Graveyard plaque of Wild West figure was buried, not stolen

PRESCOTT, Ariz. — It turns out the graveyard plaque of the common-law wife of legendary gunfighter John Henry “Doc” Holiday was just six inches under, not stolen from a cemetery.

The plaque at the Arizona Pioneers’ Home Cemetery in Prescott had been reported stolen recently. But the Prescott Daily Courier (https://goo.gl/uSPLmM ) reports that a voluntary caretaker found the plaque in mud under a hole at the grave of Mary Katherine Horony-Cummings, also known as Big Nose Kate.

Holiday played a central role in the infamous gunfight at the O.K. Corral in 1881 in what was then the Arizona territory.

Pioneers’ Home interim Superintendent Dale Sams says the plaque had sunk into the ground, which had been softened and waterlogged by monsoon rains, and then covered by flowing mud.

Volunteer caretaker Denise Meyers says the plaque needs cleaning but is intact.

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Horony-Cummings died Nov. 2, 1940, at age 89. She was buried under the name “Mary K. Cummings.”

The Associated Press