WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.800 you know when we look back at the american west 00:00:01.800 --> 00:00:06.309 we have these very specific um these really rigid 00:00:06.309 --> 00:00:09.130 archetypes just locked in our brains right you've 00:00:09.130 --> 00:00:11.769 got the stoic lawman the desperate outlaw the 00:00:11.769 --> 00:00:13.970 you know the rugged cowboy it's almost like a 00:00:13.970 --> 00:00:16.429 cast of characters from a play it really is but 00:00:16.429 --> 00:00:19.210 then every so often you get this one figure who 00:00:19.210 --> 00:00:22.109 just refuses to fit into any of those neat little 00:00:22.109 --> 00:00:24.230 boxes and this might be the best example of that 00:00:24.230 --> 00:00:26.550 it's a fascinating paradox i mean we are talking 00:00:26.550 --> 00:00:30.469 about a man who is arguably the most famous gunfighter 00:00:30.469 --> 00:00:32.950 in american history yet if you actually look 00:00:32.950 --> 00:00:35.460 at his resume yeah he spent his Formative years 00:00:35.460 --> 00:00:38.579 training to heal people, not, you know, put them 00:00:38.579 --> 00:00:40.960 in the ground. Exactly. Yeah. We're talking about 00:00:40.960 --> 00:00:44.299 the one and only Doc Holliday. And today we're 00:00:44.299 --> 00:00:47.000 doing a deep dive into the life and legend of 00:00:47.000 --> 00:00:49.600 the man born John Henry Holliday. And we've got 00:00:49.600 --> 00:00:52.700 a massive stack of source material here. Biographies, 00:00:52.700 --> 00:00:54.939 historical records, some of the Wikipedia deep 00:00:54.939 --> 00:00:57.780 cuts. And the mission really is to figure out 00:00:57.780 --> 00:01:00.920 who was this guy really. And to separate the 00:01:00.920 --> 00:01:03.929 Hollywood myth from the historical reality. Which 00:01:03.929 --> 00:01:06.090 is fantastic, by the way. I mean, Val Kilmer's 00:01:06.090 --> 00:01:10.170 performance. Incredible. Iconic. But the reality 00:01:10.170 --> 00:01:12.930 is actually so much more complex. It is. It isn't 00:01:12.930 --> 00:01:15.290 just a Western shoot -em -up. It is a story about 00:01:15.290 --> 00:01:18.829 terminal illness. It's about what a diagnosis 00:01:18.829 --> 00:01:21.489 like tuberculosis does to a man's psychology. 00:01:21.909 --> 00:01:24.609 And maybe most of all, it is a story about a 00:01:24.609 --> 00:01:27.909 very specific, almost fatalistic kind of loyalty. 00:01:28.430 --> 00:01:30.700 Okay, so let's unpack this. Because the image 00:01:30.700 --> 00:01:32.920 I have in my head, the one we all have, is the 00:01:32.920 --> 00:01:35.040 coughing, sweating, you know, the skeletal figure 00:01:35.040 --> 00:01:37.340 spinning a tin cup. Right. But before he was 00:01:37.340 --> 00:01:39.760 the nerviest, speediest, deadliest man with a 00:01:39.760 --> 00:01:42.379 six -gun, he was just John. So let's go back 00:01:42.379 --> 00:01:44.379 to the very beginning. Where does this story 00:01:44.379 --> 00:01:47.540 actually start? It begins a long, long way from 00:01:47.540 --> 00:01:49.989 the O .K. Corral. John Henry Holliday was born 00:01:49.989 --> 00:01:53.430 on August 14th, 1851 in Griffin, Georgia. Georgia. 00:01:53.549 --> 00:01:56.189 And this context is so important. He wasn't born 00:01:56.189 --> 00:01:58.349 into a life of crime or poverty or anything like 00:01:58.349 --> 00:02:01.150 that. He was, for lack of a better term, southern 00:02:01.150 --> 00:02:04.069 gentry. So he had money. He came from a well 00:02:04.069 --> 00:02:07.109 -off family. He had means and status, yeah. His 00:02:07.109 --> 00:02:09.310 father, Henry Burroughs Holliday, was a major 00:02:09.310 --> 00:02:11.310 in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. 00:02:11.449 --> 00:02:14.340 Wow. He even served as the mayor of Valdosta, 00:02:14.500 --> 00:02:17.780 Georgia for a time. So John Henry grows up in 00:02:17.780 --> 00:02:20.280 this world of expectation. He was baptized at 00:02:20.280 --> 00:02:22.939 the First Presbyterian Church. This was a very 00:02:22.939 --> 00:02:25.539 respectable, very upright household. Which is 00:02:25.539 --> 00:02:28.000 just such a stark contrast to the smoky saloons 00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:30.000 we associate him with later. It's a different 00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:33.060 world. And his education really reflects that 00:02:33.060 --> 00:02:35.539 class status. He went to the Valdosta Institute 00:02:35.539 --> 00:02:38.240 where he received a classical education. And 00:02:38.240 --> 00:02:40.819 what did that actually mean back in the 1860s? 00:02:40.900 --> 00:02:42.500 Well, it didn't just... mean reading and writing 00:02:42.500 --> 00:02:45.159 we're talking about rhetoric grammar mathematics 00:02:45.159 --> 00:02:49.639 history and languages principally latin but our 00:02:49.639 --> 00:02:52.280 sources say he also studied french and even ancient 00:02:52.280 --> 00:02:54.240 greek wait a minute so when we see him speaking 00:02:54.240 --> 00:02:57.259 latin in the movies like in tombstone that's 00:02:57.259 --> 00:02:59.080 actually historically accurate it is entirely 00:02:59.080 --> 00:03:01.000 plausible yes that's not just a screenwriter 00:03:01.000 --> 00:03:02.659 trying to make him sound smart not at all he 00:03:02.659 --> 00:03:05.379 was a highly educated intellectual and he took 00:03:05.379 --> 00:03:08.740 that intellect to philadelphia in 1870. At just 00:03:08.740 --> 00:03:11.319 19 years old, he enrolled in the Pennsylvania 00:03:11.319 --> 00:03:14.120 College of Dental Surgery. Which, I have to assume, 00:03:14.180 --> 00:03:16.639 was a pretty prestigious thing to do at the time. 00:03:16.699 --> 00:03:19.139 Oh, absolutely. This wasn't some back -alley 00:03:19.139 --> 00:03:21.699 apprenticeship. This was rigorous medical training. 