Molly Maguire

MOLLY MAGUIRE
Down in the darkness
Down at the breaker
Close on the midnight hour
Steadily working
Quietly leaving
Trailing a thin line of powder

The little Schuykill Valley town
Is all lit up tonight
By flames that lick like tongues
From the breaker fire


The tight-lipped Coal and Iron Police
Won’t get much sleep tonight
Looking for the Sons of Molly Maguire

Down in the tavern
Banded together
Strong men are hiding their sorrow
Over at Pottstown
There at the prison
Ten men are hanging tomorrow

I only tried to organize
The men I worked among
But I’m hanging in the morning
Will you miss me
And Monday early, so they say
The mines will open back
The Coal and Iron Police
Are drinking whiskey

Down in the darkness
Standing together
Ten mine are lined on the gallows
Holding a red rose
Waiting for sunrise
King of the Mollies
Jack Kehoe

The trap is sprung
And Molly’s sons
Are traveling into time
Murdered by the men
Who hope to hang her
But the unborn souls of union men
Are all with her tonight
And the Pennsylvania pits
Are dark with anger