Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1877-06-27
The Execution in Pennsylvania.

The extraordinary spectacle was
witnessed last Thursday in Pennsyl-
vania of the execution at Pottsville, il
that State, Of six of the murderers
known as Molly Maguires; at Mauc
Chunk of four others, and at Wilkes
barre of one of the same band ofmar
slayers, whose atrocities, as stated by
q Northern journal, have for fourteen
years made ''human life as uncertain in
that nominally Christian State as ever
it was in the jungles of India before ad-
vancing civilization had cleared them
Of tigers and of Thugs" There are
few States in the Union, certainly none
IN the South, against which such an
allegation could be pretended. The
fact that such men as these are of
foreign birth or foreign descent is a
startling illustration of the proposition
announced by an English historian that
in the centres of the civilization of the
old world there is barbarism among
certain classes of the community as
wild and ferscious as any among the
savage tribes of the wilderness. The
counties in which these men were
hung were adjoining, and the chief
places ofexecution about 20 miles apart.
The ''Molly Maguires" is the name
given to secret society in Pennsyl-
vania, which was organized to use
terrorism and revenge for the purpose
Of keeping down all opposition to the
rule of their adherents in the anthracite
coal regions in the matter Of mining
regulations by operators and bosses,
strikes" and the wages of labor. It
was during the periods Of dispute be-
tween the miners and their employers,
and during Or Immediately before or
after strikes that the most Of their
murderous work was done. Some of
them used the name of the Ancient
Order of Hibernians," with their signs
passwords and machinery for purposes
Of assassination. The localities IN
which they operated were chiefly the
counties of Schuylktll, Carbon and
Luzerne. Those against whom they
operated were mime bosses" who were
faithful to their employers. or mine
owners or operators who wanted to
control their mines in their own way, or
working miners or laborers who refused
to dc their biddings. Their brutal
beatings and incendiary fires were in
Vulnerable, but murder was the COM
monest of their crimes. The stoning to
death by mob Of one Longdon, a
"breaker boss" ia Carbon county, n
1862, was the first of their crimes. They
fred at obnoxious persons through
windows of bedrooms while sleeping
and while walking home, and shot one
policeman upon his beat. Their cum
ming, equal to their ferocity, was shown
IN the fact that the victims were never
beaten or killed by the men who held
grudges against them, but by strangers
detailed from divisions" in different
locality. They did their work openly
and sometimes in the presence of the
families of their victims. They even
had tariff Of prices for murder, and it
is said to be in evidence that on one
occasion division" meeting was held
in order to decide between rival
claimants for 'blood money" two men
actually claiming the sole merit Of one
murder and putting in their demands
for pay. These scenes, scarcely
equaled by the braves Of the middle
ages, occurred within four hours travel
of Philadelphia, the headquarters of
''brotherly love-" and whose journals
are more exercised than those Of any
Atlantic city upon barbarism ana out
RACES in the South. 1t is evident,
however, that those executed were
mostly very ignorant men. and were
thus, perhaps, in one sense the victims
of others, who by reason Of their I'M
fortunate condition were able to use
them for the wicked purpose of the
organization.
Although there was some quarrel
about the wages oflabor, The grudges
and revenges ofthe "Molly Maguires"
seem to have been almost purely
personal. The political power which
they attained is one Of the most curious
and significant features Of their malign
career. They were able to elect can
didates to Office from their own
murderous crew. In various counties
important local officers, commissioners
and chief Of police were MOLLY
Maguires," and one Of them came with
in few votes of being elected judge
of the very court which condemned his
confederates to be hanged last Thurs
day. The day OF reckoning has come
to them at last, and the survivors, who
are said to be plotting revenge, will
probably find that the law can no
longer be defed.-BaH. Sun.