When the detective, in accordance with his promise, appeared that afternoon at Mahanoy Plane, he encountered Dennis Dowling and Tom Donahue still hanging about Callaghan's saloon. Both were a little more sober than on the previous day, but not a whit the less inclined to pick a quarrel with the man whose life they sought. It should be explained here that this man, Donahue, was neither "Yellow Jack" Donahue, nor was it the Tom Donahue, of Girardville, who had accompanied McKenna on his visit to Pat Hester's daughter, but a man in no way related to either of those mentioned. McAndrew arrived there also, true to appointment, saying he was in to see the affair through. It was fortunate for McKenna that he had such valuable assistance. Had he gone to the place alone it is more than probable he would have disappeared and no one ever been the wiser. When they were by themselves, McAndrew remarked:
"It was well that you stopped at my house, last night. If you had returned home, as you intended, I should never hay seen you again alive. I met Cooney to-day, and he says men were waiting for you, and watching all through the night! They knocked at the door, asked if they could stay there, were refused, but kept coming and going until brdaylight, when they got away! They left an old carpet-sack, 498and other things, on the ground near the fence, to make it appear they were tramps, but Mrs. Cooney thinks although they were well disguised, that she recognized one of the fellows as a resident of Shenandoah.
"Faith, an' I am beholden to ye once more, McAndrew! When can I ever repay your kindness? I will try to do all that I can, whenever I hev the chance!"
"Oh, that's all right!" returned the young man.
Again the visit to Father O'Connor was unsuccessful, as that person had not yet arrived from Philadelphia. Returning to Callaghan's, McKenna reported his want of success. McAndrew, Dowling, and the rest were talking together, but no one offered him any violence. Bidding all "good night," he went to Pottsville once more. He did not feel that there was any actual necessity for going to Shenandoah again that day. In fact, it occurred to him that, thereafter, it might be as well to have somebody, upon whose aid he could count, along with him whenever he made the journey.
I had telegraphed word to Mr. Franklin to have the detective clear his record, even at further risk, by persevering until he saw Father O'Connor, but, as matter of precaution, Mr. Linden should never leave him while there seemed the least danger that he would run into serious trouble.
The operative, meantime, became convinced, through circumstances brought to his knowledge, that the Mollies had penetrated his disguise—seen his cards. Somebody had given them information about him. Who it was, he could not tell. But that they were satisfied of his double part, he was well aware. Nevertheless he said:
"I'll go to Mahanoy Plane just once more! Then, if all is not made straight, you'll see me leave this country!"
"It's according to orders, I see, and, as I am to be with you, I shall feel better about it!" said Linden.
Linden prepared for the journey, and, the next day, which was Saturday, the fifth of March, after writing to Mr. Franklin, 499saying he was to go to Mahanoy Plane, to see Father O'Connor, and adding: "If I am killed, Jack Kehoe is my murderer," McParlan took the noon train for the place designated. Linden was aware of the localities the operative would visit and at no time permitted him to stray far from his presence. This time Father O'Connor was found at his residence.
Callaghan was invited to go with him to interview the clergyman, but refused, saying he had already been there too many times. Beside, he and Father O'Connor had passed some sharp words regarding a sermon which the priest had delivered about the Mollie Maguires, or Ancient Order of Hibernians. So the accused Mollie was forced to go alone—excepting that Linden kept him in view. He entered the house and was told the reverend gentleman would see him in a moment. While sitting in a room, waiting, McKenna heard footsteps in the hallway and then came the voice of a man speaking. He recognized the tone as belonging to one of the Mollies of the Mahanoy Plane Division. Listening intently, he thought a chair was drawn along the wall until near the door. Evidently some one was preparing to hear every word that passed between himself and the priest. This was enough to put him on his guard and prompt the use of no language which would compromise him in the eyes of the Mollie Maguires. Soon Father O'Connor arrived, and McKenna civilly addressed him:
"I am James McKenna, Father O'Connor! I suppose you have heard many ill things about me before this, but I am not quite sure that I am as bad as reported. I know I am not what you have represented me to be, a detective, spy, informer! In tellin' me friends this, you hev hurt me above remedy. I'm no detective! The order I belongs to is a good wan—but its members are, some of them, charged wid crimes—an' they'll kill me if they think I'm in league 500wid their enemies, which I surely am not! They are now quietly engaged in seekin' means of accomplishing me injury. You can stop it by saying that it is not true; that ye don't belave the tale told on me! I beg you to consider! I stands up for the Ancient Order of Hibernians, everywhere! They are the right sort! I hev belonged to 'em for seventeen years, and never saw anything wrong in them. Bishop Wood, an' all the rest, are astray in condemning them, an' if they'll only give us time we'll prove that we are not murderers and incendiaries an' all that's wicked!"
