LAMENT FOR THE MOLLY MAGUIRES

by Arthur H. Lewis ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 28, 1964

The author's talent for generally unfamiliar, but particularly fascinating bits of history (The Day They Shook the Plum Tree, The Worlds of Chippy Patterson) receives full range in the story of the Molly Maguires, the Irish secret society for organized vengeance that terrorized the hard-coal counties of Pennsylvania for nearly three decades. Under the front of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, the Mollies operated from 1850 to 1877 with elaborate passwords, effective pistols, and a total disregard for the law. Most of their violence was directed against the absentee mine-owners and non-Irish residents of the area, although assassination of their own kin was not excluded by the laws of blood justice. Unable to check the growing number of ""coffin notices"" served and executed by the ubiquitous ""four Irishmen,"" the President of the Reading had an Irish Pinkerton detective installed in the Brotherhood. James McParlan was a Molly for nearly three years, working to accumulate trial evidence and trying to prevent murders he was supposed to help perpetrate. The story of McParlan's tenuous infiltration leading to the conviction and hanging of twenty Irishmen, including the ""King of the Mollies"" is told from his own reports and other documents of the period. Making the Mafia pale in comparison, the Mollies' reign of terror makes exciting, appalling history.

Pub Date: Aug. 28, 1964

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harcourt, Brace & World

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1964

Categories: NONFICTION