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IFE AND
ſ *XECUTION
O
JACK KEHOE,
KING OF THE “MOLLIE MAGUIRES,”
TOGETHER WITH
A. f ULL Account
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FOURTEEN MOLLIES HANGED).
PUBLISHED BY
B A R C L A Y & CO.,
21 NORTH SEVENTH STREET,
PHILADELPHIA, PA.
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Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1879, by
IBA-ERCT, ALY & CC-,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D.C.

LIVES AND CRIMES
OF THE
MOLLIE MAGUIRES.
HE secret organization known as the “Mollie Maguires” was started
in Ireland, and had for its chief purpose the shooting of the agents
of the cruel grasp-all Irish landlords. It is said that a rather fero-
cious woman named Mollie Maguire had killed several of these
landlords' obnoxious agents, and that a body of men formed a society
and gave it her name; that the membership of this society increased with
the number and daring of the murders committed.
Some say that the Mollies in those days went forth in woman's apparel, as
a disguise, when on a killing expedition. Others assert that the society is
in fact the Ancient Order of Hibernians, but this assertion is open to much
doubt. Be that as it may, Mollie Maguireism was revived in this country,
taking its chief and most terrible hold in the coal regions of Pennsylvania.
Prominent in the trials of these ruffians was one McParlan, a detective of
the Pinkerton Agency. Under the assumed name of McKenna he joined the
order, and for two years this brave man worked up his case among men who
would have held his life as naught in the event of the discovery of his true
character. For a very long time, however, he was looked upon suspiciously,
and only by patience, ingenuity and courage, did he at length succeed in
gaining their confidence and possessing himself of their awful secrets.
Another prominent character in this tragedy—or long series of tragedies—
was “Kerrigan,” who turned informer, and confessed, thus making stronger
the evidence collected by Detective McParlan (alias McKenna).
For fourteen years, ending with 1876, the populous mining districts of
Eastern Pennsylvania were terrorized over by this mysterious secret society.
During that time brutal assassinations of prominent citizens, besides
attempted murders, assaults, and other outrages almost innumerable were
committed by it; but the men executed at Pottsville and Mauch Chunk are
the first of its members to suffer the full penalty of their crimes. The work
of several years is now nearly finished. About seventy persons have been
arrested in the coal regions. Of these, twelve have been, by a jury of their
countrymen, found guilty of murder in the first degree; four of murder in
19


20 LIVES AND CRIMES OF THE MOLLIE MAGUIRES,
the second degree, and four of being accessories to murder, sixteen of con-
spiracy to murder, six of perjury, one of assault with intent to kill, eight of
aiding and abetting a murder, one of assault and battery, one for aiding in
the escape of a murderer, and several others of lesser crimes. Eleven
received sentence of death, and were executed.
To get an adequate idea of the crimes committed by these men, it is only
necessary to say that men were shot dead on the highway in broad daylight,
others were killed at their work in the sight of their fellows; others still
were attacked in their houses at night, and killed in the midst of their
families. No man who had incurred the enmity of the mysterious and
ubiquitous Mollies was safe * So great was the terror they inspired
in the coal counties, that it was impossible to convict them of any important
crime. It was very rarely indeed that one was arrested, for the natural wish
to avoid the resentment of these reckless murderers was supplemented by
strong clannishness. So the few murderers who were arrested, for want of
evidence, were found guilty of comparatively light offences and sentenced
to short terms of imprisonment, and the bloody work of the band went on
with little hindrance. Their attacks, of course, were not always without
risk to themselves. People learned to carry arms and to use them promptly,
and more than one Mollie was left dead on the field, but even the finding
of his dead body led to no disclosures. The murder of George K. Smith, at
Audenried, in November, 1863, who was bravely defended by a friend, was
followed by a Mollie funeral, but nobody deemed it advisable to ask indis–
creet questions. On the night of February 11th, 1867, the house of John
C. Northall, a coal operator at Tuscarora, Schuylkill county, was attacked
by a body of men, who fired into the windows of his bed-room. Mr. North-
all was away from home, but the neighbors gathered and the assailants fled,
leaving behind them the body of one of their number. He was identified
as one John Donohue, who was (unofficially) known to have taken part in
the assault on George K. Smith, but his identification seemed to open up no
clue, and it is significant of the state of society which prevailed at the time
that one of the rescuing party was actually put on trial for the “murder.”
of Donohue. - - - - - - - -
The men hanged at Pottsville were Thomas Duffy, James Carroll, James
Roarity, James Boyle and Hugh McGehan, all convicted of complicity in
the murder of B. F. Yost, the Tamaqua policeman, and Thomas Munley,
one of the murderers of Thomas Sanger and William Uren, at Raven Run.
Those executed at Mauch Chunk were Michael Doyle and Edward Kelly,
the murderers of the mine boss, John P. Jones, at Lansford; Alexander
Campbell, the chief mover in the plot, who was also convicted of the mur.
aer of Morgan Powell, another mine boss, who was killed at Summit Hill,
Carbon county, December 26, 1871, and John Donohue, alias “Yellow
Jack,” another of the murderers of Powell. --

LIVES AND CRIMES OF THE MOLLIE MAGUIRES. 21
JOHN P. 10NES THE LANSFORD VICTIM.
A CORRECT ACCOUNT OF HIS LIFE AND OF HIS KILLING BY THE “Mollies.”
John P. Jones, whose tragic death caused such intense excitement and
to which we may attribute in a great measure the return of a better and
more peaceable state of affairs than have been experienced in the coal
regions for many long years, was born at Shenhowe, near Tredegar, in
Wales, in August, 1832. Even as a boy he possessed traits which, in the
opinion of those who understood his character, seemed to warrant the pre-
diction that he would rise above his fellows and become an example to his
class as a man, who by his own energy worked his way into a position for
which many sigh but few attain. As he advanced in years and listened to
the reading of letters which his parents received from friends across the
water, he became dissatisfied with the humdrum life of his native town,
and at eighteen years of age informed his father that he intended to emi-
grate and see whether more than a bare living could not be made in the far
away America of which he had heard and thought so much. His parents
being satisfied with the step that he was about to take, arrangements were
made for the long journey before him, and it was decided that he should
take one of his sisters (now Mrs. Carrington) with him.
The last good-by uttered, the gallant ship upon which the two emigrants
trusted their lives made sail for Philadelphia, where in due time she safely
arrived. Remaining in the Quaker City no longer than was necessary,
Jones and his sister journeyed to Tamaqua, where he at once engaged him-
self as laborer to Daniel Carrington (his sister's husband), who was a miner
in Messrs. Taggerts' colliery. Feeling that laboring was not for what he
was intended, he moved his base to Wiggan's colliery, where he worked as
a miner, but remaining there only a short time he went to Messrs. Jones
and Cole's colliery, Reevesdale, and while there, seven years after he landed
in the country, married Miss Mary Edwards, a countrywoman of his own,
who was living with her parents in Tamaqua. In 1861, the year after his
marriage, having been dazzled by the reports that were in circulation about
the fortunes that were to be made in California, he set sail for the land of
gold, leaving his family behind him. A year and nine months satisfied
him that fortune did not smile upon the majority of mankind more ausp-
ciously in California than in Pennsylvania, and feeling that the comforts of
home more than overbalanced the slight gain that could be made of filthy
lucre, he turned his back upon the Eldorado of the New World, and once
more gladdened his wife with his presence. Becoming tired of Tamaqua,
he removed his family to Centralia, and once more plied his pick among
the black diamonds at Frecks' colliery, but receiving a letter from a friend
in Ashton, he decided once more to make a change. Arrived at Ashton, he
worked as a miner under Thomas Phillips, at No. 9 colliery. After two
years steady application he was raised to the position of inside boss at No.
22 LIVES AND CRIMES OF THE MOLLIE MAGUIRES,
5, and remained as such for a period of four years, when his employers
taking note of the manner in which he attended to his duty, and feeling
assured that he was the right man for the place, made him outside superin-
tendent of collieries Nos. 4, 5, and 6. Thus, step by step he had climbed the
ladder of promotion till he reached a height which any of his fellow-men
would have been proud to attain. But though prosperity attended him,
life was not a bed of roses, for the coal regions, never inhabited by a gentle
set of men, gradually became more lawless on account of the influx of tur-
bulent characters, drawn thither by the high rate of wages offered. As time
rolled on, the baser natures, instead of being awed by the strict administra-
tion of justice, set the law at defiance until at last murder became common
and what was worse, was never punished. Mining bosses, particularly,
seemed to be an object of hatred to the worst members of the community,
and in the language of the times, not to have received a “coffin notice”
was looked upon rather as curious.
Carbon county, as well as Schuylkill county, though not to such an ex-
tent, was in a state of what might be termed insurrection. The troubled
state of affairs was due partly to the suspension of coal mining operations,
but largely to the machinations of evil men who endeavored to incite the
more debased of their fellow-men (if it were possible to find such) to acts of
violence that might benefit them (the movers). Mr. Jones being a promi-
nent man at Lansford, was selected by these devils as one who should be
murdered, and for the benefit of whom? Why, the Mollie Maguires. He
received a “notice.” Of course it caused him to be somewhat apprehensive,
for none knew better than he the character of the men with whom he had
to deal, but what weighed most heavily on his mind was, in the event of
his life being taken, the ultimate fate of his poor wife and seven little
children. |
Many a sleepless night was passed by the threatened man in thinking
how he could best escape his impending fate. To leave the country was
synonymous with casting away from him all chances of ever providing for
old age, and to a man of his years this was out of the question. He there-
fore decided to brave this danger, but to use every precaution against it.
In the latter part of August he was warned by a friend, in the guise of an
enemy, to be on his guard, for that his life was in danger. After this he
became doubly careful, never leaving his home without being armed, and
returning homeward from his work by the most open highways. Many
and many a night did the anxious wife wait upon the threshold and trem-
blingly watch every man that came towards the house, and not a happy
moment did she spend until she saw her husband enter the house and hear
from his lips that he was not going out again. Mr. Jones felt no fear of his
life being attempted in daylight, and therefore took no extraordinary pre-
cautions, and when on the morning of the 3d of September, 1875, he kissed
his wife and children, he little thought that it would be the last time that
his lips would perform the office. John P. Jones left his house on that
fatal morning with not a thought of the frightfulfate that was to overtake
him in so few minutes. Walking down the pipeline with buoyant steps,



















LIVES AND CRIMES OF THE MOLLIE MAGUIRES. 25
a man in the prime of life, having a wife that had been to him what a wife
means in the true sense of the word, thinking of his seven children, one of
them rapidly approaching manhood, was it any wonder that he never trou-
bled himself with what disaster the future might have in store for him?
But the fiat had gone forth that John P. Jones was to be killed, and the
men who were commissioned to do the deed knew that from them no
refusal would be taken and that their work must be done. Five minutes
after he had left his house he was wounded unto death. The assassins, in
broad daylight and at a time when, if not distraught, they must have known
that hundreds of men would be going to their work, saw their victim, fol-
lowed him, and without exhibiting any more compunction than they would
for a dog, shot him through the back. Though feeling that he had received
his death—wound, the dying man made an effort to escape from his mur-
derers, but they, like the tiger who has tasted of blood and pants for more,
followed him into the brush, into which he staggered and fell, and fired
shot after shot until seeing that men, alarmed by the firing, were coming
towards them and thinking that the time had arrived for them to make
good their escape, they sought safety in flight.
When the news of the murder became circulated the wildest excitement
prevailed. The whole country became alarmed, and bands of men scoured
the surrounding districts in every direction in search of the assassins.
About noon of the same day, three men were captured on the outskirts of
Tamaqua. They were taken to the lockup and examined, and from the
contradictory and unsatisfactory statements there made by them, it was
deemed expedient that they should be held for trial. A body of police
from Mauch Chunk having arrived, the prisoners were delivered into their
hands, and in spite of the threats of violence made by the excited populace
against them, they were placed on board a train, which in a short time
took them to Mauch Chunk, the county-seat of Carbon. Doyle, Kelly and
Kerrigan, the men arrested for the murder, remained in jail until their
case was called on the 18th of January, when the prisoners elected to be
tried separately. Michael J. Doyle, being first selected, was given a
trial which lasted fourteen days, and during which one hundred and
twenty-two witnesses testified in such a manner that not a doubt of the
prisoner's guilt could be left on the mind of the jury, who, at nine o'clock
on the morning of the 1st of February, returned a verdict of “Guilty of
murder in the first degree.” The prisoner's counsel having moved for a
new trial, the 21st day of February was appointed for the hearing of the
arguments, and on that day the counsel for the defence having exhausted
themselves in his behalf, Judge Dreher reserved his decision until the next
day, upon which, at eight o'clock in the morning, he refused the motion for
a new trial, and sentenced Michael J. Doyle “to be hung by the neck until
he was dead.” Thus on a day which the whole country observed as one of
rejoicing, it being the one hundred and forty-fourth anniversary of the
Father of his Country, Doyle was mourning in bitterness of spirit for the
awful crime that he had committed, and trembling at the terrible fate that
awaited him.
ALEX. C.A.M.P.B.E.L.I.s.
The Leader.
BENJAMIN F. YOST.
The Murdered Policeman-
The Young “Mollie.”




