DOC HOLLIDAY BEFORE HE WENT TO TOMBSTONE

NEW EVIDENCE OF HIS LIFE IN PRESCOTT REVEALS THE GAMBLER WAS ON THE MOVE BACK AND FORTH TO NEW MEXICO BEFORE JOINING THE EARPS IN COCHISE COUNTY.

- BRAD COURTNEY

History buffs in Prescott, Arizona, know that the legendary John Henry "Doc" Holliday lived in Prescott before moving to Tombstone. Most, however, don't realize that Doc actually spent two separate tenures in their mountain town, the first during the winter of 1879-80.

Doc went to Prescott by way of Las Vegas, New Mexico. His friend Wyatt Earp had gotten the hell out of Dodge City, Kansas, because he'd heard from older brother Virgil, constable of Prescott, about a new boomtown in southern Arizona with an odd name, Tombstone. No one knows precisely why Doc decided to join the Earp party almost a year after he heard about Wyatt's Tombstone plans.

Holliday, with his lover Kate Elder, arrived in Prescott in early November 1879. Doc and Kate found boarding in town, while Wyatt and his lady Mattie, brother James and his wife and stepdaughter, lodged with Virgil and Allie. Wyatt's time in Prescott was short, indeed more like an "extended layover" than a sojourn. He and Virgil were anxious to get to Tombstone while the pickings were still good.

Doc, who was making the switch (maybe not intentionally) from dentist to full-time professional gambler, found Prescott to his liking and decided to lag behind for the time being. In the center of town was Whiskey Row, the gambling center of Arizona Territory. Another possibility is that it was Kate who liked what she saw, and convinced Doc to hunker down. Perhaps she was trying to keep Doc from Wyatt, whom she didn't like. Or it might have been the climate of the Central Arizona Highlands, considered by many to be one of the best in the world. It's common knowledge that Holliday suffered from tuberculosis. Prescott would become a major treatment destination for tuberculosis patients in the early 1900s, and surely Doc sensed that central Arizona was healthier for him than southern Arizona.

Tombstone vs. Prescott