McKenna's fears were not without foundation, as was shown from the action taken by members of his division the very day succeeding the one on which McAndrew, the Bodymaster, shook the dust of Shenandoah from his shoes and sought work near Wilkesbarre. On the morning of the eighteenth of May, the troubled Secretary was met at the street corner by Doyle and Garvey, who said they were on the way to his boarding-house, as Gibbons desired to see him immediately, down in the bush. The three men set out for the place of meeting, and meantime the mind of the detective was sorely agitated. What were these men about to do with him? Had they penetrated his disguise, now many months worn, and, as he thought, quite thick enough to defy the sharpest scrutiny? Were they taking him out to meet the fate he well knew must follow quick upon discovery of his real mission in the mines? But, despite dark reflections, keeping up a firm outward appearance and passing merry jokes, upon the usual subjects, without as much as a quaver in the tone of his voice, or a perceptible tremor in his nerves, he walked along; whether to his own death, or a conference to end in the murder of another, he could only guess.
In the bush, not far from Muff Lawler's house, a little later, were congregated Gibbons, Doyle, Garvey, Fenton Cooney, and James McKenna. Gibbons was the spokesman, 294and gruffly informed the Secretary that, now McAndrew was gone, Gomer James must be made away with.
"I propose," said he, "that two men be obtained from Mahanoy Plane, and two from Mahanoy City, to go with me an' Doyle, here, an' we'll soon end the cursed Welshman!"
"How is it to be done?" asked McKenna, and he did earnestly wish McAndrew was safe home again.
"I'll jist tell ye!" roughly responded Gibbons, while he smoked his pipe composedly, knocking off the burnt tobacco with the tip of his little finger, showing as much coolness as if sitting in his own chimney corner, talking to a friend about the weather. There was a cold, malevolent glitter in his restless eye which told those who knew him that he was wholly in earnest. "I'll tell ye! All Doyle an' I wants is fur the four men to kape a good watch, part on one side, an' part on the other side of the rthat Gomer James passes over, an' we two'll attend to the rest! Gomer is now watchman at the Little Drift, an' we can catch him aisy like, early in the mornin', when he's goin' home from work. The patch is not so very far from here, but far enough, an' before anybody'll be up an' around, we can be back home, an' the Mahanoy men well on their rfor the Plane!"
"Av coorse," said McKenna, appreciating that, to show cowardice or hesitation, under the circumstances, would prove sure if not immediate death, "if the majority's raally in favor of the thing, we'll certainly have it done! I consent to whativer the division may ask!"
The men present were united in the demand, and so expressed themselves. All wanted Gomer James killed. The detective, much against his will, was forced to appear as bloodthirsty as his companions. He must not only agree to, but assume a part in, the dreadful act. Thoughts flashed through his quickened brain with lightning-like rapidity. Ideas were plenty—in fact, too plentiful—but which way he 295should turn, and how escape this terrible business, at first he did not clearly see. Finally a suggestion came, like a reflected gleam of sunlight to the prisoner in his rayless cell, and he said:
"You are just right, Gibbons! That's exactly the way to manage; an' I'll go, this very day, to Mahanoy Plane, see Callaghan, an' get two of the men. I'll take Garvey wid me, an' Cooney is appointed to go wid you, to Mahanoy City, to mate the Bodymasther and get the others. Then we'll return here, the morrow, an' have everything ready for business the next day mornin'!"
"All right," answered Gibbons.
Cooney consented to his part in the programme, and the little meeting broke up, its members scattering in various paths, and entering Shenandoah from different directions, to avoid any remarks of the people.
This horrid mission the operative was loth to perform. It came of McAndrew stubbornly refusing to stop in Shenandoah without work, and leaving the burden of the division to devolve upon him. He well knew there would be no chance that day to communicate with Mr. Franklin, who alone could notify Gomer James of this new danger, as Garvey was sure to remain close by him, and what he was to do he was quite unable to determine. The assassination must be prevented, at the risk of his own life, if need be; but how he was to reach the much-desired result remained among the problems that he could not explain. Trusting to chance, and an Irishman's ready wit, he took the cars in Garvey's company, and went to Mahanoy Plane, as both told inquirers, "to look for employment."
