Podcast appearances and mentions of molly maguire

Dimitri and Khalid explore the deadly climax of the Molly Maguire phenomenon in 1870s Pennsylvania coal country, including: Pinkerton spy James McParlan's exposure and narrow escape from Schuylkill County, the spectacular(ly corrupt) murder trials from 1876-78 that captivated the nation, Reading Railroad President Franklin B. Gowen's mesmerizing star turn as lead prosecutor in the courtroom, his four hour Aaron Sorkin monologue about the perfidious Irish conspiracy threatening the very foundations of our (Protestant Capitalist) Republic, squealing witnesses and Pennsylvania Dutch jurors, McParlan/McKenna on the witness stand, Gowen's relentless drive to convict Hibernian leader “Black Jack” Kehoe of a Civil War murder he didn't commit, Black Thursday and the Day of the Rope, executing two Mollies just after Governor Hartranft grants a reprieve, the Great Railroad Strikes of 1877, two descendants of convicted Mollies becoming militant IRA-supporting Teamster leaders in the 20th century, Gowen's HOTGAF arc going off the rails, the Reading's slide into crushing debt and bankruptcy, getting forced out of the game by a rising JP Morgan, and Franklin Gowen grimly imitating the tactics of his Molly adversaries by shooting a mine boss - himself - in 1889.  For access to premium SJ episodes, upcoming installments of DEMON FORCES, and the Grotto of Truth Discord, become a subscriber at patreon.com/subliminaljihad.

Dimitri and Khalid dive into the heart of the Molly Maguire story in 1870s Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, including: the simultaneous rise of the first successful labor union for miners (Irish-Catholic John Siney's Workingmen's Benevolent Association) and the charismatic Irish-American (Protestant) industrialist wunderkind Franklin B. Gowen, Gowen's sinister HOTGAF plans for the Reading Railroad (crushing the independent owner-operators, bribing the State Senate, price-gouging everyone, implying the WBA is controlled by a murderous global Irish-Catholic cabal), the brutal Long Strike of 1875, bloody clashes between Irish workers and Nativist "vigilance committee" death squads, the two-year infiltration of Irish Pinkerton detective James McParlan into the innermost circles of the Molly Maguires, and more. For access to premium SJ episodes, upcoming installments of DEMON FORCES, and the Grotto of Truth Discord, become a subscriber at patreon.com/subliminaljihad.

Dimitri and Khalid embark on a metajourney into a largely forgotten episode of Irish-American history: the rise and fall of an alleged secret society called the “Molly Maguires” in 1870s Pennsylvania coal country, whose violent activities struck fear into the hearts of Nativist mine bosses and Philadelphia railroad tycoons. But that's only one side of an incredibly complicated story of industrial capitalism, early labor unions, megalomaniacal silk toppers, ethnic fear-mongering, media manipulation, private intelligence agencies, and the violence that baptized Modern America… For access to premium SJ episodes, upcoming installments of DEMON FORCES, and the Grotto of Truth Discord, become a subscriber at patreon.com/subliminaljihad.

Send us a textThe U.S. oil and natural gas industry is continuing to reduce methane emissions and improve environmental performance. Kamala supports what Brazil just did to X, and wants to bring that same level of censorship to the United States. Brain dead Joe Biden tells a weird story about how his grandfather was accused of being a "Molly Maguire" while running for political office in 1906. Plus more on this episode. 

Turning Tides welcomes Mark Bulik, a senior editor at the New York Times and author of Ambush at Central Park: When the IRA Came to New York for an interview in which he discusses his new book, as well as his first book, The Sons of Molly Maguire: the Irish Roots of America's First Labor War.Mark Bulik's Website: https://markbulik.com/The Sons of Molly Maguire: the Irish Roots of America's First Labor War on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Sons-Molly-Maguire-Irish-Americas/dp/0823262235Ambush at Central Park: When the IRA Came to New York on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Ambush-Central-Park-When-Came/dp/1531502601If you'd like to donate or sponsor the podcast, our PayPal is @TurningTidesPodcast1. Thank you for your support!Produced by Melissa Marie Brown and Joseph Pascone in affiliation with AntiKs Entertainment.Intro and Outro created by Melissa Marie Brown and Joseph Pascone using Motion ArrayWebsite: https://theturningtidespodcast.weebly.com/IG/Threads/YouTube/Facebook: @theturningtidespodcastEmail: theturningtidespodcast@gmail.comIG/YouTube/Facebook/Threads/TikTok: @antiksentEmail: antiksent@gmail.com

