Maybe Shots

Maybe Shots

Photos that might be Doc Holliday, Wyatt Earp and others…

These are what I call Maybe Shots. Photos that various folks send to me suggesting that they are some Old West notable. This gentleman has presented a varied collection of very different appearing people, which he suggests are the same person. However, do note that he is in Wichita, KS, where all of the personages, noted here, certainly were at one time or another in their lives. The questions will sometimes be, were they there at the same time and/or, were they at the age suggested by their appearance in the picture? I have expressed my doubts with each photo, but I am no photo/forensic expert by any stretch of the imagination and I don’t mind being proven wrong. Take a look, compare and see what you think. Are any of these Maybe Shots, the real thing?

The photos on this page are from the collection of Mr. Paul B. of Wichita, KS. His collecting interest has spanned some 30 years and now includes some 1,800 photos. Some of these, he believes, are western personalities of note. This page will present some of those publicly for the first time. The purpose being to attempt to identify the individuals in the photos. Are they who Mr. B. thinks they might be? There is NO further Provence* with any of these photographs.
Does anyone else have a similar photo? Anyone know enough to help date the clothes, objects, etc? I have certainly made some comments here and you will note that I am very skeptical of all of these photos. However, I’m very interested in what others will have to say and, as I said, I don’t mind being proven wrong.
Mr. B. also claims to have other historic photos of  Doc and Wyatt and others of Jesse James. We will see how this goes…
Doc B

The Maybe Shots – Who are these folks?

On this cabinet card, Mr. B. thinks we may have Doc Holliday and Mary Kathrine Haroney.
However, there are some visible issues with this photo:
The card is from Indianapolis, IN
-as far as I know, Doc was never there.
This gentleman is sporting a Masonic Pin.
-Doc was not a Mason
His shoes are very badly worn.
-hard to believe a natty dresser like Doc had shoes like these.
Doc was ash-blond, wrong hair part.
there are some other things…

 

Mr. B. calls this the train image.
Naming the individuals he sees in the photo:
Back row left to right:
Mary Kathrine Haroney
Doc Holliday
Wilma Haroney (Kate’s sister)
Crowley Dake
– U.S. Marshal for the Arizona Territory c. 1880’s.
Front Row:
Wyatt Earp
Elvira Earp
This is an enormously improbable group.
Crowley didn’t wear a beard.
The women are all too old for any possible time the photo could have been made.
You want to remember that Doc was an ash-blond. His hair should have photographed the same tone as “Wyatt’s”.

 

In this photo, Mr. B, suggests we have:
Wilma Haroney
Doc Holliday

Where is Doc’s mustache? To anyone’s knowledge, he was never without it after Dental school (1872)
Doc and Wilma in the same place? Wichita c. 1875 and unlikely even then.

 

 

 

Doc (01)
This Doc has the wrong style mustache. Doc wore a walrus.
Doc was ash-blonde, hair parted on the wrong side.
(unflipped tintype?)

 

 

 

 

 

Doc (02)
This Doc has the wrong style mustache. Doc wore a walrus.
Note his 1879 Las Vegas photo. Wrong hair.
Too old.

 

 

 

 

Doc (03)
This Doc has the wrong style mustache. Doc wore a walrus.
Hair part on the wrong side.
(unflipped tintype?)

 

 

 

 

Here we are to see Doc and Kate.
It would be well to remember that Doc was 37 years old at the time of his death. Kate was 38. Furthermore, Doc had been a consumptive since at least the age of 14, possibly before. While it is true that he may have been in “remission” for most of his years in the west, he had miliary tuberculosis, likely some time before he came to Glenwood Springs to take the waters. Even in the Leadville, CO years, summer of 1882 thru spring of 1887 (with some jaunts to Denver), Doc was in a fragile, weakened and emaciated condition. Both of these folks are too old.

 

Doc (04)
This Doc has the wrong style mustache. Doc wore a walrus.
Again, wrong hair part. (unflipped tintype?)
At best, the bowler is a prop.

 

 

 

 

 

Here, Mr. B. sees:
From the left:
Mary Kathrine Haroney
Wyatt Earp
Wilhelmina Haroney
I don’t think there were very many opportunities for these three to be in the same place for a photo.

 

 

 

 

Doc (05)
Even though there may be a picture by Camilus Fly with Doc holding a bowler, it was a prop. Not the style of hat Doc wore.
Here again, the hair is parted on the wrong side. (unflipped tintype?)

 

 

 

 

This is the set of “Doc” possibles that Mr. B.
is willing to share with us at this time.
There may be more in the future…

I anticipate further comment from Mr. B
when he has time to examine this page. I will post same.

 

Is Doc Holliday in This Photo?
This photo appeared in Frederick Nolan’s book The West of Billy the Kid. Nolan published it, in part, because the Kid spent time in this jail in December 1880, when Pat Garrett escorted him and members of his gang to Santa Fe. Recently some historians have speculated that Doc Holliday is in the photograph, to the right of Webb (in shackles).

see also:
Doc Photos
Doc Holliday New Photo
Provenance

Readers, your civil, thoughtful comments are always welcome,
Please save your bunkhouse comments for the bunkhouse.
Doc B

 So you think you might have a “new” picture,
a tintype of Doc,
or some other western notable?

I get calls and emails from folks who think they have turned up an item that no one else has yet seen. Unlikely, but it could be… Just for starters, here are some of the issues you need to be prepared to address to prove your case.
see:
Provenance

For those who would like to see verified photos of other Western Notables, see:

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End: Doc Photo Page – Paul Butler