The handprint on the jail cell wall that remains today, the grave that revealed itself at the same time a photo was located, the reprieve that came 30 seconds too late, and another that came 100 years too late, the mysterious death of one of the key prosecutors... and more oddities from the Molly Maguire Saga.
I've done a quick recap of the oddities, scroll on down for the longer version of each story
Tip - To quickly find a specific story, on a computer hold down the cntrl and f keys at the same time. A search box will appear.
The Handprint In Cell 17 Jim Thorpe, PA [Formerly Mauch Chunk] | Benjamin Yosts Unmarked Grave reveals it's exact location, AND a photo of the slain police officer is discovered at auction |
A reprieve from the Governor arrived at the jailhouse door as James McDonnell & Charles Sharp were hanged in Mauch Chunk.
But no one answered the door. |
|
The case against the Molly Maguires was not made by the state - It was a private prosecution held in a state courtroom.
|
Frank Gowen
Dead Of A Gunshot Wound
Self Inflicted, or Murder?
|
 Kehoe was posthumously pardoned in January 1979 by then PA Governor Milton Shapp, 100 years after the date of his hanging. |
==============================
The Handprint In Cell 17
Jim Thorpe
[Formerly Mach Chunk, but the town was paid to rename itself to Jim Thorpe, even though Thorpe never set foot in the town while alive..]
It's said that Alec Campbell, to prove that he was innocent, placed his hand on the wall of his cell and proclaimed that his hand print would remain there forever as proof of his innocence.
The handprint remains visible on the wall of Cell 17.
[When we toured the jail, years ago, the owners were very much into promoting the location as ghost tour. Our tour was more ghost stories than history.]
=================================
Benjamin Yosts Unmarked Grave reveals it's exact location, AND a photo of the slain police officer is discovered at auction
Years ago they didn't use burial vaults, only a wooden coffin. Over the years, the wood disintegrates and eventually collapses. When that happens, the dirt above the coffin sinks and forms a depression that you can see in the ground. It has to be filled in. When that happened to Yosts grave, revealing it's location in 1999 Historians conducted a re-enactment of the funeral procession from the train station to the cemetery, complete with period-correct, horse-drawn hearse. Local police departments took part in the event. A permanent marker was placed.
By strange coincidence, an Allentown area man who purchased a box lot of paperwork at a Sheppton public auction discovered a portrait of Yost inside the box. It's the only photo of Yost known to exist.
=============================
A reprieve from the Governor arrived at the jailhouse door as James McDonnell & Charles Sharp were hanged in Mauch Chunk. But no one answered the door.
"The telegraph messenger reached the jail door before the drop fell; but no attention was paid to his knocking and ringing, the wife of one of the men having previously been extremely violent outside.
When the drop fell the knocking and ringing continued, and the Sheriff sent out a man to arrest the persons whom he imagined to be creating a disturbance. It was then found to be the telegraph messenger with a reprieve.
A brother of McDonnell, who had been kneeling by the scaffold, arose and excitedly charged the Sheriff and the bystanders with the murder of his brother. The excitement spread, and the Sheriff appealed to one of the priests, who exonerated him from blame.
Amid this excitement and the reproaches of the maddened brother of McDonnell and the wailings of the bereaved families outside, the hanged men were forgotten, and their bodies remained suspended for 30 minutes after the drop fell. There is no reasonable doubt, however, that both were dead when the reprieve came."
========================
A private corporation initiated the investigation through a private detective agency.
A private police force arrested the alleged defenders.
Private attorneys for the coal companies prosecuted them. [Including Gowen himself, who had hired the Pinkertons]
The state provided only the courtroom and the gallows.
Also-
Lead prosecutor Charles Albright, a former general in the Civil War, appeared in court wearing his full civil war uniform.
Early disputes in this area began with Irish immigrants objecting to mine authorities "informing" on them to the US government for draft purposes.
