On this Day in History...

July 19, 1879

DOC HOLLIDAY KILLS FOR THE FIRST TIME! 

 

 

Doc Holliday commits his first murder, killing a man for shooting up his New Mexico saloon.

Despite his formidable reputation as a deadly gunslinger, Doc Holliday only engaged in eight shootouts during his life, and it has only been verified that he killed two men. Still, the smartly dressed ex-dentist from Atlanta had a remarkably fearless attitude toward death and danger, perhaps because he was slowly dying from tuberculosis.

In 1879, Holliday settled in Las Vegas, New Mexico, where he opened a saloon with a partner. Holliday spent his evenings gambling in the saloon and he seemed determined to stress his health condition by heavy drinking. A notorious cad, Holliday also enjoyed the company of the dance hall girls that the partners hired to entertain the customers–which sometimes sparked trouble.

On this day in 1879, a former army scout named Mike Gordon tried to persuade one of Holliday’s saloon girls to quit her job and run away with him. When she refused, Gordon became infuriated. He went out to the street and began to fire bullets randomly into the saloon. He didn’t have a chance to do much damage–after the second shot, Holliday calmly stepped out of the saloon and dropped Gordon with a single bullet. Gordon died the next day.

The following year, Holliday abandoned the saloon business and joined his old friend Wyatt Earp in Tombstone, Arizona. There he would kill his second victim, during the famous “Gunfight at the O.K. Corral” in October 1881. During the subsequent six years, Holliday assisted at several other killings and wounded a number of men in gun battles. His hard drinking and tuberculosis eventually caught up with him, and he retired to a Colorado health resort where he died in 1887. Struck by the irony of such a peaceful end to a violent life, his last words reportedly were “This is funny.”

 

 

© History.com

 

 

Doc is “featured” in The Gunsmith series written by J.R. Roberts

415: THE FUNERAL OF DOC HOLLIDAY

The death of the legendary Doc Holliday brought Clint Adams to an impromptu wake following the funeral in Colton, California. The mourners in attendance would have made any outlaw shake in their boots: Wyatt Earp, Virgil Earp, Bat Masterson, Luke Short, “Turkey Creek” Jack Johnson and Sherman McMaster. After the funeral everyone left town, but Clint stayed to help Virgil—who was the Marshal of Colton—with a problem involving a group of cowboys. When Clint asked if there was going to be another O.K. Corral, Virgil said no, and assured him that the two of them could handle it. He shouldn't have said that, because he didn't know what kind of trouble was heading their way. If the the Gunsmith and the lawman didn't resolve matters, they weren't going to have much of a future …

Purchase your copy:

 

 

Announcing our JULY titles

Floating Outfit 5: From Hide to Horn (J.T. Edson)

Bodie 9: Ride the Savage Hills (Neil Hunter)

The Gunsmith 415: The Funeral of Doc Holliday(J.R. Roberts)

Herne the Hunter 16: Geronimo! (John J. McLaglen)

Davy Crockett 4: Mississippi Mayhem (David Thompson aka David Robbins)

Sundance 13: Blood on the Prairie (John Benteen)

Cheyenne 8: War Party (Judd Cole)

Renegade 13: The Mahogany Pirates (Lou Cameron)

Released 15th JULY

Wanted! Belle Starr! (J.T. Edson)

Giant Gunsmith 14: Lincoln's Revenge (J.R. Roberts)

Piccadilly Publishing Western 5: Lawmaster (Jack Martin)

Released 22nd JULY
BEAR HASKELL U.S. Marshal - New Series in the tradition of Longarm

1: GUN TROUBLE AT DIAMOND BACK (by Peter Brandvold)

2: THE JACKALS OF SUNDOWN (by Peter Brandvold)

JULY TITLES

JULY PUBLICATIONS include:

