The Molly Maguires fell prey to the famous private detective Allan Pinkerton
THE MOLLY MAGUIRES
Named after a widow who led a group of agitators in the 1840s, the Mollies formed in Ireland to fight poor working and living conditions for farmers. They would disguise themselves as women or blacken their faces to evade capture. The clandestine union moved over to the US, where it grew rapidly among the coal miners of Pennsylvania. When a number of mine bosses wound up dead in the 1870s, the Mollies got the blame, leading to 20 being executed. Their story, which remains a muchdebated topic, was immortalised in the 1970 Sean Connery film The Molly Maguires.
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February 2018
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