Outlaws - An American Youth - [Charles Smith x OC]

Author's Note

And now, this story is over. I can not believe it. I started writing these lines that ran through my head on April 18, right in the middle of confinement. I never thought I'd get to the end of it, let alone fill 250 pages. I have been writing almost daily since that day, with great pleasure.

What I also didn't expect was the support I received for this story. Thank you for views, comments, reactions. As I publish this final chapter, the French version of the story has passed 1000 views, the English version is not far from it. So a big thank you to all of you.

I have a big exam coming up, I don't know if I'll be able to write. I already have some ideas for one shots for RDR2. I also have an idea for an original story, it won't be in the world of RDR2 but will follow a woman again, around the same era as the gang.

I did a lot of research for this story, below is a list of links to what I came accross during my research, there are a lot of very interesting stuff, feel free to take a look! (The links will be in comments.)

Living in Chicago

¤ Chicago's Eleanor Clubs, boarding houses for young ladies

¤ Boarding houses in Chicago 

Studying medicine, Rush Medical College

¤ Women at Rush Medical College

¤ A great conference on Rush Medical College, focusing in particular on the place of women.

¤ Curriculum at a school in Nebraska in 1900, a great help in understanding what medical training looked like at the time.

¤ The Flexner Report of 1909, which aided in reforming the American system for training physicians, giving it the foundations for the current system (before that, everyone did their own thing, there were many schools open just for the money, especially in Chicago). Rush Medical College was one of the few to be of any value to him.

Interracial love

¤ Forbidden in the USA, mixed couples still existed, as proof of these two articles.

¤ To learn more about the history of marriage in Canada, especially for mixed couples, click here.

Motherhood & miscarriages

¤ A very comprehensive article on how they dealt with miscarriages at the end of the 19th century.

¤ The Mother and Her Child, a 1916 book written by a couple of Doctors, William and Lena Sadler. From pregnancy to child rearing, everything goes.

Miscellaneous

¤ Among my questions, could the Pinkerton go to Canada? The answer here! (although technically, at the time, Agent Ross was part of the ancestor of the FBI...)

¤ How long did it take for mail to travel back then? With the pony Express, the courier traveled an average of 100 miles per day (about 160km).