The Dollop with Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds - 202 - The Molly Maguires

Episode Date: August 29, 2016

Comedians Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds examine the Irish immigrant group The Molly Maguires. SOURCESTOUR DATES REDBUBBLE MERCH

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week I read a story from American history to my friend. Gareth Reynolds who has no idea what the topic is gonna be about. When people actually say they want him miked I wonder I don't think anybody wants that I've people have asked for him to get a microphone yeah but they're not producers right I just will say there'd be a lot of dead air for every meow yeah but he's really freaking out right now he's lifted that curtain up he's now like it's like it's almost like he doesn't have his like private chamber anymore yeah there's no to do I mean people with no idea what we're talking about

God do you want to look who to do? I'll do one bottle. People say this is funny. Not Gary Gareth. Stay okay. Someone or something is tickling people. Is it for fun? And this is not going to come to tickling podcast. Okay. You are queen fakie of made-up town. All hail queen shit of Liesville. A bunch of religious virgins go to mingle and do a thing. Hi Gary. No. He's done my friend. We want to thank all of our subscribers on Patreon this podcast is brought to you by our subscribers thank each and every one of you. Kissy kiss. Love you. Yeah. August 19th. David Nison and 1845. The New York Herald reported 1845. Yeah. Okay. It reported quote on Tuesday night July 22nd. Mr. Christopher Plunkett and his police party apprehended five of the Molly McGuire's who had been fully identified and committed to prison to a trial. This capture has provided great satisfaction since the authorities

possess information that will enable them to break up the dreadful association organized for the destruction of life and property. This was the first time the Molly McGuire's had ever been mentioned in the United States press. Okay. The paper went on to explain who the Molly's were. In the 1700s Ireland had a secret association known as the ribbon man. They resisted the laws of the land and they murdered every Protestant they hated. Farmers homes were burned nightly and the farmers were killed. It's a cute name for a ribbon man the ribbon man. Well they ran around with ribbons while they were doing it. They would have like

slit slit slit. Stab stab stab stab stab him. You didn't even do an Irish accent. Stop him. I feel like it's too late. Quote almost every hedge and ditch contained contained an assassin who leveled his gun at the passing Protestant or treacherously pierced him with a pitchfork. Jesus. So it's time to convert. Right. That's this is how you. This is how the Catholics so fast. Right away. Who's getting murdered? I'm with the guys. I'm with them. I'm whatever they are. I'm what you guys are. What are you guys? Other side. Author Stuart Trench first read about the

Molly McGuire's in Ireland. He claimed that he first came across them in County Monagham. Monagham. Monagham. Yeah. Monagham in 1843 and then a second time in 1851. Trench said the Molly's were young men who dressed up in women's clothes black in their faces or wore veils. Disguising the face was common in Irish rural areas from 1760 to 1850. Yeah honestly it sort of sounds like what the gypsy culture in Ireland gets married in now. They put on a lot of bronzer and crazy dresses. Am I the only one watching my big fat gypsy wedding? I think so. Okay. The

white boys is the name of a group. The white boys. They're not. Okay. All right. Or white linen dresses and white handkerchiefs around their hats. They apparently pledge allegiance to a mythical woman. Civ Outlaw. That's serious. Some serious Celtic fucking language there. So so far there's two groups. Well these guys were early on versions of the Molly McGuire's. Yeah. Okay. I mean they're just a different kind. Okay. Right. Yeah they just prayed to a mythological woman and we're all white. Yeah but that happens. Sure. In 1845 Thomas Campbell Foster traveled through Ireland writing letters to the Times of

London which he described rural life and violence there. There were numerous reports of threats, assaults, armed robberies, and murders. Foster said Molly McGuireism was quote a local generic term for rural unrest. It is in fact the embodiment of the spirit of discontent. Okay. The main focus of the Molly McGuire's was to hold on to the small bits of land so they could raise enough potatoes to live. That seems like a fair plight. Right. That's in the right place. Yep. But there was a movement for grazing herds. So that's that's conflict with growing potatoes. Was the grazing herds of cattle grazing

grazing grazing her would eat your potato plants. Humans. No cats or like animal. Who would eat the potatoes? Grazing herds of animals. Livestock. Cows or wild. They would eat the potato plants. Not the potatoes. Okay. So a grazing herd is in conflict with somebody who wants to grow crops. Right. I understand that. Do you? Yeah I do. So they're eating like livestock is eating their potatoes. Jesus. Grazing livestock. Yeah this is the end of the podcast. What happened? Jose. He's fine. So the Molly McGuire's would dig up newly enclosed pasture making it unsafe for herds. So I guess they'd fuck it up somehow. Okay. Fuck up

the land. They would also attack maim or kill grazing animals. Interesting. Seems like that would solve part of the famine issue too. Right. Herdsmen were attacked and a horse was tried, found guilty, tortured and shot. A horse was tried? Yeah they tried like a courtroom situation in which they tried him and found him guilty. Did he take the stand? Well I'd be an I don't know if a horse back then was allowed to take the stand in its own defense. Right. But you know. I'm representing myself. At least this horse got his day in court as opposed to other ones that were just shot. They were a fair pair of jury of my peers. You

