Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-12-17
TIE MOLLY MAGUIREs.
,-.srestinS Account OF Their Terri
J u5s4orv-Wher0 They Arc Now.

,-.erestinS Account og Their Terri
w. History-Whers They Arc Now.
From, tho Baltimore 4 meric1R.
,,+side of the mining regions OF Penn
,roria. Ohio and Illinois, or West Vir-
/ ,;o little is known of this organization,
.it ia safe to say thSt there is not
a 49,. examination in the United States
-. is entirely free from their deadly and
.t,io1ls influence. 1t is now nearly 20
rs since this murderous association
as 5rst set in motion, and the great riots
So with their tremendous loss of life
y ,roperty. were only one OF the cpl
q .55as in its history.
In 1868 there lived in Dunmore, Pa, a
.,Iiat. peaceable man named Sbarkey,
noso worse fault was an unfortunate
n,o for rum. In the same village a
n,an known as ''Red Biddy" kept a
WI Mace which. in the language of the
mars. was called the ''doggery." This
snrrible haunt was located on the banks
& " Roaring brook, just out Of the village,
- II was in this dive that the miners
"uS and discussed the subjects of rum
and wages.
Mcguire" She was short, stout, and
znglT. and here William Oxrider, Ashbel
1obbs. sharkey, and Patrick Kirby and
,an or twelve others organized the infa-
ms order of "MOlly Maguires." The
arbome took at once, and within six
montbs the society numbered more than
n 0OO, and extended its ramifications to
8pittsburg, Columbia, Pottsville, Scran-
Zton. Wlkesbarre, ana all the towns in
=lbat circle.
i Al first it was popular with the polit-
,isns. and at the elections of 1859 and 10
4 No man who was not "Molly Mcguire"
4 .to7d any chance of election. Oxrider,
I Hobbs. Kirby, Sharkey and Red Biddy
+ vpre prominent names in its councils,
Eond Frank d. Collins, Thomas Powderly
Z snd others were waited into Office on the
zbreezes OF that bloody cyclone of so-called
8 sbor union. Sharkey was the first man
4 draw prize in the dark lottery of
Enurder. Then came Kirby and his young
brother, John. Sharkey had a young and
lively wife and pleasant little home in
#mnmore, but he had drawn the lot to kill
4 his friend Williams, the mine boss, and he
& had no alternative except to do the deed.
Then he was a fugitive, with every mans
hand against him, till he expiated his
crime on the gallOws.
q KIRBY attempted to kill Dan Strubble, a
would not JOIN in the great strike of 1869.
Ektrouble was not killed, but has since
died. and Kirby is now in Australia on a
murder Punishment, and bis brother in
california under another name.
Lists Of names of men who did not Join
Nn these so-called "labOT unions" were
#ept, and the parties marked to die, and
among others were several who were
Heading men in mining and railroad cir
. lies. Under the influence of this afro
EEiOus espionage the value of property in
#he towns where the society was strong
sst declined One-half within two years,
E Ind not one Of the men who started in
Nhe original organization holds any place
& pl trust in the community, except OK
Rider and Powderly, and they disavOwed
& all sympathy with its operations long ago.
Thousands of men sold out in Scranton,
zWikesbarTe and POttsVille under the ban
4 of that terrible order of fanatics, and
[pall hangs over the Lackawanna and
ZWyoming valleys like that over the vale
&cf Babylon. The press has thrown flood
EOf light over M0llie Magulreism and its
kindred social evils in those once beauti-
|fu valleys: but, outside of the city of
|ScrantOn and the other commercial GEN.
Tres, the old spirit of "Red Biddy' broods
4 IN horrible supremacy.
The Mollie Maguires still hold a sway
more stern and unrelenting in Plymouth,
|MahanOy City and Dunmore than at any
|Ormer time, and only the fear Of the regi-
|nents Of militia from other parts of Penn
|Vlyania keeps them in awe. The coal
Breakers and mines contain tens OF thou
sands Of men and boys who can neither
|read nor write-and the Verplancks, the
IAcClures and other statesmen and jour-
.halists lament and moraltze in vain.
At the time of the riots Of 1877, the Mol
lie Maguires openly held the towns of
=PiitstOn, Dunmore and Scranton, in trib-
PIE for two weeks, and the adherents of
4 Red Bddy, only yielded to the friends of
aW and order when some of their leaders
were shot dead in the streets of Scranton,
|py posse, under the command OF Will
Ham w. Scranton, a brother of Joseph
A. Scranton, now in Congress, from the
z-ackawanna district.
1t would interest the believer in retri-
Eutive justice, to trace the career of the
|DunmOre gang of Mollie Maguires. One
n Them, Sharkey, died on the gallOws;
|Ashbell Hobbs is, or was, lately sot in
Pc village of Pittston. HE sons. William
PM John, one a vagabOnd, and the other
Zone, no one knows where. The two
ErbYs, outlaws, and Red Biddy dead,
Ehd her husband and family in the
4 0rhouse. One of the politicians who
Fnfted into iotoriety in that connection,
confirmed drunkard, and several of
r. merchants in Scranton who gave ma
Eera aid and comfort to the gang, are
Eead, and every one Of them that still live