The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1877-06-28

ofTanse to man named Duffy, who had
heen arrested some time before. The dl-
vision to which Mcclellan and Boyle be-
longed was called on to furnish assasslns
and did 80, and in returns Dntys qiyl'
sion undertook the work OF killing John
p. Jones, the Lansford mine boss, VINO
had discharged Mcclellan, ana 30 IN
Cured the latter's enmity, and the con-
tract was faithfully performed.
Such was McParlan's testimony lts
truthfulness as regards the practices OF
the Molly Maguires throughout the coal
regions was proved by corroboratiye tes'
timony, and the confessions OF the MOI
lies themselves.
The First Notable Murder.
This was in Carbon county, on the l4th
of June, 1852 At Audenreid, on that
day. Frank w. Langdon, ticket boss OF
the Honeybrook Coal Company, was
brutally murdered on the public streets,
on his way home from public meeting
His ass assination was observed by some
of the citizens of the place, and his cries
for help heard by many, but in such
terror were the people that no man was
brave enough to go to the assistance
of the diving man. The murders were
we'll known, but some time elapsed be-
fore the authorities could summon sur
ficient courage to arrest them, AT last
the attempt was made and two or three
of the men were lodged ia Jail at Mauch
Chunk. At a habeas corpus hearing that
was granted them, the Commemorative
witnesses broke down and the prisoners
were released. Fifteen years passed by
and Langdon was yet unayenged, but
last year during the crusade against the
Molies, the authorities ofthe county sue,
Ceed in arresting John Kehoe, Nell
Dougherty, John Campbell and others,
charged with the murder Of the past
Jack Kehoe was convicted of the murder
ofLangdon and sentenced to be hung on
the 10th of April last, by Judge Pershing
of SChuylkill county. Dougherty and
Campbell were convicted of murder in
second degree for completely with kehoe,
and are now in the Penitentiary. Kehoe,
who was the sixteenth Mollie sentenced
to be hung, has his case now before the
Supreme Court, and it will be argued in
Pittsburgh at the fall term. He is a
leader Of the Mollies, and negotiated in
1875 with prominent Republican politi-
clans to throw the vote of the order for
Hartranft for Governor and against Judge
Pershing. For doing this he got thou
sand dollars and pardons for some OF his
friends.
In Schuylkill County.
The murder of Langdon was but one Of
many that Mortified the residents of the
coal regions years ago, lut at last the
"Buckshots" became so unbearably blood
thirsty as to frighten some of their own
number, who left the State. Schuylkill
county became the theatre Of crime but
here the murdeTers of the coal region
were known as "Molly Maguires," a
name that will never be forgotten by the
people of the State. The crimes COM
mitted by the society in that county are
numberess. In 1868 the society aggre-
gated about 200, scattered among three
or four divisions, as their lodges were
called, but this small body of men terro'
rized the entire county Murder after
murder was committed and no arrests
were made; men suddenly disappeared
and were never seen or heard Of again;
breakers were burned and hundreds Of
thousands of dollars worth of property
was destroyed, and the upshot of such
state of affairs was that capital refused to
invest in region where neither life nor
property was safe from the hand of the
assassin and robbery. The knife, pistol
and torch We'd with each other in the
race for ascendancy, and everywhere the
"Molly Maguires" were triumphant. Dur
ing the year 1873 and 1874 many crimes
of heinous character were committed
by the order, but none of the perpetra-
tors were brought to justice. In 1875,
what is known as the "long strike" by
which the mining of coal in the Schuyl-
kill region was entirely suspended, oc-
cured Riots followed Of so destructive
a character to life and property that the
military were stationed by the Governor
at various points in the anthracite region.
In July of1S75, the miners concluded to
accept the reduction of wages and the |
troops were withdrawn. This did not |
suit the views of the "Mollies" While |
anarchy reigned there was magnificent |
opportunity for the commission of crime;
bnt with the return of peace and work |
murder was attended with some risk.
However risk was something never taken |
into consideration by these men, as the |
law was considered by them to be power
less and the "Mollies" invincible.
The Powell Murde..
1t was for this crime John Donahue the |
fourth of the Carbon county murderers
was hung at Mauch Chunk. In the sum
mer of 1871 Alexander Campbell applied
to Morgan Powell, boss near Mauch
Chunk, for work in the mines. He was
refused and Campbell became very angry.
At meeting of the Summit Hill Division
of the Mollie Maguires, Campbell deman-
ded that Powell be killed. 1t happened
that Just at this time Thomas P. Fisher
had grudge against John P. Jones, and
he amended Campbelps proposition by
moving that Jones be killed first. Fisher
carried his point. Campbell secured the
leadership and determined to have his
man dealt with first, and accordingly he
sent word to "Yellow Jack" Donahue, at
Tuscarora, to select men to do the job.
Donahue was nothing 10th and under
took to superintend it himself. He Sc
lected his brother, Matthew Donahue,
Charles Mulhearn, Patrick 0'Donnell,
Patrick McKenna and John Malloy to
accompany him. The last two came to
the rendezvous at Tamaqua too late, and
the others started without them. 0'Don-
nell and Mallow were afterwards fined S.
each for absence. 1t was on the afternoon
of the 2nd of December, 1872, that the
three murderers started on their errand.
While waiting in the street Powell's char
acter was discussed, and Campbell assert.
ed that he would not give an Irishman
any show for work. While they were
talking Powell came out from the store to
return to his home in Lansford Csubse-
quently noted as the scene of the murder
Of Powell's successor, John P. jones' and
Immediately yellow Jack" Donahue
stepped forward and levelling his pistol
at him, fired. The first cap failed to ex-
plode. The assassin cooked the weapon
again, and this time shot his victim
through the body. Powell exclaiming
nMv God Pm shotw fell and tho assas-