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Irish outlaw

Irish (1868-1914) was an Irish immigrant contraband dealer of the American Wild West who lived in Armadillo, New Mexico during the 1910s. He helped supply the gunslinger John Marston with a Gatling gun in preparation for the law's assault on Bill Williamson's base at Fort Mercer, but his cowardice and drunkenness did little to endear him to Marston, and Irish - a perennial drinker and troublemaker - accidentally shot himself while drunk in 1914.

Biography[]

"Irish" was born in Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland in 1868. His background was mysterious, as he was known to others only by his nationality, and he claimed that his father's throat had been slit by a Welshman not long after he warned his young son never to trust a Welshman. "Irish" claimed to have come to America on a boat with the criminals Leander Holland and Alwyn Lloyd when he was 14 years old, and that they had become close friends. "Irish" became a contraband dealer once in the United States, additionally claiming to have traveled to both Canada and Mexico, and having played cards with Colonel Agustin Allende at a cantina in Escalera, Sonora.

He was involved in drug and arms trafficking alike, and, in 1911, the gunslinger John Marston sought him out after hearing from the snake oil salesman Nigel West Dickens that Irish might be able to help him acquire the weaponry needed for an assault on the outlaw hideout at Fort Mercer. Marston met Irish at the livery yard in Armadillo, New Mexico, where he saved him from Holland and Lloyd, who were drowning him after accusing Irish of betraying them; Marston killed the two men in self-defense. Marston grew irritated with the cowardly, drunken, and roundabout Irish, but Irish ultimately helped him locate a Gatling gun at Gaptooth Breach (where Marston gunned down the crazed miners who owned it) and ammunition for the gun at Thieves' Landing (where Marston rescued Irish's associate Shaky in exchange for his help). Marston used this gun to turn the tide against the numerically-superior Williamson Gang during the law's assault on Fort Mercer, after which Irish ferried Marston across the Rio Grande to Mexico while under heavy fire from banditos on the Mexican side. Marston then bade farewell to the untrustworthy Irish, who had cowered from the gunfire during the ferry ride.

In 1914, the Blackwater Ledger reported the death of an Irish male of an unknown name who had accidentally discharged his gun in a Thieves' Landing outhouse.

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