Part 93

Fletcher claimed the right to alter laws without even the assent of Assembly, and to strengthen his position threatened to annex the Province to New York. The moderate party, rather than submit to this, preferred receiving the confirmation of their rights and liberties as a favor at the hands of the Governor.

Prior to his departure for New York, in 1694, Fletcher appointed William Markham, the Proprietary’s cousin, to be Lieutenant Governor. Governor Fletcher attended the second session of the Assembly and insisted upon further appropriations for public defense. The Assembly refused to comply with Fletcher’s demand and was dissolved.

The Proprietary was not wholly in accord with the resolute refusal of the Assembly, nor was he unmindful of the effects which such opposition to the wishes of the Crown might have upon his particular interests.

William Penn was now no longer under the cloud of suspicion. He had many friends among the nobles who surrounded the King, and his true character was at last made known.

He succeeded in obtaining a hearing before a Privy Council and was honorably acquitted and restored to his Proprietary rights by a patent dated August, 1694, in which the disorders in the Province were ascribed solely to his absence. Shortly before his reinstatement, William Penn’s wife, Gulielma Maria, died.

Penn appointed Markham his Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania and Territories September 24, 1694. The restoration of the former government was not happy, for Governor Fletcher had made himself unpopular, and it was not an easy matter for Markham to immediately gain their confidence, even though he had called the Assembly according to the forms prescribed by the charter.

The great bone of contention was the subsidy to be granted to the King. Finally a joint committee of the two branches of the Legislature was acceded to, when it was agreed to accept the new Constitution, and a new subsidy of £300 was granted for the support of the Royal Government and of the suffering Indians. This was raised by a tax of one penny on the pound on all assessed property.

The new Constitution was more democratic. The Council consisted of two from each county, elected biennially. The Assembly had four members from each county, elected annually. The latter was given the right to originate bills, to sit on its adjournments and to be indissoluble during the term for which it was elected.

This instrument was never formally sanctioned by the Proprietary and continued in force only until after his second arrival, when a new and more lasting one was substituted in its place. Under it the people were content.

William Penn, accompanied by his second wife and children, sailed from England in the ship Canterbury in September, 1699, and on account of adverse winds had a tedious voyage of more than three months, arriving in the Delaware, December 1, 1699. Penn was cordially welcomed, it being generally understood that he intended to spend the remainder of his life in the Province.

The Proprietary believed the time was ripe for an entirely new form of government and labored earnestly to obtain additional legislative restrictions upon intercourse with the Indians in order to protect them from the artifices of the whites. Penn conferred frequently with the several nations of the Province, visiting them familiarly in their forests, participating in their festivals and entertaining them with much hospitality and state at his mansion at Pennsbury.

He formed a new treaty with the tribes located on the Susquehanna and its tributaries and also with the Five Nations. This treaty was one of peace. In 1701, William Penn took a second trip into the interior of the Province.

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Morgan Powell Cruelly Murdered by Mollie Maguires, December 2, 1871

The bloody record of the Mollie Maguires began about the time the Civil War was brought to a close and continued until James McParlan, the able detective in the employ of the Pinkerton agency, ferreted out these criminals and brought the guilty to trials which resulted in their execution or long terms of imprisonment.

The anthracite coal regions were not free of this scourge until 1877.

The Mollies were unusually active and bloodthirsty in 1865. August 25 of that year, David Muir, colliery superintendent, was killed in Foster Township, shot to death on the public highway, in broad daylight, within two hundred yards of the office in which he was employed.

January 10, 1866, Henry H. Dunne, of Pottsville, superintendent of a colliery, was murdered on the turnpike, while riding to his home in his carriage.

October 17, 1868, occurred the tragic death of Alexander Rae, near Centralia, Columbia County.

The next important outrage of this character was the murder of William H. Littlehales, superintendent of the Glen Carbon Coal Mining Company, March 15, 1869. He was killed on the highway in Cass Township, Schuylkill County, while enroute to his home in Pottsville.

