USA > Pennsylvania > Carbon County > History of Carbon County, Pennsylvania; also containing a separate account of the several boroughs and townships in the county, with biographical sketches > Part 10
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Another Carbon county affair which was charged to the account of the Mollies, and which aroused general indignation, was the attack made upon Superintendent Hendrix, of the Buck Mountain Coal Company. He was in his room at the house where he boarded in the village of Clifton, in company with his wife, when, on the evening of June 11, 1869, he was brutally assaulted and beaten to the verge of death.
Over two hundred men joined in the attack, sur- rounding the house and taking it by storm. The inter- position of Mrs. Hendrix, who threw herself between her husband and his assailants, taking many kicks and blows that were intended for him, was all that saved him from death. Mr. Hendrix was beaten with black- jacks, pistol butts and clubs, besides receiving two stabs from a knife.
After making a fruitless search for another intended victim who boarded with James Harvey, a neighbor of Mr. Hendrix, the band of outlaws then moved in a body to Eckly, a short distance beyond, in Luzerne county.
There they proceeded to square some grudge they had against Captain P. F. McGinley.
He bore the reputation of being a fearless, resolute man, and armed with a magazine rifle, he awaited their onslaught in a second story room of his home.
Breaking in the front door, the Mollies seized the captain's father and used him as a shield while ad-
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vancing upstairs to attack the son, the old man plead- ing piteously for his life in the meantime.
The captain managed to get in one shot, which, as was subsequently learned, was not without effect, but was soon overpowered and clubbed into insensibility. Years afterwards it was learned that the perpetra- tors of these outrages came principally from Yorktown and Audenried, ten miles away.
The unprovoked and cold-blooded murder of Mor- gan Powell, assistant superintendent of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, at Summit Hill, on the evening of December 2, 1871, crowning, as it did, so many previous and similar events, greatly exasperated the law-abiding people of the coal region.
The murder was committed at about seven o'clock, on the street, not more than a few paces from the store of Henry Williamson, which place Powell had left only a moment before to go to the office of William Zehner, the general superintendent of the company.
It appears that one of a group of three men, who had been seen by various people waiting near the store, drew close to Mr. Powell from the rear, and fired a pistol shot into the left breast of his innocent victim, leaning over the shoulder of Powell to accomplish his deadly purpose.
Who it was that had killed him, no one could tell. The three men who had been seen together, and one of whom did the shooting, were all strangers, and easily effected their escape. Patrick Kildea, who was thought to resemble one of their number, was taken into custody and tried for the crime, but was acquitted for lack of evidence.
Emboldened by their success in so many previous outrages, the Mollies were becoming reckless, and on the morning of September 3, 1875, enacted a tragedy
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that was destined to lead to the discovery, conviction and execution of the authors of many deeds of blood.
At the time spoken of, John P. Jones, a mine fore- man at Lansford, spoke what proved to be his eternal farewell to his wife and seven children, and started toward the colliery where he was employed. He fol- lowed a path that led from Storm Hill to the depot in Lansford, and which he had been repeatedly urged not to take, because it was known that he was marked for death by the Mollies.
As he proceeded leisurely on his way, probably hav- ing no premonition of impending evil, he was over- taken by two men, who were running as if in a hurry to reach a train which had just arrived at the depot. They halted when close to him, drew their pistols and fired upon the luckless and unsuspecting man with deadly effect.
The victim made an attempt to ward off his assail- ants with his tin dinner pail, and as he did so received another bullet from the pistol of one of the murderers. Throwing up his hands, with a cry of mortal agony, he fell upon his face, while two more leaden messengers of death were fired in quick succession into his already bullet-riddled body.
This tragic event occurred in broad daylight and in the sight of a crowd of people.
The reports of the pistols brought many workmen to the scene.
The assassins had been seen retreating rapidly over the hill, and pursuit was soon given. When the hour of noon arrived, their capture had been effected. The men were identified as Michael J. Doyle and Edward Kelly, of Mount Laffa, Schuylkill county; and James Kerrigan, bodymaster of the Tamaqua division of the
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Mollies. All of them were securely placed in jail at Mauch Chunk.