In this episode, Ben Spohn Interviews Kevin Kenny on his book Making Sense of the Molly Maguires which recently had a special 25th anniversary release. The Molly Maguires were a secret organization operating in Pennsylvania's Coal Region during a period of labor unrest in the 1860s and 1870s. This period culminated in the execution of twenty suspected members of the Molly Maguires executed for the murder of sixteen men during this period. Since then there has been disagreement, over who the Molly Maguire's were, what they did, and their motivations. Kenny argues that this is an inadequate understanding of the Molly Maguires and points out that most of the histories describing the Molly Maguires in this light, as some sort of sinister, secret organization were written by their detractors. Kenny's work offers a new explanation of the Molly Maguires drawing from American and Irish sources and traces the labor unrest in the pattern of the Molly Maguires back to similar groups in Ireland that operated during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Keeping that in mind, Kenny's work is a history of labor and immigration in America. While there is no denying the Molly Maguire's involvement in violent labor unrest, this adds context to their motivations and provides an explanation for why they embraced the methods of protest that they did. Kevin Kenny is the Glucksman Professor of History and Director of Glucksman Ireland House at NYU. For some of his research Kenny consulted the Reading Company records at Hagley, which included material related to James McParland's investigation of the Molly Maguires and other materials related to the Molly Maguire trials. In support of his work, Kenny received funding from the Center for the History of Business, Technology, and Society at the Hagley Museum and Library. For more information on our funding opportunities, and more Hagley History Hangouts, visit us online at hagley.org.

Turning Tides: Links In the Chain will discuss the American labor movement. The third episode, Wobbly Foundation, will cover the period from 1899 to 1915, in which the progressive era sets the stage for America's entrance into WWI and creates the conditions which allowed for the first "Red Scare" to come to fruition.If you'd like to donate or sponsor the podcast, our PayPal is @TurningTidesPodcast1. Thank you for your support!Produced by Melissa Marie Brown and Joseph Pascone in affiliation with AntiKs Entertainment.Researched and written by Joseph PasconeEdited and revised by Melissa Marie BrownIntro and Outro created by Melissa Marie Brown and Joseph Pascone using Motion ArrayWebsite: https://theturningtidespodcast.weebly.com/IG/YouTube/Threads/Facebook: @theturningtidespodcastTwitter: @turningtidespodEmail: theturningtidespodcast@gmail.comIG/YouTube/Facebook/Threads/TikTok/Twitter: @antiksentEmail: antiksent@gmail.comEpisode 3 Sources:There is Power in a Union, by Philip DrayUnderstanding Race, Labor, and Radicalism in the United States from the Unusual Perspective of Lucy Parsons, by Derek Dwight AndersonLabor and Freedom, by Eugene V. DebsKilling for Coal: America's Deadliest Labor War, by Thomas G. AndrewsThe Negro in the Class Struggle, by Eugene V. Debs, International Socialist Review, Vol. IV, No. 5. November 1903The Sons of Molly Maguire: the Irish Roots of America's First Labor War, by Mark BulikWikipedia

Turning Tides: Links In the Chain will discuss the American labor movement. The second episode, Iron on the Wind, will cover the period from 1879 to 1898, in which the Haymarket affair erupted into the country's first red scare, leading to the Homestead and Pullman strikes, which ignited the flames of the national labor movement in the United States.If you'd like to donate or sponsor the podcast, our PayPal is @TurningTidesPodcast1. Thank you for your support!Produced by Melissa Marie Brown and Joseph Pascone in affiliation with AntiKs Entertainment.Researched and written by Joseph PasconeEdited and revised by Melissa Marie BrownIntro and Outro created by Melissa Marie Brown and Joseph Pascone using Motion ArrayWebsite: https://theturningtidespodcast.weebly.com/IG/YouTube/Threads/Facebook: @theturningtidespodcastTwitter: @turningtidespodEmail: theturningtidespodcast@gmail.comIG/YouTube/Facebook/Threads/TikTok/Twitter: @antiksentEmail: antiksent@gmail.comEpisode 2 Sources:There is Power in a Union: The Epic Story of Labor in America, by Philip DrayDeath in the Haymarket: A Story of Chicago, the First Labor Movement and the Bombing that Divided Gilded Age America, by James GreenUnderstanding Race, Labor, and Radicalism in the United States from the Unusual Perspective of Lucy ParsonsThe Sons of Molly Maguire: the Irish Roots of America's First Labor War, by Mark BulikThe Pullman Boycott A Complete History of the R.R. Strike, by W. F. BurnsLabor and Freedom: The Old Umbrella Mender, Coming Nation, March, 1st, 1913, by Eugene V. DebsThe Reformer, poem by John Greenleaf WhittierWorkingmen, to Arms!!!, REVENGE! Circular, by August SpiesWikipedia