At Mahanoy Plane, in the afternoon, the two Mollies presented themselves before Callaghan, and in Garvey's hearing, the operative made demand of that Bodymaster's division for two men who were "capable of doin' a clane job." Callaghan said he was quite willing, but the members of his body 296were nearly all young and inexperienced, and he doubted if he could find two who would serve the purpose. Still, he promised to make the effort.
The detective and his friend then left, saying they would call at an early hour in the afternoon, prepared to return to Shenandoah with the persons appointed. Before leaving Callaghan, the Secretary treated twice, and he and Garvey sallied out to find what was to be seen at the Plane. They first visited Joe Murphy's house, where they had more liquor, and, after taking the rounds of all the saloons, both begun to feel they had swallowed something more powerful than water—McKenna, especially, finding himself so badly under the influence that he exhibited it in his walk and conversation, the former fast becoming vibratory, and the latter boisterous. When they reappeared at Callaghan's, it was nearly dark, and the Bodymaster informed them he had not found the needed men. He said he did not despair, however, and, after treating once or twice, went out to continue the search. In his absence McKenna was entirely overcome, fell sprawling over on a long bench, and soon relapsed into a drunken stupor, from which neither Garvey nor Callaghan, with use of every known appliance, could succeed in awakening him. It was fully nine o'clock at night, and Garvey had taken the train for Shenandoah, before the drunken Secretary was made sufficiently sensible to understand that he must get up. So sottish was his condition that Callaghan found himself forced to secure a bed for him for the night, and assist in putting him under its cover.
The detective had, at least, postponed his own participation in the James matter, and was almost certain Gibbons would delay any attempt to kill the Welshman until he returned. Still there was a remote chance of his pursuing an opposite course. But McKenna was perfectly helpless. No dispatch could be sent to Philadelphia from that small place without creating suspicion. The best he could do was to 297sit up in bed, write a few lines in pencil, setting forth the danger James was in, seal it, stamp it, having recourse to the improvised stamp depository in his boot-leg, and after midnight, when all in the house were supposed to be asleep, steal softly down-stairs, in his stockings, with brogues in hand, and go to the post-office. All of this he succeeded in doing, and in safely mailing his letter, and got back to his couch without discovery. There was the risk that Gibbons had obtained his men from Mahanoy City, and might be even then waiting for Gomer James, ready to take his life. He found enough in this thought to banish refreshing sleep. But McKenna remained in his room until people were stirring for another day, and then rising, walked about in the cool air until Callaghan made his appearance in the bar-room.
"Did ye get the men?" inquired McKenna, after greeting the tavern keeper.
"Divil a man!" answered Callaghan.
"An' do ye mane to?"
"Sure, an' I do!"
"An' phatever was't that ye gave me for whisky, last night? I'm half in the belafe that, to get out of sendin' the men to do me biddin', ye tried to poison me!"—adding: "I niver felt so quare in my head in all me life!"
"Deil a bit of poison was there in it! The whisky was the very best! You must have mixed your drinks after comin' to the Plane!"
It was of no avail for the operative to be angry with Callaghan, as he would make nothing by it. Therefore, leaving word with the Bodymaster to send his men over when they were ready, McKenna proceeded to Shenandoah. There he found a great excitement prevailing over two fires that had occurred the previous night, one at Excelsior Colliery, already spoken of, the other being the burning of the railway signal tower at Mahanoy Plane. Not much was said about 298the Secretary's failure to secure the two men from Callaghan, as Garvey had returned the night before, very much under the influence of liquor, reporting McKenna as on the rdrunk, without the Mollies sent for, and as Gibbons had been no more successful, having failed entirely. Thus the Secretary was once more excused for being intoxicated when intrusted with urgent business.
Hurley, Doyle, Monaghan, and Gibbons had lain in wait for Gomer James, however, the second morning, and he had not made his appearance as expected.