00:03:21.960 --> 00:03:24.960 He wrote a thesis, for crying out loud. Oh, right. 00:03:25.039 --> 00:03:28.539 The title was Diseases of the Teeth. He graduates 00:03:28.539 --> 00:03:31.199 in March of 1872 with a doctor of dental surgery 00:03:31.199 --> 00:03:33.800 degree. But here's a detail that I just love. 00:03:33.919 --> 00:03:36.120 He was only 20 when he finished. So he was a 00:03:36.120 --> 00:03:39.360 prodigy. Essentially, yeah. The school actually 00:03:39.360 --> 00:03:41.539 had to hold on to his degree for five months 00:03:41.539 --> 00:03:44.719 until he turned 21. Why? Because he was legally 00:03:44.719 --> 00:03:47.080 too young to practice dentistry. That's amazing. 00:03:47.460 --> 00:03:49.520 So you have this brilliant young man, degree 00:03:49.520 --> 00:03:52.800 in hand, heading back to Georgia to start what 00:03:52.800 --> 00:03:55.580 should have been a very respectable, very lucrative 00:03:55.580 --> 00:03:57.599 life. He's got it all mapped out. He's going 00:03:57.599 --> 00:03:59.900 to fix teeth, make good money, probably get married, 00:04:00.039 --> 00:04:03.180 live a long life. Right. But then the tragedy 00:04:03.180 --> 00:04:05.360 hits. And this seems to be the pivot point where 00:04:05.360 --> 00:04:08.539 John Henry Holiday dies and Doc is born. This 00:04:08.539 --> 00:04:10.960 is the tragedy that shaped everything. And to 00:04:10.960 --> 00:04:13.300 understand it, you have to look at his family 00:04:13.300 --> 00:04:17.240 history. His mother, Alice Jane, died of tuberculosis 00:04:17.240 --> 00:04:19.519 or consumption, as they called it back then, 00:04:19.579 --> 00:04:23.500 in 1866. Doc was just 15 years old. And they 00:04:23.500 --> 00:04:25.680 were close. She was the center of his world. 00:04:25.879 --> 00:04:28.180 And it didn't stop there. His adopted brother 00:04:28.180 --> 00:04:31.699 also died of it. It was in many ways a family 00:04:31.699 --> 00:04:33.939 curse. So it's always been there kind of hanging 00:04:33.939 --> 00:04:37.139 over the family. Always. And then shortly after 00:04:37.139 --> 00:04:39.720 he starts his dental practice in Atlanta, he 00:04:39.720 --> 00:04:42.629 starts seeing the symptoms in himself. Oh, no. 00:04:42.790 --> 00:04:44.870 Correct. Shortly after beginning his career, 00:04:45.089 --> 00:04:47.990 the coughing starts. He gets diagnosed with pulmonary 00:04:47.990 --> 00:04:51.629 tuberculosis, and the prognosis was just grim. 00:04:52.069 --> 00:04:55.069 In 1873, doctors gave him only months to live. 00:04:55.310 --> 00:04:57.410 Can you even imagine that? You're 22 years old. 00:04:57.430 --> 00:04:58.990 You've just finished years of grueling school. 00:04:59.189 --> 00:05:01.069 You're finally ready to launch your life, and 00:05:01.069 --> 00:05:03.110 someone in a lab coat tells you, actually, it's 00:05:03.110 --> 00:05:05.139 over. It changes everything about a person's 00:05:05.139 --> 00:05:07.240 psychology, right? It just strips away any kind 00:05:07.240 --> 00:05:09.319 of long -term planning. It forces you to live 00:05:09.319 --> 00:05:11.519 in the immediate moment. The medical advice at 00:05:11.519 --> 00:05:14.779 the time was pretty standard for the era. Move 00:05:14.779 --> 00:05:17.819 to a drier, warmer climate. They thought the 00:05:17.819 --> 00:05:20.240 arid air in the American Southwest might slow 00:05:20.240 --> 00:05:23.259 the deterioration of his lungs. So that's what 00:05:23.259 --> 00:05:25.699 sends him west. He packs up and heads for Dallas, 00:05:25.839 --> 00:05:28.100 Texas. Okay, now before we get him to Texas, 00:05:28.259 --> 00:05:30.779 I want to address a rumor that pops up a lot 00:05:30.779 --> 00:05:34.750 in the lore. There's this story that he didn't 00:05:34.750 --> 00:05:37.850 leave Georgia for his health, but because he 00:05:37.850 --> 00:05:39.870 killed some men at a swimming hole. Right, the 00:05:39.870 --> 00:05:42.629 Wiflikuchi River incident. This is a classic 00:05:42.629 --> 00:05:44.910 example of Western myth -making. So what's the 00:05:44.910 --> 00:05:47.829 story? The story goes, and this was largely popularized 00:05:47.829 --> 00:05:50.589 by Bat Masterson in a profile he wrote years 00:05:50.589 --> 00:05:54.029 later, that a 22 -year -old Holiday went to his 00:05:54.029 --> 00:05:56.310 favorite swimming hole, found it occupied by 00:05:56.310 --> 00:05:59.370 some black soldiers, flew into a rage, and killed 00:05:59.370 --> 00:06:02.319 two of them with a shotgun. That paints him as 00:06:02.319 --> 00:06:05.199 a violent killer right from the very start. But 00:06:05.199 --> 00:06:08.540 our sources say, what? Not true. Almost certainly 00:06:08.540 --> 00:06:10.959 not true. Family members disputed it at the time, 00:06:11.000 --> 00:06:12.920 suggesting he might have fired over their heads 00:06:12.920 --> 00:06:14.680 to scare them off. But he certainly didn't kill 00:06:14.680 --> 00:06:17.129 anyone. But what about official records? That's 00:06:17.129 --> 00:06:19.829 the key. Historians like Gary Roberts and Alan 00:06:19.829 --> 00:06:22.589 Barra have combed the records. There is zero 00:06:22.589 --> 00:06:25.970 contemporary evidence, no police reports, no 00:06:25.970 --> 00:06:28.629 indictments, no newspaper articles, nothing. 00:06:28.889 --> 00:06:31.329 So it's a tall tale. It's likely a fabrication 00:06:31.329 --> 00:06:33.810 or just a wild exaggeration meant to burnish 00:06:33.810 --> 00:06:36.949 his reputation as a bad man later on. The reality 00:06:36.949 --> 00:06:39.509 is much, much sadder. He left because he was 00:06:39.509 --> 00:06:43.170 dying. OK, so he lands in Dallas in 1873. And 00:06:43.170 --> 00:06:45.350 here's where it gets really interesting for me. 00:06:46.540 --> 00:06:49.740 He didn't just immediately become a gambler. 