Year: 1876

| correspondence OF the I1MES.J


MAyCH CHUNK, Pa, March l..


Before leaving the Switzerland


must tell you something of the


habits and customs of the people of


this section.


One would suppose that so far


east, and in so old a country, there


would be more of the comforts and
enjoyments of civilizationj but such


is not the case. No Nevada mining
camp compares in the general air of
discomfort with some of the villages
among the Pennsylvania coal fields


Let us look at the village of Lewis
ton, for instance. The streets are


barely wide enough to admit wag-
on. The houses, ranged on one
| side of the street, are all one-story
| buildings, containing two or three
rooms each. There is not a PAINTED
| house in tie village. On the oppo
site side of the street are the pens OF
the hogs and goats. If it is day,
you must drive two or three hogs
from the doorstep before you can
enter the house.


Now, why is it that whole com
munities of men who get good
| wages will live in this miserable
style? The reason is plain: They
do not and can not own foot of
real estate. All the land for miles
belongs to the great coal companies,
who monopoiiZe the anthracite coal
of America. These companies will
not sell foot of this land, because
they propose to keep the coal bust
ness entirely in their own hands.
The houses or novels in which the
miners live are leased by them at
very low rent, and the miner knows
not what day he may be turned out,
consequently he will not expend
anything on the improvement of the
building. For the same reason he
will not vote tax for the improve
ment of the roads, and they are al
most impossible.


/ have said these men make good
wages, and so they do. for the East;
but they are none the better off
d
store in each village, and here their
workmen must do their trading.
They might go ten or twenty miles
to trade and not get off the compa
ny's land or find store except those
belonging to the company. Here
they must buy the necessaries OF life,
and they must pay the company's
price; and so 1t makes no difference
to the company whether man gets
one dollar or ten-he pays 1t back
into the same hands tor the neaessa:
ries of life. A dollar comes out oi
one pocket OF the coal company for
work and goes into the other pocket
of the same company tor bread aud
meat. What difference if 1t were
two or ten dollars?


The majority OF the farming pop
ulation of this section are Pennsyl-
vania Dutch, and a lower or more
immoral set of people l never saw
outside the Chinese quarters OF some
Pacific Coast cities. Many of the
miners are Welsh. These, though
living in the miserable shantias i
have described, are generally good
scholars, and passionately fond OF
music.


THE MOLLY MAGUIREs.


This is the local name given to the
Ancient order of HibernIans, and
about every Irish miner is supposed
to belong to the Mollies. They are
the terror of the whole section, and
every murder, especially of a Welsh
man, is at once charged to them.
While there is no doubt that this so
ciety is guilty of many of the crimes
laid to It's charge, I think its power
and the extent of it's dark deeds are
much exaggerated. Instances are
frequent of men who are known to
have incurred the displeasure of the
Irish miners receiving notice to leave
within given number of days Oh
pain of death, and very often if the
warning is disregarded the man dies.
If the murderer is caught he proves
to be an entire stranger, which gives
force to the theory that he has been
deputized .bv the society to do the
deed, being taken from distant
branch of the Order because stran-
ger is more likely to escape detec.
ton.


Two murderers, Michael Doyle