The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1877-06-22
a Terrible Expiation and . Double
Warning.


The execution of eleven men in the min
ing district of Pennsylvania on the same
day and for q common crime is SO terrible
an instance Of the vengeance OF offended
law that it might well horrify the COM
munity but for the fact that the revolving
character of the offence for which the victims
suffered death demanded and justified the
fearful example. 1t is startling to think
that within comparatively short distance
of each other eleven strong, vigorous men,
in the prime of life and the flush Of
health, were yesterday launched into eter-
nifty by the awful sentence of the law.
The thousands who assembled to wit
ness the tragedy at Pottsville, where six Of
the unfortunate wretches paid the penalty
of their crime, must have turned heart
sick at the Wholesale slaughter. At
Mauch Chunk, where four were exc
cuted together, the sight could be no
less appalling and even at Wilkes
barre, where single culprit walked to the
scaffold, the recollection Of the scenes that
were ut the same moment being enacted
near by must have made the solitary exc
cution more than ordinarily impressive.
Fortunately the proceedings were con-
Quoted quietly. and except that the necks
of O portion of the doomed men were not
broken, leaving them to die by the slow
process of strangulation, there was
a gratifying absence of those revolving
sufferings which so frequently attend ex-
ecutions. The work was terrible, but it
was effectively done, and the authorities
acquitted themselves we'll in their trying
duties. While the whole community felt
and acknowledged the necessity of the
lesson no person desired to see it accom-
panied by horrors other than those
inseparable from it. The demeanor of the
men as they stood on the brink Of eternity
was also fortunate. They displayed neither
the abject terror which increases the pain
fulness of an execution nor the bravado
which makes such a sight addition
ally revolving. Each one met death
with frmness. It is proof of the
fatal character Of the illusion or error to
which their lives were sacrificed that not
one of the eleven betrayed the secrets Of the
organization to which they all belonged.
They went to their graves with sealed lips
Except in single instance there came
from them not even protestation
of innocence or an admission OF
guilt. Although they sought the benefit
of prayer and uttered appeals for
forgiveness with their last breath they evil
IDENTIFY deemed it not necessity Of confess
sion to betray their associates in wicked
and merciless organization. Must not this
be regarded as proof of the earnestness
of their belief. however erroneous, that they
had been wrongly dealt with by those
against whom their vengeance was directed?
The Molly Maguires are now, indeed,
almost as great a mystery as ever. Every
body knows the character Of the society.
but its organization, its secrets, its MEM
bers, it's modes of proceeding, are
still hidden from the world. The
hardships to which the toilers in
the mines have been subjected caused
the formation of those unions among them
which exist in other callings. The union
men were Of course bound to demand union
wages and not to work for less, and if out
RACES on those outsiders who might be
found to take their places followed it was no
more than is sometimes witnessed in the
city of New York when a strike occurs
in any trade. But the miners are
rough race, and when it was found that
strikes only kept the men out Of work, that
the unions were not rich enough to sup
port them in idleness, and that the COM
bination Of capital against which they con-
tended proved too powerful for them, some
of the more reckless among them took
n shorter and a sharper method Of redress
ing their supposed wrongs. Murder was
resorted to, not only rs q means of VEN
geance, but in the expectation that
the terror inspired by the crime
would compel more generous treatment
of the avengers Crime increases in
enormity as the criminal becomes familiar
with its face, and soon the occasional MUIR
der of some recognized or supposed OPP
pressor was supplanted by regularly or
ganized system Of assassination. Men
Objectionable for any reason to Molly
Mcguire were doomed to death, and Mollies
were found in plenty ready to take
their share in the murder. Assassination is
cowardly and revolving crime. No person
is safe against the dastardly assassin's
weapon. Men in the ordinary pursuit Of
their business or pleasures were shot down
and their dead bodies carried into the pres
ence OF loving wives, children and parents,
who had seen them depart, perhaps, only a
few brief minutes before, full Of life and
health. 1t is not surprising that, in addi-
ton to the terror occasioned by repeated
murders mysteriously committed, and for a
time appearing to defy detection, q