The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1919-07-31
Man Who Brought Molly Ma.uires
tn Justice Dead.

New York, July 22.-Like a voice
from an age long ago came the word
only recently that James McParlan
was d~ead-dead in Denver, Colo, at
the age of Is. In his lifetime he
was acclaimed the greatest OF de-
tectives and his fame will rest upon
two wonderful exploits, more than
ly separated sections Of the country
'-Pennsylvania and Idaho.
He was the central figure in many
4 story of fiction, and the novel of
Sir Arthur Coonan Doyle, "ln the
Valley of Fear is supposed to have
been based upon incidents in this
Of detective storiesNand the readers
are many from President Wilson
down to the office boy-will recall
how the fictional sleuth concealed
his papers in the heel of his shoe.
AS a matter OF fact, it was a trick
first employed by McParlan and Gag
erly appropriated by the WRITER'S.
The circumstances when he did it
the most romantic narratives in pic
turesque history-McParlan's hero
ism in running down the Molly
Maguires in Pennsylvania and bring
ing eleven of them to the scaffold:
This was in the years 1873 to 1876
and McParlan was a Pinkerton man.
l 4"oA1y ~ "
shevists of their day. Unlike that
breed of the present, however, they
were more closely and compactly
knit together and their organization
vas secret. Passwords, grips ana
all the paraphernalia of a fraternal
cation began has never been salts
f%actorily determined. -,
Franklin B; Gowen, president of
the Philadelphia and Reading Coal
and Iron Company, a Philadelphia,
made up his mind that this terror
ism in the anthracite regions should
be stopped, He called upon the
day of their achievements, and Nc
Parlan was assigned. He was then
a young man, in his tWenties, and he
had been a detective only a year.,
Assuming the name Of James Nc
Kenna, McParlan stepped off the
ed about for his lodging. Nearby
across a chapter of the Mollies.
Like a brother they took him in an,
his ready Irish wit and song made
him popular at once.
From that time IN he was a men,
Der of the organization, learned it's
secrets and SO won the confidence of
these desperate men that they made
him their secretary. He took notes
Of all he discovered, jotting them
down sometimes with washing blu
ing or SCOT and water because he
did not dare to buy a bottle of ink.
He kept his employers informed OF
that only three men knew McPar-
lan'S mission.
For three years the detective
made his Investigations, working as
a miner a part of the time and al
ways sharing all the secrets of the
Mollies. Then n day the news
arrested. McParlan's work, howev-
er, was not ended, for he still had
to testify against his late compan-
ions.
In the period awaiting the court
proceedings the detectives life was
threatened many times. Attempts
mine shaft, to poison him and to
blow him up with dynamite. All
this failed and McParlan had sthe
satisfaction of sending eleven to
their Executions; six in Pottsville,
four in Mauch Chunk and n in Lu-
zerne county. This was 1877 and
Molly MAGNETISM was wiped out.
McParlan moved to Denver, large
lv to get rest in that health giving
hind him and apparently he had
reached the goal of his life. Oc-
casionally he would swap yarns. and
the stories he could tell made Mex
Carter, Young Brady and Sherlock
Holmes, eem like pulling amateurs.
SO the time passed on for more than
thirty years.
Then came tales in the newspa-
pers of new outrages by a new gang
resembling Molly Maguires in Idaho.
Dynamiting and murder went on I'M
checked in the Occur darlene dis
trict. A cageful Of miners were
dropped 1,400 feet down the shaft
Of the independence mine. fourteen
miners were blown to pieces by high
explosives at Cripple Greek and in
December. 1905, former Governor
Frank S%teunenberg was murdered
as he was entering his home in Cald-
well. Idaho.
McParlan went to investigate. 1t
was the story of the old days in
Pennsylvania all over again. The
detective obtained his evidence and
numerous arrests and convictions
were made. the arrests including
Harry Orchard. Haywood. Meyer.
Steve Adams, P%ettihone. Vincent st.
John and a long line Of men who
had cast disrepute upon honest
workers..