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Big Nose Kate
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Big Nose Kate
Mary Katherine Horony Cummings (November 7, 1849 – November 2, 1940), popularly known as Big Nose Kate, was a Hungarian-born American outlaw, gambler, prostitute and longtime companion and common-law wife of Old West gambler and gunfighter Doc Holliday. "Tough, stubborn and fearless", she was educated, but chose to work as a prostitute due to the independence it provided her. She is the only woman with whom Holliday is known to have had a relationship.
Mary Katherine Horony (also Harony (original family name from Hungary), Haroney, and Horoney) was born on November 7, 1849, in Érsekújvár, Kingdom of Hungary (present-day Nové Zámky, Slovakia). She was the second daughter of physician and teacher Mihály Horony (1817–1865) and his Hungarian wife Katalin Boldizsár (1830–1865).
In 1860, Dr. Horony, his second wife Katharina, and his children left Hungary for the United States, arriving in New York City on the German ship Bremen in September.
The Horony family settled in a predominantly German area of Davenport, Iowa, in 1862. Horony and his wife died within a month of one another in 1865. Mary Katherine and her younger siblings were placed in the home of her brother-in-law, Gustav Susemihl, and in 1870 they were left in the care of attorney Otto Smith. The 1870 United States Census records for Davenport show Horony's younger sister, 15-year-old Wilhelmina (Wilma), living with and working as a domestic for Austrian-born David Palter and his Hungarian wife Bettina.[citation needed]
In 1866, at age 16, Horony ran away from her foster home and stowed away on a riverboat bound for St. Louis, Missouri. Horony later claimed that while she lived in St. Louis she married a dentist named Silas Melvin with whom she had a son, and that both died of yellow fever. The United States Census records report that a Silas Melvin lived in St. Louis in the mid 1860s but that he was married to a steamship captain's daughter named Mary Bust. The census also shows that another Melvin was employed by a St. Louis asylum. Since Horony met Doc Holliday in the early 1870s, she may have confused the two and their occupations when recalling the facts later in her life.
Researcher Jan Collins states that Horony entered the Ursuline Convent but did not remain long. In 1869, she is recorded as working as a prostitute for madam Blanche Tribole in St. Louis. In 1874, Horony was fined for working as a "sporting woman", i.e. a prostitute, in a "sporting house" in Dodge City, Kansas, run by Nellie "Bessie" (Ketchum) Earp, James Earp's wife.
In 1876, Horony moved to Fort Griffin, Texas, where in 1877 she met Doc Holliday at John Shanssey's Saloon, where Holliday was dealing cards. According to his cousin and biographer Karen Holliday Tanner, Holliday considered Horony to be his intellectual equal, while she appreciated his refined manners. By this time, Horony had earned the nickname "Big Nose Kate". Horony was tough, stubborn, and with a temper that matched Holliday's.
The couple's departure from Fort Griffin was dramatic. A card game between Holliday and a local bully by the name of Ed Bailey, lead to a confrontation where Bailey kept sneaking a look at the discards, something that was prohibited by the rules of Western Poker. This violation could force the offending player to forfeit the pot. Holliday warned Bailey twice but was ignored. Bailey did it a third time, but this time Holliday raked in the pot without showing his hand nor saying a word. Bailey immediately brought his revolver out from under the table. Before Bailey could fire Holliday pulled a knife and slashed the man across the stomach, killing him.
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Big Nose Kate
Mary Katherine Horony Cummings (November 7, 1849 – November 2, 1940), popularly known as Big Nose Kate, was a Hungarian-born American outlaw, gambler, prostitute and longtime companion and common-law wife of Old West gambler and gunfighter Doc Holliday. "Tough, stubborn and fearless", she was educated, but chose to work as a prostitute due to the independence it provided her. She is the only woman with whom Holliday is known to have had a relationship.
Mary Katherine Horony (also Harony (original family name from Hungary), Haroney, and Horoney) was born on November 7, 1849, in Érsekújvár, Kingdom of Hungary (present-day Nové Zámky, Slovakia). She was the second daughter of physician and teacher Mihály Horony (1817–1865) and his Hungarian wife Katalin Boldizsár (1830–1865).
In 1860, Dr. Horony, his second wife Katharina, and his children left Hungary for the United States, arriving in New York City on the German ship Bremen in September.
The Horony family settled in a predominantly German area of Davenport, Iowa, in 1862. Horony and his wife died within a month of one another in 1865. Mary Katherine and her younger siblings were placed in the home of her brother-in-law, Gustav Susemihl, and in 1870 they were left in the care of attorney Otto Smith. The 1870 United States Census records for Davenport show Horony's younger sister, 15-year-old Wilhelmina (Wilma), living with and working as a domestic for Austrian-born David Palter and his Hungarian wife Bettina.[citation needed]
In 1866, at age 16, Horony ran away from her foster home and stowed away on a riverboat bound for St. Louis, Missouri. Horony later claimed that while she lived in St. Louis she married a dentist named Silas Melvin with whom she had a son, and that both died of yellow fever. The United States Census records report that a Silas Melvin lived in St. Louis in the mid 1860s but that he was married to a steamship captain's daughter named Mary Bust. The census also shows that another Melvin was employed by a St. Louis asylum. Since Horony met Doc Holliday in the early 1870s, she may have confused the two and their occupations when recalling the facts later in her life.
Researcher Jan Collins states that Horony entered the Ursuline Convent but did not remain long. In 1869, she is recorded as working as a prostitute for madam Blanche Tribole in St. Louis. In 1874, Horony was fined for working as a "sporting woman", i.e. a prostitute, in a "sporting house" in Dodge City, Kansas, run by Nellie "Bessie" (Ketchum) Earp, James Earp's wife.
In 1876, Horony moved to Fort Griffin, Texas, where in 1877 she met Doc Holliday at John Shanssey's Saloon, where Holliday was dealing cards. According to his cousin and biographer Karen Holliday Tanner, Holliday considered Horony to be his intellectual equal, while she appreciated his refined manners. By this time, Horony had earned the nickname "Big Nose Kate". Horony was tough, stubborn, and with a temper that matched Holliday's.
The couple's departure from Fort Griffin was dramatic. A card game between Holliday and a local bully by the name of Ed Bailey, lead to a confrontation where Bailey kept sneaking a look at the discards, something that was prohibited by the rules of Western Poker. This violation could force the offending player to forfeit the pot. Holliday warned Bailey twice but was ignored. Bailey did it a third time, but this time Holliday raked in the pot without showing his hand nor saying a word. Bailey immediately brought his revolver out from under the table. Before Bailey could fire Holliday pulled a knife and slashed the man across the stomach, killing him.
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