The operative was more easy in his mind, as he knew that, through Capt. Linden, or some other person, James must surely have received warning to keep himself continually under protection, out of harm's way.
A few days later, Hurley related how he and the others had, on one occasion, gone out to fix Gomer James, and he, Hurley, was armed with a rifle. They lay out nearly all night, hoping to see and catch him, and had Monaghan done the right thing, they would have killed the Welshman, as he actually passed their ambush, the ex-constable failing to inform them who he was until too late. As it chanced, Doyle had his pistol leveled at him, but was prevented from shooting by Garvey, who said he might be hitting an innocent man.
"When ready, the lucky man was concealed from view."
At another time, the young Welshman arrived when Gibbons, Hurley, Cooney, Garvey, Doyle, Monaghan, Finnell, and Thompson, all armed, were waiting for him. Still he traversed the rin safety. Hurley would have dropped him at a venture, only he was just lng the rifle at the time. When ready, the lucky man was concealed from view.
"Well, what are you going to do now?" inquired the operative.
"We are sure to get him yet!" answered Hurley. "But first let us go and see some cousins of the man, Cosgrove. 299If they will come down with more money, then we can return here, and if the rest all back out, I'll do the job on my own private account! I suppose you'll lend a hand?"
This to McKenna.
"Oh, yes! That's all right!" responded the Secretary, approvingly.
So money was at the bottom of it.
The life of the young Welshman hung upon an attenuated thread. Still he remained a watchman, only having himself changed from a night to a day hand. Gibbons and Hurley everywhere sought his life, but McKenna managed to keep clear of it. At last Gibbons boldly said he would go to Jack Kehoe in person, and demand for Hurley and himself a commission to kill Gomer James. They wanted no help and could easily perform the task by themselves.
The ensuing Sunday morning, Mike Doyle was at Cooney's, where McKenna boarded. He said everything had been arranged for Gomer James, and three men were to arrive from Girardville the next day, when the Secretary must be ready to do his share. The time set for the act was Monday night, May 24, 1875. Again were the thoughts of the officer turned to saving the intrepid but foolhardy young man. It was not possible that the Mollies suspected him of having warned James, causing him to cease traveling his former path at night, but Doyle seemed to be placed with the Secretary and clung industriously to him through the entire day, and he had no chance to write or telegraph a line to Mr. Franklin. Doyle, contrary to his usual custom, refused to drink, and his apparent task was to keep McKenna duly sober for the expected meeting with Kehoe's promised assassins. That was undoubtedly his object in remaining nigh the detective. He must have been instructed by some one to do so, as it was not characteristic of Mike Doyle to refuse good liquor, or restrain himself from a debauch, when acting wholly from his own impulses.
300The detective began heartily to curse the day that he ever allowed himself to sit in the Secretary's chair, and exercised his wits thinking up some way of shirking official responsibilities, which, considering the condition the country was in, he found to clash with his duty to the Agency and to the public. He wished McAndrew might return, and even thought of sending him word that Mrs. McAndrew was very ill—but learned, upon visiting her, she was never better in her life—and that would not succeed. It subsequently occurred to him that he intended going away to Wilkesbarre, after more counterfeit money. But this pretence fell through, as Hurley and Gibbons both said he could send a letter. Then he called a meeting of the division, brought before it and read aloud the printed constitution and by-laws of the order, which provided for the election, each year, of a Vice-President and an Assistant Secretary, neither of which chairs had ever been filled. The suggestion was that Thomas Hurley be elected Vice-President until the annual day for choosing officers came around, and Gibbons to have the position of Assistant Secretary. Both of these men absolutely refused to serve—both were illiterate, both had characters too well known in the community—and a majority of the members present at the meeting unanimously supported a resolution to the effect that Bodymaster, Secretary, and Treasurer were officers enough for that lodge. Here McKenna's work came to naught. He was unable to find anything satisfactory which would take the responsibility off his shoulders and permit him to go to Luzerne County, as he desired, and had to let it rest, fearing that any very marked pertinacity might call the attention of the brotherhood to his efforts to avoid a duty assumed when he took the position he held.
