Molly O'Shea (1874 - 1899) was an Irish-American outlaw of the Wild West who was affiliated with the Van der Linde Gang.
Biography[]
Molly O'Shea was born in Dublin, Ireland, and she was said to have come from a well-to-do Irish family which came to the United States on a whim of adventure and excitement. O'Shea joined Dutch van der Linde's gang after being enchanted by him, but she wanted more than he could give her; she saw herself as too high-strung for a life on the run, and she annoyed other gang members by seeing herself as being a few cuts above them. She became increasingly unhappy as the gang went on the run from law enforcement, leading to Van der Linde focusing more on the gang and less on Molly. When the gang was forced to flee to Guarma, she disappeared, moving to New Orleans. When the gang returned, they found her drunkenly insulting Van der Linde, and she said that she had informed the Pinkertons of Van der Linde's planned heist. While Arthur Morgan told an enraged Dutch that Molly was not worth his time, Susan Grimshaw shot O'Shea in the stomach with a shotgun, as O'Shea knew the rule that informers would be killed. Her body was burned, as the gang members believed that informers were not to be given proper burials. Ironically, the Pinkertons had not gained any insightful information from O'Shea, who left them with more questions than answers, forcing them to approach Micah Bell to serve as an informant.
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