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Big Nose Kate

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Prostitute

The Resume

    (November 7, 1850-November 2, 1940)
    Born in Pest, Hungary
    Birth name was Mária Katalin Horony
    'Sometime' companion of, and later common-law wife to, Doc Holliday
    Later known as Mary Katherine Horony-Cummings (and sometimes as 'Kate Holliday')
    Immigrated to the United States from Hungary, at the age of ten, in 1860
    Moved to Fort Griffin, Texas, in 1876, later settling in Tombstone
    Became the joint proprietor of Deacon Cox’s Boarding House, with Holliday
    Alleged witness to the famous 'Gunfight at the O.K. Corral' (Oct. 20, 1881)
    Namesake for Big Nose Kate's Saloon (originally called 'The Grand Hotel'), located in Tombstone
    Portrayed by Jo Van Fleet in 'Gunfight at the O.K. Corral' (1957), and by Joanna Pacula in 'Tombstone' (1993)

Why she might be annoying:

    Big Nose? (Those damned hooker names...)
    Her most widely circulated photograph resembles Marjorie Main.
    She had regular, sometimes violent, arguments with Doc Holliday, usually over money.
    She was duped into signing an affidavit implicating Doc Holliday in charges of robbery and murder.
    The affidavit led to an arrest warrant in his name, although charges were later dropped.
    It was later revealed that the outlaws who tricked her had recently learned she and Doc were in the middle of one of their 'fights' and decided to exploit the situation (like they say, 'a jealous woman can be tricked into anything').
    Historians have disputed whether she really witnessed the OK Corral gunfight through the window of the boarding house they were staying at.
    She was a Hungarian immigrant, but her death certificate claimed that she was born in Davenport, Iowa.
    She claimed to have been previously married to a dentist, with whom she had a child, both of whom died of yellow fever - but no record substantiates this.

Why she might not be annoying:

    She was reportedly fluent in several languages.
    Her father was a renowned physician who had treated the Emperor Maximilian I.
    She was placed in foster care after the death of both her parents, in 1865.
    She ran away from home, wandering through cow towns to find work as a dance hall girl (only to end up a prostitute).
    Doc Holliday first met Wyatt Earp through her (she had worked for his sister-in-law).
    She vocally retracted her signed affidavit against Holliday, explaining that she had been plied with alcohol and pushed into signing a document she didn’t understand (Doc then gave her money to flee town so as to avoid being targeted).
    Doc Holliday once remarked that she was the only woman whom he considered his intellectual equal.
    She was reported to have been with Holliday when he died.
    She ‘remarried’ in 1890, and returned to Arizona. When her second husband became abusive, she left him (he later committed suicide).
    She became the first woman to be admitted to the Arizona Pioneer Home in Prescott (usually reserved for retired lawmen and miners). She died days shy of her 90th birthday.

Credit: BoyWiththeGreenHair


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 10 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 10 Votes: 70.0% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 7 Votes: 28.57% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 18 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 12 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 27 Votes: 55.56% Annoying