Doc

Doc A novel by Mary Doria Russell

For Art Nolan, who told me what Wyatt knew; for Eddie Nolan, who showed us what John Henry had to learn; for Alice McKey Holliday, who raised a fine young man; with thanks to Bob Price and Gretchen Batton.

This book is fiction, but there is always a chance that such a work of fiction may throw some light on what has been written as fact.

—E. HEMINGWAY, A MOVEABLE FEAST

The Players

Fictional characters are listed in italics.

GEORGIA

The Hollidays

John Henry Holliday, D.D.S., later known as Doc Holliday

Alice McKey Holliday: his mother

Henry Holliday: his father

Wilson and Chainey: brothers, born into his family’s possession

John Stiles Holliday, M.D.: JHH’s uncle

Permelia: his wife

Robert: his younger son, later a dentist

George: his older son; sent to care for JHH in Texas in 1877

Sophie Walton: his foster child; taught JHH to play cards

Martha Anne Holliday: JHH’s childhood sweetheart

TEXAS

Henry Kahn: a bad-tempered gambler; shot JHH in 1877

Mary Katharine “Kate” Harony: a prostitute; JHH’s companion

David W. “Dirty Dave” Rudabaugh: a train robber

George Hoyt: an inexpert assassin

Tobias Driskill: a Texan with a grudge

Billy Driskill: his son, arrested for assault in Dodge

KANSAS

The Earps

Morgan Earp: a policeman; JHH’s closest friend

Louisa “Lou” Houston: his girlfriend

James Earp: Morgan’s brother, a brothel manager

Bessie Bartlett Earp: his wife, the madam

Wyatt Earp: brother of Morgan and James; a policeman

Urilla Sutherland Earp: Wyatt’s wife, deceased

Mattie Blaylock: a Dodge City streetwalker

Lawmen

Lawrence “Fat Larry” Deger: the Dodge City marshal (chief of police)

Ed Masterson: chief deputy to Marshal Deger; deceased

Marshal Deger’s deputies:

Morgan Earp

Wyatt Earp

Jack Brown

Chuck Trask

John Stauber

William Barkley “Bat” Masterson: sheriff of Ford County; half owner, Lone Star Saloon and Dance Hall

Dodge City Chamber of Commerce

Robert C. “Bob” Wright: proprietor, Wright’s General Outfitting Store; member, Kansas House of Representatives

Isabelle “Belle” Wright: his daughter

Alice Wright: his wife

Hamilton “Ham” Bell: proprietor, Hamilton Bell’s Famous Elephant Barn

Chalkley “Chalkie” Beeson: proprietor, the Long Branch Saloon

George “Deacon” Cox: proprietor, the Dodge House Hotel

James H. “Dog” Kelley: mayor of Dodge; proprietor, the Alhambra Saloon

George “Big George” Hoover: proprietor, Hoover’s Cigar Shop and Wholesale Liquors; leader, Dodge City anti-saloon reform movement

Margaret: his wife; formerly the prostitute Maggie Carnahan

Other Kansas Figures (Dodge and Elsewhere)

Edwin “Eddie Foy” Fitzgerald: vaudeville comedian

Verelda: his girlfriend, a prostitute

Jau “China Joe” Dong-Sing: proprietor, China Joe’s Laundry and Baths John Horse Sanders: a young faro dealer

Charles Sanders: Johnnie’s father, deceased; a black man killed in Wichita after defending his wife from two Texans

Father Alexander von Angensperg, S.J.: an Austrian Jesuit; Johnnie Sanders’ favorite teacher at the St. Francis Mission School for Indians, near Wichita

Father John Schoenmakers, S.J.: a Dutch Jesuit; superior of St. Francis

Brother Sheehan, S.J.: an Irish lay brother; taught farming at St. Francis

Father Paul Maria Ponziglione, S.J.: an Italian Jesuit, missionary to the Plains Indians

Captain Elijah Garrett Grier, U.S. Army: stationed at Fort Dodge, Kansas; owner of Roxana

John Riney: tollgate operator, Dodge City toll bridge