By Gene Carlisle

Summary

Why did twenty-two year-old John Henry "Doc" Holliday exit Georgia in September of 1873? Unsubstantiated theories and conjecture have not filled the factual void. Into the void is now placed a single newspaper article read by Atlanta's citizens during Holliday's final summer in Georgia. Entitled "The Holliday Homicide", it appeared on the front page of the June 19, 1873 edition of THE ATLANTA DAILY HERALD. Beneath this heretofore unknown article lies an avalanche of facts detailing a two-year war between the Jackson County Ku Klux and the two Holliday brothers, J.R. and Francis M., which conflict spilled over into the courts of Fulton County (Atlanta) and into the lives of their Atlanta cousins, including Doc Holliday himself. Jeremiah Robert Holliday, called J.R., of Jackson County, 45 miles east of Fulton,was shot down by a corrupt sheriff and his Ku Klux "posse" on June 16,1873 as he tended his fields. He offered meager resistance. J.R. was 43 at the time of his death.

Two years' previous, on the night of July 24,1871, the Jackson County Ku klux had carried out a vicious attempt on J.R.'s life, and the violation of his household, which included his wife and four young children. Forewarned by Prince McElhannon (Colored) to keep his eyes skinned that night, J.R. fired a shotgun into the hooded pile as they came through his yard gate, near midnight. J.M. Pittman, shot in the face, would die the next day. Violence on a horrendous scale ensued in the Holliday home. The Ku Klux, which numbered "between 20 and 30", loosed a storm of lead at J.R., whose miraculous survival may be compared to that of Wyatt Earp at Iron Springs.

Over forty courageous Jackson Countians, white and black, testified on J.R.'s behalf before the visiting Maynard Congressional Anti-Ku Klux Committee in Atlanta, and before the Fulton County grand jury, simultaneously convened in Fulton's Superior Court. J.R. testified before the Maynard Committee on Saturday, October 21 (1871). On that very night, his $12,000 Jackson County cotton mill was burned by armed and hooded riders who warned witnesses not to interfere. This was followed by the November arrest of Francis M. and his farce arson trial, played out with great excitement in the Jefferson courthouse, with a guard of Federal troops and an atmosphere of martial law.

The participation of the Atlanta Hollidays in the troubles of the Jackson County Hollidays is evidenced by the eight political campaigns of Dr. John Stiles Holliday, Doc's uncle, against transplanted Jackson County natives for the office of Fulton County Superior Court Clerk. Doc's departure from Georgia may have been occasioned by swift acts of revenge, in Jackson County, for the murdered J.R., and by a Fulton County homicide perpetrated by the westbound dentist just prior to his exit from Georgia. Definitely figuring into Doc's Georgia exit is an Atlanta dental career obliterated in whiskey-drenched, poker-addicted, Whitehall Street ruin.

WHY DOC HOLLIDAY LEFT GEORGIA includes long-hidden and stunning revelations about Doc's life in his native state, with 64 pages of photos, illustrations, and rare documentation.

About the Author

Gene Carlisle, 56, attended the University of Georgia in the mid-60's, during which time he became familiar with the college's grand, eight-floor library. He would put that knowledge to good use thirty years later in researching the lives of Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday. He has had four articles published in WILD WEST magazine, and has completed a book on Wyatt in Alaska, to be published in the very near future.

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