Then occurred the murders of F. W. S. Langdon, George K. Smith and Graham Powell, each of whom was a mining official.

But the crowning act of the Mollie Maguires, up to the time James McParlan was engaged by Mr. Allen Pinkerton to investigate the workings of this nefarious organization, and the one reaching the culmination of many previous and similar events, was the murder of Morgan Powell.

This event exasperated the good people of the anthracite region to the pitch where endurance ceases to be a virtue, and where only desperate methods to put a stop to these crimes can be put in operation.

This unprovoked murder occurred December 2, 1871. Morgan Powell was assistant superintendent of the Lehigh and Wilkes Barre Coal and Iron Company, at Summit Hill, Carbon County.

The murder was committed about seven o’clock in the evening, on the main street of the little town, not more than twenty feet from the store of Henry Williamson, which place Powell had but a few minutes earlier left to go to the office of Mr. Zehner, the general superintendent of the company.

It seems that one of three men, who had been seen by different parties waiting near the store, approached Mr. Powell from the rear, close beside a gate leading into the stables, and fired a pistol shot into the left breast of the victim. The assassin reached over the shoulder of Powell to accomplish his deadly purpose.

The bullet passed through Powell’s body, lodged in the back near the spinal column, producing immediate paralysis of the lower limbs, and resulting in death two days afterward.

The wounded man was carried back to the store by some of his friends and his son, Charles Powell, the latter then but fourteen years of age, and there remained all night. The next day he was removed to the residence of Morgan Price, where he died the following day.

Hardly had the smoke from the murderer’s pistol mingled with the clear air of that star-lit winter evening, when the assassins were discovered rapidly making their way from the scene of their savage deed toward the top of Plant No. 1.

They were met by the Reverend Allan John Morton and Lewis Richards, who were hurrying to the spot to learn what had caused the firing.

Mr. Morton asked, as they halted on the rigging-stand, what was the trouble, when one of the three strangers answered: “I guess a man has been shot!”

Descriptions of the three men were remembered by the Reverend Morgan and Mr. Richards, and the trio started forward in the direction in which Mr. Powell had pointed when asked which way the attacking party had gone.

“I'm shot to death! My lower limbs have no feeling in them!” exclaimed Mr. Powell, when Williamson first raised his head.

No one could tell who shot him. The three suspects were strangers.

Patrick Kildea, who was thought to resemble one of them, was arrested and tried, but finally acquitted, from lack of evidence to convict. This, for the time, was the end of the matter.

When McParlan, disguised as James McKenna, was working on the case of the murder of B. F. Yost, of Tamaqua, in 1875, he learned first-handed from John Donahue, alias “Yellow Jack,” that he was the murderer of Morgan Powell.

Donahue related the circumstances to his “friend” and named his two confederates. He bragged of the affair as being a clean job.

He said the escape was easy, as they did not go ten yards from the spot where Powell dropped, until the excitement cooled down, when, in the darkness, they quietly departed from the bushes, and reached their homes in safety.

The detective made mental notes of this disclosure, and his report subsequently transmitted to his superiors was the first light upon this crime, which had, for four years baffled the best efforts of the officers of justice.

The time was not ripe to press Donahue for more details, but as the detective was supposed to have recently assisted in a murder, Donahue talked freely with him about others who were soon to be victims of the Mollies.

In the fall of 1876, when the arrests of the Mollies were made, John Donahue, Thomas P. Fisher, Patrick McKenna, Alexander Campbell, Patrick O'Donnell, and John Malloy were taken in Carbon County, charged with the murder of Morgan Powell, at Summit Hill, December 2, 1871.

The defendants were tried at different terms of the Carbon County Court, at Mauch Chunk. James McParlan, the detective, now in his true character, frequently appeared as a witness and testified to the confessions of the Mollies.

They were found guilty as follows: Donahue of murder in the first degree, Fisher of murder in the first degree, McKenna of murder in the first degree, and O'Donnell as an accessory. McKenna served nine years and O'Donnell five years’ imprisonment.