The fighting Irish!  Who were the Molly Maguires???  Find out today…that's if Jessica did her research well.  Make sure to check out the website for Ingrid's new podcast at https://www.1in3podcast.com/Buzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched! Start for FREEContact Another Situation: Email us at anothersituationpodcast@gmail.com Follow us on Facebook and Instagram @AnotherSituationPodcast Tweet us @AnotherSitPod Check out our website https://www.anothersituationpodcast.com/ Thank you for listening and sharing!!Cover art by Kevin StoneMusic by Tim Crowe

SlapperCast Episode 191 was recorded in a leisurely manner this past Sunday night in Patrick's living room, which we haven't done in awhile. After Patrick tells us how his laptop got destroyed by a falling mirror, we touch on our latest bit of big news: we're FINALLY going back to Ireland next Fall (https://blaggards.com/ireland/), and we hope you'll join us. It's going to be a blast. Also for the first time in a long while, we have a couple shows coming up at two Molly's Pub locations (Molly Maguire's and Molly's Conroe). This prompts Patrick and Chad to talk about the great Eamonn Finnerty, co-owner of Molly's Pubs, who was instrumental in helping Blaggards get off the ground in Houston, starting with Patrick's earlier band On the Dole. Chad announces his new podcast Prodigious Saps (https://linktr.ee/prodigioussaps), a nerdy Superman-inspired show he launched this week with his old friend Brendan Jones, former lead singer of local Houston band Zsu-Zsu's Petals and co-founder of the Tesla City Stories (https://www.teslacitystories.com). The first episode is out now as an audio-only podcast (https://prodigioussaps.fireside.fm) and a full video on YouTube (https://youtu.be/fx79Dqwu0Ao). Also discussed: the documentary "Under the Volcano" about George Martin's legendary AIR Studio in Montserrat, the Police, Motörhead, Paul Simon and Orville Peck. Show dates Blaggards.com (https://blaggards.com/shows/) Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/pg/blaggards/events/) Bandsintown (https://www.bandsintown.com/a/3808) Follow us on social media YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/blaggards) Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/blaggards/) Twitter (https://twitter.com/blaggards) Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/blaggards/) Become a Patron Join Blaggards on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/blaggards) for bonus podcast content, live tracks, rough mixes, and other exclusives. Rate us Rate and review SlapperCast on iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/slappercast-a-weekly-talk-show-with-blaggards/id1452061331) Questions? If you have questions for a future Q&A episode, * leave a comment on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/blaggards), or * tweet them to us (https://twitter.com/blaggards) with the hashtag #slappercast.

Hello and Welcome to Nothing Ever Happens in Canada, I'm Canadian Girl thanks so much for joining me today. Grab those haunted adventure hats and dust them off, as I know its been a while. We're off to explore the most haunted town in Canada, Niagara on the Lake in Ontario. We'll learn about Sobbing Sophia who has been crying for centuries. Molly Maguire who just will not leave room 207 and many more lost souls from the war of 1812 and some newer ones too. Join me now, as we head out into the night on this haunted tour around Niagara on the Lake. Website - see the show notes and more! https://www.canadiangirl2319.wixsite.com/website Find Everything https://linktr.ee/nothingcanada Support the Show Leave a shiny 5

