Molly O’Shea
Who is she? Molly O’Shea comes from a wealthy Irish family. In search of adventure, she emigrated to the USA. What her life was like before joining the “Van der Linde” gang is barely known.
What is certain is that at some point she met Dutch Van der Linde, fell in love with him, and entered into a relationship with the charismatic gang leader.
She has always been a rather withdrawn member of the community and seemed to care for nothing but herself and Dutch.
She never participated in group evenings, celebrations, or other events with the rest of the gang. Once, she told Arthur, when he asked her if she needed company: “Dutch is the only company I need.”
There were also conflicts with other gang members, as Molly seldom participated in the work at the camp.
Often, you could overhear arguments between Molly and Susan Grimshaw. Susan was somewhat of the gang’s housekeeper and organized communal life in the camp. Consequently, they clashed quite often.
The Alleged Traitor
During the story and the ongoing flight from the government, the condition of the “Van der Linde” gang also deteriorated. This had a particularly strong impact on Dutch, which in turn strongly influenced his relationship with Molly.
She tried multiple times to talk to Arthur about it, but usually was interrupted by circumstances or not taken seriously. This caused her to become increasingly irritable, isolate herself further from the group, and Arthur feared that she might lose her mind. Ultimately, Dutch paid her no attention at all.
After the bank robbery in Saint Denis went wrong and most of the gang had to flee to Guarma, she disappeared for a while. What happened to her during that time is unknown.
When the gang was reunited, she was found and brought back to camp, drunk and hysterical. She berated Dutch, accused him of ignoring her, and claimed that she loved him.
Then she claimed that she had betrayed the gang to the Pinkertons in Saint Denis in order to get back at Dutch. This enraged him, and he nearly shot her. Although this was barely prevented by Arthur and other gang members, in the chaos, Susan Grimshaw grabbed a shotgun and killed Molly with a shot.
For most of the gang, that counted as a deserved fate for a traitor. However, there were also some voices doubting that Molly had truly gone to the Pinkertons. They believed that Molly was just trying to hurt Dutch as much as possible in a drunken rage. She was simply a lovesick “fool.”
Later, it becomes clear throughout the story that Molly never really betrayed the gang.
The character on the next page has his roots among the Native Americans.