Thus was the death of Morgan Powell avenged.

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General Anthony Wayne Defeats Indians; Congress Ratifies Treaty, December 3, 1795

Congress ratified the treaty made at Greenville by General Anthony Wayne, December 3, 1795. This is one of the few such treaties the provisions of which were respected.

Anthony Wayne was a member of the convention which met in Philadelphia and adopted a paper, drawn by John Dickinson, which recommended the Assembly to appoint delegates to a Congress of the Colonies. He was one of four members of that committee who became distinguished generals in the Revolution. His father had been an officer in the French and Indian War and Anthony studied surveying, but his attention was more centered on things military.

At the age of twenty he managed an expedition sent to Nova Scotia in the interest of Great Britain. On the very day that the battle of Lexington was fought he was made a member of the Pennsylvania Committee of Safety.

He was made a colonel of one of the first regiments raised by Pennsylvania and soon was engaged in the perilous Canadian campaign.

Wayne then was given command of Fort Ticonderoga, which Ethan Allen had captured “in the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress.” During this tour of duty he was made a brigadier general and begged General Washington for more active service.

He was called to general headquarters at Morristown and given command of eight Pennsylvania regiments. These he taught to fight.

General Wayne fought bravely at Brandywine, and after Howe captured Philadelphia Washington posted him to watch the British and annoy them while the main army was being put in better condition to meet the enemy.

Through the betrayal of his position by a Tory, Wayne’s command was surprised at Paoli, when more than sixty of his soldiers were stabbed to death by the British bayonets. It was due to no fault of General Wayne and he managed to march away most of his men in good order.

Two weeks later the Battle of Germantown was fought and Wayne’s troops had a chance to make a bayonet attack upon the same soldiers who had rushed into their camp at Paoli. “They took ample vengeance for that night’s work,” said Wayne. He was delighted to see his Pennsylvanians beat the British at their own style of fighting.

Wayne’s troops suffered through the long winter following at Valley Forge, and none worked harder to relieve their distress than did the popular general.

Washington dispatched Wayne on a foraging expedition through New Jersey for much-needed supplies, and in spite of several skirmishes with British troops on the same mission Wayne brought back the supplies.

When Howe evacuated Philadelphia and Washington followed him across New Jersey, it was Wayne who encouraged Washington to fight the enemy. The Battle of Monmouth resulted, and it was Wayne’s line which held back the British until Washington could move up the rest of his army.

In Washington’s report to Congress about this battle he mentioned only one general by name, General Anthony Wayne.

Wayne’s most daring exploit was the capture of Stony Point, on the Hudson. This was accomplished by 1300 men in a bayonet attack at night. Wayne was wounded and afterward was spoken of by envious officers as “Mad Anthony.”

He performed conspicuous service at Yorktown, and was afterward sent to Georgia, where he fought Indians as well as British. The State of Georgia gave Wayne a rice plantation in token of gratitude.

After Washington resigned the active command of the army, General Josiah Harmar, one of a family living along the Perkiomen, succeeded him. Harmar led an expedition against the Miami Indians in the Northwest in 1790, but was defeated.

General Arthur St. Clair, who had been a major general of the Pennsylvania Line and President of the Continental Congress, succeeded Harmar. St. Clair at the time was also Governor of the Northwestern Territory. He, too, suffered a humiliating defeat in a serious engagement November 4, 1791, by the Miami, led by their chiefs and aided by Simon Girty, the notorious Tory and renegade, another Pennsylvanian.

After his reverse Washington appointed Anthony Wayne a major general and put him in command of the Army of the United States. The Indians were aided by the British.

Within seven years they had killed 1500 people, and their object was to prevent the settlements beyond the Ohio River.

General Wayne organized an army of 2631 men at Pittsburgh. A large proportion of the soldiers were Pennsylvanians.

The war lasted more than two years. Wayne moved his army down the Ohio, thence to the site of Cincinnati, to the Miami River, 400 miles into the wilderness.