[Episode alt. title: Thank You Sky Daddy.] Val tells the incomplete story of “Allentown's prettiest widow” who was accused of poisoning her husband with strychnine in 1912. Leah asks hard-hitting questions like, “Has historical rat poison ever killed a single rat?” Old-timey snack johnnie cakes and modern food-adjacent items Diet Coke, Lean Cuisine, and Hemotogen candy also get mentions. ~ SHOW NOTES: Jim Thorpe (full name James Francis Thorpe) was the first Native American to win a gold medal for the United States. He won two--in classic pentathlon and decathlon. In addition to his Olympic stardom, he was also a major-league baseball player, co-founder of the National Football League and even pro basketball player, a stunt performer, and Hollywood character actor. Jim was a Sac and Fox Indian, and when he died in 1953, his funeral was held where he was born in Shawnee, Oklahoma. Then his third wife Patricia made a deal with Mauch Chunk to have his body interred there. Jim's son Jack filed a lawsuit in 2010, but it was unsuccessful. Jim Thorpe's body remains in a Pennsylvania town he never visited. (Sources: Smithsonian Magazine, Wikipedia) You can find a short summary of the execution of the Molly Maguires on ExplorePAHistory.com, but there is plenty of in-depth reading about that period in history. A thing I meant to mention about the Molly Maguires that I didn't actually get to was that it was entirely run by the private sector. The corporation that hired the detective agency was private, and a private police force arrested the defenders, and they were prosecuted by private attorneys for the coal companies. The wikipedia page is really detailed if you'd like to read more. You can find a picture of the creepy handprint in the old Jim Thorpe jail in a Philadelphia Inquirer article titled “For sale: Historic NE Pennsylvania jail haunted by the ghosts of hanged coal miners.” Apparently the Molly Maguire who imprinted his hand said, “This handprint will remain as proof of my innocence.” Check out The Reno Gazette Journal article "Experts weigh in on use of paralytic drug in executions" to learn more about that. Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined by Steven Pinker is the book Leah referenced. It's true that crime rates have gone down over very long periods of time. In the U.S., the homicide rate went down each century since the 1700s. However, there was a peak in homicides in the 1960s - 1900s, with a steady decrease afterward. So it isn't a simple, continual downward trend. (Source: Wikipedia) Here is a piece on Generation Jones or “Jonesers”: https://timeline.com/generation-jones-baby-boom-923270cb2010 (Turns out “keeping up with the Joneses doesn't refer to a tv show but is a long-ago expression referring to generic neighbors, originating from an old cartoon.) You can find links to all these articles as well as photos on our website, researchholepodcast.com.

117th Episode! In this episode of Two Zero Q – 20 Questions With Interesting People we learn the 'origin story' of John Kearns. John is the author of the short-story collection, Dreams and Dull Realities and the novel, The World and playwright of dramas including In the Wilderness and Boann and the Well of Wisdom.  His new novel, Worlds, was published by Boann Books and Media LLC in May 2020.  Worlds was a finalist in the 2018 William Faulkner – William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition and the 2002 New Century Writers’ Awards.  John’s fiction has appeared in The Medulla Review, Danse Macabre, and The Irish Echo.  His poems have appeared in such journals as the North American Review, the Grey Sparrow Journal, and The Razor’s Wine.  His play, Sons of Molly Maguire, was produced in Dublin’s Liberty Hall in May 2017.  John was the Treasurer and Salon Producer for Irish American Writers and Artists for 7 years.  He has a Masters Degree in Irish Literature from the Catholic University of America. 

In this teaser of Two Zero Q – 20 Questions With Interesting People I ask John, "What would you say is the biggest personal challenge you have faced?" John is the author of the short-story collection, Dreams and Dull Realities and the novel, The World and playwright of dramas including In the Wilderness and Boann and the Well of Wisdom.  His new novel, Worlds, was published by Boann Books and Media LLC in May 2020.  Worlds was a finalist in the 2018 William Faulkner – William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition and the 2002 New Century Writers’ Awards.  John’s fiction has appeared in The Medulla Review, Danse Macabre, and The Irish Echo.  His poems have appeared in such journals as the North American Review, the Grey Sparrow Journal, and The Razor’s Wine.  His play, Sons of Molly Maguire, was produced in Dublin’s Liberty Hall in May 2017.  John was the Treasurer and Salon Producer for Irish American Writers and Artists for 7 years.  He has a Masters Degree in Irish Literature from the Catholic University of America.   