The men were taken while resting beneath the shade of a tree beside a spring, near Tamaqua. Kelly and Doyle were recognized as having done the shooting, while Kerrigan had accompanied them, but had re- mained at a safe distance while the murder was being executed.
No arms were found about their persons, but a little later some officers, while making a search unearthed three pistols and a heavy club, secreted under the trees in the leaves near the spring where the men were taken prisoners. One of these pistols was that known as the "Roarty Pistol," highly prized by the Mollies, and named after its owner, James Roarty, bodymaster of the Coal Dale division of the society. It was termed by them "the lucky pistol" and had been used at the murder of Morgan Powell, Policeman B. F. Yost, of Tamaqua, and others.
The arrest of Doyle, Kerrigan and Kelly was a stun- ning blow to the Mollies, who realized that the most desperate exertions would be necessary to save their three comrades from the gallows and their order from exposure and annihilation.
A large sum of money was soon raised and the best lawyers to be had were retained to defend the pris- oners.
John W. Ryan, Linn Bartholomew, and J. B. Riley, all of the Schuylkill county bar, and E. M. Mulhearn and Daniel Kalbfus, of Mauch Chunk, appeared on behalf of the defense when the prisoners were ar- raigned at the October term of the Carbon county court.
To match this array of legal talent, the coal and rail- road companies of this section of the anthracite region,
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all of whom were directly and deeply concerned in the outcome of the case, authorized their attorneys to as- sist the district attorney, E. R. Siewers, in the prosecu- tion. Hon. F. W. Hughes, appeared for the Philadel- phia and Reading Coal and Iron Company, General Charles Albright, for the Lehigh and Wilkes-Barre Coal Company, and Hon. Allen Craig for the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company.
Kelly, Doyle, and Kerrigan were jointly put on trial, entering the usual plea of "not guilty," and demand- ing a severance, the case going over to the January term of court.
In its far-reaching consequences to human life and property, together with the general security and wel- fare of society, this trial may justly be regarded as the most momentuous in the annals of the commonwealth.
The trial was begun on the eighteenth of January before Judge Samuel S. Dreher. On the twenty-first of January a jury had been obtained, consisting of William Bloss, Jonas Beck, Joel Strohl, Daniel Boyer, Jr., Daniel Remaly, Abraham Henry, Levi West, Levi Straub, Henry Long, Peter Cushman, Thomas A. Wil- liams, and Drake H. Long.
Michael Doyle was the first to be placed on trial, and, as was to be expected, the leaders of the Mollies made great efforts to prove that not one of the three men charged with the killing of Jones could possibly have been present when the crime was committed, as they had really been elsewhere at that time. But through the effective work of McParlan and other detectives, their efforts proved abortive and unavailing.
McParlan, in particular, rendered great services to the lawyers who represented the commonwealth in this important trial. Mingling freely with the Mollies, and looked upon by the members of the society, as well
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as those outside the organization, as one of their lead- ers, he was admitted to all their councils, even to the consultations of their attorneys. All that he thus learned he secretly but promptly communicated to the other side.
The trial had not far progressed before it became evident to the attorneys for the defense, as well as to the assembled Mollies, that they were being betrayed by some one whom they had thus far trusted.
McParlan's reputation as a wicked Mollie was so well established, and so cleverly did he play his part, that he was not at first suspected.
It was finally thought that the traitor must be one of the prisoners on trial, and suspicion centered upon Kerrigan. He was not slow in detecting that he was being shunned, and that he was no longer trusted. This change of attitude toward him on the part of his old associates in crime, no doubt, influenced him to a great extent in making up his mind to give state's evi- dence, and, by so doing, purchase immunity for him- self at the expense of his self-respect and his fellow criminals.
He apprised the district attorney of the fact that he wished to see him for the purpose of making a con- fession. After due consideration, he was accepted and placed upon the witness stand.
Kerrigan laid bare all the circumstances and details connected with the assassination of John P. Jones, in- forming the court that the deed was committed at the behest of Alexander Campbell, bodymaster of the Sum- mit Hill division of the Mollies. The grievance against Jones was that he had blacklisted some men who were members of the society.