just did an Irish horse. That's right. I've been grazed on the land. I've ever liked to be her. Why does he sound like that? Because I've got family teeth in my mouth. I've heard of a horse. I've heard of a horse. So we're neighbors. Landlord's agents were also threatened, beaten and assassinated as were tenants who settled on land from which others had been evicted. Merchants who charged unjust prices were threatened and attacked. There were three origins. Sounds a little lawless. There were three supposed origins of the Malamaguires. Okay. One was that Malamaguire was a woman who had been

evicted from her home and locals got together to avenge her. Another version was that she was the owner of a tavern where the Secret Society met and the third was that she was a woman who led men to the countryside on their raids. It's like a tough ass. Okay. So those are the three. I like all options. Those are nice. Schoolkill County. Schoolkill? Schoolkill. S-C-H-U-Y-L-K-I-L-L. Okay. Schoolkill was a county in Pennsylvania that was the center of the Malamaguires in the United States. In 1850, half the people in the county were foreign-born. 13,400 from Ireland. The Irish were 43.5 percent of the immigrant

population and 11 percent of the total population. The vast majority of them worked in coal mines. Okay. Oh, it's dark. Schoolkill County was a coal mining country. There were 91 coal mines employing over 15,000 people. The employees were broken down into skilled miners or miners on contract. They were independent craftsmen who learned their jobs through an apprenticeship and were proud of their status. Well, okay. I'm sure there were lower classes in this. Really? Yeah. Interesting. Most contract miners employed their own laborers paying them from their own income. The Welsh and English

workers were skilled contract miners and the laborers were all Irish. Oh, boy. Time must be nice to have a talent. Well, back down to the pit of black for me. I like to not have to eat me fist. So, that's nice. The well established apprentices... You guys seem like you really know what you're doing. Yeah. All right. Well, I'm gonna go back down to the pit of black's end. Okay, you shit pig. I'm 17. The well established apprentices apprenticeship system allowed the wealth British and American Welsh, British and American workers to rise up and get skilled jobs. The Irish were not eligible for promotion and the Irish did

get more work together. They would mine all day and then the skilled miners would leave and the Irish would be left to pile up all the coal and fill the train cars. Yes, well, we're done. Now, if you wouldn't mind sweeping up and putting those into proportionate piles. Tally-ho. Ta-ra! Go ahead and pick that all up there. Don't worry about it, you fucking English. Ah, you're fucking cunt. Pick this up. Pick it up, you bloody... Oh, fuck yourself, bastard. You're fucking... Correct. There better be a potato in here. We used... We used to be a potato empire. I'm dying. I'm dead. Who are you fucking dying out of? I'm seven. I'm fucking...

Look, it's me. I'm gone. Ta-ra! That one's dead, he keeps talking. Yeah, he died about two days ago while we did. So they'd mine all day and then the Irish would pile up all the coal and fill train cars. The region had a large amount of young single men who lived as borders in the homes of Irish family. Irish lived with Irish, Welsh lived with Welsh and so on. The coal trade picked up in 1862 due to the war and the price of coal went up. Laborers who were making $6 a week in 1862 were making $12 a week a year later. All righty. The miners journal... Sure. Which is still a great... If you get it, just still a great paper.

It's great. It's like a barely 18. Yeah. The miners journal wrote most of what we know about the Molly McGuire's. The editor was Benjamin Brandon and he was Republican and the county was mostly Democratic. When the war came, the Militia Act of 1862 led to thousands of Pennsylvanians being drafted for union service in the Civil War. The draft commissioner for School Kill County was Benjamin Brandon. Okay. Brandon found a very hostile reaction from the locals. Oh boy. Women and boys threw hot water, sticks and stones at him. Those won't break my bones. Then on October 16th, 1862, 1,000 laborers stopped a train

transporting draftees from School Kill County to Harrisburg. The governor lied the secretary of war to request troops. Okay. But a nice religious man, Archbishop Wood, went to School Kill County and talked the men into standing down. Okay. It's a nice Irish. Yeah, that's a good guy. Yeah. The Colonel in charge of the draft wrote about School Kill, quote, in School Kill, where the Molly McGuire's are 13 murders had been committed within two or three years and not a single murder brought to punishment. All of the Irish labor draftees are under the absolute influence of the Molly McGuire's. Okay. On December 18th, 200 armed men

raided the Phoenix Coal Mine in Cass Township. According to miners journal, quote, the men were strangers to the workers. They attacked and beat in the most outrageous manner, some 15 persons connected to the mine. And in one instance, beat a stranger who had no connection whatsoever. I don't even know any of these dudes. I'm just here looking around at stuff. I'm visiting my cousin. So they just go down to the mine and they just tear ass. Yeah, they just fucking shit up. Before they left, they won't just I'll tell you why. Before they left, they wanted that if the company store was reopened or the

