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Yost was murdered in 1875 and the
Mollies were blamed. This incident turned some of the public against the Mollies. Later that year, an Irish family was murdered by gunmen under suspicious circumstances. The attack was thought to have been motivated by revenge for the alleged murder of mine boss Thomas Sanger by Charles Kehoe, a leader of the Mollies. Though the gunmen were never brought to trial, later evidence implicated Pinkerton, McParland, and Linden. Many in the
218:, the Pennsylvania State Police worked with the Coal and Iron Police to suppress the strike. Coal and Iron Police served as enforcers on company property during the workday, and state police harassed and surveilled the workers outside of company property and time. The two police forces worked together to evict a mostly Slovakian workforce from company-owned homes, forcing the workers to spend the winter in tents provided by the
191:. The stated purpose was to act as fire, forest, game and fish wardens, and to protect the farmers, but some observers felt that it really was to serve the interests of the coal and iron operators because the same legislation created a "trespassing offense" that wherever a warning sign was displayed a person could be arrested and fined ten dollars. This was seen as a direct assault on
66:
commonwealth". The 1866 supplement also stipulated that the words "coal and iron police" appear on their badges. For one dollar each, the state sold to the mine and steel mill owners commissions conferring police power upon whoever the owners selected. A total of 7,632 commissions were given for the Coal and Iron Police. In 1871, Governor
60:
existed only on the county level or below; an elected sheriff was the primary law enforcement officer (for each county). With the construction of the railroad, the
Pennsylvania hinterlands were opened up to development. As mining and coal-powered industries like iron and steel manufacturing expanded,
109:
pursued a dual-track strategy, appointing R.J. Linden as head of the local Coal and Iron Police. McParland's undercover work led to the arrest and execution of 20 suspected Molly
Maguires, but not without complications. Violence continued throughout the investigation. Tamaqua police officer Benjamin
73:
Although the Coal and Iron Police nominally existed solely to protect company property, in practice the companies used them as strikebreakers, and to coerce and discipline workers and their families. C&Is were sometimes used to crack down on unemployed miners and the families of miners' practice
65:
passed State Act 228. This empowered the railroads to organize private police forces. In 1866, a supplement to the act was passed extending the privilege to "embrace all corporations, firms, or individuals, owning, leasing, or being in possession of any colliery, furnace, or rolling mill within this
122:
led to increased public-private police cooperation, with
Pennsylvania National Guard regiments and eventually federal troops deployed when Pinkertons and Coal and Iron Police failed to quell disorder on their own. The difficulties faced by Pennsylvania authorities in routing entrenched strikers led
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who had the strong support of the coal and steel operators, as a political gesture to the rising labor movement of the 1930s, out of personal disgust with the excesses of the Coal and Iron Police, or some combination thereof. His official statement indicates the latter, in reference to an assault
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but employed and paid for by the various coal companies. The Coal and Iron Police worked alongside the
Pennsylvania National Guard, and later the Pennsylvania State Police, beginning in 1877. The remaining Coal and Iron Police commissions were allowed to expire in 1931, ostensibly ending the
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intervened. In the aftermath of the strike, there was growing determination that peace and order should be maintained by regularly appointed and responsible officers employed by the public. In March of 1903, Roosevelt's coal commission recommended the abolition of the Coal and Iron Police.
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The Coal and Iron Police, most of the time, are on the scene, and when they start something it is because the thugs and the Coal and Iron Police are armed and the strikers are not armed, and are not permitted to be armed; and they are beaten up by the thugs, and that is about the time the
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working class at the time, and some scholars today, question whether tales of the Molly
Maguires were invented by the Pinkertons to justify repression in the anthracite coal fields. Many suspected Mollies maintained their innocence throughout the proceedings against them.
287:
refused to renew or issue new private police commissions, thereby effectively ending the industrial police system in
Pennsylvania. The reasons for his act are not clear and may have included political payback for his defeat in a 1926 campaign by a candidate from
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to the region, many of whom had little to no
English-speaking ability, the C&I corralled the workers in company housing complexes and forced them to work, even as some attempted to leave. Sixteen strikers and their wives were killed during the strike.
