Doc Holliday's Road to Tombstone

‘Doc Holliday’s Road to Tombstone’ is splendid and has the best telling of the Gunfight at the OK Corral I’ve ever read.’

Martin Meyers,  “Patrick Hardy Mysteries.”

 

 

Chapter One

 

It's seldom good news when your phone rings at 5:30 in the morning, but I yawned and picked up on the third ring. I was just awake enough to resent the intrusion as I growled something into the speaker.

            "Bobby," a small voice said from the other end of the line.  "Bobby Anderson?"

            I recognized the Southern accent.  "Perk?"

            "You must not have a hang over -- you got me on the first try."

            Don Perkins and I had once worked on a documentary film together and maintained a close relationship although we didn't see one another that often.  "Why the early call?"

            "Lucy Caldwell, the journalist, said she wants to talk to you."

            "Oh. About what?"  I asked as I propped up on one elbow.

            "I have an idea it's about an old Holliday manuscript her grandfather wrote."

            "Is she aware of my research on the subject?"

            "Can't answer that, Bobby."

            I hesitated for a long moment.  Maybe I'm getting cynical, but how many times do I have to go chasing after another piece of that elusive Doc Holliday puzzle only to find myself at another dead end. But even as I hesitated I knew I wouldn't quit before I found some answers. I guess Perk got anxious and finally coughed and said, "Well?"

            "Oh, I suppose I'll listen, but why me?"

            "She's a fan of yours."

            "A fan?"

            "Yeah, remember that old historical series you did?"

            "Uh huh, I figured that would come back to bite me some day.  But go ahead, it's your nickel."

            Don Perkins filled me in on the particulars and told me I'd get expenses, I protested and said that was not necessary, but he said she was adamant. I told him ok if she insists. Several years ago while producing a series of historical documentaries we had filmed a segment about Doc Holliday, but it never aired. That was my first brush with the legend. The character and the era interested me, however it was several years before the idea took hold and I made a commitment to the project.

I went o the downtown Los Angeles library to begin preliminary research on the man, got hooked on the subject and began to look beyond the superficial gambler, gunslinger. That’s when my search for the real Doc Holliday took hold. But after several months of hard work I got stuck when I exhausted all the research materials available to me in Los Angeles.

There was something else though, I had long since figured the way to get a handle on Holliday's real character was through Sister Mary Melanie. Yeah -- good luck. Fact is Sister Melanie died more than a half century ago. There had been a lot of talk about letters from John Henry to the sister, but I think they had all been destroyed, burned. And for one reason or another that's about the time I set the project aside. Something Perk said got my attention though. He told me that Lucy Caldwell had interviewed Sister Melanie several times back in 1937. I wonder if she knew about her grandfather's manuscript at that time and did they discuss Holliday.

       I got out of bed, put on the coffee and managed to book a reservation on the nine a.m. Delta nonstop to Atlanta.  I showered, dressed, threw a few things into an overnight bag and drove to the flyaway parking facility in the San Fernando Valley.  I picked up my tickets, jumped on the bus for LAX and made the nine o'clock with time to spare.