Molly Maguires

Molly Maguires were Irish coal miners who struggled against the onerous work conditions in the Pennsylvania coal mines. They were forced to disband in the 1870s, because a Pinkerton spy infiltrated the organization and ratted people out; this is what gave the Pinkertons their name.

Four members of the Molly Maguires, Alexander Campbell, John Donohue, Michael Doyle and Edward Kelly, were hanged on June 21 1871 at at Carbon Country Prison in Jimp Thorpe, Pennsylvania, USA, for the murder of mine bosses John P. Jones of Lansford and Morgan Powell of Summit Hill, following a trial that was later described by Carbon Country judge John P. Lavelle as follows:

"The Molly Maguire trials were a surrender of state sovereignty. A private corporation initiated the investigation through a private detective agency. A private police force arrested the alleged defenders, and private attorneys for the coal companies prosecuted them. The state provided only the courtroom and the gallows."

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The Irish folk band The Dubliners refer to the Molly Maguires in one of their songs:

Molly Maguires
(Bill Martin/Phil Coulter)

Make way for the Molly Maguires
They're drinkers, they're liars but they're men
Make way for the Molly Maguires
You'll never see the likes of them again

Down the mines no sunlight shines
Those pits they're black as hell
In modest style they do their time
It's Paddy's prison cell
And they curse the day they've travelled far
Then drown their tears with a jar

So make way for the Molly Maguires
They're drinkers, they're liars but they're men
Make way for the Molly Maguires
You'll never see the likes of them again

Backs will break and muscles ache
Down there there's no time to dream
Of fields and farms, of womans arms
Just dig that bloody seam
Though they drain their bodies underground
Who'll dare to push them around

So make way for the Molly Maguires
They're drinkers, they're liars but they're men
Make way for the Molly Maguires
You'll never see the likes of them again

So make way for the Molly Maguires
They're drinkers, they're liars but they're men
Make way for the Molly Maguires
You'll never see the likes of them again

External Links

• Coal mining, mine fires and the Molly Maguires
• History and Ritual of Irish Fraternal Organizations: Ancient Order of Hibernians, Molly Maguires, Orangemen, and Royal Black Knights of the Camp of Israel