The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1877-05-12
Jud dgmeut Affirmed.

lno supreme COURT on NonuaN anImeu INC
Judgment OF the court Of SchuyllSill county in {
the cases Of Uuph McGeehan. James Boyle.
- ,,.,...Is -. C,,, ,,,,, a.
James Roarity ana James Carroll, Mollie Ma
guires. sentenced to be hanged for the murder |
Of Beninmin r. Yost. n Tamaoun policeman. on
., o,J, - -. 90 an -, aia, ,o,i.,o,
the otn oi Ju'y' 1870 ihe courb uiso ueOIueu
against Alexander Campbell convicted and
septorcod 20 IA I,or,,od in ,,orbor co,,nt,, to,
sOH'oh'oN W 70 h"nEou 1" c"IDuh oOunU'' i''
completely in the murder of John p. Jones,
mine boss with Kelley DOYLE md Ketrlrnn
c,op,nre,,,s c,se "a ,vere tbose NJ tho nnrdar
CuihpOel' case us "eIe 'hose oI 'ne muruer'
erS Of YOst, was taken to the Supreme court on
assignments of error the principal one of which
-, A., ,,..,.,.,, d. , a.. ,,,;oi, - A.. ,.,,o.
was Vho "umiss'oh ~ 'uo .il"ls VI Uho oN"ohoo
of James McParane, Mollie detective, and
ri,np,,, Iyorriron tho canadian 1,ba corrt do
'ii'it nv, e'" 'io ~ ~ ~ W.
clued Jhat the eVuence was necessary ana ptO
per to enlighten the jury upon the Circumstance
GO ~ - -, = .l-Isi - - - -
planned the IMPOSES ana pracuGes OF tine Mollie
Mcguire order.
orInIo,s or cu,Vv 1r1sr,cp AoNpvv
VI 49, 49, " -. .,,e4 :, ',
judge AgneW' III the oplnlon uellVered IN me
Molhe Mcguire cases decided on Mouday, saws
the authority OF the lower court was not Illegal
" exercised III aIJouFfnhg court from uay 70
dOY after tne expiration OF tne term, as nad
been stated IN the assl5hmeht OF error, ana that
It wac lully competent LOr the SSnuYlklll dis
trict to hold Two courts OF over apq termlner at
the same time. After d!sposi1g OF these otjec
tons TO the action OF the lower court Judge Ag-
new proceeds as follows:
We come to the exceptions taxen in the trial.
On tho morning of the 9Th of July 1870, ABOUT =
oelocI, Benlamn f. 1'st was shot hy Two men
whit he was IN the actJt extlngmshlng lamp
IN the borough OF Ianaqua SchuYlkl count
Hugh M'Gehan anu Jas, BoYle tho men shown
TO nave shOt MN, leslueu NJ summit Hlll. ABOUT
| eight miles distant ana were strangers TO him
| NO motive such as ordinarily influences men to
| commit so great crime was SHOWN 10 exist on
| their part. They We're neither insane norm.
tOMcnteu So thnt u might De ln1eireu lnqt Jhe
| MURDER was Wllnouu & ~ utuinasI t NY , IhOlye OF
| doue by persons uncOncl0us Ot the wlcRedness
| OF che act. without moving cause the klinng
| was so unreasoqaO.e ana SO contrary 10 human
| oDSerVltlOn upon una COlnmlsslOh OF great
| crimes that the case would have been barren OF
| those elements Wmcn leAu the mlnu 10 cOnVlc.
| ton OF the guilt OF persons VINO were not ecOg
| nized at the time OF the act ami against whom
the evid' nee would nave been altogether Cir.
cumstant,al. Under these circumstances q Jury
| Oners MGehan ana Boyle ami would Ind moth
ing satisfactory 10 act upon for the convection
of James Carroll ana JOhn Hoarlty, the prison
| erS lndiCte Jointly Win them, Dqt who WEI
not present at the commission Of the homicide.