"The year of 1876 saw a series of Molly trials and convictions. Arrested by private policeman and prosecuted by mining and railroad company attorneys, the trials, in the words of historian Harold Aurand, "marked one of the most astounding surrenders of sovereignty in American history." Aurand notes that the state's role in the proceeding was limited to providing "the courtroom and hangman." Another troubling feature of the trials was the systematic exclusion of Irish Americans from juries. In the entire series of Molly trials, not a single Irish American was empaneled on a jury. Instead, the fate of the Mollys was decided largely by German immigrants, many of whom admitted to understanding English only poorly." https://www.famous-trials.com/maguire/101-home
========================
Kehoe was posthumously pardoned in January 1979 by then PA Governor Milton Shapp, 100 years after the date of his hanging.
[To me, this is especially odd, because Keho was never convicted by the state. Remember, these were PRIVATE trials, conducted by a private entity, prosecuted by private citizens - in a public court house]
Despite the lack of testimony that placed Kehoe at the scene of the attack on Langdon, and using as evidence only the threat that Kehoe was said to have exclaimed, Kehoe was convicted.
Governor Hartranft hesitated to implement the sentence, explaining that he thought Kehoe should be punished but not hanged. In a letter to the state's attorney general, requesting an official definition of his power to change the sentence, he noted that men more directly involved in the attack on Langdon were convicted only of second, not first, degree murder.
He noted also that Kehoe's opponents had charged him with crimes for which he had never been indicted in order to prejudice the public against him, and that prosecutors had "pushed technicalities to the extreme to secure a conviction and execution for a crime of fifteen years standing."
He pointed out also that "two of the Board of Pardons had voted to commute and that at one time, a majority, if not all, of the members of the Board had entertained serious doubts of the grade of the offence…."
Unfortunately for Kehoe, the Attorney General gave as his interpretation of Pennsylvania's Constitution of 1873 that upon the refusal of the Board of Pardons to recommend commutation or pardon, the Governor's legal authority was limited to setting the date for the execution. Hartranft waited until after the fall election and then signed a second death warrant.
Historian Harold Aurand charged that the Molly Maguire trials constituted "one of most outstanding surrenders of sovereignty in American history." The coal company's employees conducted the investigation, identified the "alleged offenders," and prosecuted them. "The state provided only the courtroom and the hangman." Kehoe died on the gallows proclaiming his innocence.
....Kehoe's great grandson refused to accept the verdict and worked tirelessly to have Kehoe's name cleared. In early January of l979, Governor Milton J. Shapp issued a full pardon to John J. Kehoe."
================
For more about Frank Gowen & his death:
Frank Gowen
Dead Of A Gunshot Wound
Self Inflicted, or Murder?
In 1889, Franklin B. Gowen, responsible for not only the Molly Maguire investigation, but also for some of the prosecution, was found dead, with a gunshot wound to the head, in Wormly's Hotel in Washington D.C.
Ruled a suicide, there have been books and articles, repeatedly over the last 100 years, attempting to make the case that it was actually a murder.
On one hand, the owner of Wolford's hardware store remembered Gowen purchasing the gun, just the day before. And Gowen had been acting oddly, leading up to his death.
[Also, the Pinkerton's investigated, and agreed it was self inflicted]
On the other hand, the room was cleaned Up VERY fast, and according to some analysis of the drawings made by a reporter, the blood splatter and damage to the room do not fit a suicide.
There's just enough doubt to leave room for lots of opinions.
============================
The "Origins" Of The Molly Maguire Name
"The Molly Maguires’ name can be traced back to early 19th century Ireland. Molly Maguire, an Irish widow, in the 1840s, protested against English landlords who tried to steal peoples land. She headed a group called the “Anti-landlord Agitators” who were best known for getting in bare knuckle fights with their landlords in order to maintain their land and their dignity. “Take that from a son of Molly Maguire!” was often heard after group members would deliver a beating. Eventually their violence gained notoriety across Ireland, and they later proudly called themselves the “Molly Maguires” after their leader" - One of the many Molly Maguire legends. There are many versions, and its possible there was never a real woman with that name
====================
======================
No comments:
Post a Comment
I'll read the comments and approve them to post as soon as I can! Thanks for stopping by!