Our World Tuesday

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August 2009 - Jim Thorpe PA

We didn't do the jail tour, but I think it would be very interesting.

The Molly Maguires were an Irish 19th-century secret society active in Ireland, Liverpool and parts of the Eastern United States, best known for their activism among Irish-American and Irish immigrant coal miners in Pennsylvania. After a series of often violent conflicts, twenty suspected members of the Molly Maguires were convicted of murder and other crimes and were executed by hanging in 1877 and 1878. This history remains part of local Pennsylvania lore.

Click here to read a detailed history.

On the wall of the old county jail in what was then Mauch Chunk (today's Jim Thorpe), Pennsylvania, is a handprint that, according to folklore, was made by Alex Campbell, one of four members of an Irish labor organization called the Molly Maguires, executed on June 21, 1877. Insisting he was innocent, Campbell declared that "this is proof of my words. That mark will never be wiped out." And it never has.

Were the Mollies terrorists, working-class heroes, or something in between? To this day, the guilt of the twenty Mollies executed between 1877 and 1879 is hard to discover. Nearly all of the evidence that led to their convictions was provided by James McParland, a Pinkerton detective who infiltrated them. What is not in doubt, however, is the dangerous precedent in the history of Pennsylvania law enforcement that the convictions and execution of these Irish coal miners initiated.

There is also a movie about the Molly Mcguires.

Containing approximately 72 rooms, this magnificent structure shouts to all "Be good"!
The building has 27 cells, plus basement dungeon cells used as solitary confinement until 1980, women's cells on the 2nd floor, and the warden's living quarters across the front of the building. The warden's apartment has a large living room, dining room, 2 bedrooms, and a sitting room. The kitchen for the prisoners was the same kitchen used by the warden's family. In fact, for many years the warden's wife did the cooking not only for her family but also for the prisoners using the same kitchen for both.

And of course there is a pub in town called the Molly Mcguires.