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MOLLY MAGUIRES

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Originally appearing in Volume V18, Page 676 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.

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MOLLY MAGUIRES , an Irish See also:

AMERICAN

American See also:

SECRET (Lat. secretum, hidden, concealed)

secret society which maintained numerous branches in the See also:

ANTHRACITE (Gr. avOpaE, coal)

anthracite See also:

COAL

coal regions of See also:

Pennsylvania, U.S.A., from 1854 to 1877, and perhaps later. The name was imported from See also:

Ireland, where it had been used to designate one of the Ribbon See also:

SOCIETIES, LEARNED

societies that devoted its energies to intimidating and maltreating See also:

PROCESS

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 See also:

BARONY

barony of Farney, Co. See also:

MONAGHAN

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 See also:

Ancient See also:

Order of Hibernians, an association organized for benevolent purposes, and having branches throughout the See also:

UNITED

United States and See also:

GREAT

Great See also:

BRITAIN (Gr. Hperavuml vi7vot, Bperravia; Lat. Britannia, rarely Britannia)

Britain. To the Ancient Order of Hibernians none might be admitted but persons of Irish See also:

BIRTH (a word common in various forms to Teutonic languages from the root of the verb " to bear ")

birth or descent, who were See also:

ROMAN

Roman Catholics, and whose parents were Roman Catholics; but notwithstanding this requirement, the organization—being a secret society—was under the See also:

ban of the See also:

CATHOLIC (Gr. KcaBoXuK6s, general, universal)

Catholic See also:

Church. At the See also:

head of each See also:

DIVISION (from Lat. dividere, to break up into parts, separate)

division or See also:

lodge there was a " See also:

BODY

body See also:

MASTER (Lat. magister, related to tnagis, more, as the corresponding minister is to minus, less; the English form is due partly to the O. Eng. maegister, and partly to O. Fr. maistre, mod. maitre; cf. Du. meester, Ger. Meister, Ital. maestro)

master," who communicated directly with a See also:

COUNTY (through Norm. Fr. comae, cf. O. Fr. cunte, conk', Mod. Fr. comae, from Lat. comitatus, cf. Ital. comitato, Prov. comtat; see COUNT)

county delegate; the county delegates reported to the See also:

state delegate, and the state delegates to a See also:

NATIONAL

national delegate. The supervision of the whole order was vested in a " See also:

BOARD (O. Eng. bord)

Board of See also:

ERIN

Erin," See also:

MEETING (from " to meet," to come together, assemble, 0. Eng. metals ; cf. Du. moeten, Swed. mota, Goth. gamotjan, &c., derivatives of the Teut. word for a meeting, seen in O. Eng. Wit, moot, an assembly of the people; cf. witanagemot)

meeting quarterly in See also:

England, Ireland or See also:

Scotland, and at each meeting arranging a new See also:

CODE (Lat. codex)

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 See also:

MINING

mining districts of Pennsylvania the organization See also:

fell under the See also:

CONTROL (Fr. contrdle, older form contre rolle, from Med. Lat. contra-rotulus, a counter roll or copy of a document used to check the original; there is no instance in English of the use of " control " in this, its literal, meaning)

control of a lawless See also:

ELEMENT (Lat. elementum)

element, A, Amphineura. B, See also:

SCAPHOPODA

Scaphopoda. C, See also:

GASTROPODA

Gastropoda.

D, See also:

LAMELLIBRANCHIA (Lat. lamella, a small or thin plate, and Gr. /3payxia, gills)

Lamellibranchia. E, See also:

CEPHALOPODA

Cephalopoda. a, Anus. a.a, Anterior adductor. c.g, Cerebral ganglion. f, See also:

FOOT

Foot. fu, See also:

FUNNEL (through an O. Fr. founil, found in Breton, from Lat. infundibulum, that through which anything is poured, from fundere, to pour)

Funnel. g, Ctenidium. which created the inner order of " Molly Maguires," with the See also:

OBJECT

object, it appears, of intimidating the Welsh, See also:

ENGLISH

English, and See also:

German miners, and of See also:

RIDDING, GEORGE (1828-1904)

ridding the region of mine superintendents, bosses and See also:

POLICE (Fr. police, government, civil administration, a police force, Gr. sroXumeia, constitution, condition of a state, roars, city, state)

police who should make themselves in any way objectionable to members of the order. Any member having a grievance might See also:

lay a formal complaint before his " body master," who thereupon conferred with the See also:

OFFICERS

officers of the neighbouring divisions and secured members from a distance to make away with the offending See also:

PERSON, OFFENCES AGAINST THE

person. Under this See also:

SYSTEM

system the crimes in a given See also:

DISTRICT

district were always committed by strangers rendering See also:

IDENTIFICATION (Lat. idem, the same)

identification of the criminal difficult and See also:

ESCAPE (in mid. Eng. eschape or escape, from the O. Fr. eschapper, modern echapper, and escaper, low Lat. escapium, from ex, out of, and cappa, cape, cloak; cf. for the sense development the Gr. iichueoOat, literally to put off one's clothes, hence to sli

escape easy. The society See also:

GREW, NEHEMIAH (1641-1712)

grew in strength during the See also:

CIVIL

Civil See also:

War, when the increased demand for coal caused an influx of miners, many of them lawless characters, into the coal-See also:

FIELDS, JAMES THOMAS (1817-1881)

fields, and in 1862–1863 it opposed enlistments in the Federal See also:

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 See also:

general strike in the coal regions.

After repeated efforts to bring the criminals to See also:

JUSTICE (Lat. justitia)

justice had failed, See also:

Franklin B. Gowen (1836–1889), See also:

PRESIDENT (Fr. president, from Lat. praesidens, post-Augustan Lat. for praeses, director, ruler, from praesidere, to sit in front of, preside)

president of the See also:

PHILADELPHIA

Philadelphia and See also:

READING

Reading Coal and See also:

IRON [symbol Fe, atomic weight 55.85 (0=16)]

Iron See also:

COMPANY

Company, sent See also:

James McParlan, an Irish Catholic and a See also:

Pinkerton detective (who some See also:

THIRTY

thirty years later attracted See also:

ATTENTION (from Lat. ad-tendo, await, expect; the condition of being " stretched " or " tense ")

attention in the investigation of the assassination of See also:

GOVERNOR (from the Fr. gouverneur, from gouverner, O. Fr. governer, Lat. gubernare, to steer a ship, to direct, guide)

Governor Steunenberg of See also:

IDAHO

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 See also:

SHENANDOAH

Shenandoah division, one of the most notoriously criminal lodges of the order. The See also:

EVIDENCE (Lat. evidentia, evideri, to appear clearly)

evidence he secured led to the See also:

ARREST (Fr. arrester, arreeter, to stop or stay)

arrest, conviction, and See also:

EXECUTION (from Lat. ex-sequor, exsecutus, follow or carry out)

execution or imprisonment of a large number of members during the years 1876–1877, and subsequently the outrages ceased and the society was disbanded. See F. P. Dewees, The Molly Maguires ;(Philadelphia, 1877) ; See also:

Allan Pinkerton, The Molly Maguires and the Detectives (New See also:

York, 1877) ; E. W. See also:

LUCY, RICHARD DE (d. 1179)

Lucy, The Molly Maguires of Pennsylvania; (See also:

LONDON

London, n.d.); The See also:

COMMONWEALTH

Commonwealth versus See also:

John Kehoe et al. (See also:

POTTSVILLE

Pottsville, Pa., 1878) ; and an See also:

ARTICLE (from Lat. articulus, a joint)

article by J. F. See also:

Rhodes in Amer. Hist.

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