Molly Maguires

Molly Maguires [mə gwīrz′]

n.

1. a secret society organized in Ireland in 1843 to terrorize landlords' agents in order to prevent evictions

☆ 2. a secret society of Irish-American miners in E Pennsylvania (c. 1865-75), which opposed oppressive industrial and social conditions, sometimes with physical force

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(1862–76) Secret organization of U.S. coal miners in Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

To protest poor working conditions and employment discrimination in the 1860s, the Irish-American miners formed a group named for an Irish widow who had led antilandlord agitators in Ireland. Acts of sabotage and terrorist murders in the coalfields were blamed on the group, and mine owners hired a Pinkerton detective, James McParlan, to infiltrate the organization. Based on his testimony in the widely publicized trials (1875–77), 10 "Mollies" were convicted of murder and hanged.

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▪ American labour organization

      secret organization of coal miners supposedly responsible for acts of terrorism in the coalfields of Pennsylvania and West Virginia, U.S., in the period from 1862 to 1876. The group named itself after a widow who led a group of Irish antilandlord agitators in the 1840s. When poor working conditions and employment discrimination led to assassinations and acts of sabotage by Irish-American workers in Pennsylvania 20 years later, the “Mollies” were blamed. The Ancient Order of Hibernians, a local Irish fraternal association, was thought to be a front for the Molly Maguires, and mine owners hired James McParlan, a detective, to infiltrate the group. In a series of sensational trials in 1875–77, McParlan's testimony resulted in the conviction and hanging of 10 men for murder. The court convictions, adverse publicity, and more prosperous times effected a subsequent decline of violence in the coalfields.

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