furnaces at the mine relit, they would make a volcano of the entire works and kill every man about the place. The Molly McGuire's were stopping work at coalmans to demand higher wages and better treatment. Okay. So the Molly McGuire's plight was to get higher wages. Just get better everything. Get better everything. In 1863, 40 Irish mine workers attacked the home of mine supervisor, John McDonald. Okay. Johnny in there. No. Throw a potato through the window. I'm not here. Throw one of the fire potatoes. I'm not in here. Throw a fire potato at his house. There's nobody in here. Shit. Hey, Patty, we've got a

bit of a problem. Yeah, what is that? He's not here. Potatoes don't light on fire. Well, also he says he's not in there. Yeah. Yeah, but you see it. Yeah. Well, he wouldn't lie to us. Okay, right. But there's a flaw with the, if a man is saying I'm not here, that means he's fucking there. Yeah, but he wouldn't lie to us. If he says he's not bloody in there, he's not bloody in there, is he? No. There's nobody in here. Yeah, see, just as he said there. Hey, Patrick, could you shove a potato in Patty's mouth? I'd like to talk to you. Absolutely. There. Put it right in Patty's mouth. Okay. So we have a problem. I know he's not there.

Okay. We've got to get moving. Oh, fuck. He's been pretty honest so far. Okay. I'm gonna go over here in the corner and shoot myself in the face. All right. Won't bring him here. You sure you're not in there? Good, good riddance. I know nobody in here. Yeah, go fuck yourself. You're a shit person. All right. We'll wait for him to come back. Human fucking garbage jar. Hopefully he comes back soon. And we'll know too, because we'll be waiting outside. Okay. All right then. Ta-da! Everybody go. Uh, so the attack is home. Right, the next month the mine operator was attacked by his employees. After the Conscription Act of 1863 was passed, mine operators

would voluntarily furnish lists of their employees to the draft authorities. Furnish lists? Yeah, so they're giving lists of everybody who works there to the draft board basically. Okay. Have them. This led to the mine operators being threatened with death. The Conscription Act also let drafted citizens find a substitute to fight for them or pay $300 to get out of fighting. Boy, that's a movie right there. Trying to find the substitute to fight for him. Hey, mate, how are you? You all right? Yeah, I'm good. Thanks. Good, good, good. Boy, this war sounds like it's gonna be crazy, isn't it? Fucking would never watch that. Boy, I tell

you, we would love to go there and fight. What? Oh, I would love to fight. No, I was just saying that. Given the opportunity to go over there. Actually, you know, fight. Fight for what I believed in, you know, but I can't, you see. Why? So why? Why? I've got a bad back. Yeah, I've got a bad back. But man, if I could do it. Yeah, you see what I'm saying? Yeah, I got you. The idea of going over there. Make something. Make something to yourself. Exactly. I shouldn't move too much. Makes the back hurt, it does. Yeah. There's something I was gonna say to you other than, other than just saying about. Was it about potatoes? No, no, no, that's how we talk. Oh, ha. Do you

know what I could do for you? What's that? I could give you an opportunity to go and fight in my place. That way you could go making it for yourself. And I can rest my back. Boy, that's a good idea you've had there. That's a great idea you've had. You just come up with a great solution. You could do that if you put it like that. You could go fight for me. That makes perfect sense. Right. Come on, let's get you down to the draft commission. Come on, you and me. Oh, I'll have to walk slow to back hate what it used to be. You see, it's real bad, isn't it? You come in, or are you just? No, I'm not coming. What the fuck is wrong with you? You notice I was lying.

Yeah. All right, hold on. I'll see you. Well, fuck off. I'll see you later. That's a fucking shit. Boy. It's so complete. Boy. Oh, but so this led to the slogan rich man's war, poor man's fight, which is the same as in the South when we talk about this. This is the same today with the Jones, the Jones episode. They did the same thing. Yeah. troops were in various parts of the region for the remainder of the Civil War. A general reported, quote, the rebels are so numerous that they have a whole community in terror of them. They dictate the dictate the prices for their work. And if the employers don't agree with them, they destroy and burn coal breakers houses

and prevent others from working. They resist the draft are organized into societies for this purpose. They intended to sabotage the Union war effort by cutting off the supply of coal, crippling industry and setting off riots in large cities. They are mostly Irish. They call themselves the Molly McGuire. Okay, I like the Molly McGuire's now. On November 5th, 1863. Can you still get a jacket online? Yeah, they got a lot of Molly McGuire jackets. Sweet. In a November 5th, 1863 in Yorktown, coal operator George Smith was murdered in his house by a gang of Irish men with blackened faces. Mm hmm. They shot him in front of his family.

