ENGLISH LISTENING MATERIALS 4

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ENGLISH LISTENING MATERIALS
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Title : Doc Holliday: One of the Most Famous and Dangerous Gunfighters of the Old West
Kinds : Biography, Life story
Source : www.voanews.com/specialenglish
Re-upload by www.haarrr.wordpress.com intended for English learners in Indonesia
SCRIPT:
Doc Holliday:
One of the Most Famous and Dangerous Gunfighters of the Old West
This is Phoebe Zimmermann. And this is Doug Johnson with ‘EXPLORATIONS’ in VOA
Special English. Many stories have been told about the old American West. Some
are true. Many more are just interesting stories. Today we will try to tell the true
story of one of the most famous and dangerous American gun fighters. His name
was John Henry Holliday. He was better known as “Doc”.
(MUSIC)
The little city of Glenwood Springs is deep in the Rocky Mountains in the western
state of Colorado. The mountains here rise sharply out of the ground and surround
Glenwood Springs.
A small burial area in Glenwood Springs is called the Pioneer Cemetery. You have to
walk up a steep hill on an old dirt road to reach it. The walk takes about twenty
minutes. Visitors can stop at several places along this walk to look at the city far
blow.
In the cemetery, large stones mark most of the burial places. Some of the stones
look new. Many are more than one hundred years old.
A dirt path leads to the back of the cemetery and one, lone, burial place. This one is
the reason most people come to the Pioneer Cemetery. The stone over the burial
place is colored red, and larger than most of the others. A small black metal fence
surrounds the grave.
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The name on the stone says “Doc Holliday… He died in bed.” This man’s real name
was John Henry Holliday. He was called “Doc” because he was a doctor of dental
surgery, a dentist. But he was best known as a gunfighter and gambler, a person
who plays games of chance for money. Many people who knew him considered him
the most dangerous man in the Old West.
It is extremely difficult to separate truth from the false stories that were spread
about some of the more famous people in the Old West. Many of these famous
stories are very interesting and exciting. But they are not true. Many of these
made-up stories tell about the man who was Doc Holliday.
History experts say he was a very dangerous man because he was already dying
when he came to the West. He knew he had the lung disease tuberculosis that
causes a slow death. Many experts said he was not afraid of a gunfight. He thought
a quick death from a bullet might be better than waiting to die a very slow, painful
death from the disease.
Another interesting fact about Doc Holliday is that many history experts now believe
he may have spread several of the stories that were told about him. He may have
done this because it caused people to fear him. If they feared him, they would not
cause him trouble. It was not difficult to find trouble in many towns in the American
West. And disputes about who had won a game of chance were always a possibility
for a professional gambler like Doc Holliday.
(MUSIC)
John Henry Holliday was born in the southern state of Georgia in eighteen fifty-one.
He was born into a family that included several medical doctors and dentists. Like
most young men of the American South at that time, John Henry Holliday learned to
ride a horse well. He learned to shoot several kinds of weapons.
He also was well educated. He learned math and science. He learned to read, write
and speak Greek, Latin and French.
A young black woman who worked for his family taught him to play card games.
John Holliday became a very good card player. He could easily remember which
cards had been played in a game. This was very difficult to do. It helped him much
later in life when he became a professional gambler.
In eighteen seventy, John became a student at the Pennsylvania College of Dental
Surgery in Philadelphia. He graduated in eighteen seventy-two.
John Holliday was a tall man. He was thin and always dressed well. He was a quiet,
friendly man who always smiled. People liked him. Doctor Holliday began working
as a dentist in the southern city of Atlanta, Georgia. He soon began to show the
signs of tuberculosis, the same disease that had killed his mother. His doctor said he
would live longer if he went to a warm, very dry place -- perhaps the American West.
In eighteen seventy-three, John Holliday said goodbye to his family and left Georgia
on a train. He began his new life in the western city of Dallas, Texas.
(MUSIC)
Doctor Holliday tried to work as a dentist for about four years. He was not very
successful. Many people did not want to be treated by a dentist they knew had
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tuberculosis. He spent a great deal of time drinking alcohol in a saloon. It was here
that be became known as “Doc” Holliday.
Holliday traveled in Texas and Colorado for the next several years. He became a
professional gambler. In eighteen seventy-seven, he was living in the small town of
Fort Griffin, Texas. Here he met a man who was to become one of his best friends.
That man was a former law officer, gunfighter and gambler. His name was Wyatt
Earp. Soon after meeting Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday killed a man during a card game.
The man had reached for a gun. Doc Holliday was much quicker using a long knife.
He had to leave Fort Griffin and Texas very quickly.
The friendship continued between Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp. In Dodge City,
Kansas, Holliday saved Earp’s life late one night. A man drew his gun behind Wyatt
Earp. Doc Holliday yelled a warning, drew his gun and shot the man.
Wyatt Earp had several brothers. They were a close family. Many experts believe
that the Earp brothers were a replacement for the family Doc Holliday had left in
Georgia. Wyatt and his brothers Morgan and Virgil remained close friends with Doc
Holliday for the rest of their lives.
Doc Holliday had become well known in the West. He became even more famous
after he followed the Earp brothers to the town of Tombstone, Arizona. In
Tombstone he took part in the most famous shooting incident in western history.
(MUSIC)
That shooting incident in Tombstone is known as “The Gunfight at the OK Corral.” It
took place on October twenty-sixth, eighteen eighty-one. It involved Wyatt, Morgan
and Virgil Earp and Doc Holliday. Virgil Earp was an officer of the law. He was on
his way to arrest several men. Wyatt and Morgan went with him to help.
Doc Holliday joined them as they walked down the street. The men they were going
to arrest were also brothers -- Ike and Billy Clanton and Frank and Tom McLaury.
As the two groups came together, Virgil Earp demanded that the Clantons and
McLaurys raise their hands and surrender. They refused. No one knows who fired
the first shot. All the men began shooting at once.
When it was over, Billy Clanton, Frank McLaury and Tom McLaury were dead. Ike
Clanton had run away. Morgan and Virgil Earp were wounded, but they survived.
Neither Doc Holliday nor Wyatt Earp was hurt.
Political enemies of the Earp Brothers wanted a trial. The Earp Brothers and Doc
Holliday were arrested and tried. The jury found them innocent. It said they were
trying to disarm a group of men who wanted a fight.
A few months later, an unknown gunman killed Morgan Earp. Wyatt Earp and Doc
Holiday began to hunt the killers. They killed several men known to have been
involved in the murder of Morgan Earp.
No one really knows how many gunfights Doc Holliday took part in. No one knows
just how many people died as a result. Some books say he was responsible for the
deaths of as many as thirty men. But most experts say the number is closer to
eight.
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History books will tell you Doc Holliday was arrested several times. Most of the time
he was arrested for playing illegal games of chance. He was also arrested after
several shootings. Often the charges were dismissed because he was only defending
himself. The few times he faced a criminal trial he was found to be innocent.
In the last years of Doc Holliday’s life, the West had changed a great deal. The
people there no longer wanted gunfighters or gamblers.
Doc Holliday may have won in games of chance and in several gunfights. However,
he could not use his guns against tuberculosis. He died in his bed, in the little city of
Glenwood Springs, Colorado on November eighth, eighteen eighty-seven. He was
thirty-six years old.
(MUSIC)
This program was written by Paul Thompson. It was produced by Mario Ritter. This
is Doug Johnson. And this is Phoebe Zimmermann. Join us again next week for
another ‘EXPLORATIONS’ in VOA Special English.
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