The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1877-06-26
The Hanging OF the Molly Ma
guircS-'rhe Way they Met their

From the sp.!nshsld Republican.
The hanging Of the convicted Molly
Mcguire assaSsinS in the Pennsylvania
mining country contributes a considera.
bic chapter 10 the world.book Of psyche.
logical puzzles, So wholesale an exeeu.
ton rarely occurs as this-ior, though
divided between three towns, it was es-
sentially one execution-in which eleven
men, Joined in great conspiracy Of crime,
met common doom. Six men at Potts
vile, four at Mauch Chunk, and one at
WilEesbarre, each OF them proved
murderer, went to death without finch.
ing and without confessing. What can
be the secret OF this strange sustainment?
for it is by no means exceptional-the
acknowledgment Of their guilt and the
laws Justice is the exception with such
criminals.
The dispatches concerning the last
hours aud the final scenes show that
there was one special characteristic in
the last words Of several Of the Molly
Maguires. As We have observed, none
confessed TO the murder Of which he was
convicted; few we're to the last unmov-
ed BY anything except the natural alice
ton toward their kindred and families,
with whom their partings were pathetic;
coarse animals though they seemed, they
had no appetitits for their last earthly
breakfasts; but some had devoted their
final days TO religious matters, and had
learned TO pray and read the Bible.
These aforementioned did not assert
their innocence, as their harder fellows
did, upon the scaiIold. One, Mcclellan,
noticed as wearing the demeanor Of a sim
cere penitcnt; asked the forgiveness OF
his iellowmen for what wrong he had
done, hoped that God wo1ld forgive him,
and said that he would say nothing about
his guilt or innocence; he died with the
prayers "Christ have mercyr "Lord
have mercy" upon his lips. Boyle also
took pains to state that he had nothing
to say as 10 whether he was guilty or in.
nocent; he forgave those who brought
him TO the gallows. and hoped they would
forgive him. The consciousness OF the
oath they had taken, it seems 10 US, alone
stood between these darkened souls and
the relief Of confession.
A writer in the Chicago Timts has late.
~ collected in a very curious way the re.
cords OF 81 instances Of the death penalty
that had occurred in this country during
this year. Every man OF the 81 died
game" as these Molly Msguires did.
Sixteen Of them were colored, and one
Chinese, and the white race had no supe-
riority ofnerve or temper. The most re.
markable man Of the lot was Missis-
siPpi negro, who had killed his wife. He
declined the counsels or presence Of a
minister, saying it was an affair between
him and his God; he was anxious to atone
for his deed, mounted the gallows with
composure, and refused 10 have the cap
before his face, saying that be wanted no
screen between him and his doom.
There were very few, however, who,
like this man, allowed that they Justly
met their death, and the worst Of them
were the most brazen in their assertions
OF innocence. Among these lamb.like
sacrifices was a nan who had poisoned
young wife to enjoy her sister; one who
beat out a friends brains at the instiga.
ton OF the friends wife; one who muir
dered his daughter; and Georgia Hpoor
white" who had committed murder TO
cover adultery, and who suffered much
mental agony as to the reality Of his con.
version while in prison. This is an
incomprehensible feature OF crime; for
what, at the brink Of the unknown eter-
nifty, can induce man to take useless
lie upon his tongue?
Both those who protested their limo
cence and those who confessed were
equally given to expressing their faith in
God and their hope in his mercy. We
cannot blame the efforts that are made 10
induce in criminals on the edge Of death
a sense Of religious requirement and feel.
ing, but it is no tribute to the power Of
religion or the faithfulness its teachers
in these cases that they are wont 10 fail
so utterly to awaken the least sense Of
humility or sign Of repentance. These
murderers, many OF them, faced their fell
lows for the last time with an air Of
righteous bravado hideously offensive. 1t
was to several Of them, apparently, the
triumphant moment Of their lives, and
they bore the air OF feeling themselves
already privileged citizens Of heaven.
EavOrite phrases were: "My way is
clear to glory" am 4 soldier Of the
cross - al am in the arms Of Jesus ~
Clergymen strangely mistake their duty
who lend themselves to such blasphemOus
travestes.