He might have thought it was like coal if he was in a dream. Why? Why is coal running around? Another person dead from coal. Oh, fuck me. Why is coal have guns? Really beat the shit out of him. They shot him in front of his family. He was suspected of giving information to have men who were drafted arrested. He was just right. Okay, right. When the war ended, thousands of soldiers return as many immigrants continue to pour in, but the prices of coal dropped and then wages. This led to a very unstable time in the post-war Pennsylvania coal region. Okay. It's crazy that Pennsylvania still is just coal. I mean, that is coal town. Now

it's Fractown. No, I mean Fractown, yeah. The state legislature authorized the creation of railroad police. I do love how we're like that's what we've moved into now is like we're like no more coal. Let's frack. Yeah, let's just go ahead and get that. Like people are like coal is terrible. We must put poison into the earth's crust. Smarter. The fracking thing is fucking insane. Yeah. Very funny. What I remember I posted something about fracking once and the guy from the fracking issues like this fracking does absolutely nothing to water. It's totally fine. I got into an argument at a show one time where the guy was a

fracker. Great PR. They were great. They just their PR department is tremendous. Really good. The state legislature authorized the creation of railroad police in February 1865. Okay. In 1866 a supplement to the act was passed extending its provisions to quote all corporations firms or individuals owning leasing or being in possession of any coal mine or furnace within this common world. So what would happen if they had that? So basically they created a contract between mining companies and the state where police were basically just like sold or rented to the to the private corporation. So the private corporations

now had like a police force right in order to basically the control like now they had control over their workers. Yeah. Right. Okay. Great. The state had created quote islands of police power which were free to float as the employers saw fit by 1868 crime greatly decreased. Okay. I don't know how that happened. I wonder what what do you think it was related to? I bet there were just some guys talking to him and saying don't do that. It was probably yeah morality kicks in eventually. Yeah. The response to the government crackdown was of course the formation of a union because when employers are fucking

monsters it always leads to a union. Yeah. The Wargaman's Benevolent Association was formed in February of 1868. The first labor union in the region. 12 of the 16 founders wait they were almost the WNBA. Are they the WNBA? Shit. You know what? Okay. This is actually the story is actually about the formation. It is? WNBA. Yeah. This is amazing. We're gonna get to that. I love it. But but the WNBA came out of coal mining. I figured it would have. Of course. The connection is just so obvious. Right. You don't even need to talk about the connection points. You know I'm just gonna stop here. Great. Yeah. So so 12 of the

16 founders were English born. Three were Irish born and one was Welsh. Most Irish mine workers belonged to the WNBA. 30,000 of the 35,000 coal mine workers belonged to the union. In October of 1868 the general superintendent of the Locust Mountain Coal and Iron Company was killed by a group of armed men on a road. The newspapers blamed the Molly McGuire's though there was no proof. The union itself focused on safety. Miners feared a large fall of coal or rock besides killing them outright. How could you walk off air? How I like I can you imagine the anxiety of working in a like fuck I mean just kind of the worst just

a game over if something goes wrong. All the time. And it all goes wrong. Yeah constantly. So they could get cut off right from air. Usually they would get a warning when thousands of rats would scurry by. Cool it's always nice to have a heads up. Oh fuck the rats are coming down. Behind rats. How can you tell? Well I'm knee deep in rats Larry. I think it's that the rats are up my pond leg. Workers were also concerned with explosions. And there's one guy who said like a ton of cheese. Oh no cheese is my favorite snack I'm done for. Who move on without me boys. Why do they bring on me cheese? Tell my family of me. Workers were also concerned with the explosions or asphyxiation from

different gases. Sure that's a worry. There was stink damp which is hydrogen sulfide. There was fire damp which is methane. There was black damp which is carbon dioxide. And white damp which was carbon monoxide. How do you even live? How do you live? And there was also death from the occasional flooding. Oh God. Anyway have a good day at work Jimmy. I will hopefully the black death or the white death or the methane didn't get to. Dad I got a job in the death hole. I'm so proud. At first the mine... I'm also a ladyish father. At first the mine workers were blamed for all accidents. But by the 1870s things changed. All fires, floods and

accidents were called acts of terrorism. What? And committed by the Molly McGuire's. Wow. Yeah. That's a little unfair. Right. It's interesting. School of Hill County the center of Molly McGuire activities was the most cold dangerous place there was with 556 dead and 1,067 injured between 1870 and 1875. That's a lot. In its contract offer in 1870 the coal board of trade proposed with the Union a big reduction in wages. Good Lord. What about taking a lot less money for doing the death work? Apologies for your 600 or whatever the debt. But yeah would you like to take less? No. Okay then fuck off.

Hope you die. Do I get less? No yeah. The whole thing. Okay bye. I don't think I'm going to get a negotiating. I feel like I might be bad at it. The price of coal had gone down so obviously the owners thought pay should too. The Union was told to accept the wage compromise by April 2nd or face suspension. The Union refused. Coal operations were shut down. Three months later July of 1870 Franklin Gowan acting president of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad offered to be a mediator between the coal companies and the Union. Okay. Gowan's proposed sliding rates. Okay. So he would the base sort of like market price. The base

would be the reduction in wages that the coal companies were offering. Right. But if the prices went up the workers would make more. Great. And they went for it. On July 29th 1870 the first contract was signed between the coal board of trade and the WBA. All right. We're back. Franklin Gowan knew what he was doing and he had a larger plan. Huh? Increasing coal production would now lead to lower wages. Wait a minute. What? That's true. Currently Railroads couldn't own coal mines. Right. Because that would create a monopoly. Right. He had his men in the Pennsylvania legislature introduce bills that would allow Railroads to buy the