In this Episode of Two Zero Q – 20 Questions With Interesting People, we learn the 'Origin Story' of John Kearns. John is the author of the short-story collection, Dreams and Dull Realities and the novel, The World and playwright of dramas including In the Wilderness and Boann and the Well of Wisdom.  His new novel, Worlds, was published by Boann Books and Media LLC in May 20202.  Worlds was a finalist in the 2018 William Faulkner – William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition and the 2002 New Century Writers’ Awards.  John’s fiction has appeared in The Medulla Review, Danse Macabre, and The Irish Echo.  His poems have appeared in such journals as the North American Review, the Grey Sparrow Journal, and The Razor’s Wine.  His play, Sons of Molly Maguire, was produced in Dublin’s Liberty Hall in May 2017.  John was the Treasurer and Salon Producer for Irish American Writers and Artists for 7 years.  He has a Masters Degree in Irish Literature from the Catholic University of America.   In this teaser, I ask John, "If someone wanted explore an idea or prospective opportunity based on what you can tell them, what would be the main thing to encourage/discourage them?"

1. Primary Politics Timestamp: 9:19 a. Trump threaten to send Federal Agents to NYC https://gothamist.com/news/trump-threatens-send-federal-agents-police-nyc-im-going-do-something b. Tammy Duckworth potential pick as Biden's VP https://www.wunc.org/post/tammy-duckworths-stock-rises-possible-vp-choice-after-high-profile-few-weeks c. Wall Street Mogul runs for NYC Mayor? https://nypost.com/2020/07/21/wall-streets-raymond-mcguire-prepping-for-nyc-mayoral-run/?utm_source=browser&utm_medium=push-notification&utm_campaign=wall-streets-raymond-mcguire-prepping-for-nyc-mayoral-run d. NYPD ends Occupy City Hall Encampment https://nypost.com/2020/07/22/nypd-officers-clear-out-remaining-occupy-city-hall-protesters/?utm_source=browser&utm_medium=push-notification&utm_campaign=nypd-officers-clear-out-remaining-occupy-city-hall-protesters e. British Doctor SUGGESTS TO WEAR MASKS AT HOME?! https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/health-news/12191585/brits-wear-coronavirus-face-mask-home-good-morning-britain-doctor/?utm_medium=browser_notifications&utm_source=pushly 2. Mid Game Timestamp: 43:44 a. New Fable Game for X Box Series X https://www.gamespot.com/articles/new-fable-game-announced-from-forza-horizon-studio/1100-6480040/ b. Sonic 2 Movie gets a schedule release date https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/sonic-hedgehog-2-gets-april-021959679.html 3. Weird Topic Finale (WTF) Timestamp: 50:27 a. Molly Maguire's Bloody History https://allthatsinteresting.com/molly-maguires?utm_source=onesignal&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ospush b. African-American Woman brought Tap Dancing clout in TikTok and destroying stereotypes https://www.inspiremore.com/morgan-bullock-irish-dance/ c. History of Tap Dancing https://www.britannica.com/art/tap-dance/Nightclubs --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ellusion-empire/message

