Volume 12 , Issue 45

This Day In History - November 8

* 1861 -- Trent Affairs (Civil War) Begins - The USS San Jacinto stops the British mailship Trent and arrests two Confederate envoys, James Mason and John Slidell. The incident turned into a major diplomatic crisis between Great Britain and the United States until the diplomats were released nearly two months later.

* 1887 -- Doc Holiday dies of tuberculosis - Doc Holliday was a noted gunslinger, gambler, and occasional dentist. Remember the OK Corral in Tombstone, Arizona? His full name was John Henry "Doc" Holliday and he earned his bad reputation well before that famous feud at the Ok Corral. Doc Holliday was born in Georgia and raised in the tradition of the southern gentleman. He earned his nickname when he graduated from the Pennsylvania college of Dental Surgery in 1872. 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.

Although he was considered a competent dentist, cards interested him more than teeth. Holliday 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.

We all know from books, movies that Holliday was famously friendly with Wyatt Earp, who believed that Holliday saved his life during a fight with cowboys. Holliday was a loyal friend to Earp, and stood by him during the 1881 shootout at the OK Corral and the bloody feud that followed.

Holliday fled Arizona and returned to the life of a western drifter, gambler, and gunslinger in 1882. By 1887, Holliday's hard living had caught up to him, corking fin to seek treatment for his tuberculosis at a sanitarium in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. He died in his bed at only 36 years old.   |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

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