"I have heard about you, young man," calmly answered the priest, "and the language used need not be repeated. I assure you, however, that I have never used your name in connection with that of a detective! I confess I heard that you were a detective, and although I did not know you, I thought you might be, on occasion, cognizant of crimes long before their perpetration; crimes that I thought you should have prevented; and in doing as you did you acted as a stool-pigeon—a common phrase among men—and took part in bad acts in lieu of giving word to the authorities and having the perpetrators arrested and punished. I acknowledge I wrote a letter to John Kehoe, and gave it to a party to deliver. It was not sent, but brought back to me. I have told these unfortunate men that their time would surely come, that death would yet be their fate, and now they see that I gave them good counsel. They would not listen to my voice, would not leave their organization, and they must abide by the consequences. I can do no more for them. You can go to Father Ryan, of Mahanoy City, and Father O'Reilly, of Shenandoah, as they know more about it than I do. I learned of the detective matter only recently, and have been to Philadelphia to see how your relations are with another party. I need not name the man, for I found out nothing. You were seen around the vicinity—or 501in Tamaqua—about the time Kelly and Doyle were arrested. You kept Kerrigan's company, just before Jones was shot!"
"But, indade, I had business in Tamaqua, Father O'Connor! I wor sparkin' Kerrigan's sister-in-law!"
This provoked a smile on the priest's face.
"Well, if that was all, there was nothing wrong in it; you had a right to pay attention to the young lady if you liked!"
"Of course I know that! An' to get the good-will of the sister-in-law, sure, didn't I hev to spark Kerrigan jist a little?"
Here some other persons wanted to see the clergyman, and McKenna took his leave, promising to visit the other priests and have the tangle straightened out, notifying Father O'Connor of it, so that he might, if he would, make due notice to the members of his congregation. The pastor stated that, when he was satisfied, he would be very happy to make a public correction.
But McKenna had no idea of going to see Fathers Ryan and O'Reilly. He had had quite enough of that kind of work.
McKenna was careful to speak loud while complimenting the Mollie Maguires, so that the eavesdropper might hear this part of the conversation if nothing else. As he went out at one door, he knew that Martin Dooley made his exit at another, and, had he given out anything derogatory to the order, he would never have escaped with his life.
After visiting Callaghan's, and telling the crowd assembled there that he had seen Father O'Connor, and it was all right, he agreed to have an interview with Father O'Reilly, at Shenandoah, the next day, and then took his final leave. While on his way out of the village the agent encountered Dooley, who quickly commenced to laugh. He was glad it was not Tom Donahue and Dowling he had met.
"Phat are you afther laughin' about?" asked McKenna.
502"Oh, I heard ivery word of it!"
"Every word of what?"
"That passed while you was closeted wid Father O'Connor!"
"For shame! Wor you list'ning?"
"Sure, an' I was!"
"Well, didn't I tell him some things about the society that not every gorsoon would have known?"
"That you did! Didn't you give the order a lift, tho'?"
"That wor me rale intention!"
"An' you have been a member for seventeen years, eh? You told the whole truth about the A. O. H.—or the Mollies—but I don't believe you did about the age of your membership!"
Dooley seemed highly pleased, and reported to all the men at Callaghan's that he never heard a man talk better sense to anybody than Jim McKenna put before Father O'Connor, during their short interview. The crowd changed their feelings toward the agent, and were, at the moment, more inclined to doubt Kehoe than McKenna. Dowling was quite drunk, as usual, but managed to put in:
"It's a mystery to me, anyhow! I can't tell what to make of that fellow in the blue clothes! He's a counterfeiter, a thief, a gentleman, a singer of songs and dancer of jigs, an', be gorra, now they say he's a detective! It's a long way beyond me thoughts! I gives it up! I gives it up!"
And Dowling called all hands to the bar, which was satisfactory to the landlord, at least.
Notwithstanding the detective had carried himself manfully before his foes, bearded Kehoe in his den, faced the priestly accuser, and defied the select band of assassins, now, while he knew that Linden was somewhere within sight of him—in truth he was in Mr. Davis' office, close at hand, all the while he had been with the priest, and even then was tracing McKenna's footsteps at a safe distance—as he made fast time 503toward Frackville, and the sun began to sink in the west, a feeling of dread came over him, a chilliness ran in his veins, which was nigh unto fear, and he walked faster than he had in a long time. Fortunately he overtook a Dutchman, driving to Frackville, and McKenna, not wishing to be caught in the dark on the mountains, asked the driver if he would give him a ride. The Dutchman consented, stopped his team, and the detective mounted the seat by his side, saying:
"I'm in a very great hurry! I hev a dispatch that me sisther is just dying, at Pottsville beyant, an' I fear I may not get to the train in sayson!"
