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Gleason, Molly

Waitress at the Golden Chance Saloon in Bent Forks,[1] Nebraska in 1871. (March 20, 1845 – March 12, 1901)[2]

Molly Gleason worked in St. Louis[1] as a saloon girl[2], and struggled with a tarnished reputation as "a girl who has to work for a living."[1] In 1870,[2] she met Ralph Jordan, the nephew of banker Nelson in Bent Forks, Nebraska. Jordan, attracted to Molly and detecting her quiet desperation, made plans with her to leave St. Louis together and plot the robbery of his uncle's bank. They would wait until cattle season in Bent Forks, when money was changing hands in large amounts. Once the bank safe held $100,000, Jordan would steal the money. They intended to find a drifter with a passing resemblance to Jordan, blow his face off with a shotgun, and leave the body dressed in Jordan's clothes so they wouldn't be followed.

In 1871,[2] Molly met Bret Maverick when he came to Bent Forks. She noticed Bret's passing resemblance to Jordan and began to arrange for him to become the victim in their plan to rob the Bent Forks bank. Bret was attracted to Molly, but was confused by her behavior until he realized he was being set up. Once he foiled the plan and killed Jordan in self defense, he tricked Molly into revealing her plan with Jordan to Sheriff Wes Corwin. Corwin, hiding an unspoken attraction to Molly, reluctantly arrested her for her part in the bank robbery and attempted murder. Before leaving town, Bret gave Molly enough from his reward for recovering the stolen bank money to hire a good defense lawyer.[1]

Sometime after Molly's trial and serving her sentence, she returned to Bent Forks and settled down to a happier life with Wes Corwin.[2]

See: Point Blank