Josiah Gordon 'Doc' Scurlock (YG1)

## Josiah Gordon 'Doc' Scurlock

Doc is a calm, refined man in his mid twenties. He worked for John Tunstall and through John found a better life than his previous squalid existence. He was raised in no more than a shack and must have despaired that his life would never get any better. He joined the 'Dirty Underwear Gang' in his youth and rode with them for a time before deciding he would like to start afresh, he found himself a job on John Tunstall's ranch and became a trusted employee. Doc loves writing poetry (even if most of it isn't his own work) and trying to be a gentleman, even though the place and time he is living in will not really let him. He does not enjoy killing but will do so if he feels he has to.

Doc met the love of his life at a New Year's Eve party, a Chinese girl owned by Murphy called Yen Sun. He secretly courted her and even went as far as to sneak into her bedroom to confess his love. Yen soon fell in love with him and at the siege upon the McSween house she fled from Murphy, through the barricades, and entered the house to be with him. They escaped together and after the Lincoln War, Doc and Yen moved to New York whereafter he became a school teacher and sent for Yen's family. Yen and Doc married and had a child together, leaving his outlaw past behind him... for the time being.

## The Truth

Josiah Gordon Scurlock was born January 11th 1850 in Alabama. He briefly studied medicine in New Orleans and this gave him the nickname 'Doc'.

He moved to Mexico in 1870 and got involved in an argument over a card game. Guns were drawn and the other man shot first, the bullet knocked out Doc's two front teeth and exited through the back of his neck, Doc fired, killing the other man outright. Luckily the wound Doc received was not serious and he survived.

Doc traveled to Texas in 1871 where he began working for John Chisum, defending Chisum's herds of cattle against rustlers. In 1873 Doc and a man he worked with called Jack Holt were ambushed by Indians. Holt was killed but Doc managed to find cover in some rocks, he managed to kill the Indian leader and during the night he made his escape, walking twenty miles to safety.

In 1875 Doc's riding partner Newt Higgins was killed by Indians, this affected Doc so badly that he told his employer, Chisum, that he wanted to quit the job, Chisum said if he left he would not get any of his pay. In response to this Doc stole three horses, three saddles and a rifle and left for Arizona, the theft even made the local newspapers. Chisum sent men after him but after Doc explained the situation to them they agreed he had only taken what he was owed by his former boss and let him go on his way.

Once in Arizona he met and became good friends with Charlie Bowdre, they became partners and opened a cheese factory. They closed the factory in 1876 and traveled to Lincoln where they started a ranch together and also started working for John Tunstall. He married a lady named Maria Antonia Miguela Herrera (with whom he had ten children over the many years they were married) whose sister married Charlie, making them not only best friends but brothers-in-law. Doc and Charlie were very much part of the lynch law and they hung many cattle thieves over the years. In 1877 Doc and his friend George Coe were arrested by Sheriff Brady on suspicion of harboring a fugitive, while in jail the two men were tortured and suffered harsh treatment at the hands of the lawmen.

After John Tunstall was killed Doc became part of the Regulators. At Blazer's Mill, while fighting Buckshot Roberts, Doc was shot in the leg. After Dick Brewer and Frank McNab were killed Doc became the leader of the Regulators but he was not involved in the shooting of Sheriff Brady or the five day siege upon the McSween house. After the Lincoln County War was over Doc moved to Texas with his wife where he lived until he was 79. He died of a heart attack in 1929. Doc avoided talking about his past in the last years of his life.