"Linden was still some distance behind, but making good time to catch up with the Dutchman's horses."
"I'll drive a little faster!" said the obliging fellow, and he applied his black-snake whip to the animals' flanks and they went flying up the steep r while Linden was some distance behind, but making good time, to catch up with the Dutchman's horses. McKenna looked back, and after a while, seeing his friend, told the Jehu that he thought there was no need of such hot haste, as they would probably get to the depot in time. But poor Linden had to walk all the way, and was glad enough when he saw the end of the journey. Both operatives took the same train for Pottsville, but were careful not to be seen communicating, and the next morning McKenna went by train to Philadelphia, no more to return as James McKenna. This was therefore, theoretically, if not in fact, the end of that personage so long known to the coal region and to the reader. No more would he appear as the wild Irishman of Shenandoah. When he again visited the locality—if he went there at all—it would be in his true character of James McParlan, the detective.
Let us now return to the trials of the Mollies already arrested. While he did not testify in the Kelly and Doyle cases, in March, 1876, at Mauch Chunk, McParlan was much in the locality and furnished very valuable information, greatly assisting the prosecution in their legal warfare upon the Mollie Maguires.
504In April, 1876, I went to Philadelphia, and held another long, interesting and profitable consultation with Mr. F. B. Gowen and Superintendent Franklin. They had for some time been urging upon me the necessity for placing McParlan on the witness stand. With his assistance, I could easily see that many convictions might be made which, without his aid, never could occur. Still there was in my mind the verbal agreement I had entered into, nearly three years before, in my office in Chicago, that he, the operative, should not be called upon to go before a court and give testimony. I would not go behind that statement, and was determined never to make the attempt. It was true that McParlan's usefulness as a detective in the coal region was gone, through the discovery which had been made rendering his departure from that part of Pennsylvania imperatively necessary.
Calling the detective to me, in my private office, we held an earnest and prolonged interview. Without saying anything to bias his mind, I plainly stated the situation, and asked him to consider whether it was better for him to go upon the stand or not. He could do as he chose, and I would remain firmly with him to the last. For some moments McParlan sat, with his head bowed down, seemingly in deep thought, saying nothing. He then raised his eyes, and replied:
"You remarked, just now, that Mr. Gowen would like to see me!"
"Yes, he so stated."
"Well, I can decide what is best to be done, after talking with him."
I then visited Mr. Gowen's house, where he was confined from sickness. He appointed a time when McParlan and I should meet him. We did meet him, at my office, in Philadelphia, and we held further talk over the matter. Mr. Gowen informed McParlan that all he desired was simply to bring the guilty men to justice. In his own quiet, businesslike 505manner, he placed the full circumstances of the case before him, offering, however, no hope of future or present reward, but describing plainly the duty he thought he owed to the public. When Mr. Gowen was through, McParlan thought over the subject for at least five minutes, none of us speaking, and Mr. Gowen and I almost breathlessly awaiting the result. At last McParlan said:
"I will come out in my true character as a detective, speak the truth in all the cases, wherever needed, and, so help me God, every assistance that I can give shall be rendered! Nothing shall be held back. With God's aid, I may be the means of doing much good!"
Mr. Gowen then left, and arrangements were made to carry out the decision.
I had consented, with this proviso, that, as soon as he should visit the coal region, and from that time until the precautions were all ended, he would place himself constantly, day and night, under the especial care of two of my bravest and most courageous men, who should be properly armed, and instructed to give him protection wherever he went. He did not deem this precaution at all necessary. I did, and McParlan agreed to it. Messrs. Gilchrist and Deacons, able and determined officers, have since that date acted as his guardsmen. That this was needful, several facts afterward transpiring abundantly prove. While two men would have been of little use in a combined attack, or if an assassin might come upon them suddenly in the night, I knew the Mollies would soon be so demoralized that the first would not occur, and no man would be willing to take the risk of killing another whom he knew was constantly under the eye of armed and watchful guardians. The fact that he had to move about the streets of Pottsville, Mauch Chunk, or Bloomsburg, protected by armed men, was galling to the detective's pride, but he finally began to see the demand for such care of himself, and never tried to evade those 506guarding him. It is more than probable that his life would long since have been sacrificed, had I adopted a more reckless course, which I never contemplated doing.
