The Welsh vs. The Irish

By Christine Rapp

[1] “Scum. Take them off the streets and put them in uniform; they’re still scum. I had that superintendent protected like a baby.” Captain Davies, despite the fact that he too emigrated from Europe to the United States, has no respect for his fellow immigrants. He shows disdain for the mineworkers, but he loathes the police officers as well--they are not capable of performing at his impossible standard. Davies, a Welshman, also worked in the mines before rising to his current position. He hated his life in the mines, which works to explain his disgust for the miners. They remind him of who he used to be; it was a version of himself that he despised. The thought that he too might have lived out his days in a coal mine terrifies him, and what Davies fears, Davies hates.

[2] James McParlan--alias James McKenna--is an undercover detective hired to infiltrate the Molly Maguires. He is still at the bottom of the totem pole within the police force but, from his position, should be given more respect than the coal miners. During their interactions, Captain Davies seems to relish the opportunity to smash McKenna with his baton. “Not yet. I can’t send you back unmarked.”

[3] Captain Davies is a prime example of how the management in the coal mining towns treated the new Irish Catholic immigrants. McKenna is a recent transplant from Ireland trying to make an honest living in a new country. Despite their similar heritage, Davies continuously demonstrates his need for power over other Irish immigrants.

[4] McKenna has a power that Davies fears. He has been accepted into the fold and knows the Mollies’ secrets. Should he chose to back out of the deal, Davies will be in worse condition than before because planting an informant is difficult. The Molly Maguires are very suspicious of outsiders. Davies feels the need to exert his power over McKenna each time they meet just to remind him who is the boss. After this interrogation scene, Davies hits him so hard that he falls to the ground bleeding. The last man to be questioned walked back to the cell unharmed, but McKenna is clearly in pain.

[5] Davies is not only threatened by McKenna but is terrified of the power of the Molly Maguires. “I want the organization,” he tells McKenna in the office. “I want it smashed.” Like others in power, he fears what will happen if the Mollies really do gain any measure of control. Right now he is able to keep them at bay as an underground organization, but the threat looms that one day they will rise up and overpower the police force. As with McKenna, his course of action is to subdue them with an exercise of his power. “Any bastard who even dreams of making trouble, I want him to wake up sweating blood at what happened to the Molly Maguires.”

[6] Part of what scares Davies is the fact that the whole town is willing to rally around suspected members of the Mollies. Jack Kehoe’s family and friends insist that he stayed home all day, twelve witnesses attest to the fact that Frazier was brawling in the saloon and subsequently got “winged,” and Raines and his daughter tell the police that McKenna spent the day with them. Not only is Davies warring with the organization, but he must fight the townspeople as well. Davies has trouble trusting his officers, so the respect and love that the miners and their families show for each other is something with which he doesn’t know how to contend.

[7] In actual American history, the Molly Maguires mostly consisted of Irish Catholic miners who were discriminated against by their English, Welsh, and Irish Protestant counterparts. The real-life Mollies are generally categorized as a brutal branch of the Ancient Order of the Hibernians (AOH). The AOH was designed to help and protect Irish Catholic immigrants, especially those in the coal regions.

[8] While the AOH focused on peacefully campaigning for better working conditions, the Mollies used violence towards the same end. The Molly Maguires were born out of desperation to fight the mine owners for better treatment. The union was kept a secret inside of the legal AOH. The organization was completely Irish Catholic. As the police force cracked down on the Mollies, they increased their violent retaliations. The organization, however, was no match for the police force and the wealthy mine owners. Each time they achieved some level of success, the police and coal barons would find and execute members of the Molly union. Not only that, but they would brutally murder their wives and children as an example.

[9] In Molly Maguires McKenna doesn’t agree with what the Mollies are doing--the violence they exert and the property they destroy--but he is equally judgmental of Davies. When the chief of police treats him as an inferior, McKenna responds with sarcasm. “It’s a pleasure working with a man who loves his job,” he replies after Davies beats him on the head with his baton. Because he is a detective and not a mineworker by trade, McKenna does not allow Davies to forget that he is not a police target. He works for the police, but he is free to leave the mines and find a new assignment if he chooses. Davies loathes McKenna for his arrogance and for his Irish background, but must show him some sort of respect.