Kerrigan's confession having been corroborated, in every important particular, by the evidence of the
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other witnesses for the commonwealth, the jury, on the first of the ensuing February, returned a verdict of "guilty of murder in the first degree."
After this, Mrs. Kerrigan, who had interested her- self in trying to secure the release of her husband, said he might hang, and further, that she would not raise her hand to save him. Henceforth he was popularly known as "Jimmy The Squealer," and received, as he, no doubt, merited, the maledictions of all true Mol- lies.
During the course of the trial, McParlan made the acquaintance of a man named Durkin, who told him he was ready, in the event of a verdict unfavorable to the Mollies, to blow up the court house, together with the judges, jurymen, attorneys, officials, and innocent spectators, boasting that he had a can of nitrogly- cerine safey hidden away near by for the purpose.
McParlan responded by telling the desperado that he would be very foolish to attempt to put such a plot into execution, because he would be almost certain to be captured and strung up by the vigilance committee to the nearest tree.
Probably this had the desired effect of frightening the reckless fellow, and he wisely decided to abandon the idea.
On the twenty-second of February, the Court sen- tenced Michael Doyle to death. This was noteworthy as the earliest conviction and disposal of a real Mollie Maguire in Pennsylvania, and the news spread rapidly, far and wide, striking terror and dismay into the ranks of the organization. During the progress of the trial the Mollies had been bold and defiant, and many of their principal men were on the spot, expecting as they expected to live, to witness the release of the defend. ant. How shocking the result was to their nerves and
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to their general composure, McParlan was among the first to learn.
He afterwards declared that the unforeseen result had come upon the order like an earthquake in a quiet village.
The case of Michael Doyle having been disposed of, Edward Kelly was next placed at the bar before Judge Dreher. While his defense was not allowed to go by default, the most strenuous efforts being made on his behalf, he was also found guilty of murder in the first degree. He then made a voluntary confession, clearly showing that he had not been wrongfully charged or convicted, and substantiating all that Kerrigan had said.
Kelly explained that he did not ask for mercy nor expect it, but, before dying, desired to purge himself of his crime.
From facts brought to light during the trial of Doyle, Alexander Campbell was taken into custody and lodged in jail at Mauch Chunk. Thomas Duffy, James Boyle, Hugh McGeehan, James Carroll and James Roarty were also arrested and placed in the Schuylkill county jail, charged with the murder of Policeman Benjamin F. Yost, of Tamaqua, on the morning of July 6, 1875.
The majority of these men were residents of Carbon county.
Campbell was arrigned for trial, charged with the murder of John P. Jones, June 20, 1876. It was not claimed, strictly, that he had taken any direct part in the murder, but that he had arranged for others to per- form the deed. One of the jurors sickened and died during the progress of the case, making a new trial necessary. Campbell was eventually found guilty of murder in the first degree as an "accessory before
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the fact." His conviction on such grounds contained infinite possibilities for trouble of the gravest kind, from the standpoint of the Mollie Maguires, many of whom, while not murderers, in the popularly accepted sense of the term, were equally as guilty as he.
Subsequent to the conclusion of Campbell's trial, a number of his friends within the organization, who had been witnesses in the case, and had perjured them- selves in an effort to secure his release, were arrested on that charge and held for trial.
This, again, was a proceeding that appeared to have been wholly unexpected by the Mollies, who had been accustomed to play fast and loose with the truth when- ever the occasion demanded.
Meanwhile, the Mollies were not satisfied that all of the evidence upon which their partners in crime were being convicted had been furnished by Kerrigan.
Suspicion soon rested upon McParlan, and his as- sassination was decided upon, as a matter of self-pro- tection, revenge, and of general policy. By his native shrewdness and great daring he frustrated a number of well-laid plans that had been made to do away with him. He was also largely indebted for his life to the unwavering loyalty and continued confidence of an old friend in the order, Frank McAndrew, bodymaster of the Shenandoah lodge, to which McParlan belonged.
McAndrew generously protected him at the immi- nent peril of his own life, believing him to be inno- cent of the charge of double-dealing. The time had come, however, for the detective to throw off his dis- guise, because the part which he had so successfully played for three years was no longer possible for him.