Making arrests now begun in earnest, Mr. Linden having been duly authorized to attend to this department of the business under the direction and advice of Mr. Franklin, the district attorneys, and assisted by McParlan. Capture followed swiftly upon capture, commencing on the fourth of February, 1876, when Alexander Campbell, Bodymaster at Lansford, Carbon County, was apprehended, charged with the murder of John P. Jones, Sept. 3d, of the same year.
On the fifth of the same month, Hugh McGehan, of Carbon County, was arrested for the Yost murder, committed at Tamaqua, July 6, 1875. James Boyle was taken on the sixth and the capture of James Roarty, Bodymaster at Coledale, Schuylkill County, occurred on the seventh. On the eighth, James Carroll, of Tamaqua, then acting as Bodymaster at Tamaqua, was lodged in prison. There, on the ninth, he was joined by his cutor in the murder of B. F. Yost, Thomas Duffy, of Reevesdale. The last named was captured while at work, at Buckville.
The six murderers mentioned above were taken, one after the other, and so sudden was the descent upon them that they did not have a moment's warning, and the greatest excitement resulted throughout the coal region. Not only were the Mollies themselves greatly agitated, but the people of the vicinity arose in a mass and threats of lynching the prisoners were freely indulged in. Owing to the admirable arrangements of Capt. Linden, ably seconded by the officers and men of the Coal and Iron Police and local officials, everything passed off quietly, in a little while, and all of the defendants were safely lodged in Pottsville jail. Writs of habeas corpus were promptly taken out, made returnable on the thirteenth of February. On that day, Linden took James Kerrigan away from the Carbon County jail, at 507Mauch Chunk, in a special car, and landed him safely in Pottsville, ready for the hearing on the writ. The crowd at the court-house was so overpowering that President Judge Pershing declined to enter upon the case, and the numbers of citizens present had to be forcibly diminished before the cause could go on. Trouble was anticipated at this time from the Mollie Maguires, who were on the spot in crowds, and, while Capt. Linden was taking Kerrigan to the carriage in waiting, a member of the order, named Thomas Waldron, cried out, alluding to Kerrigan, "Drown the scoundrel! Drown him!" A nod to one of the officers in attendance was sufficient, and Mr. Waldron was promptly arrested, taken before a magistrate, and put under bail. This quick settlement of his case quieted the order, and no further trouble occurred.
On the tenth of February followed the arrest of Thomas Munley, of Gilberton, on the affidavit of Capt. Linden, for the murder of Thomas Sanger, and Wm. Uren, at Raven Run, as related in these pages.
On the fourth of May, 1876, the trial of James Carroll, Thomas Duffy, James Roarty, Hugh McGehan, and James Boyle, for the murder of B. F. Yost, was commenced in Pottsville, before a full bench of Hon. C. L. Pershing, D. B. Green, and T. H. Walker. The jury was composed of the following gentlemen: Joel H. Betz, Thomas Bomboy, O. Miller, William Becker, Lewis Maul, Levi Stein, Paul Artz, Amos Forsman, Daniel Yeager, Benjamin Weller, Jules Kurten, and Jacob B. Hoffman. After hearing much of the testimony, and getting well along in the cause, Levi Stein, one of the jurors, and an estimable man, was taken very sick, and the court adjourned until the twenty-third of the same month. Mr. Stein never recovered sufficiently to reappear in the jury box, and after his death the remainder of the panel were discharged. The cause therefore went over. It was in this unfortunate trial that McParlan came 508upon the stand, stood revealed to the world as the former James McKenna, and made his astonishing revelations, which, for interest and y, have startled the civilized world. James Kerrigan, also made his début as a witness for the Commonwealth, and, but for the sad incident occurring, as related, the trial would have proven a triumph over the Mollies. Hon. F. B. Gowen, President of the Philadelphia and Reading RailrCompany and of the Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company, in this case first came forward as counsel, ungloved himself for the struggle, and by his boldness did much to reassure the depressed and suffering people of the coal region. It was a sad providence and calamity that terminated the trial so unhappily. The counsel engaged for the Commonwealth were George R. Kaercher, Esq., District Attorney, Hon. F. B. Gowen, Hon. F. W. Hughes, Gen. Charles Albright, and Guy E. Farquhar, Esq.; for the defense were Hon. Lin Bartholomew, John W. Ryon, Esq., and Daniel Kalbfus, Esq. It was an array of talent which attracted deserved attention from the people and the press, many citizens daily crowding the court room, and all the leading newspapers having representatives present. Everything, however, had to be repeated, because of the decease of Mr. Stein.
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