The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1911-12-03

the railroads. did not have a chance 10
send warning to the home ONCE Of the
plot, so struck on the idea of trying to
talk the Mollies out of the plan, telling
them was sure it was a scheme on the
part Of the police to catch rs at work.
This idea had not occurred to the men,
and it gave me q chance to show how
loyal / was and how much thought OF
their safety. I made lot Of my friends
among the Mollies stancher in their
friendship for me by suggesting we keep
of this work.
Were all murders planned alike?' he
was asked.
"Ot course. there were no two murders
planned exactly alike" he answered, 'but
perhaps the story Of Daniel Dougherty
will give some idea of the lack Of feeling
and the cruel manner in which a murder
was planned.
ION October 81. 1874. FIRE occurred n
Mahanoy City. In the excitement a num-
Der of fights started. and George Major,
Chief Burgess of Mahanoy City, was shot
and killed, while several Mollies were
wounded
Daniel Dougherty was arrested for
the murder of Major His trial was sen
sationaL six men declaring they had seen
him fire the shot that had killed Major.
Dougherty had been shot in the face
during the fight, but the bullet had never
been removed. His attorney was con-
WINGED that Dan was not guilty of the
murder. and had been gathering evil
dence that seemed to show he was not
guilty.
1T was a painful operation, but Dams
attorney told him II he would have the
bullet cut out of his face in the course
of the trial he was sure it could be
shown that It was Of the same calibre
as the one that killed Major. 1t had
been proven that Dougherty had differ
ent sized weapon from the one that had
been used in killing Major. The opera
ton was performed and Dougherty was
acquitted.
"a company of men calling themselves
the 'Modocs' had been committing a lot
of crimes, and they were jealous of the
reputa ton of the Mollies. Dougherty was
a Molly. and it was the Modocs who
had sworn he had fred the shot that
killed Major. Later 1 obtained a con-
fession from John Mccain that he had
committed the murder.
The acquittal of Dougherty was the
signal for a number of attempts to kill
him. He was told time and again that if
he did not leave the State he would be
killed. He went to Jack Kehoe and laid
the matter before him. Kehoe wanted to
know in his opinion what could be done.
well, If we kill W. NJ. Thomas and
William and Jess" Major guess it will
have a good effect, and I won't be
bothered any more Dougherty explained.
al think you are right and 1 will call
/ meeting to discuss the plans agreed
Kehoe.
81 was asked to go to Mahanoy City to
investigate the situation and report to the
Meeting. l found matters in a very criti- |
al state for law and order, and there was
very indication that the Mollies had
light on their hands from a rival band.
Michael O'Brien said he did not think
t would be much of job to kill few Of
he Modocs, and he thought that six men |
would be plenty to kill Thomas and the
TWO Major boys. His idea was to arm |
he six men with shotguns and pick of |
the three victims as they walked the |
streets
This will save a lot of time and |
bother he argued. But Kehoe thought it |