Accordingly he appeared on the witness stand, and the evidence he there gave resulted in the arrest and
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conviction of numerous criminals who could not other- wise have been reached by the arm of the law. His nature naturally revolted at the idea of facing his late associates in the order in his true colors, and it galled him to be compelled to move about the streets of Mauch Chunk, Pottsville and the other places, where he gave testimony, accompanied by an armed escort. The recital of his experiences when assuming to be a Mollie, his almost miraculous escapes, and the tales of horror which he told have, perhaps, never been equalled in the history of American jurisprudence.
At the October term of court at Mauch Chunk, in 1876, the cases of John Donahue, Thomas P. Fisher, Patrick McKenna, and Alexander Campbell, charged with the murder of Morgan Powell at Summit Hill, five years earlier, were called.
The men demanded separate trials, and the common- wealth chose first to try John (Yellow Jack) Donahue.
It was clearly proven that on the request of Alex- ander Campbell, with a promise of one hundred dollars for the service, Donahue had selected his men at Tus- carora, and, assuming their leadership, had proceeded to Tamaqua, where they met Cornelius McHugh, who conducted them to Summit Hill, where they were joined by Fisher and McKenna. They had then waited for their intended victim near the store of Captain Williamson, where Powell was shot by Donahue.
Donahue was convicted and sentenced. At the Jan- uary term of court, in 1877, Campbell, who was already under sentence of death for the murder of John P. Jones, and in whose case an appeal had been taken to the Supreme Court, was placed on trial for the murder of Morgan Powell.
Being again convicted, he smilingly inquired whether it was proposed that he be hung twice.
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McKenna and Fisher were tried together. The former was found guilty of murder in the second de- gree, while the latter was convicted of murder in the first degree.
Governor Hartranft having signed their death war- rants, Doyle, Kelly, Campbell, and Donahue were exe- cuted together in June, 1877, by Sheriff Raudenbush at Mauch Chunk. Campbell stoutly protested his inno- cence to the last, and popular tradition has it that before being dragged to the scaffold, he placed the print of his right hand upon the damp wall of his cell, which was on the first floor of the jail, vowing, as he did so, that it should remain as a sign of his unjust exe- cution. A figure resembling the large hand of a man, with fingers and palm outstretched, is to this day shown to curious visitors at the sombre jail, within this cell, while the story of its origin is retold in hushed, sepulchral tones.
On the same day that the four Mollies were executed at Mauch Chunk, six paid the extreme penalty for their crimes at Pottsville.
Two accessories before the fact in the killing of Morgan Powell were tried at Mauch Chunk, and con- victed of murder in the second degree. They, with McKenna, were sent to the penitentiary, McKenna for nine years, and the other two for four and five years respectively.
A number of the Mollies who had turned state's evi- dence during these trials had furnished information regarding the idenity of the murderers of George K. Smith, of Audenried. Most of the guilty parties were fugitives from justice.
One of their number, however, James McDaniels, known as the "hairy man," was arrested in Wiscon-
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sin, brought to Mauch Chunk, tried, convicted and exe- cuted.
William Sharp, also accused of complicity in the murder of Smith, was found guilty and hanged, as was Fisher, in whose behalf great but unavailing efforts were made by his counsel and friends for a commutation of sentence.
James Kerrigan, "The Squealer," was given his liberty, in consideration of the service he had rendered the state. Knowing that his life would be sought by those whom he had betrayed, he mysteriously disap- peared, and it is said that he died a natural death a few years ago in Virginia.
The constant strain, worry, and excitement attend- ant, upon the Mollie Maguire trials cost Daniel Kalb- fuss, one of the leading lawyers for the defense, his life. His mind gave way, and he died soon thereafter.
During the course of their long career of violence and carnage, the Mollies committed more than one hun- dred murders, not to mention the thousands of lesser crimes and misdemeanors of which they were the au- thors.
Smarting under the stigma which the conduct of this band of outlaws had brought upon the fair fame of their honored organization, the national convention of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, held at New York, in 1877, denounced the Mollie Maguires in the most un- measured terms.