00:06:49.779 --> 00:06:52.319 No. He actually tried to make the dentist thing 00:06:52.319 --> 00:06:55.279 work in Texas. He did. He wasn't ready to give 00:06:55.279 --> 00:06:57.459 up on his profession. He partnered with another 00:06:57.459 --> 00:07:00.680 dentist, a Dr. Johnny Segar in Dallas. Were they 00:07:00.680 --> 00:07:03.040 any good? They were great. This is the part people 00:07:03.040 --> 00:07:06.019 completely forget. They entered the Dallas County 00:07:06.019 --> 00:07:09.259 Fair, specifically the annual fair of the North 00:07:09.259 --> 00:07:11.759 Texas Agricultural, Mechanical, and Bloodstock 00:07:11.759 --> 00:07:14.220 Association. That is a mouthful. It is. But get 00:07:14.220 --> 00:07:16.839 this, they swept the awards. I love this detail. 00:07:16.920 --> 00:07:18.980 What specifically did they win? Okay, so they 00:07:18.980 --> 00:07:21.660 won Best Set of Teeth in Gold, Best in Vulcanized 00:07:21.660 --> 00:07:24.480 Rubber, and Best Set of Artificial Teeth in Dental 00:07:24.480 --> 00:07:28.939 Wear. Best in Vulcanized Rubber. That is incredible. 00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:31.959 So he was an award -winning dentist. He was at 00:07:31.959 --> 00:07:34.800 the absolute top of his game. He was. But there 00:07:34.800 --> 00:07:37.720 was a problem. The cough. The cough. Tuberculosis 00:07:37.720 --> 00:07:41.360 involves coughing. Violent, bloody, racking coughing 00:07:41.360 --> 00:07:44.350 spells. Now just imagine for a second, you're 00:07:44.350 --> 00:07:47.410 sitting in a dental chair, mouth wide open, completely 00:07:47.410 --> 00:07:50.129 vulnerable. Oh boy. And your dentist starts hacking 00:07:50.129 --> 00:07:52.269 up a lung right over your face. Yeah, that's 00:07:52.269 --> 00:07:54.329 just bad for business. I would not go back to 00:07:54.329 --> 00:07:56.649 that dentist. Not a chance. It was fatal for 00:07:56.649 --> 00:07:59.290 his practice. Patients stopped coming, his income 00:07:59.290 --> 00:08:01.649 completely dried up, and he realized he needed 00:08:01.649 --> 00:08:03.970 a new way to make a living. One that didn't require 00:08:03.970 --> 00:08:06.970 close contact or physical exertion. He was getting 00:08:06.970 --> 00:08:09.290 weaker. But his mind was still sharp. Sharper 00:08:09.290 --> 00:08:11.740 than ever. And he had a natural aptitude for 00:08:11.740 --> 00:08:14.519 math. It turned out he was very, very good at 00:08:14.519 --> 00:08:16.300 cards. And this wasn't considered a scummy thing 00:08:16.300 --> 00:08:18.639 to do back then. Right. Being a gambler. Not 00:08:18.639 --> 00:08:21.519 at all. In the Arizona and Texas of the 1870s, 00:08:21.519 --> 00:08:24.000 professional gambler was a legitimate, recognized 00:08:24.000 --> 00:08:26.639 profession. It was almost respectable in some 00:08:26.639 --> 00:08:30.120 circles. So necessity made him a gambler. But 00:08:30.120 --> 00:08:32.019 the gambling life comes with its own hazards. 00:08:32.179 --> 00:08:34.419 You're in saloons. There's a lot of alcohol. 00:08:34.740 --> 00:08:36.980 There are sore losers. It does. And the trouble 00:08:36.980 --> 00:08:40.240 starts pretty quick. In Dallas, 1874, he gets 00:08:40.240 --> 00:08:43.419 indicted for illegal gambling. Then in 1875, 00:08:43.600 --> 00:08:46.519 we see the first real flash of that famous temper. 00:08:46.740 --> 00:08:49.279 A shootout. He gets into a shootout with a saloon 00:08:49.279 --> 00:08:51.940 keeper named Charles Austin. They traded gunfire, 00:08:52.039 --> 00:08:54.440 but nobody was actually hit. He was found not 00:08:54.440 --> 00:08:57.919 guilty, but, you know, the heat was on. He moves 00:08:57.919 --> 00:09:02.029 to Denison, Texas. Gets fined again and eventually 00:09:02.029 --> 00:09:04.669 decides it's time to head further west. So he 00:09:04.669 --> 00:09:07.190 starts bouncing around a bit. Denver, Wyoming, 00:09:07.549 --> 00:09:10.769 Deadwood. He's dealing Pharaoh. He's getting 00:09:10.769 --> 00:09:13.110 into knife fights. The records show he leaves 00:09:13.110 --> 00:09:15.629 a guy named Bud Ryan seriously wounded in Denver. 00:09:15.789 --> 00:09:18.149 He beats another guy with a walking stick in 00:09:18.149 --> 00:09:20.970 Breckenridge, Texas. The violence is escalating 00:09:20.970 --> 00:09:22.929 really quickly. It is. And it's worth noting 00:09:22.929 --> 00:09:25.389 the psychology here again. Just remember, he 00:09:25.389 --> 00:09:28.139 believes he is a dead man walking. He has absolutely 00:09:28.139 --> 00:09:30.240 no fear of death because death is already sitting 00:09:30.240 --> 00:09:32.820 on his shoulder. And that makes him incredibly 00:09:32.820 --> 00:09:35.879 dangerous. If you pull a gun on a man who genuinely 00:09:35.879 --> 00:09:38.860 doesn't care if he dies, you have lost all your 00:09:38.860 --> 00:09:41.779 leverage. That is a terrifying thought. And that 00:09:41.779 --> 00:09:44.399 brings us to Fort Griffin, Texas. This is where 00:09:44.399 --> 00:09:46.500 the main cast of characters really starts to 00:09:46.500 --> 00:09:49.700 assemble. It is. First, he meets a woman, Mary 00:09:49.700 --> 00:09:52.440 Catherine Horney. Big Nose Kate. That's her. 00:09:52.580 --> 00:09:54.860 I've always felt bad about that nickname. It's 00:09:54.860 --> 00:09:57.039 not very flattering. No, but she was a formidable 00:09:57.039 --> 00:09:59.860 woman, regardless of the name. She was educated, 00:10:00.120 --> 00:10:03.059 she was tough, stubborn, and completely fearless. 