Franklin Coal Company. But that seems. But an anti-monopoly senator kept stopping it. Okay. Good. They spent on for months. Months. Sounds like it might have ended. Well then Gowan's friends in the legislature waited until the anti-monopoly senators were all at lunch and introduced the bill passed it and had it quickly signed by the governor. That's crazy. What? That's not that doesn't happen now. That's the most American thing that we ever read on this podcast. Terrible. Coming back from lunch. Those were good oysters. What happened? The whole country's different? What the fuck are you talking about? Wait. Why have I

just had a delicious lunch? It is. Okay. Now monopolies are allowed. Yes. You shouldn't have got the lunch. It's your own fault. Pardon my French. Worth it. They were it was tasty. It was a really good lunch and the portion size was just right. So the the Reading Railroad now owned a coal subsidiary. Good. In February 1871 miners were striking again because wages were so low. Okay. At this point Gowan unveiled the new freight rates for coal on trains. The freight rates for coal. How much it would cost to transport coal. The rates were doubled. This sounds like the EpiPen of coal. The union had already decided to go back to work. So they were

they were going to stop striking. Right. They had already voted. And now they find out. Now they couldn't even do that because the freight rates made it pointless because coal was so expensive to move that no one would want it. Right. A union committee offered to return to work at the minimum base of $2.50. The coal board refused to meet with them. Okay. Gowan was quote planning to settle the strike in his own way. He wrote to the union president quote my only demand is that you shall not insist upon wages so high as to make it impossible to produce coal at the prices which it will bring in the market and that you shall

not resort to strikes and suspensions in order to produce a scarcity of coal and forced prices so so beyond what manufacturers and consumers can afford to pay. His only rule is to that don't do anything. His rule is that they can't do what he's doing. Right. They can't try. They can't raise the price of coal by not working as much. Right. He's gonna raise the price of coal by. Just because. Yeah. Right. Benjamin. Wait. Go too far. Right. Okay. Gowan then wrote in the paper. So then he goes on a PR. Cool. Always smart. That a small group of radicals obviously meaning the Mollies were controlling the honest working man of the coal region.

This is just. Damn it. He said they had caused the redding railroad to stop business and put 30,000 men out of work. Quote. There exists an association which votes in secret at night that men's lives shall be taken and that they shall be shot before their wives murdered in coal blood for daring to work. Well I don't need numbers to back up anything. I hate the Mollie McGuire's. I love coal. I read his story and the thing that I always believe is rich people. Yeah. Truth tellers. It's time for the rich people to get a break. The newspaper's right. Benjamin Bannon of the Miners Journal responded that all minors

belong to the Union because they can't get work anywhere else. Other papers pushed the narrative that the Union was evil. Quote. The Miners Union is a criminal organization guilty of having frequently incited its members to murder arson and other crimes and deserving of rigorous punishment before it has even been notified that it has been accused. You know what it reminds me of? It reminds me of whenever they're the price of the prop commercials. When we hear have like prop 17 and they'll just have like a woman in a grocery store is like they say that they want to help us because they want to tell us what's in

our food but at higher taxes I don't think so. Tell your politicians no higher taxes. Vote against your best interests. Oh they don't say that last part. No they don't. That's just insinuated heavily. By the end of 1872 the Redding Railroad was in control of 80,000 acres of coal land and 98 mines. It's over. It's over. Don't fight. Stop fighting. What are you talking about? It's over. It's over. They've won. They've won. They've won. They've won. They've already won. In January 1873 Gowan and other rail and coal company presidents reached an agreement to fix the price of coal at $5 a ton in New York City. Okay. So now they're just fixing

their price. So now okay so now that right so they're just making. So these guys who are fucking the workers to not pay them any money, at least they can't allowing them to work in dangerous conditions and die constantly. But now they should get more money because it's worth more. Well they just yeah just the price it's just fixed it's just the way it is now. What does this remind me of? I can't think of what it reminds me of either. Something. No there's nothing. No no no there's something. Hold on. Okay. There's something it reminds me of. It'll come to me. It's just it's very familiar. To me it's not familiar at

all like. It just sounds like something. I can't. No I can't. Okay you might be right. It might not be a thing of it later but I okay it might hit me but it is it something is there. No I don't know. This is actually the first case of industry-wide price fixing in the history of the United States. In 1873 a depression hit the United States. A third of Pennsylvania co-workers were not working in 1874. They sank deeper into poverty helplessness and degradation. Surely that affected the men up top. The State Bureau of Industrial Statistics reported that it was as if they were separate peoples in race and

civilization. This was the result of corporations being granted one extraordinary privilege after another leading to corporations having all the capital and the workers having nothing. Funny. Is that what? It's just funny how that works. Isn't it? It's always funny how. This is the first I've ever heard of it. Right. You mean the last? No I've never heard of corporations getting their way. Yeah. No no it doesn't happen a lot. Well no but it's weird because you would think that if you just let the people up top make all the money that that would make the people below them work harder and spend the money. Right? Is that the

economic plan? Look. You need the people up top to be rich so that they could fund everything. Well if I worked for a company and my boss was not insanely wealthy then I wouldn't want to work. Yeah. But if my boss is like crazy wealthy and I'm barely scribing by that makes me want to work harder. And it's long term it's sustainability for the boss. It's the best way to go. For the boss. In 1873 rumors came that the Molly McGuire's were active again. Some mine superintendents were threatened and beaten. Several railroad cars were derailed and there was a series of suspicious fires at coal mines.