26. LIVES AND CRIMES OF THE MOLLIE MAGUIRES. º
Mr. Jones lived but a short time after he received his death-wound, and
was buried in the Odd Fellows' cemetery at Tamaqua. His body was fol-
lowed to the grave by an immense concourse of people, very few of whom
could refrain from tears when they thought of the frightful manner in which
their old friend had been cut off in the prime of his life and usefulness. He
left to mourn their loss a wife and seven children—six boys and a girl.
The oldest child, a son, fifteen years of age, and the youngest, a girl, only
eight months old. Mr. Jones' parents came to this country in 1852 and
settled in Tamaqua. The father worked as a “finer” in Wiggan's, and also
occupied the position of stable-boss. He died in 1868, fifteen months after
the death of his wife. The rest of the family are still living, one sister being
married, as we before mentioned, to Mr. Daniel Carrington, of Tamaqua, and
the other to Mr. John Fox, now working in No. 9, and living at Storm Hill.
His brother, Mr. Edward Jones, a married man, with one child, lives at
Ashton, and is a miner in No. 4.
The Edwards family, of which Mrs. Jones is a member, came to this
county in 1848, when Mary (now Mrs. Jones) was only nine years of age.
They settled in Minersville, but, not liking the locality, moved to Tamaqua,
where they remained for fourteen years, and it was while there that Miss
Mary Edwards met Jones and afterwards married him. Leaving Tamaqua,
Mr. and Mrs. Edwards went to Nesquehoning, and while working in the
mines at that place, Edwards was killed by a fall of coal. Mrs. Edwards
then returned to Tamaqua and, after staying there for ten months, removed
to Summit Hill, where she now lives, though she passes the greater part of
her time with Mrs. Jones. Mrs. Edwards, though far advanced in years, is
still hale and hearty and bears her many troubles as they should be borne;
and her daughter, Mrs. Jones, in spite of all the troubles through which she
has passed, is a handsome specimen of womanhood, and is the mother of as
fine-looking children as can be found in the county.
---------
FRANK B. YOST, THE POLICEMAN, KILLED IN TAMAQUA.
A HISTORY OF HIS LIFE AND THE CIRCUMSTANCES ATTENDING HIS BRUTAL
MURDER.
Frank B. Yost, the subject of this sketch, was born in Lewistown, Schuyl-
kill township, Pa., in the year 1841, upon the 24th of May. His parents,
Benjamin and Mary Yost, were people in good circumstances and highly
respected by all who knew them. At school the boy was liked by all his
companions for the many pleasant traits in his character, and very few of
his boyish friends but were more than sorry when the Yosts left their old
home and moved to East Brunswick township. At this time Frank was
fifteen years of age, and had become old enough—at least his sensible
parents thought so—to enter into some employment by which he could

I.IVES AND CRIMES OF THE MOLLIE MAGUIRES, 27.
work his own way in the world. After considerable cogitation upon the
matter, Frank concluded that he would like to become a miller. His father
was satisfied with the choice, and a miller he became.
When he was eighteen years of age he became imbued with religious
fervor and joined the German Reformed Church, of which he continued a
consistent member while he remained in the place. He also regularly at-
tended Sunday-school, and did his utmost to bring within “the fold” such
of his comrades as he could influence. Working steadily he remained at
home until the year 1861, when, from the same cause that moved millions,
he felt that home was no longer the place for him, and that to protect it he
should do as many others even in that little village were doing—shoulder
a musket and go forth to battle with the enemies of his country. As Cap-
tain John R. Porter was at this time recruiting for the army at Middleport,
Yost packed up what necessaries he thought requisite and departed for the
above-mentioned place, and upon his arrival enlisted for three years. Before
Company I of the Forty-eighth Regiment was mustered in he paid a visit to
his home, and having bade good-by to his father and mother, he marched
away with as light a heart as there was in the regiment. In the early part
of November, scarcely two months after he had donned his uniform, he
smelt gunpowder at the battle of Hatteras and Roanoke Islands. -
As a soldier, Yost was considered a model, and in all of the engagements
in which the Forty-eighth took part he performed his duty, like a man.
Upon the expiration of his three years service, for which he had enlisted,
he decided to stick to his colors, and re-enlisted for the balance of the war.
When the Forty-eighth made themselves celebrated before Petersburg, he
was with them and shared in both their danger and glory. At the close of
the war the Forty-eighth proceeded to the camp near Alexandria, Virginia,
where Yost with his company was mustered out of the service on the 17th
of July, 1865. -
Returning to his home at East Brunswick, he was received with open
arms by his parents and friends, and once more settled down to hard work,
though the work in which he had been engaged for the previous four years
could not be considered by any means to be of a particularly easy charac-
ter. As time passed, Yost became impressed with the idea that it was time
to think of making a home for himself, and as to make a home what it
really should be, the presence of woman is necessary, he thought over his
acquaintances of the opposite sex, and thought to such good purpose that
on the 26th of December, 1870, he was married at Schuylkill Haven, by the
Rev. Jacob Kline, to Miss Lucinda Amelia Boyer, of McKeansburg. Tak-
ing his wife to East Brunswick, he made his home there till April of 73,
when he removed to Tamaqua, where he entered the employ of Philip A.
Krebs, but remained with him only a month, as the borough council ap-
pointed him special policeman on the 17th of June, with Barney McCarron
as his aid. In this position he performed his duty in the same upright
manner as in the other walks of life in which he had been engaged, and
was by the respectable portion of the community looked upon as the very
best man that could have been placed in such an office.

28 Livics AND CRIMES OF THE MOLLIE MAGUIRES.
- -
Tamaqua was, at this time, noted for the number of bad characters than
it contained, and as Yost, while in the discharge of his duties, often came
in conflict with them, his friends often used to warm him to be very careful
that some time when he least expected it some of the roughs might not
revenge themselves upon him for the active part which he had played in
their discomfiture. Yost, like many a man who has passed through danger
unscathed, listened to the advice of his friends, but at the same time con-
sidered that he was perfectly capable of taking care of himself. In ordi-
mary times and against ordinary men he certainly was, but he did not
sufficiently consider the times in which he lived or was of too mainly a
nature himself to be able to judge to what length some devils in the guise
of humanity are capable of going. The 4th of July, 1875, happening on a
Sunday, the national holiday was observed on the 5th, and on that day
Tamaqua was crowded with people from the neighboring valleys, all bent
on enjoying themselves to the fullest extent, and some of them willing and
eager to run a little outside the bounds of moderation, and indulge in an
orgie during which they cared little what they did or what became of
them. -
At a picnic held some little distance outside the borough, a large number
of roughs congregated and made themselves obnoxious to peaceable citizens
until darkness shrouded the earth and compelled the pleasure-seekers and
breakers to move towards the town, which, on that night, kept open house.
On this night, from the number of well-known bad characters that paraded
the streets, many expected trouble of some kind to occur, but as nothing
out of the way happened up to midnight, the solid men heaved a sigh of
relief and retired, thinking that all danger had passed. At two o'clock, on
the morning of the 6th, Yost and McCarron went their rounds and attended
to the street lamps. Upon arriving at the corner of the street upon which
he lived, Yost mounted the ladder to extinguish the light of the lamp that
occupied the spot, while McCarron waited for him across the street. At
the moment he was preparing to descend a shot broke the stillness of the
night, and McCarron was horrified to see his brother policeman stagger and
fall. At the same moment he saw two figures running away, so drawing
his revolver he fired several shots, which were returned by the disappear-
ing ruſſians. Returning, he found Yost upon the ground, but upon assist-
ing him, the poor fellow, who had been shot through the back in such a
cowardly manner, was enabled to reach his house. After making him
as comfortable as possible, McCarron ran for medical assistance, but Dr.
Solliday, after making an examination of the wounded man, extended but
slight hopes to him or his agonized wife of his ultimate recovery, and the
truth of the doctor's prognostications were quickly and sadly verified, for in
a few short hours the unfortunate man, cut off in the prime of his life,
breathed his last. -
Upon the circulation of the news of this cold-blooded murder, a state of
the wildest excitement prevailed and many expected a reign of terror would
ensue, so incensed were the people against the vile characters who lived in
their midst, some of whom were suspected of being principals or abetto's

LIVES AND CRIMES OF THE MOLLIE MAGUIRES. 29
v. the assassination. An immense concourse of people followed the body
to the grave, the P. O. S. of A. turning out in full force, the murdered man
being a member in good standing of Washington Camp, No. 100, of the
order. -
The old saying that “murder will out” was verified at a time when few
expected it, and although a large reward was offered for the capture of the
assassins of Yost, hardly a man in the borough of Tamaqua ever thought
that it would be earned. A few good men, however, made up their minds
that the state of terrorism in which they were living should end, if such a
thing were possible of attainment, and from the time of the murder dedi-
cated themselves to the task of ferreting out the wretches who in such a
dastardly manner sent their victim out of the world without a word of
warning. - - -
On the 4th of February, six months after the murder, the Coal and
Iron police, assisted by local officers, arrested Hugh McGeghan and James
Boyle, of Summit Hill, James Roarity, of Coal Dale, James Carroll, of
Tamaqua, and Thomas Duffy, of Reevesdale, on the charge of complicity
in the murder of Frank B. Yost. The prisoners were taken to Pottsville
and lodged in jail, whence they were taken on the 10th to the court-house
on a writ of habeas corpus, but on the strength of the evidence advanced by
witnesses of the Commonwealth were remanded to jail to stand their trial;
the result of which was their conviction of murder in the first degree.
Thus was vengeance visited upon the men that deprived a fellow-creature
of life, and a loving wife of her support, caused the death of a fond mother
and inflicted pain beyond measure upon the family and friends of a man
that never knowingly or willingly did any man a wrong.
THOMAS SANGER, KILLED AT RAVEN RUN, SEPT, 1, 1875,
BY THE MOLLIES.
A HISTORY OF HIS LIFE AND AN ACCOUNT OF HIS INHUMAN MURDER-
WHERE HE WAS BORN, AND HIS WANDERINGS UNTIL HE SETTLED IN
SCHUYLRILL COUNTY.
At a few minutes before twelve o'clock on the morning of the 1st of Sep-
tember, 1875, Raven Run, a patch situated on the line of the Lehigh Valley
Railroad, about five miles distant from Shenandoah, Pa., was the scene of
one of the most cold-blooded assassinations that have ever been perpetrated.
As Thomas Sanger, inside boss at the Messrs. Heaton's colliery, was going
to his work, attended by William Uren, a friend who lived with him, both
men were confronted by five ruffians who demanded work. Mr. Sanger
informed them that no work was to be had at the time, but almost before
he had ceased speaking the five men drew revolvers and fired at them.
--

30 Irvºs AND CRIMEs of THE Moitrº MAGUIREs.
sanger, being unarmed at the time, and feeling that he was mortally
wounded, turned and endeavored to reach the house of the ºutside boºs,
and had gone as far as the flight of steps that led to the back door, a. d was
dragging himself up them when one of the murderers, more ºmined
tº fºllºws, fºllowed him and deliberately fired a couple º shots
at him and killed Uren. Sånger had just sufficient strength remaining to
reach the door, when he ſell fºrward into the arms of MºWhéºvil, and
quietly passed away. " " ... ."
Words would fail to express the feeling of horror, migº with tº:
that swept through the community when the news of the diabólical double
murder became circulated throughout the country. Scouting parties were .
immediately organized and the surrounding districts thoroughly searchéd,
but not a trace of the murderers was found that led to any results. The
mortal remains of the murdered men were followed to their graves by an
immense concourse of people, who came from all parts of the county, and
many a visit was afterward made to the grave of “poor Tom Sanger,” in
the Odd Fellows' Cemetery, Girardville, by his many friends. The follow-
ing is a comprehensive sketch of his life from the time he prattled at his
mother's knee till he was violently ushered out of existence by the bullet
of the assassin: - - " º ".
| Thomas Sanger was born in the parish of Germae, in the county ºf Corn-
wall, England, in the year 1842. His father was a Methodist minister,
though he also indulged in farming, and it was in the country hat the
seeds of religion that afterwards bore good fruit were first planted in the
heart of “Tommy,” as he was called in his happy boyhood days. Being
an only son, great pains were lavished upon his bringing up, and, yºgas
he was, he regularly attended Sunday-school with his four sisters." His
father dying when he was between five and six years of age, º, was
early taught that as soon as he grew old enough he must try to do sºme.
thing towards the support of the family, and at quite ºf ººge he went
to work in the Greatwork tin-mine. There he remained un iº.
teen years of age, when the tide of émigration to America being ºf its height
he caught the ſever, and with a small body of his fellow townshen tºok
ship for the land across the sea and landed in New York in 1861. Making
for the mining country he struck Beaver Meadows, where he worked to
William T. Carter, but remaining there for but a short time. He moved his
base to Stockton, and joined with a man named Pale Quick. Between the
two men an intimacy soon sprung up until, in the language of the country,
they became inseparable “butties.” Thinking to better themselves the two
men left Stockton for Locust Gap, Northumberland county, and from there
went to Dark Corner and gained employment in Anderson's colliery."
In May, 1866, California being all the rage, Sanger and Quick held a con-
sultation in regard to whether it would not be advisable for ºy
their luck in the land of gold, and both being unmarried men California
gained the day. Upon reaching their destimation Sanger worked his way to
Virginia City, where he gained the position of º under the super
vision of William Lacke, in a gold mine. Although money was plebiº.

