in company-owned shacks and had to trade in company stores at excessive prices. Almost every miner was in debt to the company for rent and food which came out of his wages. The English and the Welsh held the best jobs in the mines and discriminated against the Irish. In order to fight back, the Irish formed a secret organization known as the Molly Maguires. The name of the society was taken from a group of anti-landlord agitators in the 1840s led by a widow named Molly Maguire. The Molly Maguires organized about 1860 within a respectable society, known as the Ancient Order of Hiberians, it was most likely a revival of what was known as "Ribbonism" of Ireland. This had been formed to defend the interests of peasants against the oppression of the absentee landlords. Its methods were those of terrorism. The Molly Maguires, also known as the Buckshots, White Boys, and Sleepers , centered in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, more particularly in Cass Township. Although they began as a crude labor organization whose tactics were aimed at bettering the then unbearable working conditions, the "Mollies" soon attracted undesirable elements from the rough mining towns, and became a criminal organization. The members of this organization sought to dominate the politics of the county, and resorted to violence to take care of unfair foremen and mine superintendents. The Molly Maguires began to make themselves known simply by placing under the doors of unpopular coal officials, warnings bearing crude drawings of coffins and daggers . One such warning read:"Mr.Morris, freas you're a man-man prepare yourself your coffin at once or leave this place. Your life is doomed and you'll die like a dog if you hunt any longer and cheat poor people out of their money." Take Warning ...
