The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1877-07-11
The Undismayed MoIIies.

Inc Unuhs1noy e0 Moiites.
MAUcH CHUNK, July 5.-On tn
23d ult, wrote you from here tina
there was reason to expect further vic
lencc and more murders from the Mo-
ly Mcguire organization. The orde
has been the terror of law-abiding cit
liens for a score Of years, but whcl
ten prominent members of it were sen
fenced to be hanged on the same day
and wheD all attempts to procure par
don for them had failed, many per
sons, even among those who were fam
iliar with the outside history Of thu
order, believed that it had received
its death blow. To the careful obser
yer, however, there were evident signl
Of further trouble and when at ths
wakes over the bodies of the deaC
men there were wild threats of muir
der in the very doorway of the jai
there were defiant members of the or
der who openly swore to have ven
geance /; when the lodge meetings o.
the order were stately held and no
prominent Molly was known to have
ahjured bis obligations, there was
good reason for supposing that even
the terrible vindication of the law OF
June 2lst would not wholly end the
~lawlessness.
Events recorded ia the fles of the
World ia outline have proved that
this supposition was correct. Three
men obnoxious to the Molly Maguires
have disappeared, aud three others
are known to have been murdered.
IL is true that the scenes of former
years, when men were killed deliber.
ately ia broad daylight in the pres
ence of witnesses, by men who were
known to the witnesses, have not
been repeated, but the ordes, though
more cautious, is as dangerous as ev-
er. The mere fact of six murders
having been committed-supposing
that the three lost mel were killed
does not, it is true, prove that Molly
Maguires did the work, but wher a
number of breakers" are set on fire
in a single night, as happened last Sat
urday, and when anumber of persons
who have incurred the hatred of the
Mollies received the old-time notices
to prepare for death, it is impossible
10 disconnect the circumstances.
William O'Connor, whose body
was found on the very day | wrote
you on the railroad track near White
Haven. anu John Grady, who was
killed near the same place at the
same time, were both obnoxious to
the Molly Maguires, O'Connor be-
cause be had denounced their MUIR
ders, aud Grady because be was one
Of the miners who refused to ioin
them. No other cause is known for
which they we're likely to have been
killed, and as men have been killed
for exactly these reasons for years
past, it is assumed here that the Mol
lies committed these crimes. Only
three days afterward there was an
alteration in Nanticoke between q
party Of miners aud another party
known to be Molly Maguires. Some
OF the men had been drinking, and
words led to blows, fisticuffs to the
use Of clubs and stones, and Martin
Mcintyre vas hurt so badly that he
died next morning. / do Dot know
that the question of blame for the
quarrel has been settled judicially
bu. | do know that in the minds of
the citizens here the affair is looked
upon as one more addition to the
long list of Molly ,.Maguire murders,
and the logic, if u little crude seems
correct enough.
The three men who have disap-
p~eared-McAugh, the former, James
McDermott and Michael O'Brien-
were all witnesses for the prosecu-
ton 10 the trials of the Mollies who
were hanged, aud are three of the very
men whose murder was openly
threatened by Mrs Campbell, who is
one Of the leading spirits in the or
der, and who siace her husband was
hanged has had more influence than
And the people here are SC
accustomed to learn that men have
disappeared after they have been
threatened by Mollie Maguires that
they have come to think the one is q
consequence of the other.
The idea maintained by some peo-
pie at q distance from the scene Of
these murders-notably by writer's
in ore of the New York papers
that they are the outgrowsh Of the
eternal fight between labor and cap
i,al, is laughed at here. And as an
illustration Of this is only neces-
sary to point to The fact that about
hundred men in the neigh
borhood Of Mahanoy City struck
work a few days since. thinking
that the coal aud iron companies
were about to reduce wages from 10
to 20 per cent. Finding that this
not 50, they decided to resume
work; but while they were ''out" no
one expected to hear Of murders by
the strikers. certainly not of the
murder of any one who should speak
in depreciation of the strike. But if
one-teDth as many Mollies had been
together aDv where the citizens
would have judged from their expert
ence that some one would be killed in
q cowardly way.
The miners, as a class, though
they are. many Of them, out of work
and almost in a starving condition,
are a law-abidipg set. They are dis
posed {, resis. any further reduction
OF their pay, for even when they
work full time at the present rates they
are barely able to keep their fami-
lies alive. But they are peaeeable,
and the citIzens do not fear them. So
far from being connected with Molly