130:. As in 1877, The C&Is were overwhelmed by striking workers. They were herded together with the sheriff and local militia and sent away from town on a boat. The state's National Guard was again summoned to put down the strike.
198:
The Coal and Iron Police continued to exist even after the establishment of the state police. The state police often collaborated with Coal and Iron Police to the benefit of industrial interests and the detriment of
249:
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constabulary appear on the scene, and they come around, mounted like cavalry, and they come around and see the disturbance, and they always take good care to arrest only the strikers.
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of "bootlegging" or picking up loose scraps of coal along the railways to sell or for use heating their homes. Many coal miners disdained the C&Is and called them "
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360:
165:. It began May 15 and lasted until October 23. The strike led to violence throughout seven counties and caused a nationwide coal shortage, driving up the price of
245:
was beaten and shot by Coal and Iron Police when she intervened to stop the beating of Joseph
Starzleski, a mineworker. Both Sellins and Starzleski were killed.
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instituted a $ 1 fee for each C&I commission. Prior to that, there was no cost associated with obtaining the legal right to hire a private policeman.
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to death. The final disbandment was helped along by
Musmanno's writing a short story based on the case, which was adapted into the 1935 film
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330:
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state-sanctioned organization of a private police force. Industrial policing continued in limited form until the later 1930s, when the
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to reforms in the state's National Guard, and established a stronger role for the state in preserving order in industrial disputes.
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Though the Roosevelt commission's recommendation was not heeded, it added to the public pressure which led to the formation of the
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82:, and adventurers were often hired to fill these commissions. They served their own interests and regularly abused their power.
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Coal, railroad and iron operators made the case that they required additional protection of their property. Thus the
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266:, in 1929 a Pennsylvania state legislator, fought to banish the Coal and Iron Police after they had beaten worker
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307:, focusing on miners' struggles and strikes in Pennsylvania. The Coal and Iron Police also feature in the
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bolstered sympathy and support for the miners' grievances and marked a turning point in the history of the
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In 1897, at least nineteen striking mineworkers were killed and dozens more were injured while marching to
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noted that additional Coal and Iron Police were hired during the national coal miner's strike in 1922.
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force in the US state of Pennsylvania that existed between 1865 and 1931. It was established by the
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145:. None of the deputies or company police were convicted for the murder of the unarmed workers.
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670:
Less than Forever: The Rise and Decline of Union Solidarity in Western Pennsylvania, 1914-1948
93:. Beginning in 1873, the Coal and Iron Police worked with the Pinkertons, particularly with a
188:
8:
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Strikebreaking and Intimidation: Mercenaries and Masculinity in Twentieth-Century America
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Strikebreaking and Intimidation: Mercenaries and Masculinity in Twentieth-Century America
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582:""A Crooked Death": Coatesville, Pennsylvania and the Lynching of Zachariah Walker"
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The brutality of the Coal and Iron Police forms the background to some sections in
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McIntyre, Pennsylvania, The Everyday Life Of A Coal Mining Company Town: 1910-1947
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137:, after a posse of deputies and company police fired on the unarmed crowd. The
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The end of the Coal and Iron Police began in 1902 during what became known as
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In August 1911 a Coal and Iron Policeman, Deputy Constable Edgar Rice of
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The Pinkerton Story, James D. Horan and Howard Swiggett, 1951, page 126.
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40:, and other federal legislation made armed industrial forces illegal.
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79:
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James H. Maurer, President of the Pennsylvania Federation of Labor
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Coal and Iron Police again played a significant role in the 1892
75:
686:. Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, 2002.
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on May 2, 1905, when Senate Bill 278 was signed into law by
508:. Internet Archive. New York, Macmillan. pp. 126–133.