00:10:03.720 --> 00:10:06.580 The sources say she worked as a prostitute, but 00:10:06.580 --> 00:10:09.379 she chose that life because she valued her independence 00:10:09.379 --> 00:10:11.639 above all else. She didn't want to be tied down. 00:10:11.879 --> 00:10:15.120 Exactly. She refused to be trapped in a domestic 00:10:15.120 --> 00:10:18.419 life. And she is the only woman Doc Holliday 00:10:18.419 --> 00:10:20.639 is known to have had a significant long -term 00:10:20.639 --> 00:10:22.700 relationship with. And it was in Fort Griffin 00:10:22.700 --> 00:10:25.370 that he meets the other... most important person 00:10:25.370 --> 00:10:28.169 in his life. Wyatt Earp. How did that happen? 00:10:28.350 --> 00:10:30.909 The setting is the Beehive Saloon. Wyatt Earp 00:10:30.909 --> 00:10:33.750 is a deputy U .S. Marshal at the time, and he's 00:10:33.750 --> 00:10:36.710 chasing an outlaw named Dirty Dave Rudabaugh. 00:10:36.789 --> 00:10:39.870 The saloon owner, a guy named John Shancy, points 00:10:39.870 --> 00:10:42.649 Earp toward Holiday, saying Doc had played cards 00:10:42.649 --> 00:10:44.629 with Rudabaugh and might know where he went. 00:10:44.850 --> 00:10:47.610 So it starts out just as a police inquiry. Hey, 00:10:47.669 --> 00:10:49.470 have you seen this guy? Exactly. It was purely 00:10:49.470 --> 00:10:52.090 transactional. But they hit it off. Holliday 00:10:52.090 --> 00:10:54.230 helped Earp with information, told him he thought 00:10:54.230 --> 00:10:56.629 Rudabaugh probably went back to Kansas. And this 00:10:56.629 --> 00:10:59.570 initial meeting, this simple conversation, sparked 00:10:59.570 --> 00:11:02.370 a friendship that would become legendary. But 00:11:02.370 --> 00:11:04.669 the friendship wasn't really forged in fire until 00:11:04.669 --> 00:11:07.169 Dodge City, right? Yeah. This is the moment where 00:11:07.169 --> 00:11:09.830 Doc proves his worth in a big way. Yes. This 00:11:09.830 --> 00:11:13.200 is 1878. Doc and Kate are in Dodge City, and 00:11:13.200 --> 00:11:15.879 Doc is actually trying dentistry one last time. 00:11:16.000 --> 00:11:18.759 No way. Yeah, he even put an ad in the local 00:11:18.759 --> 00:11:21.299 paper offering money -back guarantees if the 00:11:21.299 --> 00:11:23.840 teeth didn't fit. Wow. But he spent most of his 00:11:23.840 --> 00:11:25.919 time dealing cards in the Long Branch Saloon. 00:11:26.019 --> 00:11:27.700 And that's where trouble starts. Big trouble. 00:11:27.840 --> 00:11:30.580 A group of Cowboys' accounts vary on how many, 00:11:30.659 --> 00:11:33.580 maybe a couple dozen, led by a man named Ed Morrison 00:11:33.580 --> 00:11:37.340 or Tobe Driscoll, are tearing up the place, they're 00:11:37.340 --> 00:11:40.360 harassing customers, breaking glass, just c - 00:11:40.360 --> 00:11:43.080 causing chaos and Wyatt Earp rushes in to handle 00:11:43.080 --> 00:11:46.059 it he does but he's completely outnumbered guns 00:11:46.059 --> 00:11:48.360 are drawn on him it looks like this is the end 00:11:48.360 --> 00:11:51.379 of Wyatt Earp but Doc is there Doc is playing 00:11:51.379 --> 00:11:53.700 cards in the back room he sees what's happening 00:11:53.700 --> 00:11:57.299 he calmly stands up draws his pistol, walks up 00:11:57.299 --> 00:11:59.980 behind the leader, Morrison, and puts the barrel 00:11:59.980 --> 00:12:03.519 right to his head. He forces the cowboys to disarm, 00:12:03.659 --> 00:12:06.200 basically telling them, and I'm paraphrasing 00:12:06.200 --> 00:12:08.759 the sentiment here, to drop the guns or he'll 00:12:08.759 --> 00:12:11.299 blow Morrison's head clean off. Talk about having 00:12:11.299 --> 00:12:14.279 a friend's back. Wyatt Earp never, ever forgot 00:12:14.279 --> 00:12:17.259 it. He credited Doc with saving his life that 00:12:17.259 --> 00:12:19.759 day. And from that moment on, despite their very 00:12:19.759 --> 00:12:22.559 different personalities, the stoic, teetotaling 00:12:22.559 --> 00:12:25.940 lawman and the volatile drinking gambler. They 00:12:25.940 --> 00:12:27.980 were bonded for life. So naturally, when the 00:12:27.980 --> 00:12:30.500 Earps decide to head for the big silver boomtown 00:12:30.500 --> 00:12:33.259 of Tombstone, Arizona. Doc follows. He arrives 00:12:33.259 --> 00:12:36.000 in September 1880. And almost immediately, he 00:12:36.000 --> 00:12:37.960 gets embroiled in the local politics. And you 00:12:37.960 --> 00:12:40.669 have to understand, Tombstone was split. Right 00:12:40.669 --> 00:12:43.450 down the middle. You had the Earps who represented 00:12:43.450 --> 00:12:45.610 the business owners, the town interests, the 00:12:45.610 --> 00:12:48.610 Republicans. And then you had the Cowboys, the 00:12:48.610 --> 00:12:51.429 Clantons and McClurys, who represented the rural 00:12:51.429 --> 00:12:53.950 outlaw element, the Democrats. And Doc was a 00:12:53.950 --> 00:12:56.149 lightning rod for trouble. The Cowboys hated 00:12:56.149 --> 00:12:59.179 him. They did. And there's this incident with 00:12:59.179 --> 00:13:01.480 the stagecoach robbery that I think really shows 00:13:01.480 --> 00:13:04.320 how badly the local enemies wanted him gone. 00:13:04.559 --> 00:13:07.460 What happened? The Kinnear & Company stagecoach 00:13:07.460 --> 00:13:11.740 was robbed in March of 1881. The driver, a man 00:13:11.740 --> 00:13:13.840 named Bud Philpott, and a passenger were killed. 00:13:14.039 --> 00:13:16.940 The local sheriff, Johnny Behan, who was a bitter 00:13:16.940 --> 00:13:19.899 enemy of the Earps, saw an opportunity. To frame 00:13:19.899 --> 00:13:23.120 Doc. Exactly. He and another man named Milt Joyce 00:13:23.120 --> 00:13:27.179 got Big Nose Kate drunk. Very, very dirty business. 00:13:27.620 --> 00:13:30.220 It is. They manipulated her, played on her fears 00:13:30.220 --> 00:13:33.000 and got her to sign an affidavit saying Doc Holliday 00:13:33.000 --> 00:13:34.700 had been part of the robbery and the murders. 00:13:34.899 --> 00:13:37.679 They used his own partner against him. How did 00:13:37.679 --> 00:13:39.860 Doc get out of that one? That sounds pretty damning. 