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Labor leader John Siney, circa 1875.
Credit: Courtesy of the Historical Society of Schuylkill County, Pottsville, PA
Under the leadership of John Siney, the newly organized Workmen's Benevolent Association successfully lobbied the Pennsylvania legislature to pass a mine inspection and ventilation law for mines in Schuylkill County by threatening to vote against candidates who did not pledge to vote for pro-labor legislation in the late 1860s. Their success drew the ire of coal operators and railroads led by Franklin Gowen, who launched the investigation of Molly Maguires in the 1870s.