Molly Maguires

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The Molly Maguires were a clandestine society of Irish miners who engaged in a violent confrontation with Pennsylvania mining companies in the 19th century.

The organization was formed in 1843 in Ireland and continued its activity in America. Although a legitimate self-help organization for Irish immigrants existed in the form of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, the Molly Maguires existed as a secret organization behind this front. Both groups fought discrimination against Irish and Catholics. In the case of the Mollies, the fight took the form of violence and destruction, mimicking the attacks against English landlords in Ireland. The group's name came from a widow named Molly Maguire, who had led anti-landlord agitators in the 1840s. She may, however, only be a legendary figure.

They were forced to disband in 1877 after being in existence for about thirty years because, in an effort commissioned by Reading Railroad president Franklin B. Gowen (who was also at the time the most influential mine owner in the area), Pinkerton National Detective Agency agents infiltrated the organization and informed on the activities of the members. Image:James McParland.jpg

Contents

James McParlan

One agent, James McParlan, using the alias of James McKenna, became a trusted member of the organization. On 10 February, 1875, Captain R.J. Linden, a fellow Pinkerton operative with McParlan, captured Thomas Munley at his home in Gilberton. Charles McAllister was apprehended at the same time. McAllister demanded a separate trial and George Kaercher, Esq., the District Attorney, elected to try Munley first.

McParlan voluntarily testified in the case, and his evidence was so accurate and convincing that no other verdict could be possible.

Image:Franklin B. Gowen.jpg

Franklin B. Gowen

District Attorney for Schuylkill County

The wonderful address of Mr. Gowen, and those of General Charles Albright, Hon. F.W. Hughes, and Guy E. Farquhar, Esq., added just the argument which the jury required to find a just verdict of "guilty of murder in the first degree."

In November McAllister was convicted. Munley was hanged in the Pottsville jail August 16, 1876 and McAllister was hanged later.
About twenty members of the group were hanged after being convicted of complicity in the murders of about twenty-four mine managers.

Image:Map of PA Coal Region.png
Location of counties where Mollys were:

From 1865 to 1875, post-war recession combined with a crime wave in the Coal Region to create a decade marred by murder, assault and arson. This wave of violence in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, Carbon County, Pennsylvania , Northumberland County, Pennsylvania , Columbia County, Pennsylvania ,and Luzerne County, Pennsylvania These counties attributed to a group of Irish coal miners dubbed the Molly Maguires.

Four members of the Molly Maguires, Alexander Campbell, John "Yellow Jack" Donohue, Michael Doyle and Edward Kelly, were hanged on June 21 1871 at a Carbon County, Pennsylvania prison in Mauch Chunk (renamed Jim Thorpe in 1953), for the murder of mine bosses John P. Jones and Morgan Powell, following a trial that was later described by Carbon County judge, John P. Lavelle, as follows:

The Molly Maguire trials were a surrender of state sovereignty. A private corporation initiated the investigation through a private detective agency. A private police force arrested the alleged defenders, and private attorneys for the coal companies prosecuted them. The state provided only the courtroom and the gallows.

The Movie

A movie based on these events called The Molly Maguires, starring Sean Connery and Richard Harris, was released in 1970. The movie was filmed in Eckley, Pennsylvania in 1968, and resulted in the town being saved from demolition. Portions were also filmed in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania. Eckley was later turned into a museum under the control of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.

The Sherlock Holmes novel The Valley of Fear is partly based on the Molly Maguires.

Irish folk band The Dubliners refer to the Molly Maguires in one of their songs, "Molly Maguires". The Irish folk music/ska band Molly from Sweden was originally called "Molly Maguire".

External links

Retrieved from "http://en.freepedia.org/Molly_Maguires.html"


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