Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1877-06-27
After the Hanging.

The contest of law with lawlessness in
PENNSYLVANIA is of more than local in.
terest from the fact that it is the first
instance in our history in which our
system Of protection for the citizen
has been brought into direct conflict
with large and we'll organized con-
spiracy against public order and prl-
vate security. Up TO this point our
institutions have triumphed, and it Is
with the greatest interest that snbse-
quent developments are watched to
observe the effect of this vindicatlon
Of the law upon the condition of SO
clety in the troubled districts. 1t is at
the first very evident that the organi
cation has not lost its vitality by this
defeat. The hanging of eleven con-
victed murderers has not deferred
others of their associates from repeat
ing the crime tor which their comrades
died. The wakes held over the bodies
ofthese men have been made the occa-
sion of taking VOWS Of vengeance, and
by overt acts as well as by secret
meetings the Molly Maguires have
shown their disposition to carry on
the bloody and unequal fight with the
forces Of society and government.
Since the execution, Oh Thursday OF
last week, two murders have been
committed, both of notfensiye men,
one of whom was q non-union miner.
McHugh, one Of the Mollys who
turned States evidence, has fled for
his life. McDermott and O'Brien,
two other witnesses, have disappeared.
"Cofin notices." threatening death,
have oeen freely posted on the doors
of obnoxious men; and 4 constant
guard, night and day, is considered
necessary for the safety Of mine SUI
perintendents and others who may
have fallen under the condemnation of
the oruer of assassins.
1t is impossible for this state OF
things to continue. Having gone SO
far in the work of crushing the con-
spiracy, it would be an acknowledg,
ment Of ignominious defeat to rest
with the hanging OF few murderers
and leave the machinery Of crime in
full operation. But while there is no
question as to the imperative necessity
of making an end of Molly Mcguire
ism, it may be asked, with consider
able reason, whether the condition Of
society in the mining districts will not
inevitably breed this sort of unholy
combination, no matter how frequent.
]y it may be purified by fire. The
life and condition of a coal miner are
degrading and brutalizing to the last
degree. His labor is unnatural, nc
opportunity OF lettering his condition
is ever possible, and he can look for
ward to nothing better for his chill
dren. Below the surface Of the earth
he works in Crime and darkness
above it he herds with his fellows in
miserable novels. He has no pleasure
except drinking and quarrelling nc
education except in conspiracy ano
plots. 1t is only natural that sucl
men, kept by circumstances in life
lower than that of brutes, should come
to hate their superiors with an unrea
soning hatred, and seek to right any
supposed injuries with the bludgeor
and pistol. To change the nature o
this class of men, it is plainly neces
sary to change the conditions undeI
which they live: and to accomplish
such change would be greater tri
umph than to bring the whole inta
NOUS order to the gallows. Presi
dent Gowen has just come out success
full from a contest with a more intelli
gent trades-union, the Brotherhood O
Locomotive Engineers, by offering ad
vantages equal to those which tn
Brotherhood guaranteed. Is it i'm
possible to apply the same principle
to the betterment of the condition O
the degraded miners of Pennsylvania
and thus obliterate the Molly Ma
CURES by educating outlaws to becom
citizens ?-Boston Post.
Moody and Sankey are to begin
new revival at Baltimore about Sep
TENDER Isl, to last q month, and,
successful, longer. Atterward, tn