‘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.
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