This week at In The Past Lane, the American History podcast, we take a look at a legendary labor uprising by a mysterious group known as the Molly Maguires. They were Irish and Irish American coal miners in Pennsylvania in the 1870s who used vigilante violence to fight back against the powerful and exploitative mine owners. But in the end, the mine owners used their dominance over the political and legal establishment to see to it that 20 men, most of whom were likely innocent, were executed by hanging.   Feature Story: The Molly Maguires Hanged  On Thursday June 21, 1877 – 143 years ago this week - ten men went to the gallows in Pennsylvania.  They were known as Molly Maguires – members of an ultra-secret society that used violence and intimidation in their bitter struggles with powerful mine owners. Arrested for their alleged role in several murders, they were convicted and sentenced to death on the basis of very thin evidence and questionable testimony.  “Black Thursday” would long be remembered by residents of the Pennsylvania coal fields as an extraordinary example of anti-labor and anti-Irish prejudice.  The story of the Molly Maguires was one very much rooted in two specific places: rural Ireland and the anthracite region of PA. The latter was the main supplier of the nation’s coal, making it a vital component in American’s unfolding industrial revolution. By the 1870s, more than 50,000 miners – more than half of them Irish or Irish American – toiled in the region’s mines. It was hard, brutal work. They worked long hours for low pay in extremely dangerous conditions. Every year cave-ins, floods, and poison gas claimed the lives of hundreds of miners.  In one fire alone in 1869, 110 miners were killed. It was in the struggle of these workers to improve their pay, hours, and conditions that the Molly Maguire saga began.  Irish immigrants and Irish Americans played key roles in virtually every aspect of the conflict, from the lowliest miner to the most powerful capitalist.  Foremost was Franklin B. Gowen, the wealthy Irish American president of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad. Tough and ambitious, he ruthlessly drove his competitors out of business in an effort to dominate the state’s two principle industries, coal and railroads.  The only thing he hated more than rival businessmen was organized labor, especially the main miners union, the Workingmen’s Benevolent Association (WBA). Led by an Irish-born man named John Siney, the WBA had won several strikes in the late 1860s and early 1870s that resulted in wage gains and union recognition. Even though he shared an Irish heritage with most of his miners, Franklin Gowan had little sympathy for them. In industrializing America, class interests trumped everything, including ethnicity and culture, and Gowan treated his workers like they were the enemy.  Gowan waited for the right moment to attack, and that came in 1873 when the nation plunged into a severe economic depression that lasted until 1877.  The hard times hurt his bottom line, but Gowen saw a silver lining: hard times also provided an opportunity to kill the miners’ union. In January 1875, Gowan announced a steep cut in wages, a move quickly followed by the region’s others coal operators. The wage cuts triggered a massive miners’ strike throughout the region that paralyzed coal production. But Gowen and other operators had prepared for the strike by stockpiling huge coal reserves that allowed them to continue to sell coal and wait out the desperate and half-starved striking miners. The “Long Strike,” as it came to be known, was doomed. It ended after five months in June with a total defeat for the workers and the destruction of the Workingmen’s Benevolent Association (WBA).  And here’s where rural Ireland figured into the story. Embittered by their loss, a group of Irish miners turned to an old custom – extra-legal justice, or vigilantism.  Irish tenant farmers had for centuries used tactics of intimidation, vandalism, and murder to protest landlord abuses, primarily rent hikes or evictions. These types of tactics of resistance by powerless peasants have been called by anthropologist James Scott, “the weapons of the weak.” According to tradition, the original “Molly Maguire” had been a woman who thwarted her landlord’s attempts to evict her during the Famine.  Many of the Irish miners in the Pennsylvania coal fields came from counties in Ireland where periodic agrarian vigilantism was a firmly rooted tradition.  Molly Maguire activity first arose in the anthracite region in the labor disputes of the early 1860s. But it subsided with the WBA’s success in gaining better wages and conditions for the miners. Now in the wake of the defeat in the Long Strike, the Mollies returned with a vengeance.  Between June and September 1875, six people were murdered – all carefully targeted as agents of the mine owners and enemies of the miners. Having destroyed the WBA, Franklin Gowen saw in the return of the Mollies an opportunity to permanently wipe out any miner opposition to his plans to consolidate power and wealth.  And so, he unleashed a sweeping campaign against the secret society in which he branded all labor activists “Molly Maguires.” He also accused an Irish fraternal organization known as the Ancient Order of Hibernians of operating as a front for the organization. Eventually over fifty men, women, and children were arrested and indicted for their alleged roles in the Molly Maguire violence and murders. Incredibly, the state of Pennsylvania played almost no role in this process. None other than Franklin Gowan served as the county district attorney and oversaw the investigation and prosecutions. A private company – the Pinkertons – conducted the investigation. A private police force employed by the mining companies carried out the arrests. And Gowan and coal company attorneys conducted the trials. As one historian commented, “The state only provided the courtroom and the hangman.”  The first trials began in January 1876.  They involved ten men accused of murder and were held in the towns of Mauch Chunk and Pottsville, PA.  A vast army of national media descended on the small towns where they wrote dispatches that were uniformly pro-prosecution. In an era of rising hysteria over labor radicalism, and the growing popularity of socialism and anarchism – much of it fueled by sensational stories in the mainstream press - the Molly Maguire story proved irresistible. And the coverage was universally negative. The NYT, for example, wrote about “the snake of Molly Maguire-ism,” while the Philadelphia Inquirer condemned the men as “enemies of social order.” The key witness for the prosecution was yet another Irishman, James McParlan. He was an agent of the infamous Pinkerton Detective Agency, an organization that would be more accurately described as a private army for hire that specialized in labor espionage and strikebreaking. Franklin Gowan had hired the Pinkertons in the early 1870s as part of his masterplan of destroying the WBA. James McParlan had gone under cover to infiltrate the Mollies and gather evidence. And gather he did – or at least he claimed he did during the trials. On the stand he painted a vivid picture of Molly Maguire secrecy, conspiracy, and murder. With this testimony, combined with the fact that Irish Catholics and miners had been excluded from the juries, guilty verdicts were a foregone conclusion. All ten defendants were convicted and sentenced to hang.  And in order to send the most powerful message to the region’s mining communities, authorities staged the executions on the same day -- June 21, 1877 – in two locations.  Alexander Campbell, Michael Doyle, Edward Kelly, and John Donahue were hanged in Mauch Chuck, while James Boyle, Hugh McGehan, James Carroll, James Roarity, Thomas Duffy, and Thomas Munley met a similar fate in Pottsville.  Although the hangings took place behind prison walls, they were nonetheless stages as major spectacles that drew huge crowds and generated international news coverage, nearly all of it condemning the Mollies as murderous monsters who got what they deserved.  Still, the Molly Maguire episode was far from over.  Ten more miners would be tried, convicted, and executed over the next fifteen months, bringing the total to twenty. While evidence suggests that some of them men were guilty of murder, the great majority of those executed were likely victims of hysteria and a profoundly unjust legal process. In the end, Franklin Gowen and his fellow mine operators succeeded in stamping out the Molly Maguires, but not the violent clashes between labor and capital they represented. For more than a generation following the executions, miners in Pennsylvania and many other states would continue to fight -- both legally and extra-legally -- against oppressive conditions in the mines. And the mine owners, as they did with the Mollies, did their best to dismiss the agitation as foreign radicalism brought to America by misguided immigrants who did not understand the inherent goodness and justice of industrial capitalism. The miners, of course, knew better. They understood that unregulated capitalism, backed by the full weight of the law, the government, and the media, was neither just, nor democratic. It was exploitation, pure and simple. Sources: Anthony Bimba. The Molly Maguires (International Publishers, 1932). Wayne G. Broehl, Jr., The Molly Maguires (Harvard University Press, 1964). Kevin Kenny, Making Sense of the Molly Maguires (Oxford University Press, 1998). IrishCentral.com, “Molly Maguires Executed, June 20, 2020 https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/molly-maguires-executed#.XvEIkuOULEA.twitter For more information about the In The Past Lane podcast, head to our website, www.InThePastLane.com  Music for This Episode Jay Graham, ITPL Intro (JayGMusic.com) The Joy Drops, “Track 23,” Not Drunk (Free Music Archive) Sergey Cheremisinov, “Gray Drops” (Free Music Archive) Ondrosik, “Tribute to Louis Braille” (Free Music Archive) Alex Mason, “Cast Away” (Free Music Archive) Squire Tuck, “Nuthin’ Without You” (Free Music Archive) Ketsa, “Multiverse” (Free Music Archive) The Rosen Sisters, “Gravel Walk” (Free Music Archive) Soularflair, “Emotive Beautiful Irish Feel Gala” (Free Music Archive) Dana Boule, “Collective Calm” (Free Music Archive) Ondrosik, “Breakthrough” (Free Music Archive) Cuicuitte, “sultan cintr” (Free Music Archive) Blue Dot Sessions, "Pat Dog" (Free Music Archive) Jon Luc Hefferman, “Winter Trek” (Free Music Archive) The Bell, “I Am History” (Free Music Archive) Production Credits Executive Producer: Lulu Spencer Graphic Designer: Maggie Cellucci Website by: ERI Design Legal services: Tippecanoe and Tyler Too Social Media management: The Pony Express Risk Assessment: Little Big Horn Associates Growth strategies: 54 40 or Fight © In The Past Lane, 2020 Recommended History Podcasts Ben Franklin’s World with Liz Covart @LizCovart The Age of Jackson Podcast @AgeofJacksonPod Backstory podcast – the history behind today’s headlines @BackstoryRadio Past Present podcast with Nicole Hemmer, Neil J. Young, and Natalia Petrzela @PastPresentPod 99 Percent Invisible with Roman Mars @99piorg Slow Burn podcast about Watergate with @leoncrawl The Memory Palace – with Nate DiMeo, story teller extraordinaire @thememorypalace The Conspirators – creepy true crime stories from the American past @Conspiratorcast The History Chicks podcast @Thehistorychix My History Can Beat Up Your Politics @myhist Professor Buzzkill podcast – Prof B takes on myths about the past @buzzkillprof Footnoting History podcast @HistoryFootnote The History Author Show podcast @HistoryDean More Perfect podcast - the history of key US Supreme Court cases @Radiolab Revisionist History with Malcolm Gladwell @Gladwell Radio Diaries with Joe Richman @RadioDiaries DIG history podcast @dig_history The Story Behind – the hidden histories of everyday things @StoryBehindPod Studio 360 with Kurt Andersen – specifically its American Icons series @Studio360show Uncivil podcast – fascinating takes on the legacy of the Civil War in contemporary US @uncivilshow Stuff You Missed in History Class @MissedinHistory The Whiskey Rebellion – two historians discuss topics from today’s news @WhiskeyRebelPod American History Tellers ‏@ahtellers The Way of Improvement Leads Home with historian John Fea @JohnFea1 The Bowery Boys podcast – all things NYC history @BoweryBoys Ridiculous History @RidiculousHSW The Rogue Historian podcast with historian @MKeithHarris The Road To Now podcast @Road_To_Now Retropod with @mikerosenwald © In The Past Lane 2020  

