By Carla Jean Whitley, Glenwood Post Independent
The Glenwood Springs Historical Society pulled the trigger Thursday on a move the group hopes will shape its future and promises to boost the town’s reputation as an Old West tourist stop.
The society board authorized the $84,000 purchase of Doc Holliday’s derringer, one of few items believed to have been in the Hotel Glenwood room where he died Nov. 8, 1887.
Members of the society Wednesday night met with the seller, Jason Brierley of Vancouver, British Columbia. The society had already secured a lender for the sale price.
The board voted to buy the derringer, given to Holliday by his common-law wife, Mary Katherine “Big Nose Kate” Horony-Cummings, a Hungarian-born prostitute. The handle is engraved, “To Doc from Kate.”
The gun is now in a safe-deposit box. The society will plan its exhibition and invite the public to view it as soon as possible.
Holliday, a dentist and gambler, was one of the Old West’s most famous gunfighters. Just 36 years old and suffering from tuberculosis, he came to Glenwood Springs in 1887 in hopes that the vapor caves would help his ailment. It was in vain, and he died in a bed at the Hotel Glenwood, at what is now the northeast corner of Eighth Street and Grand Avenue.
“It was so important to let the public know all along what we’re doing because this is for Glenwood Springs,” said society executive director Bill Kight. “I really appreciate the fact that the city of Glenwood Springs has gotten behind us on this.”
The society first learned of the gun in August, when Brierley visited its Frontier Museum. Months later, he again contacted the society, this time to offer the opportunity to purchase the artifact.
Marianne Virgili, president and CEO of the Glenwood Chamber Resort Association, also was excited about the purchase and its potential.
“This is great news,” she said by e-mail. “Our visitors are certainly intrigued by history, and Doc Holliday is our most well-known frontier resident, so this precious piece of memorabilia will go a long way in positioning us as a historic Western town.”
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