Members of the Van der Linde Gang in 1899, from left to right: Javier Escuella, Susan Grimshaw, Charles Smith, Hosea Matthews, Dutch van der Linde, Arthur Morgan, John Marston, and Simon Pearson
The Van der Linde Gang was an American outlaw gang of the Wild West which committed several robberies and other crimes across the American West and the American South during the late 19th century. Founded by the romantic idealist Dutch van der Linde, the gang was a refuge for a diverse array of criminals including not only white outlaws from the North, South, and West, but also African-Americans, Native Americans, and Hispanics, as well as both men and women. Dutch ran the gang as a commune in which all gang members contributed to the camp through a strongbox, and he espoused romantic ideals about the American Dream, freedom, equality, and living free from the restrictions of civilization. After the 1899 Blackwater massacre, which followed a failed bank robbery in Blackwater, Texas, the gang was forced on the run, fleeing to Colorado, Nebraska, Louisiana, and Arkansas while being pursued by Leviticus Cornwall's security guards, the Pinkerton detective agency, bounty hunters, the law, and rival outlaws such as the O'Driscoll Boys. The gang fell apart as Dutch devolved into insanity, more gang members were killed (including the gang's co-leader Hosea Matthews), and Micah Bell convinced the gang members Javier Escuella and Bill Williamson to turn against the others. After Arthur Morgan's death, the only survivors - Micah Bell, John Marston, Sadie Adler, Charles Smith, Uncle, Mary-Beth Gaskill, Tilly Jackson, Karen Jones, Josiah Trelawny, Javier Escuella, Bill Williamson, Orville Swanson, Simon Pearson, and Dutch - parted ways, and the gang fell apart. In 1907, Marston avenged Morgan's death by killing Micah, and he spent the next four years living in peace, although this was not to last, as the FBI forced him to hunt down his former gang members Bill, Javier, and Dutch.
Members[]
- Dutch van der Linde - Leader, killed 1911
- Hosea Matthews - co-leader, killed 1899
- Arthur Morgan - killed 1899
- Micah Bell - killed 1907
- John Marston - killed 1911
- Charles Smith - survived
- Susan Grimshaw - killed 1899
- Simon Pearson - survived
- Uncle - killed 1911
- Abigail Marston - died 1914
- Bill Williamson - killed 1911
- Javier Escuella - killed 1911
- Leopold Strauss - killed 1899
- Sean MacGuire - killed 1899
- Molly O'Shea - killed 1899
- Tilly Jackson - survived
- Mary-Beth Gaskill - survived
- Karen Jones - died 1907
- Josiah Trelawny - survived
- Orville Swanson - survived
- Lenny Summers - killed 1899
- Kieran Duffy - killed 1899
Gallery[]
