The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1877-06-29
THOSE PENNSYLvANIA HANG.
INGS.

The Irish World of this week comes
out in powerful defense of the eleven
men who suffered the extreme penalty oil
the law, on the scafiold, in Pennsylvania,
last week. A doubt OF their guilt is in
cu!cated, but even if guilty, their crime
is sought to be-we will not say excused
but will rather ssy-accounted for, in the
tyranny Of tho who employed them
To show the character of the Worlds ar.
gument and reason we present an ex
tract from its article which contains the
gist of the whole:
That deeds of violence had been CO H.
mItted in the coal regions there can be
no doubt. That some of the unfortunate
men who died on the scstfold may have
been implicated, indirectly, in some o.
those deeds, we shall not undertake io
disprove. What we want is evidence
Has it been produced? Some men pre-
tend to be satisfied at the exhibition
made. We are not.
"a deal of wild talk was sand, and d
deal of random writing found Its way
into print, about the terrible organizd
ton of the Molly Msguires." How many
editors of the country set to work TO ex-
smlce into the truth or the fslsity of that
report of the agents OF the oal-rlng
lords? How many of them asked them
selves the question: Does there IN
reality exist such u body OF men, as an
organisation, or is 1t all a mythT How
nsny editors put this question TO
themselves? Not six They took il
ali for granted. Their readers,
in turn, took it for granted. But was
there any reason for questioning the ex'
Is,ence of such q society? Was there
reason to suppose that the coal ring
em,sssries had originated the phrase1
Could the coal ring itself have an oo]ect
10 view in fsbricstIns anything OF the
kind3 Yes! This coal ring-which has
striven, and which sill endesvors to re-
duce the miners TO condition actually
worse than sertdom-found it necessary
Tor its purpose to frighten the country
with a bug bear. There are people who
believe in tsiries snd hoogoooiins:
There are people who Will
accept any story no mA.'e. e.
how absurd, without ever once
taking the trouble TO investigate
into its composition or tracing back lis
origin. So 1t was in this case. This bug
has, WAS labelled Molly Mcguire.
Sn,sk detectives were then engaged to
d;scover a mares nest to discover
leeds of yloleu ce which the enselves had
in some instances actually planned
deeds in the completely in which they
themselves brazeniy boatsted on the VIII
ness standf
.But why dwell upon mere inciden ts'
The hear, Is sickened at the spectacle,
and turns away with revulsion from It's
contemplation. Leave incidents TO law
vsrs and newspaper reporters. They are
:ns,chers up OF trIfes. What We want
20 oct at is the foundation cause OF the
av;I something is radically wrong In
society. Whist Is thst someIhingr VINO
ara responsible? Whether those eleven
man who were killed the other day oy
the public hangmsn were guiity OF
whether they were innocent the ugly isci
rsms,us that ,mething is wrong IN So
c;stv Assuming their guilt to nave
heen proved. the question inmedisseIy
s.rts up and looks up In the eye:
"Wh,t caused those men 70 commi'
those crimesf" And the answer
comes: The grinding tyranny OF 'ne
.osI rinsl Drive q rat into corner sno
be will fsht. Drive your seris 70 aes-
nsrs,ion, you grinding monoPoisS
ch.in them in enforced idleness half the
yssr and lash them with the wnip o.
hunger 70 work q, semi-starvstion wage,
semi starvation for themselves sno
,hs;r little ones-the other hall, ana IN
their desperation they will some %! &
nounce upon you and destroy you, "a ~
p,.;nIinr tyranny Of the coal ring, IN.
iigh,ened public opinion hAa aifesa, @ y
come 20 this conclusion, and reaction .
.vmes,hy-no, for criminals. but ior .as
victims Of . mean oppressioa-s sirea'