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Period: to
Molly Maguires
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Appearance of Mollies
Molly Maguire society mentioned for the first time in Miners' Journal published in Pottsville; were said to have rigged the elections due to their heritage. -
Franklin Benjamin Gowen
Gowen is appointed DA of Schuylkill County; was a part of the coal mining industry and wanted to expand and combine businesses -
First assassination
The first assassination that a Molly Maguire is accused of: F.W. Langdon a powerful mine boss, it was said that Jack Kehoe a leading Molly Maguire was responsible for the killing -
Act of 1865
made legal the formation of private police forces, which allowed the armed Coal and Iron Police totals authority, and suspended any constitutional guarantees—authored by Gowen, whose company had pressured the state legislature, complaining that local law enforcement was not protecting their property and interests -
Mining businesses
From 1862-1865, 130 new mining operations opened in Schuylkill County, prices began to increase and workers began to see more money due to the Civil War needs -
WBA
John Siney leads first strike at the Eagle Colliery to protest a 10% wage cut—the strike was successful and the workers formed The Workingmen’s Benevolent Association (WBA) which soon grew to 30,000 members -
Gowen and mining
Gowen promoted to President of the Reading Railroad, and uses his power to gain control of the coal fields—creates The Anthracite Board of Trade, an association of mine operators to control both the price of coal and the wages paid—for operators who bargained with the WBA, Gowen doubled the rates for shipping their coal -
Panic of 1873
after the Civil War there was an economic depression, miners wages were cut and many immigrants, especially Irishmen were unemployed or given less wages -
McParlan introduced
James McParlan is hired by Gowen to investigate the Molly Maguires, he changes his name to James McKenna and assumes the role of an Irishmen on the run -
McParlan inducted in A.O.H.
McParlan is inducted into the Molly Maguire society in Schuylkill County, he later becomes the secretary for the organization -
Union tries to make settlement
union makes last effort to reach a settlement, but Gowen refused—cut wages 20%, blacklisted all of the leaders—the mines become armed camps
AOH plans two actions during the Long Strike:
• revenge on William “Bully Boy” Thomas, a friend of George Major, and a Modoc, who vowed, with Major’s two brothers, Jesse and William, to kill Dan Dougherty for George Major’s death -
Benjamin Yost
murder of Benjamin Yost, a cop in Tamaqua; Yost had arrested and beaten in jail Thomas Duffy, who vowed revenge; Hugh McGehan, who then volunteered, along with James Boyle and John Carroll and Kerrigan, shot Yost as he extinguished a street light---a key murder, for which they were later convicted -
Gowen approaches McParlan
Gowen insists McParlan publicly testifies against the Molly Maguire members in order to stop the murders as well as bring justice to those who were killed -
confessions
Kerrigan submits a written confession about the murders that the Molly members committed. In his report he notes how he had no hand in any of the murders, was said that if he confessed McParlan would not allow him to be arrested -
McParlan comes out
McParlan takes the witness stand outing himself as not being James McKenna -
Black Thursday
10 hangings of the Molly members, the largest execution in history -
Last Molly Hung
Jack Kehoe, the fearless Molly Maguire leader is hung in Pottsville
