Doc - Mary Doria Russell [0]
Dreamers of the Day
A Thread of Grace
Children of God
The Sparrow
Doc is a work of fiction. Though some incidents, dialogue, and characters are based on the historical record, the work as a whole is the product of the author’s imagination.
Copyright © 2011 by Mary Doria Russell
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Random House, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
RANDOM HOUSE and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Russell, Mary Doria
Doc: a novel / Mary Doria Russell.
p. cm.
eISBN: 978-0-679-60439-6
1. Holliday, John Henry, 1851–1887—Fiction. 2. Earp, Wyatt, 1848–1929—Fiction. 3. Dodge City (Kan.)—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3568.U76678E54 2011 813′.54—dc22 2010015062
www.atrandom.com
Jacket design: Marietta Anastassatos
Photo illustration: Steven Youll, based on images
© Iain McKell/Reportage/Getty Images (chair) and
© Matthias Clamer/Stone Collection/Getty Images
(room and piano)
v3.1
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 Game
Cover
Other Books by This Author
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Epigraph
THE PLAYERS
Georgia
Texas
Kansas
THE ANTE
Playing for Time
FIRST HAND
The Deal
Down Cards
Show Cards
SECOND HAND
Bad Beat
Roughing the Edges
Three Grand Gone
Stacking the Deck
THIRD HAND
The River
Ladies High
Wild Card
Three of a Kind
FOURTH HAND
Side Bets
Ringer
Chinaman’s Chance
FIFTH HAND
Joker
Call
Under the Table
SIXTH HAND
No Help
Raising Blind
Turning the Play
CASHING OUT
Playing for Keeps
THE RAKE
The Bitch in the Deck
Author’s Note
About the Author
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: