Our navigation bar is loading . . .

Subscribe to JCSM's weekly inspirational message podcast!Write on Jason Gastrich's Facebook page!Add JCSM as a friend to your MySpace account!Watch Jason Gastrich's videos on YouTube!
Read, respond and subscribe to Jason Gastrich's blog!

Designate a portion of your next eBay auction to JCSM through eBay's Mission Fish program!JCSM's Top 1000 Christian Sites - Free Traffic Sharing Service!
Jesus Christ Saves Ministries

Helping San Diego, California and beyond since 1997

Please type your email and let us encourage you!

 
        Search jcsm.org now!

Click here and add this page to your favorites!

Return to the JCSM Study Center!

Encyclopedia Britannica



MOLLY MAGUIRES

This article appears in Volume V18, Page 676 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: MOL-MOS
MOLLY MAGUIRES , an Irish American
secret
  society which maintained numerous branches in the anthracite coal regions of
Pennsylvania
 , U.S.A., from 1854 to 1877, and perhaps later. The name was imported from Ireland, where it had been used to designate one of the Ribbon societies that devoted its energies to intimidating and maltreating process servers and the agents of landlords, and whose greatest activity was between 1835 and 1855. The Irish society of Molly Maguires seems to have been organized in 1843 in the barony of Farney, Co. Monaghan, to co-operate with the ribbonmen, and its membership seems to have been confined to the very lowest classes. The Molly Maguires of
Pennsylvania
  consisted of similar classes of Irishmen, but there seems to have been no connexion between the two societies. Every member of the American organization was also a member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, an association organized for benevolent purposes, and having branches throughout the United States and Great Britain. To the Ancient Order of Hibernians none might be admitted but persons of Irish birth or descent, who were Roman Catholics, and whose parents were Roman Catholics; but notwithstanding this requirement, the organizationbeing a
secret
  societywas under the ban of the Catholic Church. At the head of each division or
lodge
  there was a " body master," who communicated directly with a county delegate; the county delegates reported to the state delegate, and the state delegates to a national delegate. The supervision of the whole order was vested in a " Board of Erin," meeting quarterly in England, Ireland or Scotland, and at each meeting arranging a new code of signals and passwords, which were communicated to the national delegate in the United States by the steward of a transatlantic steamship, and thence were transmitted to the various subdivisions. In the mining districts of Pennsylvania the organization fell under the control of a lawless element,
A, Amphineura.
B, Scaphopoda.
C, Gastropoda.
D, Lamellibranchia.
E,
Cephalopoda
 .
a, Anus.
a.a, Anterior adductor. c.g, Cerebral ganglion.
f, Foot.
fu, Funnel.
g, Ctenidium.
which created the inner order of " Molly Maguires," with the object, it appears, of intimidating the Welsh, English, and German miners, and of
ridding
  the region of mine superintendents, bosses and police who should make themselves in any way objectionable to members of the order. Any member having a grievance might lay a formal complaint before his " body master," who thereupon conferred with the officers of the neighbouring divisions and secured members from a distance to make away with the offending person. Under this system the crimes in a given district were always committed by strangers rendering identification of the criminal difficult and escape easy. The society grew in strength during the Civil War, when the increased demand for coal caused an influx of miners, many of them lawless characters, into the coal-fields, and in 18621863 it opposed enlistments in the Federal Army and roughly treated some of the enlisting officers. After the war its activity was shown by an increasing number of assassinations, burnings and other outrages, until by 1875 it completely dominated the mining classes and forced a general strike in the coal regions. After repeated efforts to bring the criminals to justice had failed, Franklin B. Gowen (18361889), president of the Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company, sent James McParlan, an Irish Catholic and a Pinkerton detective (who some thirty years later attracted attention in the investigation of the assassination of
Governor
  Steunenberg of Idaho), to the mining region in 1873; he joined the order, lived among the " Molly Maguires " for more than two years, and even became secretary of the Shenandoah division, one of the most notoriously criminal lodges of the order. The evidence he secured led to the arrest, conviction, and execution or imprisonment of a large number of members during the years 18761877, and subsequently the outrages ceased and the society was disbanded.
See F. P. Dewees, The Molly Maguires ;(Philadelphia, 1877) ; Allan Pinkerton, The Molly Maguires and the Detectives (New
York
 , 1877) ; E. W. Lucy, The Molly Maguires of Pennsylvania; (London, n.d.); The Commonwealth versus John Kehoe et al. (Pottsville, Pa., 1878) ; and an article by J. F. Rhodes in Amer. Hist. Review, April, 1910.


End of Article: MOLLY MAGUIRES


If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
<a href="http://jcsm.org/StudyCenter/Encyclopedia/MOL_MOS/MOLLY_MAGUIRES.html">
MOLLY MAGUIRES
</a>
(Previous)
MOLLUSCOIDA 		(Next)
MOLOCH, or MOLECH (in Hebrew, with the doubtful...

 


 

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries

The JCSM Study CenterAmerica's Christian FoundationSkeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and ExplainedNKJV Web Hosting and Services
JCSM's Sermons, Debates and the Bible on MP3The Online Christ-Centered MinistriesDo You Have A Web Site?  Your Ad Could Be Here!Seminary Notes and PapersThe Picturesque Photo Albums


Jesus Christ Saves Ministries, P.O. Box 70696, Pasadena, CA 91117

JCSM is a 501(c)(3), non-profit organization. Copyright © 1997-present.



Kingdom Debt Solutions - Be Debt Free! Sport Logos - Quality Athletic Equipment The JCSM Study Center Your Ad Could Be Here! Launch A Successful Internet Organization or Business! Learn Guitar, Bass, or Piano in San Diego county!

You can advertise your site right here!

Free & Cheap Cell Phones  |  Cheap Long Distance Phone Service Carriers  |  Talk America Local Phone Service  |  Ztel & MCI - Unlimited Long Distance
Compare Cell Phone Plans & Companies  |  International Calling Cards & Prepaid Phone Cards  |  Voice Over IP Broadband Internet Phone Service  |  Wireless Phone Plans & Cheap Cell Phones

Dr. Jason Gastrich

Jason Gastrich, Ph.D.

 

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries is directed by Dr. Jason Gastrich. It was founded in 1997 and it exists to bring people into a life-changing and productive relationship with Jesus Christ. JCSM offers over 200,000 free web pages, including its weekly inspirational emails that have been sent continuously for over a decade.

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries
P.O. Box 9297
San Diego, CA  92169
1-877-850-3878 or Email

JCSM is a 501(c)(3), non-profit organization. Copyright © 1997-2009.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Online First Aid and CPR Certification  .  The Online Christ Centered Ministries  .  The Skeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and Explained  .  The Inerrancy Discussion Board  .  Free Email Accounts  .  Home Equity Loans  .  JasonGastrich.com  .  The Missions, Apologetics, and Creation Bible Conference  .  Young Earth Creation Science  .  San Diego Music Lessons  .  10,000 Wise Quotes and Spiritual Sayings  .  Gastrich.net  .  Maximizing the Internet: 12 Keys to Success  .  Louisiana Baptist University  .  NKJV Web Hosting and Services  .  Michael Newdow  .  San Diego Soccer Training  . Christian Guitar Lessons  .  Jesus Christ Saves Ministries  .  Eternal Security