The Morning herald., 1877-06-26

- 1900 - q -. "A ~ ~ x 10 80. s "a p,
i speaks iuisliissntly vhpnit says tl's mas
i sacre was committed by men who, If tn
Il reports are true, pretend TO be respectable
A. citizens ;
With very little effort on the part O
| the authorities these offenders could Ions
!, since have been brought to justice. Who
= 3eoumsytfed, lxbstted nd colnmittea tht
9 kiggins nsssacre has long been an sper
Lseereti sy A
. yIf tksvbe true, why have notths perpe'
fratorso Of theWiggans and other outrages
whom Mr.. Gowen styles "any Others, :
, been brought 10 ipstice?- Has a'McParlan
, been sent among them, whose testimony
] when it comes will be conclusive? Is the
Il evidence against them considered Insult :
II cient to overcome the suborned testimony
} Of "those who pretend TO be respectable
citizens~ Since the community at large
has had SO little denpncia.ion to spare on
that crime, doeslthe District Attorney be-
lieve that there is not enough love of JUS
tice- of even handed justice-left in Schuyl-
kill county to secure their conviction, no
matter'how strong the evidence against
them? m t4 & II, s4 (
| To be consistent, those that condemn
Molly outrages must as vigorously decry,
and as severely punish the Wiggans mas
sacre, and other outrages. I =. 81, !
The failure to meet out prompt, impar-
tial justice in Schuylkill county has. been
no small element Of bad feeling and DISC
der. Let case in point be taken. For an
attempt to murder William NJ. Thomas
and for conspiracy to murder the Majors
eight men were tried, convicted, and sen
,enced to an aggregate imprisonment Of
sevepty-seyen years ekthercsdof their
conviction proves that VIM. M. Thomas,
and the Majors, were the aggressors,
cosrted and provoked the attacks and con.
spiracy for which these eight men were
convicted. .ua lLr ~1 4
Daniel Dougherty was, by. change Of
venue, tried and acquitted at Lebanon.
(The testimony of McParlan subsequently
exonerated Dougherty from any par.icipa-
tion whatever in the lnurder.) William NJ.
Thomas, alias Bully Bill, notorious rough
was used ,by the respectable citizens of
Mahony City to intimidate, by prodigal
display and Use Of pistols, other roughs.
The Majors and Others did not acquiesce
in the aeqnittal Of Dougher,y. Several
unsuccessful attempts were made to assas-
sinate Dougherty, and as. it was not the
custom to expect, much les-~tolook 10 The
law for protection, D,ugherty took mea.
sures to protect himself. McParlan testl-
fed: "He Dougherty) showed us one or
two bullet holes in Ills coat, near the
and stated he believed jesse Ma.
jor was the man that shot him, and s4atsd
That he. had come to the conclusion the
Majors were going to kill him anyhow,
and he thought if the Majors, and Bully
Bill we're put out of the way. he would
have peace"
In this testimony McParlan may be said
o have made information against VIM. M.
Thomas, and Jesse Major, in open court,
before Judge Walker, Mr.. Karah, the
District Attorney, and even before Mr..
iowen, Himself With one tenth part of
his information ns;nuated against aMolly,
Mr.. Gowen would have had him in prison
IN twenty-four hours. The conspiracy ana
attempt to kill, that were allowed to 60
unnoticed and unpunished, We're as wicked,
deliberate, cowardIy as the one Mr.. Gowen
expended his rhetoric upon, and which re-
ceived penalty Of seventy seven years
In order to make out cases
against one class, immunity was granted
to the very worst class of criminals. Why
was not the same system pursued in order /
to punish criminals Of the other class who
were guilty Of similar offences?
This is not intended in any way to
palliate the murders Of the Mollies, but to
quicken public investigation into the cause
Of the murders, and to aid in making the
country ring,with the partiality and injus-
tice Of the Schuylkill and Carbon county
authorities. We remember defending as
assossiateC Counselwi hFranklin B. Gowen, an
Irishman named Hurbert Riddle, for mur
der and was amazed that upon the whole
napa) of iurors solecfed hy tho Jvr, C,