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WHEREAS, From 1876 to 1878, several alleged members of the “Molly Maguires” in Carbon, Columbia, Northumberland and Schuylkill Counties were tried, convicted and sentenced to jail or hanged; and,
WHEREAS, Agents and employees of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad and Coal and Iron Company, the Lehigh and Wilkes-Barre Coal and Irony Company and the Lehigh Valley Railroad conducted the investigation, arrest and prosecution of these individuals; and,
WHEREAS, Special prosecuting attorneys were used who were on the payrolls of railroad and mining companies, jury selection was conducted in a manner which ensured ethnic bigotry and antibias, the trial judges were closely connected with railroad and mining companies which instigated the investigations and trials, witnesses were intimidated to commit perjury against the defendant and entrapment was used to accumulate evidence; and,
WHEREAS, Due process and constitutional rights were lacking in these trials; and,
WHEREAS, As a result of these trials, Barney Boyle, Kate Boyle, Patrick Butler, John Campbell, Dennis Canning, Patrick Dolan, Christopher Donnelly, Neil Dougherty, James Duffy, John Gibbons, Bridget Hyland, Michael Lawler, Charles McAllister, Patrick McKenna, Ned Monaghan, John Morris, Michael O'Brien, Patrick O'Donnell, Francis O'Neil and John O'Neil were sentenced to imprisonment; James Boyle, Alexander Campbell, James Carroll, John Donahue, Michael J. Doyle, Thomas Duffy, Edward Kelly, Hugh McGehan, Thomas Munley, and James Roarity were hanged in 1877; Dennis Donnelly, Thomas Fisher, Patrick Hester, John Kehoe, Peter McHugh and Patrick Tully were hanged in 1878; and Martin Bergin, James McDonnell, Peter McManus and Charles Sharpe were hanged in 1879; and,
WHEREAS, History does not question whether coal miners were treated unfairly by coal mine owners, that miners and owners struggled over the meager working conditions, and the fundamental unconstitut...
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