Smyrna times., 1877-06-27
Who are the Molly Maguires ?

last Thursday In, pennsylvania OF the |
execution at Pottsville, in that State, of
six of the murderers known as Molly
Maguires; at Mauch Chunk of four others,
and at Wilkesbarre of one of the same band
of man slayers, whose atrocities, as stated
by 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 advanc-
ing 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 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 fero-
cious as any among the savage tribes of the
wilderness. The counties in which these
men were hung were adjoining, and the
| chief places of execution about 20 miles
part. The "Molly Maguires is the name
given to a secret society in Pennsylvania,
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.
ltwas during the periods of dispute between
the miners and their employers, and dur
ing 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 IIibernians," with
their signs, passwords and machinery for
| purposes of assassination. The localities in
which they operated were chiefly the coun-
ties of Schuylkill, Carbon and Luzerne.
Those against whom they operated were
"mine 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 do their biddngs. Their
brutal beatings and incendiary fires were
innumerable, but murder was the COM
monest of their crimes. The stoning ia
death by mob of one Langdon, a breaker
boss" in Carbon county, in 1862, was the
first of their crimes. They fired at OBJ
noxious persons through windows of bed
rooms while sleeping, and while walking
home, and shot one policeman upon hi:
beat. Their cunning, equal to their fero
city, was shown in the fact that the victims
were never beaten or killed by the mer
who held grudges against them, but by
strangers detailed from "divisions " in
different locality. They did their work
openly, and sometimes in the presence o.
the families of their victims. They ever
had tariff of prices for murder, and it il
said to be in evidence that on one occasion
| division meeting was held in order t.
/ decide between rival claimants for "blooC
E money" two men actually claiming tn
D sole merit of one murder and putting il
6 their demands for pay. These scenes
: scarcely equaled by the braves of the mid
l die ages, occurred within four hours trave
n of Philadelphia, the headquarters Q
9 " brotherly love-" and whose journals ar
: more exercised than those Of any Atlanti
# city upon barbarism and outrages in tn
e South. 1t is evident, however, that thos
t executed yesterday were mostly yer
r ignorant men, and were thus, perhaps, il
|. one sense the victims of others, who b
s reason of their unfortunate condition wer
e able to use them for the wicked purpose
a Of the organization.
n Although there was some quarrel abou
a the wages of labor, the grudges and r.
e venges of the "Molly Maguires seem t
W have been almost purely personal. TIL
d political power which they attained is on
1t of the most curious and significant feature
d of their malign career. They were able
elect candidates to office from their ow
70 murderous crew. In various counties in
a portant local officers, commissioners, an
ID chief of police were Molly Maguires," i" an
le one of them came within few votes
t. being elected judge of the very cou
ID which condemned his confederates to
id hanged yesterday The day Of reckonir
70 has come to them at last, and the sur,
Or vors, who are said to be plotting reveng
le will probably find that the law can
longer be defied.-BaLt. iSsn.