Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1900-12-20
LED THE MURDERERS
DEATH OF MICHAEL r. LAWLoR
RECALLS MoLLlE MAGUlRES.
REIGN OF TERROR
Pinkerton Records and Colonel Rend
Tell of Killing of Innocent Men in
Pennsylvania by the cruellest OF
Assassins This Country Has
Known.

Known.
BY the death a few days ago in Phil
adelphia of Michael F. Lawlor, one Of
the leaders of the infamous Mollie
Maguires, the reign of terror that
Ipainted with blood the pages of the his
tory of Pennsylvania in the early '70s
is recalled. Many of the Chicago coal
dealers and not few others suffered
financially because of the rule of the
murderous order, and everyone who re-
members those days recalls also feel
ing of sympathy for the helpless vic
Tins of the Infatuated mobs that swept
from north to south and east to west
all over the State of Pennsylvania,
killing or beating down all who OPP
posed them or tried to support their
families by honest labor in the mines.
Michael Lawlor was master of the
division of Shenandoah. "Muf" Law
Tor he was called, and he was one of
the most popular men in the Schuyl-
kill mining region. His acquaintance
was one of the first cultivated by James
Mcfarland, the Pinkerton detective
practically caused the downfall of the
society. Jan. q, 1874, Mcfarland was
introduced to Lawlor in his Shenan-
doah home by big Pat" Dormer. He
became fast friend of Mcfarland, or
"McKenna," as he knew him, and it
was at "Muff" LawloT's house that
MCFARLAND was initiated into the
mysteries of Mollie MAGNETISM.
Lawlor had great power in his day,
and Merchandising shrewd, clever
Northumberland use of his conf
dence. 1t was through him that he Sc
cured work in the coal mines, and it
was brawney "Muff' who lifted him
out in miners requirements. Lawlor
was finally expelled from the order,
but, true to his friendship for McPar-
land, he became a witness for the
, commonwealth and testified in the
, the trials at Pottsville which resulted
in the execution of a score or two of
the murderers and their accomplices
and the Imprisonment of many others.
Revenge the Object.
\ The Mollie Maguires was an organi-
cation of miners apparently with no
purpose other than revenge. 1t is gem
!, orally thought to have been an Anne
rican branch Of the Ancient Order of
Hibernians. Its principle occupation
was the cold-blooded murder of every
boss or foreman unfortunate enough to
incur it's displeasure Many of the
crimes committed by the members
were not even traceable to a motive as
plausible as this. Men who went into
houses disguised, and when in the
midst of families slew foreman and
marked men simply because they
had done their duty. They waylaid
lone workmen on their way TO their
homes at night and shot them down.
This state of affairs continued until it
and until James Mcfarland implicated
the leaders and they were tried and
hanged
There are many theories of the sig
nificance of the term molly Mcguire, +"
but they are of little consequence
Whatever its origin, the name was one
that came to be regarded with loathing
by every decent person in the United
States. The trouble began during the
civil war 1t Schuylkill alone, one of
the four counties which constituted the
anthracite region fifty-fve murders
were committed between 1868 ana 1866.
One of the first of these was that of a
man named Langdon,a foreman who
was found beaten to death with stones.
Soon afterward twenty-five men with
blackened faces entered the house of a
mining engineer and shot him dead at
his wife's feet. About the same time
200 Mollies visited a colliery with
which they had not the remotest con-
Germ, beat many of the wcrkmen.
flooded the mine and vowed vengeance
should it be opened again without
their consent.
Organized in ireland.
w. p. Rend of Chicago, who is IA
miliar with all the phases of the reign
of the Mollie Maguires. said that the
society was organized in Ireland to re-
dress the land tyranny Miners
throuhout the United States in those
days were united in powerful organi-
cation under the leadership of John
Seeley," said Mr. Rend "rhe lawless
and desperate element gained the as
tendency in the early 7Os. This was
true especially in the anthracite reg
ions, The Mollie Maguires was an
oathbound organization originally in
tended. no doubt. for benevolent pur-
poses and for the protection of its
members. but which developed into a
murderous gang for the purpose Of
assassinating men who incurred its en-
nifty"