sighed, dumped my tooth in a trash can and walked over to the front door. Looking a little down, he grabbed the most expensive lookin’ suit coat I’ve ever seen off the hook on the door and slipped it on. As I was climbing out of the chair, I asked him how business was going.
“Frowning, he said not very good. He said he was closing up and that he had opened a small saloon down on Center Street. And then to my surprise, he asked me to join him for a game of stud that night.”
“Tell me it ain’t true, cus! You and Doc Holliday in a card game!”
“Yeah, I was pretty much shocked all right. I told him I had a few things to do, and I would join him later.
“He nodded and laid his hand on my shoulder as we walked out the front door. He locked the door and strolled toward the center of town. Still tryin’ to absorb the whole affair, I just stood for a minute and watched him walk away. This bad man, legendary killer of the West, turned out to be a likeable, well-spoken man.”
“That’s really somethin’,” Cliff exclaimed.
“Yeah, but it didn’t take long for me to see the other side of Doc Holliday.”
“Oh yeah? What happened?”
“Well, after I ran all my errands, I headed on down to Center Street and Doc’s place for that game of stud. I moseyed on in. He saw me right away and motioned me over to his table. He had a chair waitin’ on me. He introduced me to the other players and then proceeded to deal. One of the players was a local gunman named Mike Gordon. He was joking and laughing with the other fellows. He seemed to be pretty popular. Doc seemed annoyed by him. I nodded at everyone and took my seat.”
“In a card game with the Doc. That’s somethin’.” Cliff shook his head. “Could he play?”
“Yeah, he knew his cards all right, but he acted different than he did in his office. He seemed nervous and kinda edgy, and his eyes had a dark look to ’em. He was drinking quite a bit and not near as friendly. I guess a skinny rich kid from Valdosta, Georgia, had to be on his guard all the time.
“I played for a few hours, lost a little and called it a day. Doc stood up to say goodbye to me. I told him I was leavin’ for California in the morning, and he wished me safe passage. He put his poker face back on and rejoined the game.
“The next morning, I got up early and headed down to the livery stable to pick up Babe. I stopped by the hardware store and picked up some supplies and then started to ride out. As I rode down Center Street, gunfire and screaming erupted inside Doc’s saloon. As I got closer, I saw Doc come staggering out of the swinging doors with his six guns a smokin’. He stumbled off the boardwalk and almost ran into me. Surprised, he looked up at me with bloodshot eyes. He smiled a little when he saw it was me and lowered the gun. I’ll tell ya, Cliff, I’ll never forget the look on his face that morning for as long as I live. It wasn’t anger or hatred—it was remorse and sadness on his face.”
“Ya think he felt bad about shooting that hombre?”
“Sure seemed like it,” Jon replied. “I asked how it happened, and he told me Gordon had accused him of cheating and went for his gun. Doc beat him to the punch and blasted him three times at close range. He said it was an awful sight. He literally blew his guts out. He knew the town would be after him, so he ran out of the saloon. Haggard and tired, Doc smelled of whiskey, stale cigars, and cologne.e
“Then he turned and started walking real fast toward his horse. I reined around and rode next to him.
I leaned down and asked him where he was headin’.
“He said the word ‘Dodge’ quietly so nobody would hear. I nodded as he dropped his guns in their holsters and quickly mounted up. I felt honored that he trusted me enough to tell me where he was goin’.
“As he mounted up, I jumped down and grabbed a pouch of water off Babe and tossed it over his horse’s hindquarters. Then I quickly stuffed some flour and bacon into his saddlebags.
“He said ‘Bless you, my friend,’ as he spun around and rode off toward Dodge.
“Several people came running out of the saloon waving their six guns. Like I said, Gordon was a popular guy. The local folks were more than a little bit upset by his killing.”
“Why’d they wait so long to come after him?” Cliff queried.
“Gordon was more than likely the only gunman in there. The rest of them were probably just normal folks. They really didn’t want any part of Doc Holliday.
“One of the men asked me if I knew where Doc went, and I didn’t say anything. The man just stared at me for a minute and then looked up and down the street. Doc had left town on one of the finest quarter horses I’ve ever seen. Even in his drunken state, he was a fine horseman. There’s no way they would ever catch him. Several others rushed out to the street, waving their guns and shouting, but none gave chase. It was all for show. Disheartened by the loss of their friend, they dropped their guns in their holsters and walked back in the saloon. One of the men shouted ‘Good riddance’ over his shoulder.
“I quickly rode back to the general store, picked up another bag of water and other supplies and headed out for California again.”
“That’s one whale of a story, Jon.”
Jon sat back in his chair. “Yeah, he’s quite a guy. After only a short time with him, I can see why Wyatt liked him so much. There was somethin’ about him, an honesty or somethin’ most people never see.”
“I bet Gordon didn’t see it,” Cliff quipped.
“Guess not,” Jon replied.
“I hear Doc had a big shootout down Tombstone way not too long ago.”
“Yeah, I heard about that,” Jon replied. “I guess some cowboys got shot up pretty bad.”
Jon has really changed, Cliff thought. Since he last saw him, Jon had become a hardened gunman. Just the kind of man that he and the others miners needed to take on George Stanton and his gang of hired guns. Cliff had a hunch.
“If you don’t mind, Jon, I would like to take a couple a minutes and tell you a little bit about what’s going on around here.”
Jon smiled. “You were patient enough during my story, cus. Go ahead.”
“Well, as you may know, this town is pretty well dependent on the nearby gold mines for its survival.”
Jon nodded.
“The original vein on the side of a nearby mountain was discovered and mined by a man named George Stanton. Everything was going just great for Mr. Stanton in the beginning. In fact, it went so well that he was thinking of expanding and looking for gold in some nearby areas. Only problem was, he was a little short of capital to fund these new ventures. To improve his cash flow, he came up with a scheme to advertise out East. He offered the folks out East a chance to come here to California and buy into one of the small veins that splintered off his main vein with the chance of striking it rich. Each person or family would acquire a stake in a smaller vein near the main load and whatever gold was found would belong to them. Meanwhile, Stanton could take their cash and use it for further expansion and development in some of the promising areas just south of here. It would also expand his power
