Bailey lay sprawled across the table, his blood and guts spilling over the floor. Bailey immediately brought out his pistol from under the table, but before the man could pull the trigger, Doc’s lethal knife slashed the man across the stomach. This time, Doc raked in the pot without showing his hand, or saying a word. Though Holliday warned Bailey twice, Bailey ignored him and picked up the discards again. Looking at the discards was strictly prohibited by the rules of Western Poker, a violation that could force the player to forfeit the pot. Bailey was unimpressed with Doc’s reputation and in an attempt to irritate him, he keptpicking up the discards and looking at them. Wyatt Earp told a colorful tale of how Kate got Doc out of trouble in Fort Griffin: Doc was dealing cards to a local bully by the name of Ed Bailey, who was accustomed to having his own way without question. Considering the probable low IQs of cowboys and outlaws in those days, it’s possible that the educated Doc reminded Kate of her father.īig Nose Kate about age 40, circa 1890. There she met and hung out with Wyatt Earp and it was through him that she began her long-time involvement with Doc Holliday. John Hollidayīy 1878 Kate had moved to Fort Griffin, Texas. Some historians speculate that she had a relationship with Wyatt, but Kate wrote that she did not meet him until several years later. She worked as a prostitute in a brothel run by Nellie Bessie Earp, wife of James Earp, an older brother of the better-known Virgil, Wyatt, and Morgan, the Earp brothers. This may be the truth, or simply a young girl’s fanciful imagination.īy 1874, Kate (now 24) had made her way to Dodge City, Kansas, calling herself Kate Elder. She said that both husband and baby died of fever. Louis, graduating in 1869 (age 19).Īt one point, Kate claimed to have married a dentist named Silas Melvin and to have borne him a child, although no record survives of either the marriage or birth. She took the Captain’s name and, under the name of Kate Fisher, entered a convent school in St.
Upon discovering his stowaway, Captain Fisher took pity on her, and placed her under his protection. Horoney in May of that same year, both of unknown causes, and 14-year-old Kate was placed in the foster home of Otto Smith.Īt the age of 17, Kate left Smith and stowed away on a steamboat to St. Mama Horoney died in March, followed by Dr. Haroney took his family to Davenport, Iowa. When Maximilian’s government crumbled in 1865, Dr. Haroney left Hungary for Mexico to accept a position as personal surgeon to Maximilian of Mexico. She was literate, and spoke several languages, including Hungarian, French, Spanish and English. She received an education befitting an aristocrat’s daughter. She was born Novemin Budapest, Hungary, the eldest daughter of a wealthy physician named Dr. Relentless research has brought to light additional facts and details about Katie’s life. Again, the truth will be revealed later on in this article.
She must have had an excellent public relations representative to have spun such a saga. This story is doubtless apocryphal, which is, after all, how myths are made. More about this event later.Īlthough she lived to be nearly 90, legend has her being slain with a stray bullet fired by a drunk in the Brewery Gulch saloon in Bisbee Arizona. Holliday, understandably put out by this betrayal, dumped Katie the minute he was freed of the charge. Though Katie could most certainly be “uncovered” since she was a prostitute, proof of their marriage has not, to date, been uncovered.ĭoc and Katie later moved on to Tombstone, Arizona, where in July 1881, Katie got extremely drunk and, in that lamentable condition, was talked into signing a deposition saying Holliday was one of the outlaws who had held up a stagecoach. It is possible they were really married, but no one knows for certain. In Dodge City Kansas the following year, the pair registered in a rooming house as Dr. Proper Young Women: Big Nose Kate (left) with sister, probably late teens.