In this Schuylkill County prison yard on June 21, 1877, Pennsylvania’s largest mass execution took place with the hanging of six alleged Molly Maguire leaders. That same day, four other alleged Mollies were hanged at Mauch Chunk in Carbon County. Between 1877 and 1879, twenty alleged Mollies were hanged in Bloomsburg, Columbia County; Mauch Chunk, Carbon County; and Pottsville, Schuylkill County. One hundred and one years after the hanging of Jack Kehoe on December 18, 1878, in this Schuylkill County prison, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania granted Kehoe a posthumous pardon, reflecting the judgment of many historians that the trials and executions were part of a repression directed against the fledgling mineworkers’ union of that period.

Photo: PaulwC3

Photo: Devry Becker Jones (CC0)