Newspapers began to report the crimes. In Gilberton three murders happened at two o'clock in the morning when men entered Charles O'Donnell's house, seized him, took him out back and shot him. The same happened the same happened to a man named McAllister as well as his sister. The mollies were blamed. Okay. The fucking mollies. That's it again boys. Newspaper report quote. Two miners James Martin and Peter McCaffrey were attacked by a crowd of Molly McGuire's yesterday afternoon and beaten with bludgeons, stabbed with knives and treated to a shower of bullets. McCaffrey was killed outright and Martin was so terribly

injured that he died in a short time. Good. Franklin Gowan because of all these problems then hired the Pinkerton detective agency to infiltrate the mollies. Okay. Little Donnie Brasco action. The Alan Pinkerton opened his detective agency in 1855. They first worked spying on railroad conductors and other employees and then after the Civil War Pinkerton was able to open his national detective agency. Yeah I was gonna say Pinkerton detective that was like a thing right? Oh yeah. Detective. There's my historical touch once again. Well done. Well done sir. That's a thing huh? Hey

that's a something right? I heard that something once before huh? Welcome to Garris history class. Wait no wait wait I'm thinking of the Pink Panther never mind. No I'm gonna take it all back. Sorry. Yeah I was dismissed. I was thinking about documentary I saw about Beatles. Yeah that's what it was. Detective James McFarlane was given the job. Franklin Gowan and Archbishop Wood were working together and they wanted Detective McFarlane to gather the evidence and break up the Molly McGuire's. Okay. So that's weird just just just a just some for some whatever reason it's just one of the leaders of the Catholic Church is

then trying to crush the yep. Molly McGuire's. He decided he was going to become a Molly. He arrived in town one night found a boarding house and started looking for a job. He was hired to drive a car in a coal mine. He learned to use a pick and then started making friends. McFarlane was supposed to make a report each day but he was scared it would look suspicious to buy ink all the time so it often used soot and water. Smart. He kept his stamps hidden in his boots. Smelly stamps but smart. Smelly stamps. Stinky I mean I guarantee you don't have to lick them but I did. I love that a guy buying ink. What the fuck are you up to? I'm not

writing nothing. What the fuck you mean writing? I wouldn't write anything. Why do you keep saying you're writing? I'm not you're right I'm not right. Why the fuck are you buying ink? To help my squid friend. What the fuck does that mean? Well my best friend is a squid and he's run out of ink so I'm my plan is to take this ink here. Put it inside him. Okay that's fair. Oh my god. Oh that's a good oh yeah well say hi to your little friend I'm sorry about your little ink-inclus boy. There we go it's named Squiddy. Okay thank you. Good luck to you. Thank you. I'll say some prayers for you. There you go. Oh that was close. McFarlane was also

constantly forced to drink. That's great. What do you expect? Being able to hold his liquor gamed him admiration. He ended up- I thought you might be some kind of traitor but since you can stand up after all these shots you're good. You know what? You're not a cop. Can I hear you something? That ain't no air to me. What? Hear me out of me. He grew closer to the mollies who thought his name was actually James McKenna. I was his alias right? Tony Brasco. They helped sped rumors. He helped sped rumors about himself. Did you hear about this guy? Did you hear about James McKenna? I thought you were James McKenna. No, no I'm-

I look like him exactly but I'm not. Huge penis that James McKenna. Oh giant cock. Huge. A lot of times he has to tie it around his leg otherwise the pick hits it. Yeah. He's got a butthole like a carousel. Hey sir don't help me. What? Don't help me with the rumors. Oh sorry. Yeah okay. I'll handle this. Yeah. He's got a giant asshole. Hey excuse me. What? Stop helping please. We're talking about James McKenna. Yeah I understand but I would say that I don't think James would appreciate that talk. He does have a huge dog but he doesn't know uh- He's got a matching. No he does not. He's got matching. He does not. He has a regular size

arsenal. Trust me. He's- He keeps the St. Bernard right in the backside. Does not. Absolutely not. No he has a big big cock. A huge cock. How do you know that? I know about the asshole because I've- How do you know about the asshole? Well I spent a weekend there. Okay. That's all right. You know what? This is very cold. Are you taking- Are you sure you're taking the asshole? I think so yeah. It sounds like you might be thinking of maybe a retreat of some kind. Ah. Shit. It is a retreat. No. Okay right. Yeah I'm thinking of retreats. Right never mind. Yeah I'm sorry. Yeah don't help. Okay. Don't help. Okay. Don't help. That's fair. All right. So he spent rumors

about himself. Word got out that he had cut off the ears of a guy in a nearby town and he killed another guy in Buffalo and that police were looking for him. That guy with no ears was like are people talking about it? Is anyone talking about it? And then he was supposed to be part of a counterfeiting ring. So he one day helped attack a coal mine that was filled with detectives which caused local cops to label him as one of the bad ones. Okay. He started getting arrested a lot. Finally on April 14th 1874 he was made a molly and soon he was the secretary. Do you boys need any tea and soy to hear for your meeting? One lamp or two love. And you