52:
Allan Pinkerton, founder of the Pinkerton Detective Agency
672:. Selingsgrove, Pa.: Susquehanna University Press, 1987.
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Murder of workers in labor disputes in the United States
586:
Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies
559:. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press.
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85:The first Coal and Iron Police were established in
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727:Defunct law enforcement agencies of Pennsylvania
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317:, which is based loosely on the breaking of the
238:; Walker was lynched by a mob a few days later.
157:Attack on the Coal and Iron Police at Shenandoah
717:History of labor relations in the United States
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105:. During McParland's undercover investigation,
252:A photo of the crushed skull of Fannie Sellins
580:Hyser, Raymond M.; Downey, Dennis B. (1987).
432:. Archived from the original on July 14, 2011
216:Westmoreland County coal strike of 1910–1911
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293:perpetrated by a couple of Iron Policemen.
331:State Police of Crawford and Erie Counties
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16:Private police force in Pennsylvania, US
707:Government agencies established in 1865
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400:Sadler, Spencer J. (November 2, 2009).
712:1931 disestablishments in Pennsylvania
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404:. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing.
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276:. Decades later Musmanno released a
555:Norwood, Stephen H. (May 27, 2002).
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78:" and "Yellow Dogs". Common gunmen,
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732:1865 establishments in Pennsylvania
402:Pennsylvania's Coal and Iron Police
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474:The People Versus the Private Army
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101:, to infiltrate and suppress the
256:A July 25, 1922, article in the
56:Prior to 1865 (and until 1905),
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519:PHMC: Governors of Pennsylvania
169:. The strike did not end until
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87:Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania
58:Law enforcement in Pennsylvania
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143:United Mine Workers of America
63:Pennsylvania State Legislature
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120:Great Railroad Strike of 1877
29:Pennsylvania General Assembly
222:. When the company imported
149:Transition to state policing
34:National Labor Relations Act
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505:A history of American labor
502:Rayback, Joseph G. (1959).
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163:The Anthracite Coal Strike
91:Pinkerton Detective Agency
722:Coal in the United States
668:Meyerhuber, Jr., Carl I.
537:Pennsylvania State Police
450:: CS1 maint: unfit URL (
241:In 1919, labor organizer
234:, was shot and killed by
232:Coatesville, Pennsylvania
182:Pennsylvania State Police
524:August 21, 2006, at the
38:Fair Labor Standards Act
283:In 1931, then-Governor
620:"Coal and Iron Police"
542:June 20, 2006, at the
426:"Coal and Iron Police"
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489:May 12, 2006, at the
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189:Samuel W. Pennypacker
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682:Norwood, Stephen H.
626:on February 23, 2007
21:Coal and Iron Police
648:"Industrial Police"
314:The Valley of Fear
280:of the same name.
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174:Theodore Roosevelt
159:
54:
692:978-0-8078-2705-5
678:978-0-941664-27-1
656:February 9, 1931.
566:978-0-8078-5373-3
411:978-0-7385-6470-8
258:Johnstown Tribune
139:Lattimer Massacre
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336:Auxiliary police
264:Michael Musmanno
236:Zachariah Walker
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128:Homestead Strike
68:John White Geary
23:(C&I) was a
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309:Sherlock Holmes
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107:Allan Pinkerton
99:James McParland
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290:Indiana County
243:Fannie Sellins
224:strikebreakers
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214:During the
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630:August 29,
367:References
298:Dos Passos
273:Black Fury
598:0031-4528
436:March 12,
193:picketing
171:President
95:labor spy
606:27773172
540:Archived
522:Archived
487:Archived
446:cite web
325:See also
207:—
186:Governor
135:Lattimer
80:hoodlums
76:Cossacks
311:novel,
305:trilogy
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303:U.S.A.
199:labor.
36:, the
602:JSTOR
278:novel
688:ISBN
674:ISBN
653:Time
632:2006
594:ISSN
561:ISBN
452:link
438:2024
406:ISBN
220:UMWA
118:The
19:The
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