The occurrence of a great fire in the wood, which spread from patch to patch, and from mountain to mountain, carrying destruction and consternation along its track, in the extinguishment of which everybody about the vicinity was engaged, 301prevented the present execution of the James assassination. The employment of every available man in fighting fire made it impossible the Mollies should then seek the young man's life. Still, it was only a short time that this work kept them from bloody thoughts and bloodier deeds.
James must have received a notice of what was going on, as once more he resigned his position and left the vicinity. The men who, upon this occasion, were selected to do for Gomer James were James Bradley, of Loss Creek, Tom Connory, alias "Derrick," of Connor's Patch, and Anthony Monaghan, alias "Rappa Jack," of Rappahannock. They were duly notified of James' disappearance. But Gibbons was not the man to give up a thing upon which his heart was set, as it was on the murder of the Welshman, and the detective knew that he must keep an earnest and close watch of both Hurley and Gibbons, or they would yet accomplish the deed. Hence McKenna greatly affected Gibbons' company, night and day.
In a little while Gibbons hatched a plan to get James back as watchman at the old breaker. It was to gather half a dozen men, and fire a volley in the air, at night, to frighten the men who had taken Gomer James' place, when some one could report it to the boss, who would very naturally say: "When James was night-watchman, such things did not happen; if they did, somebody got hurt, for Gomer was no coward!"
This plan, it was thought by some, would cause Gomer James to be reinstated.
Cooney was of the opinion that it must fail, as James had proceeded deliberately to get drunk, when he knew that such conduct would surely end in his discharge. It appeared to him that the Welshman wanted a chance to leave, and had in some way discovered that the Mollies were once more in search of him.
302To quiet the matter more effectually, McKenna promised Gibbons that he would try and make a trade with some Division-master for men to follow James, wherever he might be, and kill him. But he never did anything of the sort, nor had he so intended when making the proposition.
McKenna was supported in his acts by Jack Kehoe, who, a little later, swore that he would not be dictated to, and that if McKenna, who was, in his sight, acting Bodymaster of Shenandoah Division, allowed Hurley and Gibbons to tell him what he should and should not do, he would consider it his duty, as County Delegate, to look after him, the Secretary, and have him cut off.
The detective at the same time learned that Kehoe had just returned from Mahanoy City, where he found the English and Welsh all assembled about the public square, and no Irishman, or woman, could pass without being insulted. Even the Celts who were not, and never had been Mollies, he said, begged him to do something to end this unendurable state of suffering. They did not care what was done if it only quieted the Modocs, who were acting worse than their namesakes of the lava-beds in the far west.
"I have sent Tom Donahue," said the County Delegate, "up to Locust Gap, to see Dennis Canning, County Delegate of Northumberland, but learned that he had gone to Pittsburg and was at work there; an' I now intend getting Chris Donnelly, of Mt. Laffee, County Treasurer; Wm. Gavin, of Big Mine Run, County Secretary; Mike O'Brien, Bodymaster at Mahanoy City—and I invite you, McKenna, to be present—to hold a convention, on the first of June, at Clark's, in Mahanoy, an' we will see what is to be done wid the whelps, now barkin' so lustily. Perhaps it might be the thing to just bouldly an' publicly challenge the whole pack to come out an' fight us. Some think we had best attack 'em in the night an' shoot down every one we meet, sparin' only women and children! I hate shedding of human 303blood, but these are mighty hot times, an' something will have to be put to work to give us our rights!"
"Sure, an' I can't but applaud your acts, Kehoe!" responded McKenna. "Fur wan that ye have invited, ye may count on my bein' at Clark's promptly on the day."
The County Delegate expressed his pleasure, and said, if all the gentlemen were like the Shenandoah Secretary the Modocs would soon be silenced. The men then parted, Kehoe to attend to home measures, and deal out whisky for his customers, and the detective to report to Mr. Franklin and prepare for the great convention.
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