On August 20, 1794, at the Fallen Timbers he encountered a force of 2000 Indians and won the most important victory ever secured over the Indian foes. Almost all the dead warriors were found with British arms.

Wayne laid waste their country and by the middle of September moved up to the junction of the St. Mary’s and St. Joseph’s Rivers, near the present City of Fort Wayne, Ind., and built a strong fortification, which he named Fort Wayne. The little army wintered at Greenville, O. The barbarians realized their weakness and sued for peace.

Wayne returned to Philadelphia to report his operations. As he approached the city the cavalry troops met him as a guard of honor. When he crossed the ferry over the Schuylkill a salute of fifteen guns was fired, and the bells of the city pealed their acclaim. The people crowded the sidewalks to catch a glimpse of the victorious general. Congress voted him its thanks.

The following summer 1130 sachems and warriors, representing twelve tribes or nations, met at Greenville on August 3 and concluded a treaty the basis of which was that hostilities should permanently cease and all prisoners be restored. The boundary line between the United States and the lands of the several tribes was fixed. It made possible the settlement of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and the West.

When this treaty was successfully concluded Wayne embarked in a schooner at Detroit for his home in Chester County. He was taken ill with his old complaint, the gout, and landed at Presqu’ Isle in great physical distress. Before an army surgeon could reach him he died in the Block-House there, December 15, 1796.

Bury me at the foot of the flagstaff, boys,” he ordered, and his command was obeyed. Thirteen years later his son, Colonel Isaac Wayne, removed his remains to Radnor churchyard, in Delaware County, over which the Pennsylvania State Society of Cincinnati erected an elegant white marble monument.

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Anti-Masonic Period Terminates in Trouble on December 4, 1838

In the campaign of 1838 Governor Joseph Ritner was renominated by the Fusionist Whig-Anti-Masonic-Abolitionist Party for the office of Governor, and David R. Porter, of Huntingdon, was the nominee of the Democratic organization for the same office.

The campaign was one of vituperation and personal abuse of the candidates unparalleled in the history of politics.

When the news of the election became known it showed that Porter had been elected by a majority of 5540 votes.

Immediately thereafter Secretary of the Commonwealth Thomas H. Burrowes, who was also chairman of the Anti-Masonic State Committee, issued a circular to the “Friends of Governor Ritner,” calling upon them to “treat the election held on October 9 as if it had never taken place.” This circular had the desired effect and the defeated Anti-Masonic and weak candidates for the Legislature contested the seats of their successful Democratic competitors on the slightest pretext.

Thaddeus Stevens said at a public meeting in the Courthouse at Gettysburg that “the Anti-Masons would organize the House, and if Governor Porter were declared elected the Legislature would elect Canal Commissioners for three years and then adjourn before date fixed by the new Constitution for the inauguration, and that Porter would never be Governor.”

As the time approached for the meeting of the Legislature on December 4, trouble was anticipated and “Committees on Safety” were appointed in nearly all of the counties, while many persons, especially from the districts in which contests were expected, flocked to Harrisburg to witness the result of the struggle.

It may not be generally known, but there had been a secret meeting composed of Burrowes, Stevens and Fenn, none of whom was born in Pennsylvania, at which were suggested some strong revolutionary measures.

After the excitement was over the Legislature settled down to business, and Governor Porter having been inaugurated, it was seriously considered whether these men should not be tried for treason.

The House then consisted of 100 members, eight of whom were from Philadelphia, whose seats were contested, and of the remaining number forty-eight were Democrats and forty-four anti-Masonic Whigs. The majority of the Senate belonged to the latter party, and consequently promptly organized by the election of Charles B. Penrose as Speaker.

In the House the clerk read the names of the members as given him by the Secretary of the Commonwealth.

Upon reading the returns from Philadelphia County it was discovered that the legal returns had been withheld and fraudulent ones substituted. This had been anticipated, as the Secretary of the Commonwealth had determined to seat the minority members, thus compelling the majority to be contestants and to witness the organization of the House. The Democrats produced and read the true returns, as duly certified by the Prothonotary of Philadelphia. This seated both sets of contesting delegates and caused the wildest excitement.

