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Tom McCartan

Tom McCartan (1855-1899) was an Irish-American outlaw who briefly served as the last leader of the O'Driscoll Boys outlaw gang of the Wild West in 1899. He took control of the gang after Colm O'Driscoll's hanging in New Orleans, but he was killed by Sadie Adler during the Hanging Dog Ranch shootout.

Biography[]

Tom McCartan was born in 1855, and he became a member of the O'Driscoll Boys outlaw gang during the Wild West era. He became one of Colm O'Driscoll's trusted lieutenants, and, in 1899, he and a few other O'Driscolls murdered the rancher Jake Adler at the Adler Ranch in Montana, but he left before the Van der Linde Gang arrived at the ranch and killed his comrades. Thus, he survived the gang's early encounters with the Van der Linde Gang, and he also outlived the gang's leader Colm, who was hanged in New Orleans. McCartan became the gang's acting leader after Colm's death, holing up at Hanging Dog Ranch in Colorado with the last of the gang. Eventually, the Van der Linde Gang outlaws Arthur Morgan and Sadie Adler tracked down the last O'Driscolls and attacked the ranch with fire bottles and their guns, and Adler confronted McCartan in the farmhouse and ferociouslyl stabbed him to death to avenge her husband's murder.

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