Sensational tales of true-life crime, the devastation of the Irish potato famine, the upheaval of the Civil War, and the turbulent emergence of the American labor movement are connected in a captivating exploration of the roots of the Molly Maguires. A secret society of peasant assassins in Ireland that re-emerged in Pennsylvania’s hard-coal region, the Mollies organized strikes, murdered mine bosses, and fought the Civil War draft. Their shadowy twelve-year duel with all powerful coal companies marked the beginning of class warfare in America. But little has been written about the origins of this struggle and the folk culture that informed everything about the Mollies. A rare book about the birth of the secret society, The Sons of Molly Maguire delves into the lost world of peasant Ireland to uncover the astonishing links between the folk justice of the Mollies and the folk drama of the Mummers, who performed a holiday play that always ended in a mock killing. The link not only explains much about Ireland’s Molly Maguires—where the name came from, why the killers wore women’s clothing, why they struck around holidays—but also sheds new light on the Mollies’ re-emergence in Pennsylvania. The book follows the Irish to the anthracite region, which was transformed into another Ulster by ethnic, religious, political, and economic conflicts. It charts the rise there of an Irish secret society and a particularly political form of Mummery just before the Civil War, shows why Molly violence was resurrected amid wartime strikes and conscription, and explores how the cradle of the American Mollies became a bastion of later labor activism. Combining sweeping history with an intensely local focus, The Sons of Molly Maguire is the captivating story of when, where, how, and why the first of America’s labor wars began.

