John Marston

John Marston (1873-1911) was an American outlaw and bounty hunter of the Wild West who was notable both for his association with the Van der Linde Gang during the 1890s and his forced cooperation with federal authorities in taking down his former friends in 1911. He was killed in a shootout with the US Army at his ranch after his task was complete.

Biography[]

John Marston was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1873, the son of an illiterate Scottish immigrant and an American prostitute who died in childbirth. His father, who was blinded during a bar fight, died in 1881, leaving the eight-year-old John to navigate through life alone. He ran away from an orphanage and lived on the streets, committing his first murder at the age of 11 when he accidentally shot a man. In 1885, he was caught stealing by homesteaders in Illinois, and they attempted to hang him, although Dutch van der Linde stepped in and rescued John. John was raised by Dutch and his gang, which became a surrogate family to him; Dutch taught Marston how to shoot, hunt, gather, read, and to love nature and freedom. For several years, he rode with Dutch, Bill Williamson, Arthur Morgan, Javier Escuella, and several others, taking part in several daring robberies, raids, murders, kidnappings, and other crimes across the American West. In 1894, he fell in love with prostitute Abigail Roberts, and they had a son, Jack Marston.

1899[]

John was wounded in the Blackwater massacre in 1899, took part in the gang's adventures across the American South, the Rockies, and the Midwest that year, and he was imprisoned at Sisika Penitentiary following a failed bank robbery in New Orleans. He was later rescued by Arthur Morgan, and the two of them would be left for dead by Dutch after a robbery of a US Army payroll train. Both of them took part in Abigail's rescue from the Pinkertons, and they were both expelled from the gang after accusing Micah Bell of being a traitor; Micah had turned Dutch against his two most loyal remaining followers. Arthur sacrificed himself by fighting off a Pinkerton attack on the camp as John ran off to join his family.

1907[]

John and his family moved to the Yukon in Canada with the goal of striking gold, but this venture failed, and, by 1907, they had settled in Strawberry, Colorado. Using the pseudonym "Jim Milton", Marston worked for the general store as a deliveryman, and he later became a rancher at David Geddes' Pronghorn Ranch in Rio Blanco County, Colorado. However, he returned to gunslinging after killing the leader of the Laramie Gang in a retaliatory raid on Hanging Dog Ranch (on Geddes' orders), causing a hopeless Abigail to leave with Jack. However, Marston later bought land at Beecher's Hope with the help of his boss Geddes, and he cleared away squatters who lived there. He also reconnected with former fellow gang members Uncle in Blackwater, Charles Smith in New Orleans, and Sadie Adler in Valentine, and Charles helped John build his ranch, while Adler hired Marston as a bounty hunter so that he could pay off the bank loan for his home. He, Sadie, and Charles later tracked down Micah Bell to Mount Hagen in the Rockies, and Sadie and Charles were both injured in the ensuing shootout with Micah and his gang. Ultimately, Dutch suddenly appeared and shot Micah as Micah held Sadie at gunpoint, freeing Sadie. John then finished Micah off, but Dutch silently ignored John's attempts to thank him. John later found the money stashed from the Blackwater ferry robbery and used it to build a new life for himself and his family at Beecher's Hope, and he formally married Abigail. Sadie and Charles then left Beecher's Hope and the Marston family on good terms, with Sadie heading to South America and Charles to Canada.

Hunting the old gang[]

Marston and his family lived peacefully on their ranch in Beecher's Hope for years, with Uncle living with them as an occasional helper. In 1911, however, the FBI agents Edgar Ross and Archer Fordham informed John that they required his help in eliminating the last of his fugitive gang members as a part of their civilization of the West. The FBI kidnapped John's family to force him into compliance, and they sent him to hunt down Williamson, Escuella, and Dutch. John started his hunt at Armadillo, Texas, where his guide Jake took him to Fort Mercer to confront Williamson. Marston walked to the gates alone and implored Williamson to surrender peacefully, but Williamson refused and instead shot Marston, who was badly wounded and again left for dead. Marston was taken in by Bonnie MacFarlane, a local rancher who pitied him and paid for his medical expenses, and Marston, out of gratitude, offered to help her around the ranch to help repay her kindness. Unfortunately, Williamson's gang burned the barn in a raid on the ranch, having discovered John's whereabouts; John helped to free the trapped horses before the building could collapse. John later traveled to Armadillo and helped Marshal Leigh Johnson with taking down the Bollard Twins gang and the Walton Gang, and he later worked with Nigel West Dickens, Seth Briars, and "Irish" to gather a posse for an assault on Fort Mercer. Marston used Dickens' carriage to hide himself and a Gatling Gun in a "Trojan horse" maneuver, and, once the carriage was inside of the fort, Marston used it to gun down all of the outlaws and take over the fort.

However, Marston learned that Williamson had left the fort the day before, and Irish took Marston on a raft across the Rio Grande and into Nuevo Paraiso, Mexico, where Williamson had fled. Marston met the governor Agustin Allende and his right-hand man Vicente de Santa, who forced him to fight for them against the Rebeldes during the Mexican Revolution in exchange for information on Williamson and Escuella. However, Marston also began to fight for the rebels after the old gunslinger Landon Ricketts introduced him to the revolutionary Luisa Fortuna and the rebel leader Abraham Reyes. Allende later discovered Marston's betrayal and attempted to have him executed, but he was rescued by the rebels, and he took part in the killing of De Santa at Sepulcro and then participated in the Battle of El Presidio (during which he killed Escuella) and the Battle of Escalera, after which he shot Allende and Williamson as Allende attempted to trade Williamson's life for his own. Marston wished Reyes good luck with his revolution before Agents Fordham and Ross arrived, and they told Marston that his last task would be to take down Dutch back in Texas.

Marston travelled to Blackwater and met Professor Harold MacDougal and Native American informant Nastas, who helped him in attempting to track Dutch down. He came close to finding Dutch at the wreck of the Serendipity riverboat, in a sitdown with Dutch's Native American allies (during which Nastas was killed by Dutch's Gang), in an attack on Cochinay, and finally in an attack on Tall Trees, which was supported by a US Army assault. Marston ultimately cornered Dutch, who warned Marston that the government would always find a new "monster" to justify their pay; he then fell from a cliff rather than be captured or killed. Ross shot Dutch's corpse to make it look as if he had been killed, and he released Marston and allowed him to return to his family.

Downfall[]

Marston returned to his ranch at Beecher's Hope and resumed his daily work there, even visiting his old friend Bonnie MacFarlane with his wife as he purchased cattle from her. However, Marston was later surprised when Ross double-crossed him and sent the Army to his ranch to track him down and kill him, finishing off the old gang. In a massive shootout, John, Jack, and Uncle fought off several waves of Army troops, but they later shot Uncle dead. John told Jack and Abigail to run as he held off the government troops from the barn, accepting his fate. He stood in the barn as his family left, and, after composing himself, he pushed open the barn doors, calmly walked out, and shot as many soldiers as he could before being riddled with bullets and killed. His family later returned to the ranch and buried him, and they were free of the FBI's persecution. Abigail died three years later, and Jack ultimately became an outlaw like his father, killing Ross in Mexico to avenge his father's death.