LIVES AND CRIMES OF THE MOLLIE MAGUIRES. 33
-
*ānd wages good, a pining for the coal regions and the many friends he had
made in them took possession of him, and after working steadily in the ore
mines for two years, he packed up his “duds" and turned his steps towards
New York. Upon his second arrival at this port, he stayed but a short
time in the great metropolis, but directed his course to Waterloo, New Jer-
sey. In a few weeks time after his return he married a daughter of William
Brown, of Bellville, New Jersey, and shortly afterwards took his wife to
Girardville. He remained in Girardville for four years, working in the col-
*liery of Messrs. Beaty and Garretson, and while here, one child, which was
christened after himself, was born. As soon as his contract for sinking a
slope was finished, he moved to Raven Run and was given the position of
inside boss in their colliery by the Messrs. Heatons. From the time, Sep-
tember, 1873, he was employed by them, Sanger gave the highest satisfac-
tion to his employers, and was considered by them to be a first-class man,
and if he was ever accused of being a little strict with the men, none could say
that he ever required a man to work more diligently than he did himself,
and when he was brutally murdered not a respectable man in the commu-
nity but did not look upon the affair as a sad loss, not only to his own
family and immediate friends, but to the community at large. From the
time he left the “old country” till the time of his death he never ceased to
lovingly remember his mother, and a portion of every dollar that he earned
was carefully put away and forwarded to her. He left a wife and six chil-
dren to mourn their loss, and at the time of his death his poor wife was nurs:
ing a child of only seven months of age. Being a man who liked to mingle
with his fellows, he was a member of the orders of Free Masons and Odd
Fellows, and also a member of the Encampment, all of which societies were
largely represented at his funeral. Almost five months passed without, so
far as the public were concerned, a clue having been found that would lead
to the capture of his murderers.
Further particulars of the murder of Sanger and Uren were developed
at the trial of the assassins, and are as follows: Prior to his murder Sanger
had received several coffin notices or written messages intimating that it
would be to his benefit to leave the county. Being a brave man, the threat-
ened boss refused to do anything of the kind, but took the precaution of
never leaving the house without being fully armed, and to satisfy his wife
he invited Uren, who came from the same part of England, to live with
him and to assist in keeping guard during the night.
Sanger was killed to gratify “Bucky" Donnelly, an ex-body-master of the
Raven Division of the Ancient Order of Hibernians. On the night of the
31st of August Charles and James McAllister, Michael Doyle and Thomas
Munley left Gilberton and walked to Girardville. There some of the party
called upon John Kehoe, the county delegate, and asked his consent to the
murder. He said, “All right, boys, go ahead, but be careful of yourselves."
Leaving Kehoe's, the party proceeded to Raven Run, where they were met
by “Bucky" Donnelly, who carried them to his house and made them
welcome. Shortly after six o'clock in the morning the men sallied from
Donnelly's house, having first exchanged hats and coats with each other,

34 LIVES AND CRIMES OF THE MOLLIE MAGUIRES. º
and took their station near Heaton's colliery. No disguise was attempted
by any of them, and they must have been seen by fully a hundred men
and boys, as they waited for their man. At about 6.45 o'clock Sanger was
seen leaving his house, accompanied by Uren. “Friday" O'Donnell drew
his revolver and fired. Sanger staggered but did not fall, when Uren
jumped to his assistance. O'Donnell immediately drew on him and shot
the unfortunate man in the groin. Meanwhile the other four assassins
began to fire right and left, in order to keep the crowd of miners, who didn't
seem inclined to close with them, at a distance. Sanger, upon receiving the
first shot, ran towards the house. Munley followed to head him off. While
endeavoring to crawl up the steps of Wheevill's house, one of the murderers
caught him, turned him over and discharged the contents of his pistol into
his abdomen. Making another effort, Sanger reached the door of the house.
Here he straightened himself and fell dead in the arms of Mrs. Wheevill.
The murderers then retreated, and though fired upon by Mr. Robert Heaton,
escaped unhurt. Upon reaching the Lehigh Valley Railroad they exchanged
clothing again, indulged in a drink of whiskey and took to the mountains,
over which they made their way to Shenandoah. Entering the saloon of
“Muff.” Lawlor on Coal street, the men threw themselves down as if utterly
exhausted by the rapid travelling they had been compelled to make, the
pursuing party not being very far behind. James McKenna or McParlan
was in the saloon when the murderers entered, and to him as well as to
Lawlor they told their story of the double murder.
“It was a clean job,” said “Friday" O'Donnell; “we shot two when we
only expected to shoot one.”
“Yes,” added Munley, “and I shot the first man (Sanger) as he was
trying to get into a house.”
After remaining at Lawlor's for some time the party separated and went
their various ways. At night there was a meeting of the Shenandoah
Division. Munley was present, and when the question of killing John P.
Jones was raised, he said, “I’ll go; I've got my hand in now.” On the 3d
of September Munley, Darcy and McKenna went to Tamaqua for the express
purpose of killing Jones, but upon arriving at Carroll's saloon, McKenna
found that it wouldn't do to carry his plan—having his party arrested—into
execution, and sent his men home. Month after month passed away, and
the murderers of Sanger and Uren seemed as safe from the clutches of the
law as if the crime had never been committed, but upon the 10th of Febru-
ary, 1876, Munley and Charles McAllister were arrested and charged with
the murder.
But Munley was held, tried, convicted on July 12th, 1876, and sentenced
to death. Before this good end was attained, however, the patience of some
people in the community gave way, and on the night of December 10th,
1875, a vigilance committee paid a visit to the house of the widow O'Don-
nell, mother of Charles and James, a notorious den of Mollie Maguires, in
Wiggan's Patch. The result of that visit was that Charles O'Donnell was
killed, and Mrs. James McAllister was also killed in the melee, Charles
and James McAlister got away. The former came back, but the latter
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frvºs AND CRIMEs of THE MOLLIE MAGUIRES, 35
never did. James O'Donnell and Michael Doyle also got away and have
stayed away ever since, fugitives from justice and still pursued by men who
will have them yet if they are living. Mrs. O'Donnell is the mother-in-law
of Jack Kehoe, the ex-county delegate of the Molly Maguires, now under
sentence of death for the murder of F. W. S. Langdon; and J ames Carroll,
one of the Yost murderers, is married to a niece of old Mrs. O'Donnell.
JIMMY KERRIGAN, THE INFORMER.
Kerrigan is of all others the man who did most to corrupt the trade
societies of the coal regions, but by “squealing” he saved his own life. He
is by nature a thoroughgoing loafer and scoundrel, without a single re-
deeming trait, while the others, if without excuse for their crimes, had some
kind of reason for their criminality. McGeghan had been “blacklisted,” and
he sought to punish with death the man who had deprived him of work.
The others were in active sympathy with him because some day his fate
might be theirs. Kerrigan alone was without any palliation, except the
drunken malevolence of an evil nature. He was criminal because from his
very birth he was prone to crime. His vengeance even was only the ven-
geance of a besotted and wicked outcast. Had there been no hope of
escape he would be asserting his innocence to-day as calmly as Roarity and
Carroll and Campbell did theirs. “It is prejudice,” he would say, with a
long “i" in the last syllable, “that is dragging me to the gallows.” Taking
time by the forelock, he resolved, if possible, no such fate should be in store
for Jimmy Kerrigan. The impulse to become an informer came to him
in the reaction of overwrought feelings, it is true, but it came to him to be
rigidly adhered to as the only means open to him as a way of escape.
Jimmy Kerrigan confessed, and in implicating others he saved his own
neck. He is a free man to-day, and his life is safer now than when he was
bodymaster of the Tamaqua division. But no decent man can have any
feeling toward him except that of terrible loathing, and there is no wonder
that Kelly should complain that the truth in regard to him should be sup-
pressed in a death statement of the common crime of both.
These four murders—those of Jones, Yost, Sanger and Uren—are but a
few of the many atrocities committed by the “Mollie Maguires.” At their
trials they showed great bravado, there was no lack of outside influence in
their behalf, and it was only when the reality of a gallows stared them in
the face that they fully realized that the law could and had reached them.
But for the firmness and bravery of President Gowen and other representa-
tive men, these members of that dread secret society would have still been
at large.
Great efforts were made to have the sentences of these blood-dyed crimi-
nals commuted to imprisonment for life, but all to no purpose. Governor
Hartranſt stood firm, and the Board of Pardons refused all appeals.

36 LIVES AND CRIMES OF THE MOLLIE MAGUIRE8.
LIVES OF THE MOLLIES.
HUGH M*GEGHAN
Was a saloon-keeper at Summit Hill. He was twenty-five years of age, five
feet ten inches in height, rather loosely built, and of considerable muscular
power. He wore his face smooth, and the strongly marked lines upon it
showed him to be a man of strong will. When arrested he had only been
married a short time previously. On the night of the 4th of J anuary, 1876,
McGeghan was shot at by a party of unknown men as he was returning frºm
the spring with a pail of water, and just as he was entering his saloon.
Although his clothing was perforated in a couple of places, he miraculously
escaped without a scratch. The idea that his life was in danger from some
unknown source seemed to cause him the same amount of trouble as had
been suffered by many a better man, and, when he issued a challenge to
any man in Carbon or Schuylkill counties to fight with fists or pistols in
open field, it conveyed the information that McGeghan began to feel un-
easy. Though badly scared, he was not so totally overcome but that the
next day he paid a visit to Tamaqua and bought a gold ring, which he
presented to the young woman whom he married three weeks afterwards.
JAMEs RoxRITY was born in the parish of Gullahabiley, County Donegal,
about the year 1845. He married in 1866, when he was twenty years of
age, and came to this country in April, 1869, landing in New York. From
New York he went to Allentown, where he worked in the furnaces until
the following June, when he removed to Coal Dale. He remained in Coal
Dale from June, 1869, until the 4th of February, 1876, when he was
arrested. Roarty says he spent five years in Scotland before he came to
this country, where he worked as a helper to some masons, and he never
worked in coal until he came to America. While at Coal Dale he worked
for the old Lehigh and Wilkesbarre Coal Company. Roarity leaves a wife
and four children, two boys and two girls. - - -
JAMES CARRoſſ, was born near Wilkesbarre, Luzerne county, of parents
who came from Ireland. At the age of twenty-eight he married Miss O'Don-
nell, of Tamaqua. In April, 1872, he removed to Tamaqua, and went into
the hotel business in the Washington House, on Pine street. Shortly after,
he removed to Hunter street, and then made a third move to a saloon on
East Broad street, which Aleck Campbell had just moved out of, where he
did a rushing business, and where occurred the “getting up" of the Yost
murder. He was formerly secretary and active manager of the Tamaqua
division of the Mollies. Carroll's family now reside in Carbon county, and
are very respectable people. At the time of his execution he was forty
years of age, and had a wife and four children. -
At the time of his arrest THOMAs DUFFY was engineer of the Buckville
Colliery of the Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company. He
lived at Buckville, two miles from Tamaqua, with his parents, who were

Lives AND CRIMES OF THE MOLLIE MAGUIRES 37
both living, and a brother and two sisters. He was twenty-five years of
age, but looked much older. He was about five feet eight inches in height,
and had dark brown hair.
JAMEs Doyle was twenty-five years of age. He was born in Schuylkill
county, of Irish parents, was five feet nine inches high, was of slight and
wiry build, had dark brown hair and moustache. For the five years pre-
vious to his arrest he worked at No. 5 colliery in the Panther Creek Valley,
for the Lehigh and Wilkesbarre Coal Company. He had a wife and two
children.
of all the men condemned to die Thomas MUNLEY deserves the least pity:
He was born in Tallaughn, parish of Kilcommon, county of Mayo, Ireland,
in the year 1845, of respectable parents. He emigrated to this country in
1864, being the last of the family to leave the sod. He first went to West,
Stockbridge, Mass, where his father's family was at the time. But a short,
time after Thomas' arrival there the whole family moved to Gilberton,
one mile south of Shenandoah, Schuylkill county. He resided there until
the time of his arrest, although he was away for a short time on several
occasions. He worked at Scranton a while, and in January, 1869, he took a
trip to Chicago, but returned to Gilberton in November of the same year.
The last place Munley worked was the Draper Colliery. When he was
arrested he was not employed anywhere. He was married in 1870 in
Mahanoy City, and has raised a family of three children, two girls and a boy.
His father and mother, Edward and Annie Munley, and three brothers and
four sisters, are still living in Gilberton. His wife was ever most devoted
and tender in her attentions to his wants, and he was surrounded by the
pleasantest of home influences. Yet for all this, with his eyes open, he
became a member of the Shenandoah Division of the Ancient Order of
Hibernians, and from the most innocent, in an incredibly short space of
time, became as bad as the worst among that horrid gang.
ALExANDER CAMPBELL was the principal of those hanged at Mauch
Chunk. He was intelligent, and better educated than the rest. He was a
man above medium height, thin-faced, dark brown hair and a moustache
of the same color, his eyebrows heavy and very dark, his eyes brown with
strangely dilated pupils, and he had a suppressed insinuating way of speak-
ing, except when excited. He was a member of the Ancient Order of Hi-
bernians, but denied being a body-master. He was born in Ireland, came
to this country in 1869, worked a year and a half in the mines, then kept
a liquor store at Tamaqua, and after that at Summit Hill. There was a
wife and two children left behind.
Edward J. KELLY was born in this country, of Irish parentage, and says
that he had only been a member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians a few
months before getting into this trouble. He was in his twenty-second year.
Within a week after his arrest his father was crushed to death by the fall
of a mass of rock and slate in a little outcropping mine back of his house

