Dutch van der Linde

**David Robard van der Linde** (June 21st, 1855 - November 17th, 1911), better known as **Dutch van der Linde**, was an outlaw and leader of the infamous Van der Linde gang in the American Old West, and later the anarchistic Cochinay Gang in the early twentieth century. He likely formed the Van der Linde gang with Hosea Matthews in 1877, performing the longest string of successful heists in American history.
The gang’s downfall is supposed to have begun in April of 1899 with the infamous failed ferry heist known as the Blackwater Massacre, as stated by Jack Marston, esteemed author and former member of Dutch’s gang. The gang would disband only a few months later from internal divisions and pressure from the law and Pinkerton Detective Agency.

Dutch was supposed to have been killed in Tall Trees in 1905, but after he was sighted in Manzanita Post in 1910, it became clear that Dutch was still at large, now controlling the Cochinay Gang— a band of Native American misfits who resented the form of government controlling America.

After a shootout between his gang and Bureau of Investigation officials at Cochinay on November 17th, 1911, Dutch was killed by a bullet wound to the head, although sources from Jack Marston’s narrative claim that Dutch committed suicide.

## History

### Early Childhood (1855-1865)

Dutch van der Linde was born on June 21st, 1855 to Harold and Greta van der Linde in the countrysides of Montgomery, Pennsylvania. His mother was of English ancestry while his father was born in the Netherlands. As a tribute to Harold’s heritage, they named their child Dutch.

Dutch had two younger siblings: Hans and Joseph, born in 1857 and 1860 respectively. He and his siblings lived relatively stable early childhoods, with Dutch learning skills such as farming, hunting, and horseback riding from his father. In late 1860, the family moved to a larger home in the rural town of Gettysburg to accommodate for more space. Despite living in an agriculturally based settlement, Dutch’s parents were not farmers— Harold ran a stable and farrier shop while his mother mostly stayed at home, sewing and knitting.

When the American Civil War broke out later that year, Harold was forced to join the Union Army to fight against the Confederacy. While he was gone, the family had major financial strains, forcing Greta to sell the now closed stable shop. The Civil War pressed on for three years before it would be brought to the Van der Linde’s doorstep, as Confederate forces attempted to invade Washington D.C. by passing Gettysburg. However, they were met with fierce Union resistance, causing the infamous Battle of Gettysburg, in which Dutch’s father participated in.

The battle caused instrumental ruin to the Van der Linde family, with Harold being struck and killed by a cannon blast, and the family’s homestead being wrecked to irreparability. Although the battle was ultimately a Union victory, the Van der Linde family seemingly lost.

They drifted about Pennsylvania for the next several years, looking work. As the family journeyed from Lake Erie to Pittsburgh, to Philadelphia, and back over, Dutch began looking for work as he grew older and more able-bodied. In 1868, Joseph van der Linde caught influenza and would pass away, casting a great deal of grief onto Greta.

As Dutch worked around the state, he grew more disgusted by the form of government controlling the area. He hated the laws in place, the dirty civilization, and utter greed of the people he worked for.