one lamp or two. And who are you here to see? And shall I make up some cucumber sandwiches for the big meeting later? Also Andrew called whenever you get a minute. I told him you're busy. Okay thank you. You're very good at your- Thank you. What don't mind me. McFerrinan said the mollies were organized into districts with a secretary, assistant secretary and treasurer of each. They had secret passwords, signs, and were very well organized. Okay. The password is potato. Okay I won't tell anyone. I'll never figure it out. So now he's an officer and he's being told all the secrets and the methods. Okay. First there was one method

they did called correcting. They would go to a man's house at night, pull him out of bed, and cut off an ear. Well it's- I mean it's hard to not make a correction after it. It's a message. Sure right? Yeah well you're definitely something you'd respond. If that didn't change the guy's behavior they would go in and cut off the other ear. Okay. Well you should have listened. I couldn't. Oh fuck. You know what we've got a problem with this one. Yeah if we cut off an ear then he can- he can hear us. What are you talking about? Oh wait- ah fuck. Yeah. Did you say fuck? Yeah yeah. Are you saying yeah? Yeah we're sorry. No. Yeah we- okay it is a bad plan. A bad

plaque? Right okay. I guess you'll see it to mine tomorrow. It's not mine. Okay bye bye. Hi hi. Bye now. Why would you say hi twice in the house? Oh my ears. If that did not change their behavior. Hey. What's- what's he doing? Is that a bird? What's he- what kind of noise is coming out of your cat? What was he doing? Wow. Wow. Oh. Oh back room motherfucker. You son of a bitch. Freud sorry. Jose. No. Jose's gone. So if they- if they cut off both the guys ears and that didn't change his behavior then they'd kill him. Then they what? Kill him. Oh god well I mean- but you had it at that point. If you remove the nose you're almost making a Mr. Potato Head. Oh well I haven't gotten to that yet

but this whole story is actually about the invention of Mr. Potato Head. Are we ever going to do one on the Mr. Potato Head famine? Of the 80s? When it was a hot crisp? There were no eyes. The way that Molly's worked is killings would be done by strangers. So they- well they were in separate districts right and if a guy in district one wanted a guy dead a guy from district three would come over and do it. Oh that's nice sort of like a exchange- for an exchange program. They would have a meeting and a member would complain about someone. After that a warning would be sent telling him to shape up or leave. These warnings were in the form of crudely drawn coffins surrounded by revolvers. Well

it's pretty clear. It's pretty uh- I think you get it. You get the point. Yeah I got this letter. It's a box and then what appears to be little seas around it. Small seas sort of. But it's definitely some kind of box. I wonder what that is. Well I wouldn't worry about it. Yeah it's just a box. It looks like a sea box to me love. Yeah with a floating sea. I wouldn't worry about nothing. Okay. Come to bed already. Yeah let's do that. Wait a minute no. Uh so uh so they'd do that and then if one of those went out McFerrinan would try to warn- I mean if they were going to kill someone they decided to kill someone. McFerrinan would go and try to warn the guy. Yeah. Before he got killed. The Mollies started arguing

about who was warning the men who were going to be killed. Quote there's one case that I will never forget. Gormor James was a big powerful Welshman who had become unpopular with certain Mollies. It was agreed that he should be killed. All the details murdering him were gone over with care and it was decided that he should be killed at the coal mine where he worked. The day and the hour had been set and an extra number of Mollies were around me that day. The killing was to be done. I tried every way I could think of to be free for a time to get a warning to Gormor but I failed. I managed at last to get out a side window of my room and get a warning to him in time. Wow. Gormor was a proud of his strength

and was not afraid of any man but he was not dealing with men. He was dealing with a horde who struck in the dark. He forgot my warning or at least decided he could care for himself and went to a dance at Shenandoah where he was killed. At a meeting of the Mollies there was much rejoicing over the killing of Gormor James and it was decided that the man who had done the killing would be rewarded $500 for his work. Thomas Hurley went to the front and claimed the reward declaring that he had done the killing. Whoopsies. He went into details and seemed to be proud of his efforts. I really killed this one. I fucking killed this one so bad. We were about to vote him the money for the murder what a man named

Michael Butler astonished the meeting by declaring Hurley had not done the killing but the man named McClain was entitled to the reward. I am Spartacus. The witnesses were on hand and told their stories in detail. There was some objection to taking notes but fortunately some agreed that it would be a help to us in going over the case later on. No we'll want record of this later. Yeah no we'll keep this one. This one's fine. Let's go on record. This one's fine. Find out who murdered him on record. When all the men had told their stories there was not the slightest doubt that Hurley had

been the man who did the killing. It's so great that there was no doubt. The other guy's story wasn't just been awful. Oh shit. Oh my story is a lot like Hurley's except I am there. Although the reward was never paid. Oh good. Anywho. That's how like Trump donates the veterans. Don't talk about it. He's making America great. There was another six month union strike in 1875. It was a rough one. Quote hundreds of families rose in the morning to breakfast on a crust of bread or a glass of water. Yum.