Their membership in the fraternity was also denied, and with a view to protecting the reputation of the as- sociation, the counties of Carbon, Luzerne, Schuylkill, Columbia, and Northumberland were excluded, for the time being, from participation in the affairs of the order.
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The Mollies were also scathingly denounced in addi- tion to being excommunicated, by the leading prelates of the Roman Catholic Church, and by the Pope him- self.
Many persons throughout the coal region who have scarcely passed beyond the bourne of middle age re- member well the reign of the Mollies. But time works great changes within comparatively short periods in our country, and in the broader, better light of to-day, the hates and prejudices engendered during the night- mare that is past are for the most part entirely for- given and forgotten.
CHAPTER XI.
STRIKES AND LABOR DIFFICULTIES.
It is to be doubted if any other industry of equal magnitude in the United States has suffered so much from the disputes between capital and labor as the anthracite coal industry.
For more than sixty years the conduct of this in- dustry has been characterized by innumerable bicker- ings, suspensions, lockouts and strikes, with their con- comitants of bitter feeling, suffering and pecuniary loss, often accompanied by scenes of violence and bloodshed.
It is only within recent years that the warring in- terests have been drawn closer together and that, to a large degree, stability and security have been attained.
The first attempt at organizing the miners of the anthracite fields was made under the leadership of John Bates, an Englishman, in 1849. The union then formed sought to improve the conditions of the miners by calling a strike, which was confined almost wholly to Schuylkill county. In this strike, among the first of a general nature to occur in America, the miners were defeated, and soon after its termination, Bates, who had become an object of suspicion to his fellow work- ers, disappeared, carrying with him the funds of the association.
Under these circumstances, it is not surprising that the union of which he had been the head quickly dis- integrated.
From this time forth, petty labor troubles of local importance only continued to crop out in various parts of the region until the Civil War was in progress, when
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
the price of coal rose in Philadelphia from two dollars and seventy-eight cents a ton until it finally com- manded nearly eleven dollars a ton. So many men were needed for military and naval duties that labor became scarce and wages correspondingly higher. It was no uncommon thing during this period of high prices for competent miners to earn five hundred dol- lars a month, and they enjoyed the greatest prosperity in the history of the industry.
But when the war ended, labor again rushed into the coal fields, the over-supply bringing wages down from their high former level.
Thereupon the miners organized to resist this re- duction, brought about by the law of supply and de- mand; but they failed, although several strikes were declared.
Appreciating the necessity of having the workmen knitted together in one strong union in order to cope successfully with the power of organized wealth, the labor leaders of the anthracite region, during the sum- mer of 1868, formed the Workingmen's Benevolent As- sociation, the first president and controlling spirit of which was John Siney.
He was rather a large man, with a determined face and bearing. While being uneducated in the commonly accepted sense of the term, he was, nevertheless, shrewd and able, besides being thoroughly honest and loyal.
By his straightforward methods and his direct, simple rhetoric he frequently put Franklin B. Gowan, the brilliant head of the Philadelphia and Reading coal and railway interests, on the defensive.
Before many months the Workingmen's Benevolent Association was strongly intrenched in the Lehigh and Schuylkill regions, virtually controlling the situa- tion in these fields.
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The building up of the organization was accom- plished, however, by a constant succession of local strikes, parleying with operators, temporary resump- tion of work, and further strikes.
But, while the Lehigh and Schuylkill regions were tied up hard and fast, the mines of the Wyoming re- gion were being worked day and night, supplying the demand for anthracite.
So Siney's men marched across country to Wilkes- Barre and persuaded the miners there to go on strike. In this they were so far successful that the operators of that section agreed to an eight-hour working day, while those of the lower fields granted a slight increase in wages.
During the summer of 1869, the union ordered a gen- eral suspension to enforce the demand for a sliding scale of wages, based upon the varying prices of coal at cetain points of shipment and delivery.
After months of idleness, the men gained their point, and operations were resumed.
Everybody now hoped for a year of peace and work and wages; but, early in 1870, the Schuylkill operators announced a reduction in wages; the union resisted, and ordered another strike, which was declared off in August as the result of a compromise.
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