Long Reign of Terror by Mollie Maguires Brought to End January 18, 1876

January 18, 1876, was an eventful day in Mauch Chunk, the county seat of Carbon County, and, in fact, for the State of Pennsylvania and the entire country.

On that day Michael J. Doyle, of Mount Laffee, Schuylkill County, and Edward Kelly were arraigned charged with the crime of the murder of John P. Jones, of Lansford.

For years preceding this murder the coal regions of Pennsylvania had been infested by a most desperate class of men, banded together for the worst purposes—called by some the Buckshots, by others the Mollie Maguires. They made such sad havoc of the country that life was no longer secure and the regions suffered in many ways.

The unusual circumstance of this trial was the fact that it was the first indictment of a “Mollie Maguire” in this country which had a possible chance for ultimate conviction.

John P. Jones was a mine boss who had incurred the illwill of some of the Irish connected with the organization of Mollie Maguires, masking under the Ancient Order of Hibernians, and on the morning of September 3, 1875, he left his home in Lansford, in which were his wife and seven children, and traveled toward the breaker where he was employed. The three assassins, James Kerrigan, Mike Doyle and Edward Kelly, were lying in wait for him and cruelly shot him down, killing him on the spot.

This crime was no more revolting or cruel than the many others committed by this murderous organization, but it was the one in which the Pinkerton detective, James McParlan, had been able to connect all the facts in the case, and with the additional assistance of James Kerrigan turning State’s witness the civil authorities were able to conduct such a trial that the two other murderers were convicted.

Michael Doyle was found guilty January 22, 1876, and sentenced to death. This was the first conviction of a Mollie Maguire in this country. Edward Kelly was subsequently placed on trial for the same crime and on March 29 was found guilty. Doyle and Kelly both were hanged at Mauch Chunk, June 21, 1876, and the Mollie Maguires ceased to be the terror of civilized people.

To form some idea of the operations of these desperadoes it must be known that the Mollie Maguires were more than bloodthirsty and active in 1865. On August 25, that year, David Muir, superintendent of a colliery, was shot and killed in broad daylight. On January 10, 1866, Henry H. Dunne, a well known citizen of Pottsville, and superintendent 48of a large colliery, was murdered on the highway near the city limits, while riding home in his carriage. On Saturday, October 17, 1868, Alexander Rea, another mining superintendent, was killed on the wagon road, near Centralia, Columbia County. Several arrests were made but no convictions.

On March 15, 1869, William H. Littlehales, superintendent of the Glen Carbon Company, was killed on the highway enroute to his home in Pottsville. F. W. S. Langdon, George K. Smith and Graham Powell, all mine officials, met death at the hands of assassins.

On December 2, 1871, Morgan Powell, assistant superintendent of the Lehigh and Wilkes-Barre Coal and Iron Company, at Summitt Hill, Carbon County, was shot down on the street.

In October, 1873, F. B. Gowen, president of the Philadelphia and Reading Railway Company and the Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company, employed Allan Pinkerton, the noted detective, to take charge of a thorough investigation of this organization.

Pinkerton accepted the commission and selected James McParlan, a young Irish street-car conductor of Chicago, to be his chief operative in this hazardous enterprise. On the evening of October 27, 1873, there arrived at Port Carbon a tramp who gave his name as one James McKenna, who was seeking work in the mines. This McKenna was none other than Detective McParlan and well did he perform his task.

McParlan cleverly assumed the role of an old member of the order, and as one who had committed such atrocious crimes in other parts of this country that he must be careful of undue publicity. He could sing and dance, and was an all around good fellow, but only feigned the drunken stupor in which he was so constantly being found by his associates.

The crowning event in his three years’ work was his initiation into the Ancient Order of Hibernians, at Shenandoah, April 14, 1874. He was soon appointed secretary on account of his better education. In fact, he was a leader and supposedly the most hardened criminal of the coal regions.

October 31, 1874, George Major, Chief Burgess of Mahanoy City, was shot and killed by Mollie Maguires. On April 6, 1875, a despicable plot to destroy the great bridge on the Catawissa Railroad only failed because the Mollies in charge of the work failed to make the fire burn the structure. McParlan was in on this crime, but had much to do with its failure.

Conditions were so serious by June 1, 1875, that Governor Hartranft sent militia to Shenandoah and in their very faces 700 Mollies attempted to capture and destroy a breaker, June 3. August 11 there was a great riot in Shenandoah. Edward Cosgrove and Gomer James were murdered and a bystander was killed during the riot.

August 14, 1875, has since been known as “Bloody Saturday” in 49the coal regions. On that day Thomas Gwyther, a justice of the peace, of Girardville, was murdered. Miners rioted in many places.

September 1, Thomas Sanger, boss at Heaton & Co., colliery, near Ashland, and William Uren were murdered. On September 3, John J. Jones, already mentioned, was killed.

At the great trial the Commonwealth was represented by E. R. Siewers, the able district attorney; F. W. Hughes, of Pottsville; General Charles Albright, of Mauch Chunk, and Allen Craig. For the defense appeared Linn Bartholomew, J. B. Reilly and John W. Ryon, of Pottsville; Daniel Kalbfus and Edward Mulhearn of Mauch Chunk. James Kerrigan gave State’s testimony, which left no doubt of the guilt of the prisoner, and this also was the death knell to the Mollies. Arrests rapidly followed for the other murders.

When the Mollies learned of McParlan’s true character, they planned his destruction, March 5, 1876, but now it was too late. Their nefarious work was at an end.

What might be said to be the closing climax of this reign of terror was the trial in Bloomsburg, February 24, 1877, when Pat Hester, Pat Tully and Peter McHugh were arraigned for the murder of Alexander Rea. The first trial February 2, 1869, had resulted in acquittal for Thomas Donahue, and the other cases were dropped, but this time the three prisoners were found “guilty” and were hanged in Columbia County jail, March 25, 1878, nine years after the murder of Rea.

On May 21, 1877, Governor Hartranft signed the death warrants for eight other Mollies and on June 21 they were hanged. These, with the three hanged at Bloomsburg, brought to a close the business of the Mollie Maguires.