Day after day. That's actually a super hot diet right now. That is really good diet and it's going on in LA and people love it. Low fuel and water. Day after day men women and children went to the adjoining woods to dig up roots and pick up herbs to keep the body and soul together. Oh my god. So it's quite a way of describing it. Yeah so they're just out digging up roots to eat. More dirty roots. Hopefully your body and your soul don't separate today. Then the mine operators decided to reopen offering the 1974 wage to whoever came to work 1874. Sorry. 1874. That would be way ahead of time.

So they're like you can have last year's wage. Okay. Most of the workers could not hold out any longer. And by the end of the month most of the coal mines in the area were open. The miners journal turned against the union leaders calling them villains and scoundrels. The WBA lost its power and collapsed. Sensing weakness. Workers made their move. The mollies were arrested. More than 70 were grabbed but many of the leaders got away either back to Ireland or disappearing into other parts of the country. Archbishop Wood then formally excommunicated the Molly McGuire's. Even though no one knows exactly who they are. The trials began in May 1876. Detective McFarland

took the witness stand in the first murder case. In the end 23 Molly McGuire's were sentenced to hang and two dozen sent to the state prison. They tried to kill McFarland many times. Quote efforts were made to poison me. Throw me down mine shafts. Blow me up with dynamite. Shoot and stab me. But I kept close watch and was fortunate in escaping with my life. Wow. I mean you really that's got to be a paranoid situation. Meetings were held in New York and other parts of the country to draw up sympathy for the mollies. Archbishop Wood was Archbishop's name was muddied. But McFarland defended him saying if people could have heard the blood

thirsty threats, boasts and discussions they would have realized that they were not encountering real humans. I often think that murder of a fellow human being meant no more to those men than merely shooting a rabbit. That's tough. Yeah. But shooting rabbits not that great either. Yeah. I would I mean I would always argue for that. But still I mean it does like it does that is crazy to kill like you kill rabbits back then. The nation rabbits are very cute. You're super cute. The nation followed the trial on the West Coast newspapers put their spin on it. The Sacramento Daily Union May 12th 1876. The Molly McGuire's are an evolution of white American society and it is therefore interesting

to observe their actions because we can then obtain some definite idea of the white man's capacity for brutalization when he is not debauched and pulled down by the heathen Chinese. Oh my God. I mean that I had to put that in because the West Coast has to throw their own spin on things. Unbelievable. Liberal media. Oddly. The end of the Molly McGuire's do not stop problems of workers wanting to make it decent living. That's crazy. The next year came the Great Railroad Strike of 1877. It occurred in the US. Pennsylvania was one of the major sites of conflict in Pittsburgh. Rail yards were set on fire after troops brought in from Philadelphia killed 20 strikers in Scranton. Local vigilantes formed a citizens

corps which opened fire on strikers killing six and wounding 54. But School Hill County had no part in the strike. The miners and the railroad workers did not have a trade union and voted not to go on strike even though their pay was cut by 30 percent. But the reading railroad had gone into massive debt to buy all of the coal land which the company could not recover from. And it was taken over by JP Morgan in 1883. Good. There is no proof that the Molly McGuire's ever existed. Some believe the Molly McGuire's were manufactured by coal operators in order to destroy the union. They point to the fact that evidence supplied by Detective James McFarland was contradictory. But the trial was successful in killing labor

unionism in the area. Most importantly coal miners were now seen as having a criminal nature by the general public. So just another just another story of the little man getting a chance. It is so crazy. They made they made it up. It was made up. That's that's what a lot of historians think they think that they like there may have been a group early on they invented their script. But the second wave of Molly McGuire's just sounds like total fucking horse. Right. They just made it up just 100 percent bullshit to destroy. Because right after the union starts then all of a sudden Molly McGuire attacks. All of a sudden the attacks go from being they keep saying well the problems in the mines are because

the workers are fucked up and all of a sudden it's terrorism. Right. Like it's just fucking ridiculous. Right. Well that's true. But also I mean I think like it really is it's like once once you've won the public psyche battle it's over. It's over. You can't it's so hard to undo it. Yeah. I mean you think of this stuff you still here it's just like you know anytime anyone says I mean it's yeah it's it it happens all at all times here when people are just like look I understand your point but get back in the machine would you like you just have no you know there's just and we have and what's amazing it really is amazing because you know we just have the numbers. I mean if you play the numbers game I know

they say right there 99 percent versus 1 percent even if those are skewed and it's 90 it's just like look do you want to fight about it. Just beat the shit out of them. They win but instead they're just like we have security and we're like they got fences and yeah we're no nothing would make me happier. Like outside of coke industries with like 50,000 people like I like our chances. I really do. I think we got a pretty good shot out here. The good guys which one's David. Well all right. We signed Cole. We signed Cole. Go to. We signed cars and Cole. Go to adultpodcast.com to get all the tour information. We're coming now is the time to buy tickets. That's right Australia we're coming inside you. We're gonna be right

inside you. We're so deep inside you. Put the mic down.