879 in Prescott, Arizona
4 posted on 11/08/2007 7:00:02 AM PST by DogByte6RER ("Loose lips sink ships")
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To: DogByte6RER

“Ah know it ain’t easy, bein’ my friend Wyatt, but I’ll be there for you when you need me...”

______________________________________________________________
Great movie. I had never known anything about Earp’s backstory, but it did inspire me to do some reading.


5 posted on 11/08/2007 7:01:54 AM PST by sinanju
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To: DogByte6RER
Doc,
You're my huckleberry!
6 posted on 11/08/2007 7:03:37 AM PST by llevrok (Born a ham and never cured.)
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Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket Supposed photo of Holliday in Tombstone, AZ. 1882.
7 posted on 11/08/2007 7:04:27 AM PST by DogByte6RER ("Loose lips sink ships")
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To: DogByte6RER

How do you get tuberculosis? Couldn’t he have given it to his patients?


8 posted on 11/08/2007 7:04:50 AM PST by stevio ((NRA))
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To: theDentist
lol I think this dentist is applying the "Doc" Holliday technique on this patient. Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
9 posted on 11/08/2007 7:06:07 AM PST by DogByte6RER ("Loose lips sink ships")
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To: DogByte6RER

One of the original live hard, die young men.....


10 posted on 11/08/2007 7:06:32 AM PST by Rummyfan (Iraq: it's not about Iraq anymore, it's about the USA!)
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To: llevrok

Film clips of “Doc” Holliday portrayed by Val Kilmer in the movie Tombstone:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yDgkvWh3JQ


11 posted on 11/08/2007 7:07:08 AM PST by DogByte6RER ("Loose lips sink ships")
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To: DogByte6RER

By all accounts, he was a good friend.... hard to find these days.


12 posted on 11/08/2007 7:09:35 AM PST by drc43 (Defeat is within our grasp... Nancy Pelosi)
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To: stevio

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.


13 posted on 11/08/2007 7:11:37 AM PST by DogByte6RER ("Loose lips sink ships")
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To: DogByte6RER
You are correct. Note the forefinger, held as you would a finger on the trigger, the "snake eyes" allowing him to concentrate on the target, and though you cannot hear it, the dentist's lips in a typical "extraction hiss" providing a constant equal pressure opun the "bad" tooth, while grinding the supporting tooth as well.

Sometimes it's so exciting we need the nurse immediately...

14 posted on 11/08/2007 7:11:47 AM PST by theDentist (Qwerty ergo typo : I type, therefore I misspelll. <br> "What happens if neutrinos have mass?")
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To: DogByte6RER

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.


15 posted on 11/08/2007 7:12:55 AM PST by Califreak (Duncan Hunter-no clothespin necessary!)
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To: DogByte6RER

Kilmer was downright spooky in that role! Fantastic


16 posted on 11/08/2007 7:16:24 AM PST by llevrok (Born a ham and never cured.)
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To: DogByte6RER

Kilmer was downright spooky in that role! Fantastic


17 posted on 11/08/2007 7:16:25 AM PST by llevrok (Born a ham and never cured.)
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To: DogByte6RER

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...


18 posted on 11/08/2007 7:20:34 AM PST by backhoe (Just a Merry-Hearted Keyboard PirateBoy, plunderin’ his way across the WWW…)
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To: llevrok

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.


19 posted on 11/08/2007 7:21:19 AM PST by ClearCase_guy (The broken wall, the burning roof and tower. And Agamemnon dead.)
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To: DogByte6RER

It was probably a good thing he gave up dentistry.


20 posted on 11/08/2007 7:28:37 AM PST by stevio ((NRA))
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