38 LIVES AND CRIMES OF THE MOLLIE MAGUIRES.
at Mount Laffee, where he used to take out coal for his family use. Supersti-
tious folks in the vicinity said it was a judgment of God upon him for his
son being so bad. The night after the boy was convicted of murder in the
first degree, his mother, who had been in constant attendance during his
trial, went home in a condition of grief and despair bordering upon insan-
ity, and he afterwards confessed his crime to her.
MICHAEL J. Doyle was tall, well built, and prior to his confinement was
no doubt an athletic man. He was twenty-seven years of age the day he
was sentenced. His hair was dark brown, his moustache and goatee red-
dish brown, his eyes blue, and on his brow were several little blue dots and
stripes that seemed to have been made by a powder explosion. He came
of Irish parentage, and was born at Mount Laffee, only three miles north of
Pottsville. He showed a good deal of crude talent in pencil sketches which
occupied much of his spare time. His moods were very variable. Some-
times he sulked and was savage. At other times he was quite pleasant,
especially to those who admired his drawings or seemed to have some pity
for him. His only complaint, as to his treatment in prison, was that he
had to wear leg irons day and night since his sentence, as all the others did.
THE *COFFIN NOTICES.”
Our illustration gives a correct fac simile of style in which many of the
“coffin notices” were gotten up by the “Mollies.” Others were not so elab-
orated as the one we give, and some were wretched scrawls; words all mis-
spelled, for the purpose of disguising the handwriting and character of the
sender. -
BUT TWO PREVIOUS EXECUTIONS IN SCHUYLKILL,
There have never been but two executions in Schuylkill county, but
there was something peculiarly worth noting about them. The first was
that of a negro, Jimmy Riggs, in 1847, who was hanged at Orwigsburg, then
the county-seat. The second was Joseph Brown, a German, hanged about
two years ago. The peculiar thing about those affairs was that Squire
Jacob Reed committed the negro, and his son, Morgan Reed, committed
Brown twenty-eight years later; Ben Bartholomew prosecuted the negro
and his son, Lin Bartholomew, prosecuted Brown; sheriff John T. Werner
hanged the negro, and his son, J. F. Werner, the present sheriff hanged
Brown; Dr. James T. Carpenter officially certified that the negro was
thoroughly dead after being hanged, and his son, Dr. John T. Carpenter,
did the same duty in the case of Brown. That looks as if office was
hereditary in Schuylkill county.
In Carbon county there has never been an execution, so this was indeed
a novelty. -
THE TWO DEATH MACHINES.
The gallows at Mauch Chunk was viewed by the County Commissioners,
who ordered the construction of an extra cross-bar in order that the prison-

LIVES AND CRIMES OF THE MOLLIE MAGUIRES. 41
ers might all be hanged at one drop instead of in couples. The gallows
stood directly opposite Aleck Campbell's cell, and every time the door was
opened for the last two days, the machine that was to be used for his exe-
cution was full in the view of the condemned man. He laughed and joked
about the matter, and sarcastically remarked that the drop seemed to be *
good one. - - - -
The Pottsville gallows was a new structure and almost an exact model of
that used to hang Fletcher. There were three beams so arranged that two
men could be swung off upon each, thus enabling the sheriff to prevent a
protraction of the horrible affair by hanging the six murderers at once.
Pottsville, the place where the six Mollie Maguires yielded up their lives
to atone for their black misdeeds and satisfy the law, lies at the mouth of
what has been somewhat inaptly called the lower coal basin, and the moun-
tains which loom up in every direction are one vast bed of anthracite coal.
It is a populous town, and although to the stranger it seems only a cluster
of houses in a narrow valley, it has a population exceeding 17,000. Within
Schuylkill county, of which it is the county-seat, there are a number of
places with a population ranging all the way from 3,000 to 9,000, among
these Minersville, Ashland, Shenandoah, St. Clair, Tamaqua and Mahanoy
City being the most considerable. Outside of these the villages are thickly
clustered, and wherever there is a colliery there is a teeming population.
The same remarks apply to Carbon county, of which Mauch Chunk is the
county-seat. Being so nearly allied in natural wealth and geographical
position it is not wonderful that what affects the one affects the other.
Both are interested to an almost equal extent in coal development, and both
have been equally under the domination of the Mollie Maguires. .
THE EXECUTION.
|| ||
SWINGING THE MOLLIES INTO ETERNITY.
- ºn
After a quiet night, the people of Pottsville were astir early on the morn-
ing of June 21st, 1877, and the town presented quite a holiday appearance.
The miners who were forbidden to leave their work in the Philadelphia and
Reading collieries were in the city, and at eight o'clock great throngs were
pressing to the vicinity of the jail. Very few persons indeed were admitted,
and those who were so fortunate were sworn in as deputy sheriffs, and Were
compelled to carry muskets, and Sheriff Werner said they must all be pre-
pared to do duty if necessary. At least half of the people in the town were
intoxicated, and the crowd was very noisy. - -
The triplegallows stood in the corridor. The condemned heard the work-
men constructing it, but this does not seem to have disturbed them much.
They were all calm and unmoved in the face of death. The only wonder
about them was that they exhibited so much calmness. It was the inten-
tion at one time to make some public statement of the crimes of which they
were convicted, but the solicitations of friends prevailed, and this was
abandoned.
42 LIVES AND CRIMES OF THE MOLLIE MAGUIRES.
The Last night on EARTH.
After being in the jail for a short time, it was learned that the condemned
men slept well during the night and arose early in the morning, when they
partook of hearty meals. There was a great change in them during the
twenty-four hours, but they were determined to die game. They were now
preparing themselves with their spiritual advisers.
The following Catholic clergymen were in attendance: Revs. Daniel Mc-
Dermott and F. N. J. Jatley, of St. Patrick's, Pottsville; Rev. F. A. Depmann,
St. John's, Pottsville; Rev. James Geveran, St. Vincent de Paul's, Miners-
ville; Rev. Martin Walsh, St. Kryan's, Heckshersville, and Rev. Philip
Beresford, St. Philip's, Port Carbon.
Father McDermott is the one who exposed the Ancient Order of Hiber-
nians, and there was some feeling against him, but it has all died out, and
he is regarded with the kindliest feelings by all the Mollies.
THE LAST SERVICES.
Long before daylight the relatives, from grandparents to grandchildren,
gathered on the steps of the jail, and at 5.50 were admitted to a last inter-
view. The prisoners were cheerful and resigned. The final interview lasted
until 7.30, when the parting took place amidst lamentations, groans and
shrieks. After parting, the priests commenced in the cells, the doomed men
refusing to breakfast until after devotional exercises. The report of the
possibility of a reprieve for any of the prisoners was not believed for a
moment, and the report was perhaps without foundation.
THE QUARTETTE AT MAUCH CHUNK.
A TOWN FILLED WITH DRUNKEN MINERS.
When the residents of this famous summer resort awoke they beheld a
town full of drunken miners. The scare was very great, because of the
threats which had been made to avenge the death of the Mollies.
Indeed, the men executed were canonized by their illiterate associates, and
were held up as martyrs to a good cause rather than despised for their great
wickedness.
SCENES AT THE JAIL.
It was rather lively at the jail. Kelly sent for Mrs. Jones, the wife of the
ºmurdered man, J. P. Jones, and confessed the part he took in the murder
of her husband, and begged her forgiveness. -
As Mrs. Jones was passing Doyle's cell, the door of which was open, she
saw the sister of the condemned sitting beside the bedside of her husband's
murderer. Happening to look up, Miss Doyle saw Mrs. Jones passing, and,
with eyes flashing fire, she called out, “Go away! If it were not for you









LIVES AND CRIMES OF THE MOLLIE MAGUIRES. 43
my brother would be home and not here.” Mrs. Jones said quietly, as she
returned the gaze of the angry woman, “If your brother had been home
on the day my husband was murdered, he would not now be here.”
FOR EVERY DROP. A. GALLON OF BLOOD WILL FLOW.
Mrs. Campbell, a vindictive, passionate woman, created an excitement by
her bitter denunciation of the men “who were murdering” her husband,
as she called it. She declared that the Mollie Maguires were not yet dead,
and cried loudly, “For every drop of bloodshed to-morrow a gallon shall
flow through the streets of Mauch Chunk.” An incident that would have
been ludicrous at any other time and place was one of the many happenings
of the day:
A NICE THING FOR LADES.
A number of young ladies, accompanied by several Presbyterian clergy.
men from Hazleton and Slatington, were being shown the working of the
gallows by a minister of questionable taste. He was standing under the
flooring, explaining how it would open to drop the men through, when the
trap suddenly sprung and let the heavy doors fall upon the gentleman's
head. His high hat alone saved him from a bad hurt.
JUSTICE AT LAST.
TEN MOLLIE MURDERERS HANGED.
The funeral knell of Mollie Maguireism in Schuylkill county was heard
to-day, even beyond the prison walls, when the dull thuds of the in-falling
traps in the yard of Pottsville jail told that the murderers had met a fate as
violent as that to which they had consigned their victims and in perfect
keeping with the conduct of their lives.
A REPRIEVE FOR DUFFY.
But the sensation of the day was the knowledge of the fact that Chester
N. Farr, Governor Hartranft's private secretary and secretary to the Board
of Pardons, was in town, and when he appeared in the prison yard rumors
at once began flying about. Farr refused to talk with any one but the
sheriff, the warden, and Captain Linden, of Pinkerton's Detective Agency.
When the rumor arose that he bore a reprieve for one of the men, Duffy's
counsel, M. M. L'Welle, Esq., and Duffy's brother brightened up and said
that Tom would not be hung, as the reprieve was surely intended for him,
as he was convicted on the uncorroborated testimony of Kerrigan, “the
squealer.” Farr was engaged in private consultation for a long time with
the sheriff and afterwards with the warden, but the now anxious crowd in
the jail yard could give no information in regard to his mission. I ascer-
__，_|
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* The murderer followed up his victim, firing shot after shot. He fell into her arms,
and Sanger, the Mine Boss, was dead.”


44 LIVES AND CRIMES OF THE MOLLIE MAGUIRES,
tained, however, that Farr actually carried in his pocket a reprieve for
Thomas Duffy, only to be used, however, in case a confession could be
obtained from any of the prisoners showing his innocence of complicity in
Yost's murder. In that case, Governor Hartranft, who was in Philadelphia,
was to be telegraphed, and then he was to authorize the production of the
reprieve. Duffy was actually escorted from his cell, No. 78, to cells Nos.
65, 92, 70, 81 and 105, in which his companions in crime were confined, in
order to see if any of them would make a statement that would satisfactorily
prove Duffy's innocence. Duffy was also one of the last men hung, in order
to see if any of the men would make a statement on the gallows completely
acquitting him of blame, but, although Roarity declared that Duffy was
innocent, yet his statement was apparently not thought sufficient, as Duffy
was allowed to die and the reprieve permitted to remain in Farr's pocket.
A MOLLIES IDEA OF GUILT,
The great trouble in accepting any of the prisoners' statements as to their
guilt or innocence arises from the fact that they cannot comprehend the
legal aspect of an accessory to a crime, and they evidently think that only
he who fires, the bullet or drives the knife is the murderer. Even at quarter
before eleven o'clock, when the first sheriff's jury filed between the three
scaffolds and the rope that held back the crowd, Duffy's reprieve was looked
upon by many as an assured fact. It was now ascertained for the first time
that instead of hanging two and then four of the prisoners, that they were
to be hung in pairs, Sheriff Werner's modesty causing him to think that a
wholesaleslaughter would prove too severe a test for his ability as an exe-
cutioner, and that it would be better to lengthen out the agony. The nooses
on two of the scaffolds were concealed beneath oil-cloth covers, and only
two dangled from the southernmost gallows. The ropes to spring the trap
ran through holes in a covered enclosure, behind which the hangmen—
there was one for each gallows—were stationed. The physicians present
were Drs. W. C. J. Smith, prison physician; D. Dechert, Cressona; Boyer,
Pottsville; George Lear, Tremont; A. H. and George Halberstat, Pottsville;
Sallada, Tamaqua; D. C. Guldin, Minersville; J. J. Yocum, Ashland; John
Carpenter, Pottsville; George Yeomans, Ashland, and George Kennedy,
Pottsville. The counsel present were M. M. L'Welle, S. A. Garrett, and W.
J. Whitehouse, Esqs., the latter representing Hon. Lin Bartholomew.
Deputy-Sheriff J. Harvey Smith managed matters and things about the
gallows in an efficient manner.
ON THE WAY-T0 THE GALLOWS,
A tremor through the crowd and a stretching of necks at 10.54 o'clock
announced that the great tragedy was about to begin. No one knew in
what order the men were to die until they actually appeared. From a little
doorway in the rear end of the yard approached the first of the mournful
little processions. A batch of prison officials and the sheriff came first,
and after them, besides Rev. Philip Beresford, of St. Philip's, Port Carbon,

