The Dutch van der linde gang
They were outcasts fighting for a dream that never truely seemed possible for them to have.
Dutch van der linde wanted to live independently without government interference, but as the years came and gone he slowly realized he was fighting a losing battle. Was he ever truly the man he claimed to be? Or was it all just to much to bear in the end? You fought to the last breath because inaction to you was unthinkable.
I know you Dutch van der linde
Hosea Mathews met dutch and arthur morgan sometime around 1878 and became the best of friends. You gave him council when he needed it, but the one thing he would not heed was the possibly of an end that ends in total bloodshed. In the end it was not your illness that killed you but your inability to fold with the losing hand that was the van der linde gang.
I know you Hosea Mathews.
Your life like so many others among you was never destined to be easy. You never thought yourself to be a good man, but in the end you were. You gave up your life for a group of misfits and killers, but to you they were they only family you ever knew. You wished you could have been a father to your son but the opportunity was stolen away from you. You wished you could have been a husband to your beloved mary but you knew that with the life you lived, it would have never worked out. You loved Dutch like a father and in the end I think he knew that. You are a good man.
I know you Arthur Morgan.
Lenny Summers at the age of only 15 you killed the men who murdered your father in cold blood. On the run you eventually found a family within the dutch van der linde gang. Men and women who for the most part saw past the color of your skin during a time when your people were still looked down upon and seen as less than human. You gave up your life at such an early age to chase a dream to not just give yourself a better life, but to give the people you loved a shot at a better life. You died at only the age of 19. Even though your death was sudden... I hope you found peace in your death with the hope that even though your story ended, that your friends found that small piece of heaven to call their own.
I know you Lenny Summers.
Marian "Bill" Williamson, you were given a dishonorable discharge from the army for attempted murder and deviancy, living a hard life for a few years. So much rage and insecurity burns inside your heart that it tends to drive everyone away. But when you met the van der linde gang they accepted you for who you were, but I dont think you ever truely accepted them. You've done so many horrible things bill that I dont think I can call you a good man, not truely at least... but at the same time I had wished that seeing all the light and warmth around you had softened your heart, to make you at least into a man others can proudly say "he may be a rage filled numbskull, but hes my brother and I'll always have his back".
I know you Bill Williamson.
Sean McGuire, fiery and lively Irishman with the blood of rebels within you. You joined the van der linde gang to seek glory and to be a revolutionary, to drink with friends and loved ones and to find a party at the end of the road that would never end. Your end came at the hands of fools who couldn't let go of their hatreds. I hope that you find a bottle that never seems to end and a woman that always feels warm to the touch in the afterlife.
Micah Bell, you were an impulsive and violent man who's first priority was always about your own survival. You betrayed those who gave you a home and a family because you knew where they were headed. I wonder if you ever truely cared about them, for even if they never truly showed it, to them you were their brother.
Javier Escuella, a revolutionary at heart and loyal to a fault. Coming to this country was something you did out of survival rather than to find opportunity or glory, exploring the country you found and saw many things, one of them being the van der linde gang. Dutch had all the qualities you looked for in a leader with beliefs you shared, you saw a perfect fit. You were one of the few people who could lighten up the mood during a tense time and liven up a party with the music you played. I know the end of the gang hit you harder than most, and I also believed that if you didnt try to run from John at the end, he might have let you go, you weren't just his friend, you were his brother, his family. He loved you just as the rest loved you, the revolutionary who had a heart of gold.
I know you Javier Escuella.
Charles Smith, you came into this world from a union not many would think possible, you adapted to it after your mother was taken from you and your father died. You closed yourself off from most people untill you met the van der linde gang, they showed you so many things in the short time you were together, showing you the good and evils that lay within men and women, the acts of cruelty that they can commit but also the acts of honor and sacrifice to protect others. Arthur morgan, sadie Adler and john marston were the best people you knew in the gang, and wherever you are now, I hope that you live a full life and find that family you are searching for.
I know you Charles Smith.
Sadie Adler, your husband was taken from you and your honor was stolen from you by evil men. You became a spirit after that, recovering but never able to move past it. You found a calling in the van der linde gang and as much as you say you wish to die, I hope you don't. I do hope you find the real peace your looking for in your travels mrs.adler. I know john ,Charles and arthur wish the same.
John Marston, the story of redemption that you wish for yourself to wash away the sins of your past is full of death and hardship, of fools and dreamers, of idealists and criminals. You didn't know what kind of man you wanted to be John, if you were a good or evil man based on your actions, but the one type of man I know you wanted to be at the end was a loving father and husband to your family. To live in peace and grow old, to make something of yourself. But I also know deep inside that you felt that wasn't who you were ment to be, the restlessness growing in your heart and soul, to justifie your craving for action. But after losing your family,you tried so hard to become the man that they deserved after getting them back. So many people used you john, but you never wavered from what needed to be done. Cutting down former brothers in arms to protect your family and finally giving your life for them.
What do I know about you john? Well, I know you from Mexico, and I know you from back out West. I know you from all over. I know in the end that your death is not in vain john, that it wasn't all for nothing, your son doesn't become the lawyer he always spoke about, but you, he becomes you and avenges your death. To give you redemption.
"Blessed are the peacemakers"
