Molly Maguires Research Paper

On the morning of his execution, Alexander Campbell declared his innocence, insisting that he was "nowhere near the scene of either crime." Then he slapped his right hand against the wall of the cell leaving a dirty handprint. "There is proof of my words," he added. "That mark will never be wiped out. There it will remain forever to shame the county that is hangin' an innocent man” (Kashatus). To this day, this handprint of the suspected Molly Maguire remains. These men faced many hardships and their supposed tactics were extremely controversial, however, their story is an everlasting inspiration to the working class of the United States of America. In the story of the Molly Maguires, there are quite a few gaping holes. If one were to look …show more content…
Along with the famine, harsh British tyranny, unequal treatment for living conditions, overpopulation, poverty, and anti-catholicism feelings coming from the fresh Protestant awareness brought Irish immigrants to the Pennsylvania Coal Region while the coal industry was exponentially growing (Pollock). Due to these harsh treatments and conditions across the Pacific, the Irishmen created unions and societies and these groups were brought to America with these immigrants. Although the alleged Molly Maguires in America never gave themselves the name “Molly Maguires,” it can be assumed that the men who may have been a part of the Irish Mollies brought the ideas and societies over with them when emigrating. These men were all of the Irish-Catholic descent and claimed to follow the religion, they opened the meetings with prayer. Then when they had finished praying, immediately began to discuss the murder agenda for the week (Bloom). Unfortunately for the Mollies, the American Catholic Church outlawed secret societies making the Mollies a disgrace to Catholicism. Archbishop James Frederick Wood had an extreme view on the Mollies stating that the society as a “society rendered infamous by its treachery and deeds of blood, the terror of every neighborhood in which it existed…, the disgrace of Irishman…, the scandal of the Catholic Church,” (Pollock). Frederick Wood’s …show more content…
One would believe that the hatred of the corrupt officials and terrible conditions would bring the laborers together despite ethnicity, although this was not the case. If the Irishmen held any hope that racial tensions had been left in Ireland on their adventure to a new world, they quickly learned otherwise. The mining community divided, socially and physically, along ethnic lines (Pollock) in the 1860’s. This division of miners weakened the Mollies forcing them to be a small group with no public figure ties. The Mollies had themselves and only themselves to fight against racial and working place inequalities. During the coal boom, mining was single-handedly the most hazardous and corrupt business. The horrors of mining were indescribable. There were no provisions for safety or proper ventilation within the shafts and there was no such thing as mine inspectors. The health and lives of the miners were at the mercy of the operators who bitterly opposed every move for protective legislation (Pollock). Miners were required to shop at stores and rent apartments owned by the officials who had elevated the cost of necessities. The owners saw their workers as inferior and replaceable. These harsh conditions and unequal treatment led to the creation of the many unions in America including the Workingmen's