LIVES AND CRIMES OF THE MOLLIE MAGUIRES. 45
and Rev. Martin Walsh, of St. Kyran's, Hecksherville, firmly and even
briskly walked James Boyle and Hugh McGeghan. They walked firmly up
the gallows stairway and placed themselves on either side of the dividing
line of the platform. It was a curious sight. The priests, in black cassocks,
white surplices and black stoles, bound with white, with white crosses on
either end, prayed fervently. McGeghan, a large, burly man, with a rather
stupid countenance, wore clothes of dark blue and a necktie of the same
color, but of a much lighter hue, bearing in a buttonhole in the lapel of his
coat a rose of red and a rose of white, Boyle, a man of much lighter build,
with a more vivacious countenance than that of his companion, was dressed
in black clothes, and wore neither collar nor tie. In one hand he carried a
large, beautiful, full-blown, dark-red rose, which he almost continually held
to his nose, as though to find comfort in its odors. During the reading of
the impressive mortuary service of the Catholic Church, and while the priests
were exhorting the condemned, McGeghan listened attentively, but Boyle
appeared to be more absorbed in his pretty flower,
A SHOUT AND A SHOT,
In the very midst of the services a loud shout was heard from without
the wall and a shot was fired in a distant part of the town. Boyle at once
quickly looked upwards, but at that moment the clock in the Court House
steeple tolled eleven, and, as the first stroke fell upon his ears, his head
again drooped and both men cast their eyes upon the large crucifixes they
held before them. Throughout all these trying moments not a tremor in
limb nor a quiver in face told of the agonizing thoughts that must have
been passing through their minds. The services concluded, McGeghan
talked with Father Walsh for a few moments and then kissed him good-
by, and then both men, before releasing their grasp upon the crucifixes,
kissed the ivory image of the Saviour. The head keeper, a young man,
under whose charge they have been, kissed them both good-by, and the
other officials shook them by the hand. Boyle then turned to McGeghan,
and shaking him warmly by the hand exclaimed in a loud, brisk, firm tone
of voice, “Good-by, old fellow; we'll die like men.” McGeghan's only
answer was a silent nod of the head. Boyle then, in response to a whisper
from Father Beresford, exclaimed, “I hope I will; you need not be afraid.”
A SPEECH UPON THE GALLOWS,
McGeghan then faced the spectators, and, with not the slightest quaverin
his speech, spoke as follows:
“Gentlemen, I have only a few words to say. I have nothing to say
about my innocence orº I ask forgiveness of the whole world. If I
ever did wrong to anyb I hope they will forgive me, and I ask the for-
giveness of Almighty God, and I ask all Christians to pray to God for me
to forgive me my sins.”
Boyle then spoke up and said in a perfectly calm tone of voice:
“Gentlemen, that is about what I have to say. I forgive those that put
me here, and I hope they will forgive me.” -
-

46 LIVES AND CRIMES OF THE MOLLIE MAGUIRES,
McGeghan then, as though not satisfied, again began talking:
“I have done all that I can to save my soul and I hope that all my sins
will be forgiven, as I forgive all the world. I trust in God, and if any of
my sins are not cleansed I hope God will see me punished right here, and I
offer up this death to God to forgive me my sins.”
Unlike the Philadelphia method of conducting an execution, the ankles
and thighs of the condemned men were bound with heavy leather straps,
and then, as is usual, their hands were handcuffed behind their backs.
McGeghan curiously watched the placing of the straps around Boyle's
limbs and the latter meeting his gaze quietly remarked: “I hope we will
meet in a better world.” “Yes,” was McGeghan's quiet rejoinder. When
the noose was placed about the latter's neck he looked upward to the dark-
ened sky, from which little rain-drops had been falling shortly previous, and
moved his lips as though in prayer. -
THE BEGINNING OF THE END.
The white caps were placed over the doomed men's heads at 11.10 o'clock,
and as the priests moved to one side and every one expected a short contin-
uation of the mortuary, as is customary, there was a sharp click, a deadened
fall, and the bodies of the two Mollie Maguires were twirling about at the
end of the ropes, which were cutting into their flesh and driving the life
from their bodies, and Boyle's beautiful rose, dropping from his nerveless
grasp, fluttered to the ground, to live but little longer than its dying owner,
a cruel heel crushing it to death. But the placing of the noose around
McGeghan's neck had been badly managed, as the knot, instead of passing
directly behind the ear, slipped around towards the front. Boyle, after a
slight shivering in his feet, gave no evidence of life, but McGeghan's death
must have been a terrible one. The strong man drew up his feet, worked
his hands, handcuffed as they were, convulsively, forced his shoulders
upward and his body quivered like a leaf. The priests upon their knees on
the adjoining scaffold recited the services for the dead, but still McGeghan
was struggling hard, and for four minutes after the drop fell the convulsions
continued. At ten minutes after the springing of the trap Boyle was pro-
nounced dead, McGeghan's end, however, not being announced until five
minutes later. The bodies were at once taken down, but instead of being
removed on a stretcher or truck they were carried out in the arms of four
or five men. Then the trap was reset, although it was not again to be used,
and the nooses concealed beneath a gum cover around the topmost cross-
beam, and not a trace was left of the bloodless tragedy, so that eagerly as
they might look for it the next two to mount the scaffold could detect no
evidence as to whether or not they were first or last to meet their fate. The
nooses on the southernmost scaffold were then released from their hiding
places on the cross-beam and everything prepared to send another pair of
Mollies to their doom. - -
LIVES AND CRIMES OF THE MOLLIE MAGUIRES, 49
THE SECOND EXECUTION,
The sun, which during all the morning had been hid beneath heavy
masses of clouds, almost immediately after the falling of Boyle and
McGeghan shone brightly forth through a break in its drapery; but when
the second procession appeared, it again hid behind its covering. At 11.51
o'clock the second sheriff's jury filed forth. This time it was Carroll and
Roarity. Fathers Beresford and Gatly officiated. The men stood upon the
gallows without the suspicion of a tremble. Carroll, an intelligent, grave-
looking man, appeared cool, calm and collected. Roarity, apparently an
ignorant man, had a troubled look about his eyes, and at times tear-drops
glistened in them. Yet he appeared fearless. In his hand and upon the
lapel of his coat he bore red and white roses. In the midst of the mer-
tuary services again a shot was heard in a distant part of the town, but
neither men appeared to notice it. After Carroll especially had been
earnestly exhorted by Father Beresford to look to his Saviour for salvation,
Roarity began with a somewhat nervous manner, but gaining confidence as
he proceeded, to address the spectators:
ROARITY TRIES TO CLEAR DUFFY,
*Well, gentlemen, I want to talk a few words—it is only a few words. I
stand here before the public and I must say the truth to them. I don’t
know whether he has gone before, but Tom Duffy is blamed for giving me
$10 for shooting Yost, and more a man I never saw until I saw his name in
the paper. Thomas Duffy is a man I can't say for fear I would be lying, I
met more than the third time before I saw him in Pottsville prison. I
never heard him talk about Benjamin F. Yost or $10 or any shooting affair.
Consarning Hugh McGeghan or James Boyle, I never asked them to shoot
Benjamin Yost or any other man. I don’t know if they are to come after
me, but they will say so. I hope you will pray for me, and I hope the
Lord will forgive me.” -
Carroll now began speaking in a low voice. “I am not—charged—guilty
—with the crime I am charged with.” He was evidently about to continue
when Roarity broke in upon his speech by exclaiming in a hurried tone:
“well, that's what I forgot. Excuse me, gentlemen, I forgot to put them
words in. I die an innocent man. As for the persons who brought me
here, I hope God will forgive them and me too.” Then noticing his counsel,
Mr. L'Welle, in the rear of the crowd, he cried out: “Mr. L'Welle, I leave
you my blessing, and all my lawyers.” “God bless you, Jimmy,” was the
hearty-toned ejaculation with which Mr. Lºvelle answered him. The men
were bound, the nooses adjusted, the white caps fitted on, they stood upon
the platform alone, and at 12.21 o'clock two more of the Thugs of Schuylkill
county were hanging from the ends of the dangling ropes. Both died
quietly, although the knot in the noose about Carroll's neck slipped around
almost beneath his chin, and had he been a very muscular man a terrible
scene might have ensued. At 12.30 o'clock Carroll's pulse was 100 to the
minute, and Roarity's 142. At 12.33 o'clock Carroll was dead, and at 12.37
o'clock Roarity had joined him. The bodies were at once taken down and
4.




















50 LIVES AND CRIMES OF THE MOLLIE MAGUIRES.
removed. Then out came the sun again brighter than before, but when,
later on, the third sheriff's jury came forth to witness the execution of the
remaining two, Munley and Duffy, it again went in hiding and the sky
became darker than before.
THE LAST OF THE SIX.
At 1.10 o'clock Munley and Duffy began their march to the gallows,
accompanied by Rev. J. A. Depmann, St. John's, Pottsville, and Rev. James
Severan, St. Vincent de Paul's, Minersville. They occupied the centre
gallows, Duffy, a pleasant-faced, rather handsome young man, being attired
in a neat suit of black, and having a small white rosebud on the lapel of
his vest, Munley, somewhat like McGeghan in physique, but less cunning-
looking, also wore a neat suit of black. The affair by this time, terrible as
it was, was really becoming somewhat monotonous. It appeared as though
there was a desire to prolong the duration of the ghastly spectacle. Munley
and Duffy were disposed of rather quickly. The services through, Duffy,
in response to a whisper from one of the priests, quietly replied: “There's
no use saying anything,” and Munley, when the sheriff whispered to him,
replied with a shake of the head and the low-toned exclamation: “Too
late 1”
At 1.18 o'clock the drop fell. The tragedy was over. The backbone of
Mollie Maguireism was completely severed. All six had gone to meet their
God. Both men died apparently easily, although again there was evidence
of bungling, the knots in both nooses slipping around towards the front.
At 1.26 o'clock Duffy's pulse was beating 78 to the minute and Munley's
88. At 1.33 both men were pronounced dead. -
The bodies were at once placed in coffins, the faces of all looking as
natural as when alive, although every man was strangled to death. The
coffins (with the exception of the one containing Munley's remains, which,
at his request, was interred in the Catholic Cemetery in Harrisburg), were
placed in wagons, and, followed by an immense crowd, carried to the Read-
ing Railroad depot and placed upon a special train tendered by the com-
pany. In a rear passenger car were the relatives of the dead Mollies.
Carroll and Duffy's remains were taken to Tamaqua, and the bodies of
McGeghan, Roarity and Boyle were conveyed to Summit Hill.
Carroll made the following written statement, which he handed to his
spiritual adviser, Father McDermott, and requested him to make it public:
“Pottsville, June 20, 1877.
“I, James Carroll, do hereby return my sincere thanks to Mr. George
Beyerle, warden of the prison, for his kindness to me during the time I have
been under his care. Also to Mr. Moses Ennis, deputy warden, and Mr.
Michael Schoenman for their kindness. They were always ready and
willing to wait on me and supply me with everything that was allowed by
prison discipline. Likewise to the Rev. D. I. McDermott for his kind at-
tendance to me. Also to the Sisters of St. Joseph's for their many kind
visits and prayers for me, and to the number of other friends, most too nu-
merous to mention. I return my sincere thanks to the Hon. John W. Ryon
and Hon. Lin Barthoſomew for defending me so ably during my trial; also,

LIVES AND CRIMES OF THE MOLLIE MAGUIRES. 51
to Hon. John W. Ryon for the way that he has labored for me since, and
other gentlemen who made intercession for me; likewise also, to the sheriff
and Mrs. Werner for their kindness to me. Last, but not least, to my father,
George Carroll, my mother, sisters and brothers, and to my dear loving wife.
Now, gentlemen, I do here confess to be innocent of the crime that I am
charged with. I never wished for the murder of Yost or any other person,
or I never heard any one say that they wanted a murder committed only
Kerrigan, and I heard him often say that he would shoot Yost the first
chance that he got. I never knew Boyle or McGeghan at the time. Now,
gentlemen, you can believe Kerrigan if you choose, but I hope if I ever,
wronged any person that they will forgive me as I forgive those who have
so falsely belied me. I, as a dying man, have no animosity towards any
person. I hope that there will be no reflection thrown on my friends or
family for this.
“Written this 20th day of June, A. D. 1877. JAMES CARRoll.”
As Duffy's guilt seemed strongly questioned by some, and as his reprieve
was made out, what his spiritual adviser said to your correspondent con-
cerning him may prove of interest. Father McDermott said: “The evi-
dence before the jury was undoubtedly sufficient to convict, but I know,
beyond all reasonable doubt, that Duffy was not a party to the murder of
Policeman Yost, and I think the same remark will apply with almost equal
force to Carroll. As far as the evidence goes, Carroll was apparently a
leader, but still he told the men not to go. I do not want to shield these
men, nor to condone any faults they may have committed, but there are
many things bearing upon their guilt that could be explained away satis-
factorily. Another thing, there was a popular clamor against them in this
county, and I do not think that the judge can ever forgive himself for
refusing a change of venue.” Father McDermott was at first obnoxious to
his charges, owing to the pronounced stand he took against the Ancient
Order of Hibernians.
--><--
AT MAUCH CHUNK,
THE EXECUTION OF CAMPBELL, DOYLE, KELLY AND “YELLOW JACK"
- DONOHUE.
At this quiet mountain town, heretofore mainly known by reason of its
picturesque surroundings, four Mollie Maguire murderers met death on the
scaffold. Mauch Chunk breathes easier. It appears that the apprehensions
of attempts at rescue or deeds of revenge had as their only basis the terri-
ble distrust and fear which yet existed in the minds of the people. The
feeling serves to show how deep-seated was the reign of terror which the
Mollies created in all parts of the anthracite region. The day dawned
cloudy and before the dreaded hour drew near a slight shower occurred.
The gloomy weather by the superstitious Irish miners will be regarded as
ominous of evil days to the authorities for taking the lives of the con-
demned Mollies.
The people appeared at doors and windows in holiday attire, and men
gathered in the streets with anxious faces to discuss the situation.

