Harold MacDougal

MacDougal's Role

John Marston first meets Harold MacDougal after rescuing an informant named Nastas who was injured on the job. MacDougal agrees to help Nastas recover, and Marston decides to get involved with MacDougal while waiting for some leads on Dutch van der Linde.  
 
At one point, MacDougal and Nastas take John to a meeting between them and some members of Dutch's gang (who are Native Americans). It turns out to be a trap. Nastas is killed and Marston finds himself surrounded by hostiles with the coward MacDougal (who's too afraid to fight anyone). They fight their way out successfully. 
 
The next time Marston meets MacDougal, he is packing his bags to get the hell out of Blackwater. Suddenly, Dutch van der Linde and his gang appears on the road below them and he threatens the duo. Dutch wants MacDougal, but Marston knows that isn't going to happen. The two head up a ladder and escape the city via the rooftops while dodging pot shots from snipers. They make it to the nearest train station on horse where MacDougal gives Marston a hug goodbye and departs. 
 
In the epilogue, it is revealed in the final newspaper that MacDougal successfully returned to Yale where he beats another professor with a croquet mallet and is thus kicked out of the university.

Character

Harold MacDougal is a strange little man. He is staying in Blackwater to study Native Americans and write a book on them while he is on forced sabbatical from Yale University where he is a professor in Anthropology. He uses cocaine a lot, which is probably responsible for his strange erratic behavior. MacDougal's personality is also stained by racism, although this might be considered period appropriate. He is utterly shocked when he discovers that Native American blood is structurally similar to white man's blood, and he always refers to Native Americans as "savages".