00:13:40.019 --> 00:13:42.600 Well, the Earps were able to provide concrete 00:13:42.600 --> 00:13:45.700 alibis for Doc. He was somewhere else when the 00:13:45.700 --> 00:13:48.539 robbery happened. And crucially, once Kate sobered 00:13:48.539 --> 00:13:50.600 up, she confessed that she'd been completely 00:13:50.600 --> 00:13:52.639 manipulated and didn't even know what she was 00:13:52.639 --> 00:13:55.159 signing. The charges were dismissed as ridiculous, 00:13:55.360 --> 00:13:58.299 but it just shows you the level of tension they 00:13:58.299 --> 00:14:00.600 were actively trying to frame him to get at the 00:14:00.600 --> 00:14:04.299 Earps. Which leads us inevitably to October 26, 00:14:04.820 --> 00:14:09.070 1881, the gunfight at the O .K. Corral. Now, 00:14:09.070 --> 00:14:11.629 we've all seen the movies, but what stands out 00:14:11.629 --> 00:14:14.169 to you in the source material about Doc's specific 00:14:14.169 --> 00:14:16.970 role that day? What do people usually get wrong? 00:14:17.210 --> 00:14:19.909 Two things, really. First, his official status. 00:14:20.029 --> 00:14:22.190 We often think of him as just a vigilante friend 00:14:22.190 --> 00:14:24.029 pegging along for the fight. Right, just a guy 00:14:24.029 --> 00:14:27.009 with a gun. But that morning, Virgil Earp, who 00:14:27.009 --> 00:14:30.269 is the city marshal, officially deputized Doc 00:14:30.269 --> 00:14:33.230 Holliday. Doc was a sworn special officer of 00:14:33.230 --> 00:14:35.470 the law. That is a crucial distinction. He wasn't 00:14:35.470 --> 00:14:38.230 just some guy. He was acting as the police. Precisely. 00:14:38.230 --> 00:14:40.889 And second, the weapon switch. This is a small 00:14:40.889 --> 00:14:43.570 detail that really paints the scene. Virgil Earp 00:14:43.570 --> 00:14:46.429 had a short coach gun, a double -barreled shotgun 00:14:46.429 --> 00:14:48.769 from the Wells Fargo office. A pretty intimidating 00:14:48.769 --> 00:14:51.950 weapon. Very. And as they walked down Fremont 00:14:51.950 --> 00:14:54.889 Street, Virgil wanted to appear calm. not aggressive 00:14:54.889 --> 00:14:57.850 he didn't want to alarm the townspeople by openly 00:14:57.850 --> 00:15:00.789 carrying this massive shotgun so he gave it to 00:15:00.789 --> 00:15:03.450 doc why doc because doc was known for wearing 00:15:03.450 --> 00:15:06.470 a long gray overcoat he could hide the shotgun 00:15:06.470 --> 00:15:09.809 underneath it in exchange virgil took doc's walking 00:15:09.809 --> 00:15:12.769 stick so doc is hiding a shotgun under his coat 00:15:12.769 --> 00:15:15.470 you have this image of doc walking into the most 00:15:15.470 --> 00:15:18.870 famous gunfight in history with a shotgun concealed 00:15:18.870 --> 00:15:21.830 under his coat and a nickel -plated pistol in 00:15:21.830 --> 00:15:24.919 his pocket he was ready So they get to the empty 00:15:24.919 --> 00:15:26.899 lot on Fremont Street, which wasn't actually 00:15:26.899 --> 00:15:28.860 in the OK Corral, right? That's right. It was 00:15:28.860 --> 00:15:31.100 a narrow lot next to the corral. They confront 00:15:31.100 --> 00:15:34.789 the cowboys. Ike and Billy Clanton and Frank 00:15:34.789 --> 00:15:38.029 and Tom McClory. The tension is just unbearable. 00:15:38.029 --> 00:15:40.730 The shooting starts almost instantly. And here 00:15:40.730 --> 00:15:43.669 is that classic line. Go on. Frank McClory allegedly 00:15:43.669 --> 00:15:46.570 yells at Doc, I've got you now. And Doc says, 00:15:46.789 --> 00:15:48.789 Blaze away, you're a daisy if you have. You're 00:15:48.789 --> 00:15:51.230 a daisy if you have. I love that line. It's so 00:15:51.230 --> 00:15:53.870 dismissive. What does daisy even mean in that 00:15:53.870 --> 00:15:56.950 context? In the slang of the time, a daisy was 00:15:56.950 --> 00:15:59.669 something excellent or highly admired, a top 00:15:59.669 --> 00:16:02.139 -notch thing. So he was taunting him. Oh, completely. 00:16:02.360 --> 00:16:04.320 He was basically saying, you'll be a real champion 00:16:04.320 --> 00:16:07.840 if you can actually hit me. It was pure, unadulterated 00:16:07.840 --> 00:16:10.360 mockery in the face of death. And in the chaos 00:16:10.360 --> 00:16:13.639 that follows, Doc uses that shotgun. He does. 00:16:13.759 --> 00:16:16.500 He levels it at Tom McClory and blasts him in 00:16:16.500 --> 00:16:19.919 the chest. That was a kill. The shotgun did its 00:16:19.919 --> 00:16:23.179 job. Doc himself gets grazed by a bullet from 00:16:23.179 --> 00:16:25.440 Frank McClory. It hit his holster and burned 00:16:25.440 --> 00:16:28.419 his hip. But he keeps fighting. So despite the 00:16:28.419 --> 00:16:31.220 legend of him killing dozens and dozens of men, 00:16:31.360 --> 00:16:34.120 we know for a fact he killed Tom McGlory here. 00:16:34.279 --> 00:16:37.179 Yes. That is one of the few completely confirmed 00:16:37.179 --> 00:16:40.320 kills in his entire life. But the 32nd gunfight 00:16:40.320 --> 00:16:42.419 didn't end the trouble. It just started a war, 00:16:42.620 --> 00:16:44.799 didn't it? It was the beginning of the end. The 00:16:44.799 --> 00:16:47.620 cowboys retaliated. They ambushed Virgil, shooting 00:16:47.620 --> 00:16:49.940 him with a shotgun and maiming his arm for life. 00:16:50.460 --> 00:16:52.919 Then a few months later, they assassinated Morgan 00:16:52.919 --> 00:16:54.879 Earp while he was playing billiards. And the 00:16:54.879 --> 00:16:57.759 justice system failed them. Completely. The justice 00:16:57.759 --> 00:17:00.679 system in Tombstone was broken. The cowboys had 00:17:00.679 --> 00:17:02.940 too much influence and too many friends in high 00:17:02.940 --> 00:17:05.940 places. So Wyatt Earp decided to take the law 00:17:05.940 --> 00:17:08.440 into his own hands. This is the Earp vendetta 00:17:08.440 --> 00:17:11.019 ride. And Doc was right there with him. Wyatt 00:17:11.019 --> 00:17:14.339 was appointed deputy U .S. marshal, and he deputized 00:17:14.339 --> 00:17:16.740 Doc again, along with a few others. They went 00:17:16.740 --> 00:17:19.380 hunting. And the first target was Frank Stilwell, 00:17:19.500 --> 00:17:22.180 the man they believed was one of Morgan's assassins. 