| That the evidence Us Piven convicts all OF the
murder is beYonu reasonable doubt yet thus
| certainty OF tho proof was TO be solved DY facts
more strange ana unnatural ana horrible than
ever disclosed hitherto In the annals OF crime in
this country; facts which nothing but the clear
est evidence could compel us to believe. The
leadinR feature OF tins singular case is the eXls-
tence OF an order or band OF men having ITS heau
in Ireland, extending into the United STATES
and spread by ramlhcation throughout the coal
regions OF Pennsylvania,-each MINOR division,
governed by 00uy-master OF ltS own locality,
| TO whom the secret passwords slsns and tokens
of recognition called goods are transmitted
through descending GRADE OF oticers from the
head Of the ORDER to the body.masters and by
them distributed 10 the members. When wo
are informed that these men traded in blood,
tuking life tor life by compact. burned houses
mills, bre1kers ana valuable structures at the
instance OF each other, and banded together bv
means of concea aiment, money and perjury TO
shield each other from punishment cur incred-
ulity is 30 excited we would iail to believe
tale from the mere months Of Two or three WIT.
nesses and nothing less than facts cleail " and
| fully proved could command our Dellet. these
tho commonwealth undertook TO. prove ana
strange as 1T may seem proved beyond the pos
slbiity Of doubt. Tne chief witnesses by
whom the organization called the Ancient Or,
der Of nlDernlans, out more community KNOWN
is tao MOlIie Maguires, was shown to exist and
its purposes, practices, passwords and signs
gwen were James kerflEhn, Il member OF the
oder and party to the Killing of one John |.
Jones. III return FOR the killing OF Benjamin Il.
YOst, and James M'Farlan, a detecuve who
2 procured himself to be admitted member OF
the order lOr Jle purpose Ot obtaining IT'S secrets
and frustrating It's ueslgus Standing aOno tbe
testimony of keIrlgan would be worthless and
even M'Parlans, without cOntOrmat on, would
, be weak and perhaps unc0nVlnclng; Hence the
y commonwealth telt tine necessity OF SUSTAINING
tho nalfauves oi tnese witnesses DY "a loh 8
murder of YUst ana running down TO the subse-
. | quent killing OF Jones by way OF urn, These
3 circumstances constituted cnaln Of evidence
y branching out Tor the proof Of two ulstlLct yet
y completely connected matters one primarily
fer 10 luent teal ION Of the prisoners, M'Gehan
y and BOY lie, by whom the muruer OF YOst was
u committed, the other seCOndarly Tor the proof
- OF the causes and motives for the commission Of
! the act and the prl lty OF Carroll auu ROaTitY
Y as accessories before the fact and liable IheIe
= tore principals under the 18th section of the
CRIMINAL code of March 81, 1870. 44th section
h criminal PROCEDURE act The chain OF clrcum.
# stances was therefore double, having two fold
relation to the case which made the occurrences
, after the murder competent evidence The
l. facts which proved the existence, purposes aud
ID practices OF the order known as the Molly Ma.
Is gun es, as means of exhibiting the causes and
a motives tending co he murer OF YOst and the
Is part tDaiiOn OF Carroll and ROaIity with M >
10 Gehtn and Boyle iii the execution oil the deed
n were not necessarily all antecedent. Some
Ia We're; otners were not, but by cOnfe sOns and
direct links were traceaOle TO those having d
- pilur existence Hence the evidence OF these
II subsequent events, whi G having no direct bear
ing ON the idenltiuAIiOn OF M'Genan aud Boyle
- as the 8Ctual perpetrators of The murueT had d
ttrOng ana pertinent bearing uDOn the caUses
anu mOUlves operating upon them in tine per
| petTatiOu of he crime aud upon the connection
OF Carroll and hOadty with them as part cI
pants III thclr gult rhus the enure body of the
| evidence btUIme necessary TO show the con
spiracy which linked ali the prisoners together
20 show Ihad they were co OlsIuered on tie most
intimate rc,atIOns and in common purpose
| that their subsequent conduct aud confession,
II were thereby connected and made competent
10 | AGAINST each other and that ali Iheir cOmDlna
u tons aud purposes led Directly TO the cOmms 5
"a sion OF another murder, Jnat OF Jones' tine Ie
81 tu u puce of the killing OF NOst, wLlch became
OF linked to each other, as part Cf the evidence
~ eXhiultinS the nature aud en-, CT Of the cOmUi
a. mutton leading 60 the killing or YOst. Ih,
er WlOtp naI WOIE OF The evidence gOAlDlicl AZ