Flip to Franklin Gowen, president of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, circa 1885.Close Window
Credit: Courtesy of the Historical Society of Schuylkill County, Pottsville, PA
On June 21, 1877, 11 "Mollie Maguires" were hung in the prison yard in Pottsville, PA, after a conviction based on the testimony of witnesses on the Reading Railroad and mining company payrolls. Execution of the Irish coal miners made headlines nationwide and caused outrage among many Irish immigrants and Irish Americans in Pennsylvania and elsewhere.