00:17:22.670 --> 00:17:24.970 They found him at the Tucson train station, lying 00:17:24.970 --> 00:17:28.089 in wait to finish off the wounded Virgil. Stillwell's 00:17:28.089 --> 00:17:30.470 body was found the next morning next to the tracks, 00:17:30.730 --> 00:17:33.230 riddled with buckshot. Warrants were immediately 00:17:33.230 --> 00:17:35.750 issued for the arrest of the Earp posse, including 00:17:35.750 --> 00:17:38.130 Doc. So they were fugitives. In the eyes of the 00:17:38.130 --> 00:17:40.730 local sheriff, yes. But in their own minds, they 00:17:40.730 --> 00:17:43.630 were federal marshals carrying out justice. And 00:17:43.630 --> 00:17:45.750 there's a specific battle during this ride that 00:17:45.750 --> 00:17:49.009 really highlights Doc's loyalty. the fight at 00:17:49.009 --> 00:17:51.910 Iron Springs. This is a crazy encounter. The 00:17:51.910 --> 00:17:54.650 posse just stumbles upon Curly Bill Brocious 00:17:54.650 --> 00:17:57.430 and his gang at a watering hole. It's a total 00:17:57.430 --> 00:18:00.450 ambush. And Wyatt just goes for it. Wyatt jumps 00:18:00.450 --> 00:18:03.390 off his horse and starts blasting. He kills Curly 00:18:03.390 --> 00:18:06.390 Bill almost immediately. But the other men, including 00:18:06.390 --> 00:18:09.730 Doc, come under incredibly heavy fire and are 00:18:09.730 --> 00:18:11.549 forced to pull back. And someone gets pinned 00:18:11.549 --> 00:18:15.630 down, right? Texas Jack Vermillion. His horse 00:18:15.630 --> 00:18:17.450 is shot out from under him and it falls on his 00:18:17.450 --> 00:18:20.329 leg. He's trapped in the open, a sitting duck. 00:18:20.549 --> 00:18:23.230 What does your doc do? Doc Holliday, along with 00:18:23.230 --> 00:18:25.589 the others, had to retreat initially to get some 00:18:25.589 --> 00:18:29.349 cover, but he kept firing back, laying down covering 00:18:29.349 --> 00:18:31.750 fire to protect Vermillion until he could get 00:18:31.750 --> 00:18:34.630 free. It shows that even in a chaotic retreat, 00:18:34.769 --> 00:18:37.490 he was looking out for his team. So they finished 00:18:37.490 --> 00:18:40.119 the vendetta. Kill a few more cowboys and then 00:18:40.119 --> 00:18:42.400 flee to New Mexico to escape the warrants. Right. 00:18:42.519 --> 00:18:44.819 And this is where the story takes a turn that 00:18:44.819 --> 00:18:46.599 I feel like gets left out of the hero narrative 00:18:46.599 --> 00:18:50.359 a lot. The breakup. It's a sad and, frankly, 00:18:50.480 --> 00:18:52.819 an ugly moment. They're in Albuquerque eating 00:18:52.819 --> 00:18:55.099 at a restaurant called Fat Charlie's. And Doc, 00:18:55.200 --> 00:18:56.880 who we know had a mean streak, especially when 00:18:56.880 --> 00:18:59.059 he was drinking, makes a comment. What happened? 00:18:59.180 --> 00:19:01.380 Well, Wyatt was staying with a prominent local 00:19:01.380 --> 00:19:03.740 businessman named Henry N. Jaffa, who happened 00:19:03.740 --> 00:19:06.839 to be Jewish. And Doc, in his cups, makes an 00:19:06.839 --> 00:19:09.990 anti -Semitic slur. He calls Wyatt a damn Jew 00:19:09.990 --> 00:19:13.269 boy for associating with Jaffa. Oof. That is 00:19:13.269 --> 00:19:15.269 hard to hear. And you have to remember, Wyatt's 00:19:15.269 --> 00:19:17.710 romantic partner at the time, the woman who would 00:19:17.710 --> 00:19:19.990 become his common -law wife, Josephine Marcus, 00:19:20.329 --> 00:19:23.670 was also Jewish. So Wyatt was... Furious. He 00:19:23.670 --> 00:19:26.150 just got up from the table and left. Walked out 00:19:26.150 --> 00:19:29.420 on him. And that was it. The dynamic duo. broken 00:19:29.420 --> 00:19:31.839 up over a drunken slur. It wasn't a permanent 00:19:31.839 --> 00:19:33.920 estrangement. They did see each other later in 00:19:33.920 --> 00:19:36.720 Colorado. But it caused a very serious rift. 00:19:36.759 --> 00:19:39.460 And it shows Doc's flaws. He wasn't a saint. 00:19:39.559 --> 00:19:42.519 He had an ungovernable temper, as Bat Masterson 00:19:42.519 --> 00:19:44.539 later put it. He could be caustic, offensive, 00:19:44.779 --> 00:19:48.220 and prejudiced. So Doc drifts to Colorado. But 00:19:48.220 --> 00:19:50.420 the law from Arizona is still after him for the 00:19:50.420 --> 00:19:52.359 Stilwell murder. That's right. And this leads 00:19:52.359 --> 00:19:54.140 to one of the cleverest legal tricks I've ever 00:19:54.140 --> 00:19:57.119 heard of. Enter Bat Masterson again. This is 00:19:57.119 --> 00:19:59.940 absolutely brilliant. Doc gets arrested in Denver 00:19:59.940 --> 00:20:03.460 in May of 1882. Arizona sends an extradition 00:20:03.460 --> 00:20:05.859 request. They want him sent back to hang for 00:20:05.859 --> 00:20:10.279 murder. Wyatt hears about this and asks Bat Masterson, 00:20:10.279 --> 00:20:12.960 who was at that time the police chief in Trinidad, 00:20:13.059 --> 00:20:15.660 Colorado, to help. So what does Bat do? Does 00:20:15.660 --> 00:20:18.019 he break him out of jail? No, something much, 00:20:18.079 --> 00:20:20.799 much smarter. He fabricates a charge. He goes 00:20:20.799 --> 00:20:23.019 to a judge and claims Doc conned him out of money 00:20:23.019 --> 00:20:26.529 in a bunco. game a confidence scheme here in 00:20:26.529 --> 00:20:29.890 colorado he swears out a local warrant for doc's 00:20:29.890 --> 00:20:32.710 arrest wait so he