[#244] THE GHOST OF MOLLY MAGUIRE, Part Three: To Kill A Mining Lord

Dimitri and Khalid explore the deadly climax of the Molly Maguire phenomenon in 1870s Pennsylvania coal country, including: Pinkerton spy James McParlan’s exposure and narrow escape from Schuylkill County, the spectacular(ly corrupt) murder trials from 1876-78 that captivated the nation, Reading Railroad President Franklin B. Gowen’s mesmerizing star turn as lead prosecutor in the courtroom, his four hour Aaron Sorkin monologue about the perfidious Irish conspiracy threatening the very foundations of our (Protestant Capitalist) Republic, squealing witnesses and Pennsylvania Dutch jurors, McParlan/McKenna on the witness stand, Gowen’s relentless drive to convict Hibernian leader “Black Jack” Kehoe of a Civil War murder he didn’t commit, Black Thursday and the Day of the Rope, executing two Mollies just after Governor Hartranft grants a reprieve, the Great Railroad Strikes of 1877, two descendants of convicted Mollies becoming militant IRA-supporting Teamster leaders in the 20th century, Gowen’s HOTGAF arc going off the rails, the Reading’s slide into crushing debt and bankruptcy, getting forced out of the game by a rising JP Morgan, and Franklin Gowen grimly imitating the tactics of his Molly adversaries by shooting a mine boss - himself - in 1889. For access to premium SJ episodes, upcoming installments of DEMON FORCES, and the Grotto of Truth Discord, become a subscriber at patreon.com/subliminaljihad.