Jane

As the living conditions in Ireland continued to decline, the O’Flynn family fled their home to make a new one in America in the early 1820s. In order to support their new life, the O’Flynns decided to take on moonshining, and they quickly became one of the most successful distilleries in the area. Deals with the local government and constant intimidation to the police force ensured their safety. A generation passed, and the O’Flynns had a large estate with an even larger basement supporting the mass amount of moonshine being produced. Peter O’Flynn inherited the business from his father in 1872 and married Eliza Parker, and together they led the family business to continued prosperity. In 1876, Jane O’Flynn was born to Eliza and Peter O’Flynn, with her little brother William following two years later.

Jane and her brother grew up in a lavish lifestyle surrounded by family and love. She was educated by her mother, learning everything she needed to to be a good wife, but also a smart one. She was taught to ride by one of her aunts, and showed an aptitude for it from an early age. Her brother on the other hand was being groomed to eventually succeed his father; it was planned that the family business would fall to William once he was of age and Peter was ready to retire. This only enraged her father’s younger brothers, who believed they had the right to run the business once Peter stepped down. The turmoil began to rot her family from the inside out, and Jane’s furious uncles began to secretly rat out the patriarch’s weaknesses to the police force who were keen on taking the moonshine kingpin down. Peter’s traitorous brothers were promised that after the local militia removed Peter and his immediate family from the picture and wait out the fallout, they would then return to restart the distillery themselves, giving a share of the profits to the sheriff’s office.

Jane was only nine years old when the raid took place on her home and her family. The police force had arrived and demanded everyone in the house surrender to a search, which would obviously reveal the illicit moonshine operation. Her father stepped outside to speak to the small army of officers outside, and was shot in the back by his youngest brother. The massive shootout began, and the police force broke their deal with her turncoat uncles and decided to take down the entire O’Flynn family and shut down the operation for good. Nearly all of Jane’s family was either killed for fighting back, or arrested and eventually hung. Jane’s mother, Eliza, hid her children in the master bedroom and tried to defend them, shooting two officers before she was killed herself. Jane covered her brother’s eyes but she witnessed the whole thing.

Once the dust settled and the police could get a proper look around the house, they found the two orphaned siblings hugging each other underneath their parents' bed. They were taken and put in an orphanage, and Jane’s history of acting out began. She was described by the caregiver as “unruly and vile”, and viciously protective of her younger brother. A few months passed and William was adopted by a young couple; Both Jane and William begged for her to go with him, but the couple was scared away by the caregiver’s descriptions of the young girl, but they simply told her they could only support one child at the time. And so Jane was finally, utterly alone, and that was when she knew that the world was against her, and she wasn’t going down without a fight.

The first year in the orphanage was tough on Jane, as she wasn’t too keen on making friends; to her, it meant that she accepted what happened and was ready to move on, and she didn’t want to. But, thanks to the aggressive friendliness of children, she eventually begrudgingly made friends. Some got adopted, aged out, or even were arrested and thrown in jail. One was even hung, or so she heard. But that didn’t faze Jane; she didn’t fear death, it only meant she would see her family again. In her mind, it was the law’s fault her parents were dead and her family ruined, so any chance she could get at screwing with any officer gave her a high. Jane’s first run in with the law happened when she was twelve, when she snuck out of the orphanage with her like minded friends to go into town and steal some real food. They were caught of course, but weren’t charged and simply marched back to the orphanage to face punishment from their caregiver. The group continued to sneak out and break the law, so they were broken up and sent to different orphanages. At fourteen, Jane was adopted by an older couple who knew her past and were determined to break her of old habits and reform her into the “perfect daughter” who would marry rich and support them into their senior years. After multiple instances of Jane stealing, pickpocketing, taking a stagecoach for a joy ride, and even horse thieving over the course of one year, Jane was arrested, bailed out, and given back to the orphanage. But Jane was done with the orphanage and the rejection that came along with it; not one week had passed before she made her grand escape and set out to the wilderness of Tall Trees beyond the orphanage. Her first night was cold and lonely, but she had never felt more free.

On her second night by herself, Jane was attacked by a member of the Murfree brood in her sleep; she awoke to a foul smell and screamed when she saw the man crouched like a predator over her, holding a blood stained knife to her neck. Instinct kicked in, and she pushed the arm holding the knife away, causing the knife to move from her neck to up and across her left eye, cutting her deep and leaving her with a lifelong scar. She continued to grapple with her attacker, who kept crowing how much he was going to enjoy her after he killed her, and how it was a shame her pretty face was now marred, when suddenly his face exploded in front of Jane’s. She pushed his limp body off of hers and scrambled backwards, straight into the legs of a young woman holding a smoking revolver. That woman was called Anne Davis, and she became like a second mother to Jane. She taught her how to defend herself in this unforgiving world, and how to survive it. The pair ran together for six years before Anna settled down with a handsome man to officially start a family. Jane was welcome to stay, and she wanted to, but she wanted to leave Anne to live her own life and not have to be constantly worrying about her. Jane checks in on Anne often, sometimes spending the night at her homestead.

Two years have passed and Jane is now 22, wanted in more states than she could care to admit. She is a skilled bounty hunter, though she hates helping the law in any way, money is money. She tends to use her skills for good, but isn’t above robbing a train or stopping a stagecoach to support herself. She often works under the name Eliza Doyle to honor her mother’s maiden name, and to protect her identity. With the turn of a new century approaching, Jane knows her way of life is short on time, and as such she has decided to fall in with a gang to ensure her personal safety for the time being. She doesn’t trust easily, and worries this new gang will only cause her problems, but she is almost out of time and has little choice.




Her horse is a Silvertail Buckskin American Standardbred named Bailey and I love him with all my heart