had him arrested to save him 00:20:32.710 --> 00:20:35.049 exactly so now the governor of colorado frederick 00:20:35.049 --> 00:20:37.390 pitkin has two competing warrants on his desk 00:20:37.390 --> 00:20:40.490 yeah one from Arizona for murder and one from 00:20:40.490 --> 00:20:42.869 his own state, Colorado, for bunco. And the local 00:20:42.869 --> 00:20:44.950 one takes precedence. Masterson argued that it 00:20:44.950 --> 00:20:47.470 did. The governor agreed and refused the extradition 00:20:47.470 --> 00:20:50.089 request from Arizona. That is 4 -D chess right 00:20:50.089 --> 00:20:52.430 there. Sorry, Arizona, we can't send him to you 00:20:52.430 --> 00:20:54.710 to be hanged. We have to prosecute him for this 00:20:54.710 --> 00:20:57.009 fake crime we just made up. And of course, once 00:20:57.009 --> 00:20:59.849 the extradition was denied, the local bunco charges 00:20:59.849 --> 00:21:02.829 were quietly dropped or he was released on a 00:21:02.829 --> 00:21:05.769 small bond and just never showed up. Doc was 00:21:05.769 --> 00:21:08.609 a free man in Colorado. But he wasn't free from 00:21:08.609 --> 00:21:13.670 his demons or his poverty. By 1884, he's in Leadville, 00:21:13.789 --> 00:21:16.289 and he's in really bad shape. He was destitute. 00:21:16.289 --> 00:21:19.690 He'd pawned all his jewelry. He was sick. And 00:21:19.690 --> 00:21:23.190 he owed $5 to a man named Billy Allen. $5. That's 00:21:23.190 --> 00:21:25.869 about $170 in today's money. Right. He's going 00:21:25.869 --> 00:21:28.750 to get into a gunfight over $5. Well, Billy Allen 00:21:28.750 --> 00:21:31.069 was a bartender and also a special officer, which 00:21:31.069 --> 00:21:33.730 meant he could legally carry a gun. He threatened 00:21:33.730 --> 00:21:37.160 Doc, told him to pay up, or else. By all accounts, 00:21:37.259 --> 00:21:40.259 he was hunting Doc down. On August 19th, Doc 00:21:40.259 --> 00:21:42.680 is in Hyman's saloon. He knows Alan is coming 00:21:42.680 --> 00:21:44.839 for him. And Doc is just tiny at this point, 00:21:44.859 --> 00:21:47.059 isn't he? Wasted away. The sources say he weighed 00:21:47.059 --> 00:21:50.759 116 pounds. The TB was just consuming him. Billy 00:21:50.759 --> 00:21:53.599 Alan outweighed him by a good 50 pounds. When 00:21:53.599 --> 00:21:55.900 Alan walked through the saloon door, Doc didn't 00:21:55.900 --> 00:21:58.099 wait. He reached under the bar, grabbed his gun, 00:21:58.119 --> 00:22:00.759 and fired. And he hits him. The first shot actually 00:22:00.759 --> 00:22:04.470 hit the doorframe. Alan stumbled. Doc fired again 00:22:04.470 --> 00:22:06.630 and hit Alan in the arm, severing an artery. 00:22:07.190 --> 00:22:09.809 Alan survived, but his arm was never the same. 00:22:10.009 --> 00:22:12.250 So Doc goes to trial for this, and this is where 00:22:12.250 --> 00:22:15.269 the Western Credo comes into play. The jury acquitted 00:22:15.269 --> 00:22:19.109 him. They cited the no -duty -to -retreat law. 00:22:19.849 --> 00:22:22.150 The idea was that if you are threatened, you 00:22:22.150 --> 00:22:24.269 don't have to run away. You can stand your ground 00:22:24.269 --> 00:22:26.200 and defend yourself. And they bought it. They 00:22:26.200 --> 00:22:29.059 did. They saw a frail dying man being threatened 00:22:29.059 --> 00:22:31.400 by a much larger man and they let him walk. But 00:22:31.400 --> 00:22:33.440 that was really his last stand, wasn't it? It 00:22:33.440 --> 00:22:35.720 was. The high altitude of Leadville was terrible 00:22:35.720 --> 00:22:38.180 for his lungs. He was relying on alcohol and 00:22:38.180 --> 00:22:40.259 laudanum, which is an opiate, just to get through 00:22:40.259 --> 00:22:43.480 the day. In 1887, he moves to Glenwood Springs, 00:22:43.740 --> 00:22:45.720 hoping the famous hot springs there might help 00:22:45.720 --> 00:22:48.900 him. But they didn't. No. In fact, the sulfurous 00:22:48.900 --> 00:22:51.039 fumes from the springs probably made his lung 00:22:51.039 --> 00:22:53.539 condition even worse. He checked into the Hotel 00:22:53.539 --> 00:22:57.039 Glenwood. By November, he was completely bedridden. 00:22:57.140 --> 00:22:59.819 He was only 36 years old, but he looked like 00:22:59.819 --> 00:23:01.900 an old man. And we have to talk about the death 00:23:01.900 --> 00:23:06.259 scene. It's so cinematic. But the sources say 00:23:06.259 --> 00:23:08.819 it's true. It is, drawn from accounts of those 00:23:08.819 --> 00:23:11.019 who were present. On the morning of November 00:23:11.019 --> 00:23:14.700 8, 1887, he wakes up and asks the nurse for a 00:23:14.700 --> 00:23:16.839 shot of whiskey. And she says no. She refuses. 00:23:17.000 --> 00:23:19.660 And he's lying there, and he looks down at his 00:23:19.660 --> 00:23:22.640 feet. Which are bare. No boots. Right. He's in 00:23:22.640 --> 00:23:25.569 a bed. And his last words were, this is funny. 00:23:25.930 --> 00:23:28.089 This is funny. What do you think he meant by 00:23:28.089 --> 00:23:30.630 that? The consensus has always been that he expected 00:23:30.630 --> 00:23:33.769 to die with his boots on. In a gunfight. In a 00:23:33.769 --> 00:23:36.289 gunfight, in the street, a violent and sudden 00:23:36.289 --> 00:23:38.769 end. That was the death he had been courting 00:23:38.769 --> 00:23:42.069 for 15 years. To instead die in a bed, looking 00:23:42.069 --> 00:23:44.930 at his bare feet, essentially just fading away. 00:23:45.250 --> 00:23:49.359 To him, the irony was the final joke. Wow. That's 00:23:49.359 --> 00:23:51.599 incredible. He died at 10 a .m. He was buried 00:23:51.599 --> 00:23:54.140 in Linwood Cemetery overlooking the town. There's 00:23:54.140 --> 00:23:56.319 some debate about the exact grave site because 00:23:56.319 --> 00:23:57.880 the ground might have been frozen, but he's up 00:23:57.880 --> 00:24:00.140 there. So we have the life. Now let's talk about 00:24:00.140 --> 00:24:02.940 the final scorecard. Part seven, fact versus 00:24:02.940 --> 00:24:06.819 fiction. The legend, the reputation, says he 00:24:06.819 --> 00:24:09.240 killed more than a dozen men. Yeah, that's the 00:24:09.240 --> 00:24:12.509 number you hear. But modern researchers have 00:24:12.509 --> 00:24:15.150 really dug into this, and the reality is much, 00:24:15.190 --> 00:24:18.430 much lower. How low? Confirmed kills. We have 00:24:18.430 --> 00:24:22.690 Mike Gordon in 1879, Tom McClory at the OK Corral, 00:24:22.769 --> 00:24:25.410 and possibly Frank Stilwell during the Vendetta 00:24:25.410 --> 00:24:28.049 Ride. That's it? That's it. One to three men. 00:24:28.269 --> 00:24:30.170 That is a massive difference from the reputation. 