Editing Doc Holliday (section)

== Befriends Wyatt Earp ==
[[File:Wyatt Earp portrait.png|thumb|right|[[Wyatt Earp]] ]]

In October 1877, outlaws led by [[Dave Rudabaugh|"Dirty" Dave Rudabaugh]] robbed a [[Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway|Santa Fe Railroad]] construction camp in Kansas. Rudabaugh fled south into Texas. [[Wyatt Earp]] was given a temporary commission as deputy U.S. marshal. Earp left [[Dodge City, Kansas|Dodge City]], following Rudabaugh over {{convert|400|mi|abbr=on}} to Fort Griffin, a frontier town on the Clear Fork of the [[Brazos River]]. Earp went to the Bee Hive Saloon, the largest in town and owned by [[John Shanssey]], whom Earp had met in Wyoming when he was 21.<ref name=holliday2001/>{{rp|113}} Shanssey told Earp that Rudabaugh had passed through town earlier in the week, but he did not know where he was headed. Shanssey suggested Earp ask gambler Doc Holliday, who had played cards with Rudabaugh.<ref>{{cite book| last1=Cozzone| first1=Chris| last2=Boggio| first2=Jim| title=Boxing in New Mexico, 1868–1940| date=2013| publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers| location=Jefferson, North Carolina| isbn=978-0786468287| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jQ9-9_xJviYC&pg=PT23| url-status=live| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160511232612/https://books.google.com/books?id=jQ9-9_xJviYC&pg=PT23| archive-date=May 11, 2016| df=mdy-all}}</ref> Holliday told Earp that he thought Rudabaugh was headed back to Kansas. Earp sent a telegram to Ford County Sheriff Bat Masterson that Rudabaugh might be headed back in his direction.<ref name="westdoc">{{Cite web |last=Clavin |first=Tom |date=March 27, 2017 |title=When Doc Met Wyatt |url=https://truewestmagazine.com/doc-met-wyatt/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190119121637/https://truewestmagazine.com/doc-met-wyatt/ |archive-date=January 19, 2019 |access-date=January 18, 2019 |website=True West Magazine}}</ref>

[[File:Long Branch Saloon interior.jpg|thumb|right|Photo of the interior of the [[Long Branch Saloon]] in [[Dodge City, Kansas]], taken between 1870 and 1885]]
After about a month in Fort Griffin, Earp returned to Fort Clark<ref>{{cite web| title=Alexander Autographs Live Auction| url=http://auctions.alexautographs.com/auction-lot-detail/GUNFIGHT-AT-THE-O.K.-CORRAL-SKETCH-SUPERVISED-AND-&salelot=42+++++++522+&refno=+++66602| access-date=July 2, 2016| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160712151338/http://auctions.alexautographs.com/auction-lot-detail/GUNFIGHT-AT-THE-O.K.-CORRAL-SKETCH-SUPERVISED-AND-%26salelot%3D42+++++++522+%26refno%3D+++66602| archive-date=July 12, 2016| df=mdy-all}}</ref> and in early 1878, he went to Dodge City, where he became the assistant city marshal, serving under [[Charlie Bassett]]. During the summer of 1878, Holliday and Horony also arrived in Dodge City, where they stayed at Deacon Cox's boarding house as Dr. and Mrs. John H. Holliday. Holliday sought to practice dentistry again, and ran an advertisement in the local paper:

{{quote|
DENTISTRY

J. H. Holliday, Dentist, very respectfully offers his professional services to the citizens of Dodge City and surrounding country during the summer. Office at Room No. 24 Dodge House. Where satisfaction is not given, money will be refunded.<ref>{{cite news|author=<!--not stated-->|title=Dentistry|work=Dodge City Times|date=1878-06-08|url=http://dodgecitypl.advantage-preservation.com/viewer/?i=f&by=1878&bdd=1870&bm=6&bd=8&d=06081878-06081878&fn=dodge_city_times_usa_kansas_dodge_city_18780608_english_3&df=1&dt=4&cid=3063}}</ref>}}

According to accounts of the following event, reported by [[Glenn Boyer]] in ''[[I Married Wyatt Earp]]'', Earp had run two cowboys, Tobe Driscall and Ed Morrison, out of [[Wichita, Kansas|Wichita]] earlier in 1878. During the summer, the two cowboys—accompanied by another two dozen men—rode into Dodge and shot up the town while galloping down Front Street. They entered the Long Branch Saloon, vandalized the room, and harassed the customers. Hearing the commotion, Earp burst through the front door and before he could react, a large number of cowboys were pointing their guns at him. In another version, there were only three to five cowboys. In both stories, Holliday was playing cards in the back of the room and upon seeing the commotion, drew his weapon and put his pistol at Morrison's head, forcing him and his men to disarm, rescuing Earp from a bad situation.<ref name=geringer>{{cite web| last1=Geringer| first1=Joseph| title=Wyatt Earp: Knight With A Six-Shooter| url=http://www.crimelibrary.com/gangsters_outlaws/outlaws/earp/8.html| publisher=CrimeLibrary.com| access-date=November 2, 2014| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060307015535/http://www.crimelibrary.com/gangsters_outlaws/outlaws/earp/8.html| archive-date=March 7, 2006| df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref name=erwin>{{cite book| last1=Erwin| first1=Richard| title=The Truth About Wyatt Earp| year= 2000| publisher=iUniverse| isbn=978-0595001279| page=464| edition=paperback| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3tF7zrZxyJsC&q=Ed+Morrison+wyatt+earp&pg=PA126| access-date=March 31, 2015| url-status=live| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160407025933/https://books.google.com/books?id=3tF7zrZxyJsC&pg=PA126&lpg=PA126&dq=Ed+Morrison+wyatt+earp#v=onepage&q=Ed%20Morrison%20wyatt%20earp| archive-date=April 7, 2016| df=mdy-all}}</ref> No account of any such confrontation was reported by any of the Dodge City newspapers at the time.<ref name=erwin/> Whatever actually happened, Earp credited Holliday with saving his life that day, and the two men became friends.<ref name=geringer/><ref name="wyatttestimony">{{cite web| url=http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/earp/wearptestimony.html| title=Testimony of Wyatt S. Earp in the Preliminary Hearing in the Earp-Holliday Case| access-date=February 6, 2011| year=2005| editor-first=Douglas| editor-last=Linder| work=Famous Trials: The O. K. Corral Trial| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110203011441/http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/earp/wearptestimony.html| archive-date=February 3, 2011| df=mdy-all}} From Turner, Alford (Ed.), ''The O. K. Corral Inquest'' (1992)</ref>