TOUGH BULLET - Carmody #3 by Peter McCurtin
VISION QUEST - Cheyenne #4 by Judd Cole
YOU'RE IN COMMAND NOW, MR FOG - Dusty Fog's Civil War #2 by J.T. Edson
THE GHOST OF BILLY THE KID - Clint Adams the Gunsmith by J.R. Roberts
THE TRAIL ENDS AT HELL by John Benteen
KING OF THE MOUNTAIN/LURE OF THE WILD - Wilderness #1 by David Robbins
SUNDANCE - Herne the Hunter #12 by John J McLaglen
LAWMAN'S SUNSET - The Gunsmith #403 by J.R. Roberts

ALL AVAILABLE TO PRE-ORDER FROM ALL GOOD OUTLETS

Piccadilly Publishing 3 Years on....

It was on May 9th 2012 that we published our first book: Trackdown (Bodie the Stalker #1) by Neil Hunter.

Little did we know that this would blaze the trail that lead us to today (6th May 2015) where, in the UK Western charts our titles take 5 out of the 10 top positions.

 

This only strengthens what Dave and I had thought all along - the Western is far from dead. For The Ysabel Kid Amazon comments run from ...

"Loved it! It was great being able to read J T Edson on my kindle. I can't wait to receive the entire series from the civil war through to rebuilding Texas, the floating outfit series and the 'modern' law makers (descendants of Dusty, Mark and the Isobel Kid etc.). Please, please, please make them all available and very soon. I am one of Edson's most loyal fans."

to ...

"At last JT Edson released as ebooks, I hope they eventually release all of them. I have loved Dusty Fog, the Kid, Mark and all the other characters since I was a teenager. One small niggle is that someone appears to have done a bit of a hatchet job on some of less pc parts of the book, for example those who have read the original books know that the Kid's horse was not called Thunder, these were written in the 60's and certain words used then wouldn't be used now but I thought it was part of their charm."

 

The above is referring to the fact that we changed the name of the horse from Nigger to Thunder. A decision not taken lightly. We haven't gone all P.C. as characters do use the "N" word. That's how they speak, that is their chatracter. But to use it outside that context, we felt wasn't appropriate.

 

Here at Piccadilly Publishing we are proud of what we have achieved. It certainly has exceeded our original expectations. Our Western series cover various subject matters ranging from the traditional Ranch Western (Storm by Matt Chisholm); a Civil War vetern in search of his lost love (The Searcher by Len Levinson); JT Edson's oeuvre; the West through the eyes of a half-breed (Sundance by John Benteen and Cheyenne by Judd Cole); famous figures (Wild Bill by Judd Cole); turn of the century men's action (Fargo by John Benteen); adult Westerns (Gunsmith by J.R. Roberts) and here we are privileged to take over the series at #400 and print original eBooks. Plus lots more.

 

We've tried over genres: war, French Foreign Legion, science fiction and detective novels. But they've never proved as popular as our Westerns. It doesn't mean we will stop dipping our hand into other genres - you can never tell what will hit the sweet spot with readers.

 

We could never have done this without the support of you readers out there. So, we are sending out a big thank you.

 

Here's to the next three years.

 

Best

Mike

 

 

 

Randisi brings his GUNSMITH to PP!

Well, have we got an announcement for YOU! Just today, we agreed a deal with Robert Randisi to take over the legendary GUNSMITH series when it ends its present run with long-term publisher Berkley Books! Berkley will issue # 399 in March 2015 and as of April we'll pick right up with # 400 and continue publishing a completely new adventure each month!

 

This is the kind of coup we could only dream about when we started PP two years ago. We'd really like to thank Robert for his faith in us.

 

What with the recent addition of CHEYENNE, WILD BILL, SAM SPUR, MIKE FARADAY and RENEGADE to our line-up, these really ARE exciting times!

 

Mike

Clint Adams, The Gunsmith - the artwork

Tony Masero has come up with the goods, yet again. Here are the first three covers in the CLINT ADAMS, THE GUNSMITH series. I'm sure that you agree with me that they are quite stunning.