00:24:30.589 --> 00:24:32.869 It is. But you have to look at his other stats. 00:24:33.069 --> 00:24:36.609 He was arrested 17 times. He survived five separate 00:24:36.609 --> 00:24:38.789 ambushes. There were four different attempts 00:24:38.789 --> 00:24:40.920 to lynch him. So the violence around him was 00:24:40.920 --> 00:24:42.839 real, even if the kill count was exaggerated. 00:24:43.160 --> 00:24:44.819 Exactly. He was in the thick of it constantly. 00:24:45.220 --> 00:24:47.819 But he often shot to wound or shot to scare, 00:24:47.900 --> 00:24:49.660 or frankly, his reputation did most of the work 00:24:49.660 --> 00:24:52.000 for him. So let's look at how his peers saw him. 00:24:52.420 --> 00:24:54.559 Wyatt Earp, obviously he loved him. Wyatt wrote 00:24:54.559 --> 00:24:57.640 a very famous tribute to him in 1896. He said, 00:24:57.740 --> 00:25:00.099 and I'm quoting here, I found him a loyal friend, 00:25:00.279 --> 00:25:02.680 a dentist whom necessity had made a gambler, 00:25:02.740 --> 00:25:05.220 a gentleman whom disease had made a vagabond. 00:25:05.559 --> 00:25:08.420 the most skillful gambler and nerviest, speediest, 00:25:08.440 --> 00:25:10.839 deadliest man with a six -gun I ever knew. High 00:25:10.839 --> 00:25:15.900 praise. But Bat Masterson, not so much. No. Masterson 00:25:15.900 --> 00:25:19.079 really didn't like him. He called Doc a weakling 00:25:19.079 --> 00:25:21.839 who couldn't whip a 15 -year -old boy in a fistfight. 00:25:22.319 --> 00:25:26.160 He claimed Doc had a mean disposition and killed 00:25:26.160 --> 00:25:28.380 because he physically couldn't fight any other 00:25:28.380 --> 00:25:30.779 way. He needed the gun as an equalizer. That 00:25:30.779 --> 00:25:34.180 was Masterson's take. And Virgil Earp, Wyatt's 00:25:34.180 --> 00:25:36.900 brother. Virgil's take is maybe the most balanced. 00:25:37.099 --> 00:25:39.359 He called him gentlemanly and a good dentist. 00:25:39.680 --> 00:25:42.279 But he also noted that outside of us boys, I 00:25:42.279 --> 00:25:43.500 don't think he had a friend in the territory. 00:25:44.339 --> 00:25:46.799 Doc was abrasive. He was difficult. But if he 00:25:46.799 --> 00:25:48.599 was your friend, he was your friend until the 00:25:48.599 --> 00:25:51.079 very end. So what does this all mean for us? 00:25:51.160 --> 00:25:52.759 Why are we still talking about a dentist from 00:25:52.759 --> 00:25:56.339 Georgia who died in 1887? I think Doc Holliday 00:25:56.339 --> 00:25:59.000 endures because he represents the ultimate tragic 00:25:59.000 --> 00:26:01.980 anti -hero. He isn't the clean, white -hat hero 00:26:01.980 --> 00:26:04.700 like the Lone Ranger. No. He's damaged. He's 00:26:04.700 --> 00:26:07.539 dying. He has absolutely nothing to lose. And 00:26:07.539 --> 00:26:09.519 in a world that was often lawless and brutal, 00:26:09.740 --> 00:26:11.619 there is something incredibly compelling about 00:26:11.619 --> 00:26:14.279 a man whose loyalty to his friends was the only 00:26:14.279 --> 00:26:17.059 law he really followed. It's the loyalty that 00:26:17.059 --> 00:26:20.420 gets me every time. He went into the OK Corral. 00:26:20.440 --> 00:26:22.880 He went on the Vendetta ride. Not for money. 00:26:23.289 --> 00:26:25.769 Not for a sense of civic duty, but because Wyatt 00:26:25.769 --> 00:26:28.369 needed him. Precisely. And that brings us to 00:26:28.369 --> 00:26:30.029 the final provocative thought for you to take 00:26:30.029 --> 00:26:32.710 away. Lay it on us. Consider this. John Henry 00:26:32.710 --> 00:26:35.690 Holliday dedicated his entire early life to the 00:26:35.690 --> 00:26:38.710 science of healing. He studied for years to become 00:26:38.710 --> 00:26:41.190 a doctor of dental surgery. He wanted to fix 00:26:41.190 --> 00:26:44.049 people. Right. But history remembers him solely 00:26:44.049 --> 00:26:47.150 as a killer. And the only reason he became that 00:26:47.150 --> 00:26:50.230 killer was because he himself was dying. If he 00:26:50.230 --> 00:26:53.200 hadn't caught TB. If he hadn't contracted tuberculosis, 00:26:53.480 --> 00:26:56.680 he would have been Dr. Holliday, a respected, 00:26:56.819 --> 00:26:59.380 successful dentist in Atlanta. He would have 00:26:59.380 --> 00:27:02.000 lived a quiet life, raised a family, and died 00:27:02.000 --> 00:27:04.859 in total obscurity. We would never, ever know 00:27:04.859 --> 00:27:07.039 his name. So the disease that killed him. Is 00:27:07.039 --> 00:27:09.000 also the only reason he's immortal. That is a 00:27:09.000 --> 00:27:11.799 heavy thought. The curse was also the legacy. 00:27:12.059 --> 00:27:14.200 It really was. Well, that is all the time we 00:27:14.200 --> 00:27:16.279 have for this deep dive. We hope you learned 00:27:16.279 --> 00:27:18.119 something new about the man behind the mustache. 00:27:18.480 --> 00:27:21.079 Always a pleasure. Thanks for listening. and 00:27:21.079 --> 00:27:22.019 we'll catch you on the next one.