52 LIVES AND CRIMES OF THE MOLLIE MAGUIRES.
The four Mollies executed here were Michael J. Doyle, Edward J. Kelly,
and Alexander Campbell, convicted of murdering John P. Jones on Sep-
tember 3, 1875, and John, alias “Yellow Jack” Donohue, for the murder of
Morgan Powell, December 2, 1871, “Yellow Jack” Donohue, the oldest
of the quartette, was for several years the terror of the coal regions. It is
related that once when going with a fellow Mollie to seek the life of a min-
ing boss, in reply to a query as to the condition of his nerves, Donohue
replied, “Do you think I'm afraid? I’d as soon shoot a man as a bull-
og.”
At no time did Donahue betray the least sign of feeling during the inter-
views with his wife and children. At gray dawn Doyle called out to Dono-
hue, who occupied an adjoining cell, “How are you, Jack?” “Pretty well,
thank God!” was the quick reply. Each of the men was shaved for the
last time, and Campbell had removed the moustache which he had worn
for years. During the last interview with his mother Kelly gave to her a
small key which he had formed from a piece of brass during his imprison-
ment. He had made the iron frame of the cell door serve the purpose of a
file. He stated that with this instrument he had for a long time unlocked
and removed the irons on his ankles, so as to secure increased comfort while
sleeping. Each morning he replaced the manacles. Campbell requested
that James Sweeney, of Summit Hill, and another man named Bernard
Gallagher be present at the execution. It was thought that Campbell left
with these friends a paper of considerable length, containing his opinions
of Carbon county justice. -
scenes IN FRONT OF THE JAII.
At an early hour numbers of curious people assembled in front of the
jail, in the corridors of which the Mollies were soon to meet their doom.
About half-past eight the Easton Grays, in full uniform and amply supplied
with ball-cartridges, marched up the street, and took a position as guards-
men in front of the jail. The Carbon county jail is a strong stone structure
and has a look so formidable that it might almost seem to have been hewn
out of the solid rock. At open windows just opposite the jail could be seen
the wife and brother of Donohue. The latter had come from Cumberland,
Md., on his mission of brotherly affection. A little way down the street,
sitting in an open doorway, were the father and mother of Doyle. The
jurors, deputy sheriffs, newspaper men, and such others as had been able
to obtain passes from the overburdened sheriff, were obliged to wait about
the jail entrance until half-past nine o'clock, when the jurors were admitted,
and, soon after ten o'clock, all who had the requisite permits were within
the building.
THE GALLOWS,
The scaffold had been erected in the corridor, on each side of which are
two tiers of cells, one above the other. At the end of the corridor a goodly-
sized window let in a flood of light on the tragical scene. The scaffold was
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LIVES AND CRIMES OF THE MOLLIE MAGUIRES, 53
constructed, and had been transformed from a single beam structure, adapted
to the hanging of only one person, by adding two transverse beams, thus
providing facilities for hustling four men into eternity. Instead of using a
weight it was arranged with a trap, which was made with hinges, and sepa-
rated in the middle so as to fall, on the withdrawal of the supporting bolts,
somewhat like two table-leaves. Once within the jail the jurors and deputy
sheriffs were given positions in the corridor between the scaffold and the
entrance, while the newspaper chroniclers of the sad event were assigned to
the overlooking gallery formed by the passage-way to the upper tiers of
cells. The four hempen ropes, with a cruel noose from the end of each,
dangled from the beams so as to form the four corners of an imaginary
square. The sheriff placed at each corner manacles for the wrists and
ankles of the men, together with the painfully suggestive white caps.
THE PROCESSION TO THE SCAFFOLD,
The men had been removed to cells adjoining the gallows’ steps. When
all was ready Alexander Campbell came forth from his cell and climbed the
stairs to the scaffold with a firm step. He carried a crucifix, and was closely
followed by one of the priests in attendance. Doyle, Donohue and Kelly
then ascended the steps in the order named, each with a crucifix, and
accompanied by the three remaining priests. Each was dressed in a neat
suit of black. None of the men showed a lack of courage, though Kelly
seemed physically weak in a slight degree. The priests went upon the
scaffold with the sheriff and his assistants, and at once began the service
peculiar to the Catholic church. The men seemed greatly impressed as the
solemn words were pronounced. Campbell, in particular, had a supplica-
ting look, and moved his lips as if in silent prayer. The ceremony concluded,
the four unfortunates kissed the crucifix and received a shake of the hand
and a farewell word from each of the spiritual attendants. The sheriff
then, addressing each of the men in turn, asked if they had anything to
say. Each of them briefly responded, but almost inaudibly.
DYING WORDS,
Doyle said that if he had obeyed the priests and kept out of secret
societies he would not have been there. He expressed forgiveness for all
who had ever done him an injury, and a hope that God would have mercy
on his soul. Campbell said that he had no enemies; that he forgave every-
body, and only asked the same treatment in return. Donohue, when spoken
to by the sheriff, muttered that he did not know what to say, and added,
“I have nothing to say.” The boyish Kelly repeated a few words after
the priest, containing contrite sentiments and requests for forgiveness.
Kelly thanked the sheriff for his many acts of kindness. When the last
word had been said Sheriff Raudenbush, aided by two coal and iron police-
men and the coroner of Carbon county, manacled the men, arranged the
ropes around their necks, and drew over their heads the white caps. The
sheriff and his assistants left the scaffold, and the men were left to meet
54 LIVES AND CRIMES OF THE MOLLIE MAGUIRES.
their cruel fate. The ropes were so arranged that Campbell and Doyle
would fall two feet and six inches, and Donohue and Kelly a little more
than three feet.
THE TRAP SPRUNG.
The trap was sprung at 10:48 A.M., and instantly the four murderers were
dangling in mid-air. Strong men turned aside rather than look upon the
awful spectacle. Campbell and Doyle died without a struggle; each
showed but a slight convulsive movement of the limbs, a tremor of the neck,
and all was over. Donahue struggled violently for nearly two minutes, and,
seeing this, a priest stepped up and anointed his hands, as if to ease the
physical pain by a religious ceremonial. Kelly struggled as if in agony, but
much less violently than Donohue. The physicians in attendance stepped
forward and examined the bodies. At the end of five minutes Kelly's
pulse beat 150 to the minute, at seven and a half minutes 120, and in eight
minutes the spark of life had fled. At the close of twelve minutes Doyle's
pulse counted 56, and then instantly ceased. Campbell died slowly, the
last movement of his heart being felt at the end of fourteen minutes. Dono-
hue died in six minutes. It was afterwards learned that the fall dislocated
the necks of Campbell and Doyle, while Donohue and Kelly met death by
strangulation. The bodies were cut down at 11.30 o'clock, and at once
placed in the coffins, which had been brought into the corridor. Soon
after, the coffins were borne out of the gloomy building and taken to the
train for removal to their friends and former homes. Doyle's coffin was
adorned by a wreath of roses which had come from friendly hands. For
some reason Donohue's coffin was left for a brief time on the steps of the
jail. Mrs. Donohue discovered it, and supposing that it was not to be taken
to the train she began to weep in the most heart-rending manner. It was
soon removed, but the widow's tears still continued to flow.
THE WAKES,
The bodies of the Mollie murderers were honored with wakes. Kelly
requested that the wake over his remains should be continued until Sunday,
and it was supposed that the wakes over all that was earthly of the other
men were equally prolonged. Campbell was buried at Summit Hill, and
the others in like manner near their former homes. At the railway station,
is the bodies were being put on board the train, a large crowd assembled,
but as the train moved away it quietly dispersed, and Mauch Chunk was as
ſuiet as though none had been made to pay the penalties resulting from
their murderous deeds.









LIVES AND CRIMES OF THE MOLLIE MAGUIRES. 57
McPARLAN, THE DETECTIVE.
During the years just preceding 1873, the coal lands of the anthracite
region passed into the hands of a few powerful corporations, chief among
which was the Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company. The
officers of these companies, and particularly Mr. F. B. Gowen, president of
the company named, saw clearly that unless the authors of the many
mysterious crimes could be brought to justice and the power of the Mollie
Maguires broken, their extensive coal lands would in time have but a
nominal value. To accomplish the end in view it was determined to
employ a skilled detective, who would mingle with the Mollies for the pur-
pose of learning their movements and inmost secrets. The difficulty was
to find the right man. None but Catholics and Irishmen could become
members of the A. O. H., and as it was thought necessary for the detective
to join the order to learn its character, a man possessing strongly marked
Hibernian traits had to be found. Application was made to Major Allan
Pinkerton, of detective fame, and in brief time the right man was secured
in the person of James McParlan, an attaché of the Detective Agency at
Chicago. -
To this man was confided the delicate and important mission of unearth
ing the mysterious crimes of the Mollies and, if possible, of tracing their
criminal connection with the Ancient Order of Hibernians throughout the
United States and Great Britain. McParlan is a typical Irishman, and at
the time of his advent in the coal regions, in October, 1873, was twenty-nine
years old. He is a native of the county Armagh, Ireland, and came to this
country in 1867. McParlan is a little above the medium height, slightly
built, but muscular. By reason of his keen sense of humor, social disposi-
tion and cordial manner, he was well fitted to gain the confidence and good-
will of the rough and hearty Irish coal miners. He could dance a jig, drink
whiskey, sing an Irish ballad, pass a rough joke, fight or make love with the
best of them. A sojourn of a few weeks in different parts of the coal regions
convinced the detective, or James McKenna, as he had become known in
the mining towns, that the Mollie Maguire organization was more terribly
criminal in its character than had been suspected. He returned to Phila-
delphia to report his belief and the extent of his discoveries. He was in-
structed by the Detective Agency to join the organization. February, 1874,
found McKenna in Shenandoah, an inmate of the house of “Muff.” Lawler,
the bodymaster of the Shenandoah division of the order.
By dint of his rollicking Irish humor, a devil-may-care manner, and
numerous hints of having passed a life of crime and adventure, he soon
secured an invitation to join the society, and on April 14, 1874, he was ini-
tiated into the A. O. H. and began to receive the “goods,” or signs and pass-
words of the organization. But this was not enough, as in order to gain an
intimate knowledge touching the doings of the organization, he was obliged
to obtain access to the county conventions. To secure this result he in-

58 LIVES AND CRIMES OF THE MOLLIE MAGUIRES.
tensified the character he had assumed and became loud, brawling and
boastful of all varieties of crime, from petty larceny to murder. In a brief
time, to use their own words, he was the “bulliest Mollie of them all.” In
consequence he was made secretary of the Shenandoah division and
admitted to the councils held by the Mollie leaders. Thereafter he was
found at times in every hole and corner of the anthracite regions. But
while being one of the loudest talkers he used his ears more than his
tongue, and ere long he was in possession of facts concerning outrages and
murders which otherwise might have remained forever in obscurity. The
typical Mollie is always boastful of his crimes, being as proud of his achieve-
ments as the most blood-thirsty Sioux of the scalps hanging at his belt.
McKenna found the society acting avowedly under its motto of friendship
and Christian charity. Its written constitution and by-laws contained the
purest sentiments of morality and benevolence, but this was only a thin
disguise to cover the real purposes of the members in the commission and
concealment of crime. The utmost secrecy was enforced, and the chief
county officer, called the county delegate, was alone made cognizant of all
transactions. Men were shot down on the slightest provocation, or with
none, and usually on their own door-steps. The slightest affront given a
member of the society by a mining boss was deemed sufficient cause for
plotting his death. When the murder of a man had been decided upon,
members living at a distance from the scene of the contemplated outrage
were selected for the work. They were sometimes drawn by lot, and again
appointed by the bodymaster. Young men were usually selected for deeds
of crime. So slight was the value placed on human life that those selected
almost invariably responded with alacrity. Each member seemed eager to
gain a reputation for being “a good man for a clean job.” Young men just
out of their teens thought nothing of shooting a mining boss at the simple
request of their bodymaster. And yet the typical “Mollie” had a terrible
fear of death and scarcely ever attacked a man save on the most unequal
terms.
Four or five members were usually detailed to shoot a single man, and
none of their many victims during the years from 1862 to 1876, when the
power of the order was broken, were ever allowed an opportunity for
defence. In spite of such cowardly methods, the Mollies constantly boasted
of their prowess and courage. While McKenna made a show of great
devotion to the order, he never asked a man to join it, and never by word
or deed suggested or encouraged a crime. When appointed on a committee
to do a “job,” he managed to so delay the undertaking as to escape all par-
ticipation in the crime. He was obliged to make daily reports to Super-
intendent Franklin, of the Detective Agency in Philadelphia, and in this
way a timely warning was often conveyed to those whose death was in
contemplation.
McPARLAN SUSPECTED,
The sudden and numerous arrests caused a suspicion of foul play in the
ranks of the Mollies, and from some unknown cause it fell upon McParlan.
Either through the interception of a letter or other means he was believed

Livºs AND CRIMEs of THE MOLLIE MAGUIRES, 59
by Jack Kehoe to be a detective and the man who was furnishing informa-
tion to the authorities. Instantly McParlan's life was in danger, and his
days of usefulness as a detective in the Pennsylvania coal regions were at an
end. Instead of fleeing at once, however, he bravely resolved to face his
accusers and regain if possible his influence in the order, to the end that he
might pursue his inquiries until the general character of the Ancient Order
of Hibernians, both here and in Great Britain, might be accurately learned,
and, if criminal, exposed. He was unsuccessful, however, as the tide under
the influence of Jack Kehoe was too strong, and he was forced to leave the
coal regions, no longer to be known as the rollicking “Mollie.” McKenna,
but as James McParlan, the detective. - -
His identity being now fully known, the reason for refusing to appear as
a witness no longer existed, and after an interview with Mr. F. B. Gowen,
McParlan consented to unfold the criminal character of the Mollie Maguire
organization before the courts of Schuylkill and Carbon counties. He
appeared as a witness in the trial of the Yost murderers, relating how the
prisoners confessed to him their participation in the crime, and in the suc-
ceeding Mollie cases he did equally good service to the cause of justice and
order. McParlan's ability and fidelity as a detective are perhaps unexam:
pled. The hardships that he endured while associating intimately with
the “Mollies” affected severely his physical organization. His hair fell out
and his eyesight was considerably impaired. -
JACK KEHOE,
During the summer and autumn of 1874 McKenna was busily engaged
in securing information which would aid in the conviction of the Mollie
murderers and their final overthrow. But the time had not yet come for
beginning an aggressive warfare against the order. A pledge had been
given to McParlan, or McKenna, that he would never be required to appear
as a witness against the Mollies, for it was seen that such action would place
him in constant danger of his life, as the object of the most bitter and
revengeful feelings on their part. Again, it seemed necessary for the lead-
ing Mollies to become more bold in the commission of crime before they
could be arrested with any certainty of conviction and punishment. The
authorities, however, had only to wait for another year, when the immunity
which the Mollies had so long enjoyed led them to commit acts so devoid
of all efforts at concealment that the arrest and conviction of the offenders
was comparatively easy. In the autumn of 1874 the power of the Mollie
organization was at its height, and, in consequence, the leaders grew reck-
less in the perpetration of crime. Foremost among these was John Kehoe,
county delegate for Schuylkill. He is a large and not unhandsome man,
with a cold gray eye, giving little indication, in his general appearance, of
the fiend incarnate which later developments have shown him to be. He

