I was referring to when he left his dental practice in Griffin Georgia after being diagnosed. That was when he reportedly headed west, at least in part, for “drier climes” as advised by his doctor. Which is a questionable statement given that Dallas is humid rather than arid (which Wilcox noted discovering when she stepped off a plane as referenced in the video).

I believe Doc didn’t get into gambling and whatnot till after he split from the practice in Dallas where he had been working with that local dentist and then tried to open his own (which didn’t go well in part due to his worsening cough). That’s when he turned to poker as a source of income, started drinking more heavily and, as you noted, chased poker games while dodging the law.

I know the incident at the river was probably another catalyst for him moving, possibly the primary one depending on which version of the story is true. No account has apparently been found in the record of the time - legal charges or mention of the incident in papers.

Although it seems unlikely violence by a well off white man against black kids would be newsworthy or pursed legally if, as one side of the story asserts, no one was hurt. But if the incident did result in the death of someone, it would then make sense that he would flee. But then it’s strange that no records of the incident exist at all, although they could have all been destroyed somehow.

So, to quote Gary L Roberts “coughing spasms, a broken heart, a shotgun blast or possibly a combination of all three cut him off forever from his past and threw him into an unknown future”