1875, Eckley, Pennsylvania
The deserted streets of the small coal mining village told of trouble. Doors in the two rows of red wooden frame houses, set on both sides of the main street were closed and locked. Things were coming to a head. The coal mine owners were not about to budge, and the men who worked the mines were fed up with poor working conditions. The owners refused to provide emergency exits, decent ventilation or water pumping apparatuses. The miners had no time to even eat their lunches since the initiation of the speed-up system. The barons wanted more and more, but the miners had no more to give.
* * * * *
"Dennis, where do you think you're going?" Petite copper-haired Nora asked her eighteen year old coal miner son. Nora's husband Art had died two years earlier in a mine disaster which never should have happened had even minimal safety precautions been in place. Her father emigrated with his family from county Armaugh, Ireland when she was twelve, and she was well aware of the differences and dangers that existed between workers and landowners in that country
"Vigilantes are out searching for suspected Molly Maguires, son. You haven't fooled you ma at all, though you believe you have. I know you're one of them. If the Pinkertons catch up with you, they'll arrest and hang you. The rest of your family could be suspect as well.
"I need to go Ma, the boys are gathered and waiting for me."
Dennis became the man of the family after his father died. Six-five with dark hair, blue eyes and athletic build, he seemed totally unaware of his good looks. His playful sense of humor made him welcome to be around. There was no humor evident that day.
Dennis worked with explosives in the mine . . . an extremely dangerous job, but the mine was not in his plans.
"Don't go," his thirteen year old - going on twenty-one year old sister Mary Kate pleaded. "I'm scared, please stay here, Dennis."
His brother Joey, a miniature look alike, though only eleven years old worked in the mines as a mule driver . . . he understood and remained silent.
Dennis placed his rough coal stained hands gently on his mother's shoulders and looked directly at her.
"Ma, you know as well as I that something needs to be done. We have to make a strong statement. As things are, we work like rats in a trap. If working conditions were better, dad would be here with us today."
Resigned, her eyes followed him as he opened the door and disappeared into the uneasy night.
* * * * *
The Molly bunch met under the village covered bridge, a half mile beyond the east end of Main Street. Joining Dennis at the clandestine gathering were, Ryan O'Toole, Tom Walsh, Dan Flaherty and Marty Quinn.
Dennis said, "If any of you are squeamish or fearful about what we're about to do, tell me now."
"Denny," said Dan. "You know we're in this with you all the way. If any one of us wanted to back out, we wouldn't be here."
The rest nodded in agreement.
"Have you decided where we're to hit?" Asked Marty.
"I have decided and hope you're all in agreement. It's to be the company store."
Ryan leaped into the air and quietly cheered. "Yes! They pay us a piddling amount and then take it back at the store, leaving us with mighty little."
"Perfect," grinned Tom. Then added, "Over and above it all though, it's critical that we keep a watch out for the Pinkertons. It would be a banner day for them should they grab any one of us."
Dennis removed several sticks of dynamite from his knapsack and passed one to each of the men, instructing them where he wanted them planted.
An hour later, positioned with pocket watches and explosives in hand, they waited. At exactly midnight, they lit the fuses and ran for cover.
The sky lit up like seven suns. The company store had disappeared.
All five men scattered in different directions, with Ryan and Tom heading for cover in the mine itself. Dan and Marty fled in the direction of nearby Hazleton, and Dennis ran back to the bridge to make certain nothing remained which would point to them.
The Pinkertons, a self-promoting detective agency, were sometimes known for their cruel tactics.
As Dennis approached the bridge, a voice broke through the darkness of the night.
"Hey there lad, lose something?"
Dennis heard the caustic words and saw the shadow of a tall wide man with a gun pointed at him. He couldn't make out a face, but instantly realized it to be a Pinkerton and that he had him nailed.
"I happened to see you boys running from this direction toward where the store used to be,'' the hired detective said. "I waited here and lucky me," he sneered, "I got me a Molly."
Dennis said, "I won't make any trouble or try to escape, just let my family be."
* * * * *
The trial was set for two days later. After searching for hours, the other four were never found. They would survive to deliver more similar messages to the mine owners.
Nora, aware that the verdict would be guilty and her son would hang since would be a rigged jury, cried the night through.
The next day, she and Mary Kate visited Dennis in jail, but insisted Joey remain at home and away from the trouble. It didn't make him happy, but he did as instructed..
Refused when Nora requested to join her son inside the cell, she and Mary Kate sat on benches placed close to the cell bars.
Nora was terrified when she thought about Dennis and what was to come. She wanted to ask him, "why?" But didn't.
Mary Kate, eyes tearing, spoke up.
"Dennis, if you could get out of here, what would you do, where would you go?"
"Ah, little sis, if I knew you three could make it without me, I'd be heading to our grandparents' homeland, Ireland. A prisoner or free, it would be a death sentence now if I stayed in this country."
Her face lit up. Her wonderful big brother, with his crooked smile and playful blue eyes would be safe there.
Mary Kate whispered, "I've heard these jail cells are drafty and cold in the night Dennis, so I've knitted a blanket to help keep you warm."
As he reached for the blanket, he felt a bulge. Later when his guard stepped out, he looked through the folds. There he discovered one stick of dynamite and two wood matches. He didn't need to be told what to do with them.
"Sweet, smart, brave Mary Kate"
* * * * *
With one wall of his cell crumbled to the ground, Dennis was on the run again.
He hugged the night shadows as he approached the back door of his home for a hurried goodbye to his much loved family. Then he was off.
His escape route would be to distant Philadelphia. There were union dockworkers only too happy to aid in helping a Molly Maguire reach Ireland.
He hitched a ride with a horse and cart driver heading home after a long days work, but he was only going as far as Hazleton.
After thanking the man, Dennis headed for the train tracks. Within an hour, a train came huffing toward him. Grabbing the handle of an open boxcar door, he swung himself inside and slept until the train pulled into Philadelphia, where he jumped off.
Dennis headed to the river and the docks. He found the ship, "Scotsman," scheduled to sail to England with a docking in Ireland.
There was one problem, he had no money.
Dennis wandered into a rough looking seaman's tavern called, "The Bawdy Boar" and asked around, looking for a mate from that ship. He sidestepped scuffles and baiting insults when he finally came upon Jake.
Jake, in his twenties, looked as though he was in his fifties. He had a weather beaten lined face, scraggly, long dark hair and permanent looking stooped shoulders.
At one time, Jake told Dennis, he had worked the mines outside Scranton as a trammer and he himself had been a member of the Molly Maguires.
He said, "I got out before the mines or the Pinkertons killed me."
Jake agreed to hide him on board and to sneak food and water his way when he could.
Later that day, Dennis sailed the "Scotsman," hidden in a storage room below decks.
His last thought before nodding off to sleep . . . "Someday coal mining will be safe, miners will be treated fairly and there will be no further need for the Molly Maguires. Then I will return to my family and country."
In Dennis' time, it never was, they never were, and he never did.