60 LIVES AND CRIMES OF THE MOLLIE MAGUIRES.
was high constable of Girardville, and having accumulated considerable
property he had no other motive for the instigation of outrages and murder
than a fiendish nature and an inordinate desire for power, cost what it
might The history of crime shows that murder has almost invariably
been prompted by sudden passion, jealousy, revenge, poverty, or avarice,
but Jack Kehoe, by his plausible address and a determination of character
that brooked no restraint, was able to suddenly transform young men of
pure surroundings and blameless lives into villains of the worst type. It
is probable that Kehoe could be convicted of participation in all the
murders which have occurred in Schuylkill county since 1873. He is now
(1877) under conviction of murder in the first degree for killing Langdon
fifteen years ago. He was sentenced by Judge Pershing. The writer of
fiction who would portray such a character as Kehoe in its true colors,
would be charged with drawing an exaggerated type of the hardened
criminal.
History of the Organization of “Mollie Maguires” in the Pennsylvania
º - - - - - Coal Regions. -
- -
As far back as 1830, when the anthracite coal regions formed a field for
speculation and visionary schemes, the counties of Schuylkill, Carbon,
Luzerne and Northumberland were infested by desperate and lawless
classes not unlike those that now afflict some portions of the western coun-
try. It was then thought that the art of mining was only understood by
foreigners, and thus the rugged coal regions of Pennsylvania in time had a
population made up almost wholly of Irish, English, Welsh and German
miners and laborers. It is not probable that the disturbances at the period
named were greater than those incident to any new country; but during
later years, under the influence of prejudices brought hither from beyond
the sea, and to various grievances experienced here, the coal regions have
been the scene of more terrible and blood-thirsty outrages, perpetrated
under the protection and stimulus of a secret oath-bound organization,
than were perhaps ever before known in the history of crime.
As early as 1854 it was thought that a criminal organization had an
existence in Schuylkill and Carbon counties. The members were then
known as “Buckshots.” It has since been learned that this was but another
appellation for the Mollie Maguires, a name which has come to have a terri.
ble significance during recent years. The disputes with the landlords touch-
ing the rental of lands gave birth to the Mollie Maguire in Ireland; the Irish
peasant came to regard the landed gentry as cruel and unyielding foes.
In the coal regions of America this prejudice was transferred with almost
equal intensity to the operator and boss, who as the representatives of capital
were supposed to pay no regard to the rights of the laboring man, and
therefore, to have no rights which the laboring man was bound to respect.
This condition of things did not result in serious crimes and outrages until

LIVES AND CRIMES OF THE MOLLIE MAGUI RES. 61
1862, when, in a measure, through the increased demand for coal, brought
on by the war, the anthracite regions had become densely populated.
The immediate cause of the violence, which began in the year named, was
the enforcement of the draft measures in Carbon and Schuylkill counties.
As a result, the military was sent into the coal regions, and in the three
years succeeding 1862, upwards of fifty murders were committed in Schuyl-
kill county alone. Worthy of note was the shooting of F. W. S. Langdon,
a mining-boss, near Audenried, Carbon county, on June 14th, 1862. It was
generally believed at the time that many of these atrocious murders, together
with numerous robberies and other crimes, were the work of the Mollie
Maguires, which in the coal regions was simply another name for the secret
society known in Great Britain and this country as the Ancient Order of
Hibernians. The authorities, however, were unable to detect or to convict
the offenders, and in consequence the feeling gained ground among the
lawless classes that their oath-bound and highly-disciplined organization
would continue to afford ample protection.
- - ------ -
THE STRENGTH OF THE organization.
During the three years from 1868 to 1871 no crime occurred which
excited interest as a supposed Mollie Maguire murder. On December 23,
of that year, however, Morgan Powell, a boss of the Lehigh Coal and
Navigation Company, was shot at Summit Hill, Carbon county, under cir-
cumstances which clearly showed it to be the work of the infamous organiza-
tion. Up to this time no Mollie, notwithstanding the great number of
outrages committed, had ever been convicted of murder in the first degree,
Men had been shot down on the public highway in broad daylight, but,
owing to the well-grounded fear of being known as an “informer,” it was
found almost impossible to secure information sufficient to warrant arrests,
and when this was done perjured testimony artfully contrived was produced
to establish the desired alibi. So strong had the Mollies become, especially
in Schuylkill and Carbon counties, that the leaders had gained control of
important local offices, and were manipulating the public moneys in the
interest of the organization. They had become a potent influence in State
politics, and John Kehoe, county delegate for the Schuylkill branch of the
Ancient Order of Hibernians, epenly boasted of his ability to extend the
influence of the society into national politics. Mollies were repeatedly elected
as county commissioners and school directors. In one instance a member
of the society was sent to the Legislature, and one of their members, John
J. Slattery, ran for an Associate Justiceship but was fortunately beaten at
the polls. The Mollies had now, so far as concerns the Pennsylvania coal
regions, absolute control of the Ancient Order of Hibernians. This society
had been chartered in Pennsylvania by the Legislature as a beneficial asso-
ciation, its motto being “Friendship, Unity and True Christian Charity.”
Owing to the tyranny exercised by the Mollies and by their leaders, through
the Miners' Union in 1871 and '72, the prosperity of the coal regions and
the value of property in Schuylkill and adjoining counties began to be
seriously affected. It was seen that unless decisive and effective measures
- - º
ºss -
º º
JAMES CARROIs º
"ICHAEL DOY; º;.
-
|
- -
tº . . . . . . . . . º
º
-
ºn ºn
---
§ -
JOHN P. Jon Es, - | Thos. sangºr.
A Murdered “Mine Boss.” Another Murdered Mine Boss.









82 LIVES AND CRIMES OF THE MOLLIE MAGUIRES.
should be adopted the Mollies would in time gain supreme control of affairs,
values would depreciate, and honest men would be forced to leave the coal
regions or join the bloodthirsty and mercenary organization. Some men
believed in the identity of the Mollies and the Ancient Order of Hibernians,
but evidence was needed to establish this fact.
The strength of the latter order in the United States is about 150,000; and
any evidence of the identity of Mollie Maguireism with the Ancient Order
of Hibernians is built rather in the prejudice of mind of its opponents than
on any solid facts to form even a basis of accusation.
We do not believe that such identity exists. There are Divisions in
nearly, if not every State of the Union, and many God-fearing men are
numbered in its membership. The black sheep of the Pennsylvania coal
regions are alone to blame for suspicions against the truth of good deeds as
proclaimed in its motto, “FRIENDSHIP, UNITY AND TRUE CHRISTIAN CHARITY”
AFTER THE EXECUTION,
“JACK'ſ KEHOE INTERVIEWED IN THE POTTSVILLE JAIL.
After the execution I visited the Pottsville Jail, and the courteous warden
showed me what curiosities it contained in the shape of Mollie Maguires.
There were no less than twenty-one in all, men and women-murderers,
accessories to murder, conspirators to murder, incendiaries, perjurers, in-
formers, etc. First and foremost was the “king bee” of them all, who
signed himself so magnificently in his palmy days, “John Kehoe, C. D. A.
O. H.” (County Delegate Ancient Order of Hibernians). Hear him talk and
you will soon find out why he rose rapidly to the front of an order in which
nine-tenths of the members were ignorant laborers in the mines and the
other tenth were grog-shop keepers in the mining towns.
“Ah!” said Kehoe, “they did a big day's work here last Thursday. And
sir, it was a bad day's work,” bristling up as if with indignation. “They
hung three as innocent men as you are, sir–Carroll, Roarity and Duffy
were innocent, and when I come to die I'll say so. Don’t you, or any fair-
minded man, think that it was the duty of the Governor's secretary to use
that reprieve which you men say he had in his pocket, when Roarity made
his death statement on the gallows, clearing Duffy? And yet I’m sorrier
for Carroll than for any man ever I knew. He was a decent man and was
raised up to decency and ought not to have been hung on such men's
evidence.” - - -
Here, after laughing pleasantly at having me locked up alone wit “such
a terrible man” as he was (for by this time the warden had gone), he turned
the conversation toward President Gowen of the Reading Railroad, to
whom, of course, he refers all the evils that have come upon the coal region
and his people. -- - -

LIVES AND CRIMES OF THE MOLLIE MAGUIRES, 63
“I believe he started out with the intention of breaking up our organiza-
tion as soon as he bought the mines. He broke up the Labor Union first.
Of course he wanted to go around among the men whom he was daily
starving out. Of course he was aware of this Hibernian Society, and he
was afraid that they would kill him, because he deserved to be killed.
Then he and the rest of the coal owners subscribed a hundred thousand
dollars and sent it to Allan Pinkerton to ferret out the crimes committed
by the Mollies—if any,” added he cautiously. - -
“Before McParlan came they had tried to make the detectives keep tav.
erms among us. But they couldn’t find out anything because there was
nothing to find out. And then they sent McParlan, who was an Irishman
and perhaps a Catholic, and they instructed him to join the society and
encourage and commit crime, and when he should get enough into the
snare he was to begin hanging them on his own evidence and that of
others whom he threatened to hang, and who, to save their necks, would lie
on their fellows. After he came among us there were several murders
committed, some of which he encouraged, and all of which, if he had been
a true man, he could have prevented. I’ll give you a couple of examples.
About six months after .*. a º * order he got Tom
Hurley to shoot Gomer James. ºf pºe; my own house that
Hurley had shot Gomer º dº hºlºmºhe Pºlled ºut
of his pocket and said: “That is the revolver that shot him.” I asked him
at the time, ‘Is that the revolver that Captain Linden gave you?' and he
said it was. He had told me, before that, Captain Linden had given it to
him at Shenandoah, and it was a new one Then again, he says himself
on the stand that he got Thomas Munley and Michael Dorsey, of Gilberton,
ready to shoot John P. Jones, the mining boss of Lansford, and that he
brought them as far on their road as Tamaqua (about five miles from
Lansford). But when he got to Tamaqua he found out that two other men
had gone–Kelly and Doyle—to do the job. Now if he had been the right
sort of a man he had a right to go to Lansford at once and notify Jones and
to have had the men arrested before they did ..". no, it served
his purpose to let murder go on, so that he could the more readily arouse
the prejudices of the community and thus break up the organization by
hanging a lot of innocent men. I could fill your book five times over tell-
ing of the actual participation of this man in the crimes for which he now
condemns others. He even went through the county in carriages looking
for men to go and shoot other men. This I have from those who were in
the carriages with him. His motive must have been pride in his ability to
ferret out crime and the well-greased purse-strings of Franklin B. Gowen. .
“Yes, sir, Franklin B. Gowen is the only Mollie I know of, and you can
tell the people that he's now gone over to the Old Country to get the
‘goods.’ - -
“Let me tell you who Gowen is.
“His whole course as president of the Reading road has shown him to be
a man of restless, arbitrary ambition, with such grasping tendencies that no
obstacle, however sacred, was ever allowed to interpose between him and
64 LIVES AND CRIMES OF THE MOLLIE MAGUIRES.
his end. In doing the dirty work of the old company in Schuylkil.
county as their attorney he developed the faculty of beating the niners
down in an eminent degree, and so they made him president. At this time
all the labor troubles between operator and miner had been settled. The
organization of the Workingmen's Benevolent Association, or Miner's Union,
had succeeded in stopping strikes by arranging with the operators a sort of
adjusting basis, by which the profits of the mine operators, wages of the
workmen and the production of coal were all equitably regulated. The
mining of coal was at this time in the hands of a hundred or two hun-
dred individual operators, men of enterprise, who spent money in the
region and were making money. The whole country was prosperous, the
iron industry was in full blast. The Schuylkill valley teemed with wealth.
Thirty or forty thousand men earned from $15 to $30 a week; churches
were opened, schools flourished, the roads were in good repair. Mollie
Maguireism, which had flourished during the war, had dwindled down to
nothing. The Workingmen's Benevolent, Association was first looked on
by Gowen with suspicion. While every Mollie was doubtless a miner,
there was but one member in a hundred that was a Mollie. It was organ-
ized for the purpose of saving property, protecting life and as a beneficial
organization. - - - - - -
“Mr. Gowen had scarcely gotten warm in his seat as president of a car-
rying company before his idea of empire began to take shape. Knowing
the profits of coal mining, or presuming it from the fact that the Schuylkill
County Exchange was highly prosperous, he determined to monopolize the
mining as well as the carrying of coal. So he organized the Philadelphia
Coal and Iron Company under a bogus charter, yanked’ through the
Pennsylvania Legislature under a concealed name, which gave unlimited
powers to the company to do everything almost. He then began the work
of absorbing all the collieries in the county, British gold was poured into
his coffers, to say nothing of the money of the widow and the trust com-
pany here at home, enticed by the fictitious interest offered, and he began
buying right and left. Many of the operators who had grown rich sold out
on moderate terms; others held out and demanded and received the most
exorbitant prices; many he placated by giving them enormous salaries as
superintendents of this division and that plane, while the few who refused
to sell out on any terms and who undertook to compete with him he
crushed. Then came between him and these last a war of words, in which
the latter attempted to prophesy just what has come to pass, but his money
easily subsidized the great dailies of Philadelphia and through the country
by the big advertising bills he paid them. It is known that he spent the
whole profits of the mines for a year or two in this miserable way of airing
his lawyer's logic in the public press. Finally the region was fairly in his
hand. As soon as he got it so he found it was not so profitable as it had
been cracked up to be. In order to make it profitable he thought it would
be well to squeeze the miners. His arbitrary action soon brought on what
is well known as ‘the long strike' in 1874 and 1875.”


