The Blackwater Ledger

July 5, 1946

"Friday in Blackwater" Column

By Micah Huxby

Since I started my column seven years ago, I've mainly covered the public happenings here in Blackwater.

From the opening of the first subway line, to Mayor Braddock's affair with his secretary, to the Blackwater Rivermen's repeated losses to the New York Yankees, to the recent infiltration of communists into our municipal government, I have mainly focused on the here and now. We do love our gossip here in Blackwater.

But I would be doing my readers a disservice if I never talked about the past, and we certainly have a colorful one. It'll even be featured in a book!

Red Dead, by our very own Dr. Jack Marston from the University of Blackwater, released just last month, is already considered a Pulitzer Prize contender! It's a historical work with the dramatic flair of a Greek tragedy, and I'm sure it will capture your hearts.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Marston himself at a local ice cream parlor for this week's column. I must admit, I was expecting someone a little more...dignified, but Dr. Marston is a brilliant man indeed! A transcript of our conversation is below. For the convenience of my readers, I will be labeled as "Me" while the good professor will be "JM."

See y'all next week!

Me: I appreciate you meeting with me, Dr. Marston! I'm excited to talk about your book!

JM: Please, just call me Jack. I ain't some physician.

Me: So, Dr. Marston, what inspired you to write Red Dead?

JM: Really, it's just Jack. Anyway, as far as your question goes, I am a historian, but I'm also a Stallion County resident. I work in Blackwater. The Blackwater Massacre was only forty-seven years ago, easily within living memory, yet people mythicize it as if it were a merry skirmish in the Sherwood Forest. Dutch Van der Linde was not Robin Hood, he was a confused philosopher with a propensity for wanton violence. He didn't care about the poor, and he didn't care about freedom. The other members of his gang were far more than henchmen; they were complicated people with complicated histories and motivations. Some, I dare say, were even good people. I wrote the book because I want to set the record straight.

Me: Undoubtedly, there was some personal motivation behind it too, no? Your father, John Marston, was a member of the Van der Linde gang, after all.

JM: If I wanted to merely defend my father again, I'd just republish my dissertation, take my chocolate ice cream, and walk out of here. Red Dead is a genuine history; a reexamination if you will. I have my father's journal, which belonged to gang enforcer Arthur Morgan before him. Much of the literature on the gang, and the West in general, is a bunch of *redacted* that contradicts both the evidence and the relevant narratives. I've made, uh, peace, with what, erm, happened, to my father. That's not why I'm publishing this book.

Me: Tell me a bit more about Arthur Morgan. Common history casts him as the most brutal and licentious of the gang, but your depiction of him is far more generous. Why?

JM: Well, my "depiction" is who Arthur Morgan really was. I know you're referring to Elmer Bradshaw's biography of the man, but I'm pretty sure Bradshaw had had a little too much to drink when he wrote that Morgan "frequented brothels and kidnapped children." There's no evidence for that. Morgan was a street rat who was taken in by a conman and trained to view that conman as if he were the Almighty. Morgan, unlike many others, was able to break free from his chains, give restitution to some of those he harmed, formed genuine friendships with others, and helped save my family — all while dying from tuberculosis. But the hunt for the real Arthur Morgan raised moral questions for the Pinkertons, so they changed the man's story to suit their political interests.

Me: Quite insightful! The Pinkertons didn't escape unscathed though. Andrew Milton was killed in Van Horn, while Edgar Ross, who retired in glory, was murdered several years later.

JM: Yes, how unfortunate.

Me: Following up on that, you argue in the book that gang member Micah Bell was the impetus for Van der Linde's downfall, rather than the Pinkertons. Why?

JM: Well, the Pinkertons had a long history of taking credit for things they didn't do. Modern law enforcement is much better in that regard. Micah Bell, for the lack of a better term, was a rat. He began working with the Pinkertons in early 1899 in exchange for temporary criminal immunity. None of the intelligence the Pinkertons gathered was of their own doing, it all came from Bell.

Me: You seem to have a rather dim view of both the Van der Linde gang and the Pinkertons. Care to elaborate?

JM: Well, I'm not a fan of the government, and I'm not a fan of people who take things from other people by force, so there you go.

Me: Going off-topic for a moment, there's a growing movement in American politics to cast all anti-government sentiment as being communist subversion. Are you scared of being called a communist?

JM: I used to be a political philosopher. In the 20s, I devoted a whole book chapter to arguing against communism and socialism. I'm quite fond of The Road to Serfdom, written by my good friend Fred Hayek. That should tell you enough. I ain't communist.

Me: Fair enough! Pivoting back to the subject at hand, what do you think precipitated the rise of the Van der Line gang to begin with?

JM: That's probably the most intelligent question you've asked me today. The West was a harsh place in the late 70s, early 80s. I think we, in our push towards modernity, have forgotten how difficult life was within living memory. Cholera, tuberculosis, diphtheria, dysentery, yellow fever, malaria, smallpox, our fathers and grandfathers had to deal with, and die from, them all. People were hungry, and desperate, and when combined with radical political ideologies, as in the case of Dutch van der Linde and Hosea Matthews — who, by the way, Van der Linde really should've listened to more often — it was only natural that people would pick the ease of criminality over an honest living. Harsh lives create harsh, violent men.

Me: And what stopped you from being a harsh, violent man? If I may say, you do not have the background of a scholar.

JM: I nearly fell into that trap, but I dealt with my emotions. Catching the Spanish flu would also prove to be a blessing in disguise, as my nurse would eventually become my wife, and I've been a much better man since then.

Me: Ah, a good woman!

JM: An understatement, but yes.

Me: So the remaining living members of the Van der Linde gang have been pardoned, as I'm sure you know. Did any of them help you write Red Dead?

JM: Yes. Charles Smith, who lives in Canada with his family, was kind enough to allow me to invoke his name and input. I visit him in British Columbia once a year. I have spoken with several others, and their contributions are in the book, but they requested to remain anonymous, which is something I will always respect.

Me: One last question before I let you go...Just so our readers can get to know you a little better, what is your favorite food?

JM: Spaghetti. Had it as a boy in Saint Denis, and I can't get enough.

Me: Well, thank you for speaking with me Dr. Marston! This was an enlightening experience.

JM: Mm-hmm.

Editor's Note: Red Dead can be found at your local library or bookstore. The Blackwater Ledger does not have copies available for sale.