Page:Historical and Biographical Annals of Columbia and Montour Counties, Pennsylvania, Containing a Concise History of the Two Counties and a Genealogical and Biographical Record of Representative Families.pdf/103

 COLUMBIA AND MONTOUR COUNTIES tralia to Mount Cannel, riddled with bullets. On N ov. 17, 1868, John D uffy, Michael Prior and Thom as Donohue were arrested fo r the murder, and lodged in the Pottsville jail. L ater they were sent to Bloomsburg to await trial. Suspicion also fastened upon Patrick H ester, who had hastily decamped to Illinois, and he later on returned to Bloomsbutg and surrendered. A t the December session o f court a bill w as found g a in s t Donohue, Duffy and Prior, and at the I^ b ru ary session, 1869, a sim ilar bill w as returned against Hester. T h e case w as called by the district attorney on Feb. 2, 1869, Judge Elw ell presiding, and separate trials granted the prisoners. The Commonwealth was represented by District Attorney E. R. Ikeler, Linn Bartholomew, Robert F. Clark, Edw ard H. B ald y and M. M. L aV clle. T h e prisoners were defended by Jo h n W. Ryon. Jolm G. Freeze, M yer Strouse, S. P. Wolverton and W. A. M arr. T h e th e o ^ of the prosecution was that. Saturday being a general pay day in the coal regions, a party o f assassins concealed them­ selves at the point where the body w as found in the hope o f securing the laigc sum of money which Rea would carry. It was his custom, however, to pay o ff the men on F ri­ day, a practice well known to all residents o f (he vicinity. T his caused the prosecution to in fer that the murder was committed by some persons unfam iliar with the localit}*. Donohue w as tried and acquitted on Feb. I I . 1869; on the tith o f M ay the case against H ester w as dismissed from lack o f evidence, and on the same date D uffy w as tried and acquitted. Prior also w as tried and acquitted. Seven years then passed and no further clews to the murder were discovered. M ade bold by the release of the accused miners, some laborers hi the hard coat r ^ o n s developed an organization fo r purposes o f in­ timidation which soon absolutely controlled the community and caused a complete reign of terror over all o f (he southern part o f Columbia county and a great part o f Schuyl­ kill and Carbon counties. A common method o f intimidating the better class o f coal miners w as fo r a gang of ten o r more toughs to sweep through the min­ i f y camps, forcing every man to join them, the gradually increasing numbers overawing any inclined to resUt. On Ju n e 3. 1875, one thousand men stopped work at several mines near M ahanoy C ity, and a sim ilar band did the same at Shenandoah. T he same night a breaker at Mount Carmel was burned, and a

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few days later two contractors at the Oakdale mine were shot. Depredations became so common that every passenger train passing through the affected section had to m preceded by a locomotive carrying an armed posse, watchm en and station agents were beaten, loaded cars put upon the main line, switches misplaced, ware­ houses plundered, and bosses particularly hated by the malcontents were served with notices to leave, under pain o f death. Such threats were almost invariably executed. 'D ie chief source of these atrocities was an Ofganization formed by the lawless element and christened the "M ollie M aguires." T hey terrorized the entire coal region from 1865 to 1875, had signs and passwords, and developed such strength that not a man could be hired unless he was approved by the society. In exposing and suppressing this society the president of the Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron Company, Franklin B. Gowen, em­ ployed Jam es M cParlan, of the Pinkerton De­ tective .Agency. M cParlan posed as a miner, joined the order, became one of the leaders, and finally brought most of them to justice. Nine of the “ MoTlies" were sentenced to death in Schuylkill county, two in Carbon, and some others were imprisoned for long terms. At this time there was a man named Daniel Kelly, an abandoned criminal, confined in the Schuylkill county jail on the chaige of larceny. Suspicion having been directed against him as having some knowledge of the murder of Alexander W. R ea. he became frightened and offered to turn State’s evidence if allowed to go free. Accordingly, on his testimony, Peter M cHugh and Patrick T ully were arrested in the fa ll o f 1876 as participants in the murder, and Patrick H ester w as again arrested as ac­ cessory before the fact. T hey were first lodged in the Pottsville Jail, but later brought to Bloomsburg for trial. On Feb. 7, 1877, the trial began. Messrs. Hughes, B u clalcw and District Attorney John M. C lark appearing fo r the Commonwealth, while Messrs. Ryon, Wolverton, Freeze, Brockw av, Mahan and George E. Elw ell ap­ peared fo r the defense. A ll the accusra pleaded “ not guilty” and were arraigned to­ gether. Daniel K elly, pardoned by the govem or, was made the chief witness against them. T he trial lasted three weeks, when the ju ry brought in a verdict o f guilty, and the prisoners were sentenced to hang. N ew trials were refused them and the governor and board o f pardons would not interfere, so on Aug. 9, 1877. T ully, M cHugh and Hester