65 LIVES AND CRIMES OF THE MOLLIE MAGUIRES,
THE KING OF THE MOLLIES "swings.”
AND now, on the 18th day of December, 1878, we again add to our
account of this history the execution of “King” Jack Kehoe, making
fourteen “Mollies” in all who have paid the penalty of their cruel, eowardly
crimes.
That “Jack” would ever swing there were reasonable doubts on all sides.
His political influence in a certain part of Pennsylvania was great. His
friends were numerous, and verily heaven and earth seems to have been
moved to secure, if not his acquittal, then his pardon; and if those efforts
failed, the commutation of his death sentence was at least believed to be
possible, nay, very probable. But the Mollies of Schuylkill county were
baffled on every side; the Board of Pardons were appealed to in vain, again
and again, and as a last desperate resort to spare him his well-merited fate,
a Mollie was brought forward to prove an alibi, and that too on the very eve
of the execution. -
“No use,” “too thin,” “won’t wash,” were the cries on all sides, and on this
cold December day Jack Kehoe, King of the Mollies, stands upon the gal-
lows facing the inevitable and fitting finale of his blood-thirsty career.
A moment, and the signal is given Kehoe swings into etermity? The
law is vindicated, and all right-thinking citizens rejoice that a once powerful
organization of murderers is wiped out.
–-
JACK EEEIOE’S EIISTORY.
A BRIEF RESUME OF A LIFE OF TERRIBLE CRIMES.
Jack Kehoe, the ex-King of Mollie Maguires, dies for but one of the
many crimes that he directly and indirectly committed. Sixteen years ago
he headed a gang of his followers who stoned to death F. W. S. Langdon, a
boss at a coal breaker near Audenried, on the Carbon county border, and
fourteen years later he was arrested for the foul deed. Among the many
eventful incidents in Kehoe's life the Langdon murder, of itself, occupies a
secondary position, but, as it brings to the gallows the grand high chief of
the Mollies, it has been brought into deserved prominence. Kehoe was
born about forty-five years ago in Wicklow, Ireland. His education was
crude, but his shrewdness made amends for many of his shortcomings.
After coming to this country he married a Miss O'Donnell, of Mahanoy
City, a sister of Charles O'Donnell and Friday O'Donnell, murderers of
Sanger and Uren. Friday is now a fugitive from justice, but Charles met
his death during the bloody assault known as the Wiggan's Patch horror,
he receiving fourteen bullets in his body. Kehoe, with his wife, located
5

LIVES AND CRIMES OF THE MOLLIE MAGUIRES. 66
themselves in Girardville, Schuylkill county, and here they have had five
children. Kehoe, becoming an active worker in the ranks of the Ancient
Order of Hibernians, deserted the mine and opened a saloon in Girardville,
which he called the Hibernian House, and this became the great resort of
all the Mollies round about. Ever standing quietly in the background, he
pulled the strings and made the puppets dance to his liking, “King
Kehoe,” as he had now come to be called, had made his will the law of his
understrappers in the Mollie organization. On October 31, 1874, George
Major, Chief Burgess of Mahanoy City, was shot and killed by a well-known
Mollie named Dan Dougherty. This murder was the indirect cause of
Kehoe afterwards finding his way to jail. In May, 1875, he went down to
Pottsville, where Dougherty was about being tried, to aid in securing that
ruffian's release. Dougherty was acquitted, and immediately upon receipt
of the news, the brothers of the dead Burgess, William and Jesse Major,
together with their friend from Shoemaker's Patch, Wm. M. Thomas, who,
from his belligerent ways, had earned the alias of “Bully Bill,” declared
their intention of avenging George Major's murder, and upon several occa-
sions they fired upon Dougherty. The Mollies therefore determined that
these men should be killed. Kehoe was determined that the Sheet-Irons or
Modocs, as the Mollies' opponents were variously termed, should be taught
a bloody lesson. To Detective McParlan, as Secretary James McKenna, of
Shenandoah Division, he said: “I intend getting Chris. Donnelly, of Mount
Laffee, county treasurer; Wm. Gavin, of Big Mine Run, county secretary;
Mike O'Brien, bodymaster at Mahanoy City, and I invite you, McKenna,
to be present, to hold a convention on the 1st of June, at Clark's, in
Mahanoy, and we will see what is to be done with the whelps now barking
so lustily. Some think we had best attack them in the night and shoot
down every one we meet, sparing only women and children. I hate shed-
ding human blood, but these are mighty hot times and something will have
to be put to work to give us our rights.”
Before the convention day came Jack Kehoe, so rapidly had his power
increased, was actually elected, without opposition, High Constable of the
borough of Girardville. This position gave him the power of arrest and the
charge of all the prisoners. Those not in his murderous clan fared not
gently at his hands, but his trusted subordinates, no matter how grave their
offences, found, while Kehoe was in power, that the law clutches grasped
by no means tightly. The convention was held, and Thomas' murder was
fixed for the following Thursday, but through the agency of McParlan, the
attempts on the lives of the Major brothers and Thomas were postponed,
but only for a time, for on the 28th of June “Bully Bill’s” life was attempted,
and only the man's wonderful hardihood preserved it. In the gray dawn
John Gibbons, John Morris, Michael Doyle and Tom Hurley, all strangers
to the man whose life-blood they were seeking, sitting by the colliery at
Shoemaker's Patch, awaited Thomas’ coming. As he stepped into the
stable door, the four men, each with a revolver in his hand, followed him.
Thomas was standing with one hand on a horse's mane, and Hurley and
Gibbons both fired at once. Thomas had no weapon, but facing his assas-

67 LIVES AND CRIMES OF THE MOLLIE MAGUIRES.
sins he threw his black felt hat in Hurley's face. When four bullets had
struck him. Thomas ran behind the horse. Hurley fired again, and the
man staggered. Then Gibbons and Doyle each fired twice, and “Bully
Bill” fell, and so did the horse, which a bullet had struck. Then up came
John Morris, and while the man was prostrate he shot him again. Thomas
was left for dead, but despite his physician's protest he was actually out
again next day, carrying four bullets in his body and still breathing ven-
geance against the Mollies. The Major brothers escaped Thomas' doom, as
they were warned in time of the murderous plot against them and fled the
county. On the 14th of August Thomas Gwyther, Justice of the Peace of
Girardville, for issuing a warrant for the arrest of a Mollie named Hoar,
was shot and instantly killed in the presence of his daughter by a Mollie
named William Love. High Constable Kehoe at once demonstrated his love
for law and order and for his subordinate assassins by promptly arresting
William Love's brother Thomas, charging him with the murder of Squire
Gwyther. This gave William Love an opportunity to escape, and when
Thomas' case was called for trial, that young man had no difficulty in proving
an alibi and securing his acquittal. On the same day that Squire Gwyther
met his death, Gomer James, a young man, who had made himself partic-
ularly objectionable to the Mollies, was shot through the heart and instantly
killed at a pic-nic given in Shenandoah. The notorious Tom Hurley fired
the shot, and when Alexander Campbell, who had demanded James' life,
heard of what Hurley had done, he actually danced with glee.
Heretofore, Kehoe, in his dabblings in politics, had never aimed higher
than to manage in his own way the county doings. Every Mollie answered
to his beck and call, and it was his open boast that he carried the county in
his breeches-pocket. This great power, however, he never wielded in a
State contest; but in the exciting political campaign of 1875 an oppor-
tunity presented itself, which he quickly availed himself of, and which has
since made the name of Kehoe famous in the land. John F. Hartranſt
was the Republican nominee for re-election to the Gubernatorial office, and
Cyrus W. Pershing, a Judge who had visited severe penalties upon the
Mollies, was his Democratic opponent. Jack Kehoe, in the campaign that
followed, did that which led him when handcuffed and imprisoned, to utter
that memorable sentence, “The old man at Harrisburg will never dare
hang me.” “Judge” John J. Slattery, when testifying, in October, 1876,
as a “squealing” Mollie, in the trial of “Yellow" Jack Donahue for the
murder of Morgan Powell, swore that about $5,000 had been furnished
through Kehoe to the Mollies by the Republican State Committee to secure
the election of Hartranft. Thus matters stood in the coal regions when the
work that Detective McParlan had been doing began to bear fruit, and
arrest after arrest was made of the most prominent of the Mollies, and they
were locked up in the various county jails, charged with the murder of
Policeman Yost, of John P. Jones, of Sanger and Uren, of Morgan Powell,
and of their many other victims. McParlan still remained an active man
among the Mollies, but he finally fell under suspicion, and, after repeated
attempts to assassinate him, all concocted by Jack Kehoe, had failed, the
LIVES AND CRIMES OF THE MOLLIE MAGUIRES. 68
county delegate himself undertook the job. One day, in Kehoe's own
house, the detective was proffered a glass of poisoned grog, but the tremor
of Kehoe's hand, and the furtive look from his cunning eyes, placed Mc-
Parlan on his guard, and the liquor was left untouched. The detective,
satisfied that he could brave down suspicion no longer, left the region to
return again in his true character and expose the workings of the organiza-
tion, of which he had for a time been an active member. More arrests
followed, and on May 6, 1876, King Kehoe himself was lodged in Pottsville
jail. On August 8, 1876, he was convicted of conspiring to kill W. M.
Thomas, and on August 14, of conspiring to kill Wm. and Jesse Major, and
in each case he was sentenced to seven years. On January 2, 1877, he was
found guilty of murder in the first degree for killing Langdon, and the
death sentence was pronounced against him. The efforts to save his life
are too well known to require repetition here.
HIS LAST NIGHT ON EARTH,
When Jack Kehoe was informed (at Pottsville, Pa., where he was
hanged), on the day preceding the execution, that no power on earth could
save him from the gallows, he received the fearful intelligence with stolid
indifference. With firm voice and a dry eye the awful message, which told
him he must die, was read to the doomed man by his brave little wife.
After she had finished she threw her arms around his neck, kissed him,
and told him to bear his fate like a man, and slowly left his cell. At the
earnest request of his wife, Kehoe, for the first time in his life, which in a
few short hours would come to a sudden end, sat for his photograph in the
corridor of the jail. The result was not satisfactory, owing to the day
being cloudy; but we have reproduced it on wood, and an artist of Potts-
ville, familiar with the criminal's countenance, has touched it up faithfully.
There had been no direct communication with the condemned man on the
last day, all newspaper men and our reporter being denied admittance to
the jail. His father confessor, Rev. A. J. Gallagher, and the Rev. M. J.
Gately, of St. Clair, were admitted to the prison at an early hour. Kehoe
passed a very restless night, and his appetite had entirely deserted him.
He changed countenance and trembled at every sound, but struggled har
to preserve a brave front. Fears were entertained, however, that he wou
break down at the last moment. Rumors were circulated to the effect
a powerful effort would be made to rescue the prisoner. Such talk,
ever, was absurd. Every precaution had been taken, everything wa
readiness, and within the next three hours Jack Kehoe was dangling in
air with a hangman's rope around his neck, and the majesty of the ºw
was at last vindicated.







69 LIVES AND CRIMEs of THE MOLLIE MAGUIREs.
THE EXECUTION,
The execution of John Kehoe took place on the morning of December 18th,
1878, in the jail yard at half-past ten o’clock. The last night of the prisoner
on earth was spent, is said by some, in quiet repose and meditation. Prison
officials were with him until about eleven o'clock, when he expressed a desire
to retire, and they left him. He fell asleep, and remained so four or five
hours. At six o'clock, he was called by an under-keeper, and arose and
dressed himself. His wife and sister and spiritual advisers arrived shortly
after. Two masses were celebrated in his cell, after which he partook of a
light breakfast with his wife. The time remaining to him was spent alto-
gether in prayer. - -
The procession moved from the prison into the yard at 10.20 o'clock.
Kehoe was supported on either side by the priests. He walked up the steps
of the scaffold without betraying any emotion. When the clergymen had
left him, the sheriff asked if he had anything to say why the sentence of
the law should not be passed upon him. He walked to the front of the
scaffold, and in a clear and distinct voice said: “I am not guilty of the
murder of Langdon. I never saw the crime committed.” The noose was
then adjusted, without Kehoe manifesting any signs of trepidation, and a
few moments later the trap was sprung. His death was easy.
The body was taken in charge by the wife and friends of Kehoe, and was
interred at Tamaqua on Friday. There was no excitement in town.
THE END,
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