MOLLY MAGUIRES

secret organization of coal miners supposedly responsible for terrorism in the anthracite 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 acts of sabotage and terrorist assassinations 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 terrorists, and mine owners hired James McParlan, a detective, to infiltrate the group. In a series of sensational trials in 187577, 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.