At this moment Thaddeus Stevens moved that the House proceed to the election of the Speaker. The clerk then called the roll of the Whig and Anti-Masonic members and declared Thomas S. Cunningham, of Beaver County, elected. He was conducted to the Speaker’s chair and took his seat.

The Democrats paid very little attention to the movements of the opposition and elected William Hopkins, of Washington County, Speaker. Two members escorted Mr. Hopkins to the platform, where Mr. Cunningham had already been seated.

The Pennsylvania House of Representatives thus enjoyed a double-headed organization. The members of the House of each party were then sworn in by their respective officers—fifty-two members who had elected Mr. Cunningham and fifty-six members who elected Mr. Hopkins.

After some necessary routine the Governor and the Senate were informed the House was ready to proceed to business; then both bodies adjourned their respective organizations to meet next day at 10 o’clock.

The Cunningham party did not wait until its appointed time. In the afternoon they met again in the hall, and after being called to order by their Speaker, he called Mr. Spackman, of Philadelphia, to act as Speaker pro tem. Some Philadelphians who were in the lobby as spectators, feeling indignant at the proceedings of the Cunningham party, went up to the platform and carried Spackman off and sat him down in the aisle.

This interference from outsiders could not be resented by the rump House and it immediately adjourned amid great confusion. They afterwards met in Matthew Wilson’s Hall, until recently known as the Lochiel Hotel. During these exciting scenes large crowds gathered outside the Capitol and became boisterous. The aspect of affairs appeared alarming.

While the foregoing incidents were transpiring in the House, there were contests for seats in the Senate from several districts. Upon the floor were members of the House, among them Thaddeus Stevens and Secretary of the Commonwealth Burrowes, of Lancaster, who had gone there with minority returns. These two individuals, who controlled the Executive, were of the opinion that the first returns received were to have precedence.

A large crowd in the rear of the Senate Chamber was composed of excited and enraged citizens, especially toward those who were working to seat Hanna and Wagner, of Philadelphia, in place of those legally entitled to the seats. Threats of violence were heard.

The clerk had opened and read the returns, as far as Philadelphia. When those were reached, Charles Brown, who had been elected on the majority return, arose and presented to the Speaker what he said was a copy of the true return, alleging the other false. The Speaker attempted to stop him, but the crowd insisted that Brown be heard. Brown was allowed to proceed, and during his remarks the crowds in the lobby and gallery shouted, threatening violence to Penrose, Burrowes and Stevens.

The scene was now one of fearful confusion, disorder and terror, and at last Speaker Penrose, unable to stem the current any longer, abandoned his post, and with Stevens and Burrowes escaped through a window in the rear of the Senate Chamber. The Senate adjourned until next day.

On the night of the first day of the session a large public meeting was held in the Courthouse over which General Thomas Craig Miller, of Adams County, presided.

The Governor then issued a proclamation which stated that “a lawless, infuriated, armed mob, from the counties of Philadelphia, Lancaster, Adams and other places, have assembled at the seat of government with the avowed object of disturbing, interrupting and overawing the Legislature of this Commonwealth and of preventing its proper organization and the peaceful and free discharge of its duties. This mob had entered the Senate Chamber and threatened the lives of the members and it still remained in the city in force, etc.”

The Governor called upon the civil authorities, the military force of the Commonwealth and the citizens to hold themselves in readiness for instant duty.

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Troops Called Out in “Buck Shot War” on December 5, 1838

Amid all the excitement of the first day of the “Buckshot” War, December 4, 1837, at the moment Governor Joseph Ritner had issued his proclamation calling upon the people to disperse the lawless element and to add further excitement, the State Arsenal was seized by friends of the Governor, where large quantities of powder and cartridges were stored. The proclamation and call for troops and the seizure of the arsenal filled the city of Harrisburg with intense alarm.