Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-07-12

came INTO possession or new secrets
touching crimes Of the orders already
committed and others that were being
planned, all Of which he reported
day by day to Allen Pinkerton.
He found that each county was gov
erned by county delegate" his ter
ritory being divided into districts, or
patches" each under body mas
ter" or chief officer, who gave out
the signs and passwords to trusted
members, and ordered the execution
Of crimes that had been decided upon.
In nearly every case the body master
was the keeper Of a saloon near one
Of the shafts, slopes or drifts, and no
autocrat ever wieldei a power more
irresponsible than his over all who
came within his Jurisdiction. In order
to force the miners and workmen to
buy at his bar. which was usually run
without license, 1t was necessary for
him to control their relations with
the mines, and to do this he must
have the superintendent absolutely
within his power.
If any superintendent dared to re-
fuse the request Of the body master
to hire or discharge any man, with or
without reason, that superintendent
life was as good as forfeited. Boss
es" were in the same way constrained
to give Mollys the best jobs-that is,
the easiest--and in case of their fall
ure to do 80 they were promptly
made an example Of with clubs or re-
volvers. Before killing q superintend-
ent or colliery boss the body master
would usually serve him with "cofhn
notice." a roughly written warning.
bearing crudely drawn knives and re-
volvers, and large coffin In the CEN
ter. The man who ignored one Of
these warnings was in every instance
shot or clubbed to death within few
days.
peculiar system was in operation
between the various patches" in ac-
cordance with which, IL the body mas
ter Of District No. l desired a certain
man killed he would call upon the
body master Of District No. Q for men
to do 1t, and in return for this favor
he was bound to furnish assassins for
the body master Of District No. Q
whenever he found himself In murd-
erous mood. AS a measure Of safe
ty 1t was always arranged, IL posi-
BILE, to have murders committed by
men unacquainted with their victims.
AS body master Of the Shenandoah
District, McKenna was called upon to
furnish murderers on several occa-
sions He usually managed to fail to
send them, however, on some pretext
or another, or warned the men whom
1t was planned to murder.
Toward the end Of 1875 the strain
under which MCFARLAND had been
working for Is months began to tell
on him and he appealed to Allen
Pinkerton to be allowed to strike the
final blow Pinkerton and his assist
ants had already concluded that the
evidence MCFARLAND had obtained
was sufficient and steps were taken to
close in on the murderefss~Mc Mcfarland
had still, however, many dangers to
face from fellow members Of the or
der who were beginning to believe he
had played them false and from out
ragged citizens who regarded him as
monster of crime whose unceremoni-
Gus killing would be a service to the
state.
One night in Tamaqua bands Of
armed men searched for him from
house to house until morning, and
would certainly have found and lynch
ed him had he not, by pretending
to fall into a drunken sleep. succeed
ed in remaining all night in the house
of a respectable resident who was
not suspected Of harboring him.
Several attempts were made to pois-
on MCFARLAND by members Of the
gang, but each time he was warned by
friends whom he had among the men,
bers. Once a woman warned him.
another time a man. 1t Is said that
a daughter Of one Of the members fell
desperately in love with MCFARLAND,
but when she found he was a detec-
tive and not a desperate she was
heartbroken.
MCFARLAND had succeeded in hay-
ing a number Of the gang arrested,
tried and convicted without any one
suspecting that he was responsible.
But on May 6, 1875, a number Of ar
rests were made and MCFARLAND tes-
titled against the prisoners. 1t was
agreed that he should not have to tes-
tify, but as most Of the members now
knew who he was there was no fur
ther use in his concealing his identity.
The trials that followed were highly
dramatic. Held as they were In the
very center Of the lawless district,
there was more or less danger that
persons engaged in them would them
selves suffer the fraternity's venge-
ance. The result Of McParland's dan
gerous Investigations and subsequent
testimony was the complete extermin-
alton Of the order Of the Molly Mag
uires. A score or more Of the des-
peradoes were sent to the peniten-
tiary. Nineteen were hanged. Among
them was Jack Kehoe, who had been
among the first to suspect McPar-
land of being a detective, and had
used all his power and ingenuity to
get him killed and out Of the way.
Needs II BadIy.-"Madam, this story