If the railroads won the Gilded Age, the coal industry lost it. Railroads epitomized modern management, high technology, and vast economies of scale. By comparison, the coal industry was embarrassingly primitive. Miners and operators dug coal, bought it, and sold it in 1900 in the same ways that they had for generations. In the popular imagination, coal miners epitomized anti-modern forces as the so-called “Molly Maguire” terrorists.       Yet the sleekly modern railroads were utterly dependent upon the disorderly coal industry. Railroad managers demanded that coal operators and miners accept the purely subordinate role implied by their status. They refused. Fueling the Gilded Age shows how disorder in the coal industry disrupted the strategic plans of the railroads. Andrew Arnold is Chair of the History Department at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania.

Emileena Pedigo and John Chatterton talk with people involved with the shows The Shadow Pie, Take Me America, I'm in Love With Your Wife, Sons of Molly Maguire. Outroverted, The Executioner and To the Contrary. All shows are part of the Midtown International Theatre Festival which runs from July 16th through August 5th.

Emileena Pedigo and John Chatterton talk with people involved with the shows The Shadow Pie, Take Me America, I'm in Love With Your Wife, Sons of Molly Maguire. Outroverted, The Executioner and To the Contrary. All shows are part of the Midtown International Theatre Festival which runs from July 16th through August 5th.