This illustration appeared in Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper in September 1875. It shows two law enforcement officers arresting a mineworker near Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania with a crowd howling its disapproval at the two armed officers.

The scene, among several others printed in that edition about the Coal Region, was used to show the “howling pandemonium” that took place during the first payday among mineworkers after the end of the Long Strike of 1875.

The summer of 1875 also marked the beginning of the second wave of Molly Maguire violence that would plague the region following the destruction of the miners’ union – the Workingmen’s Benevolent Association – at the hands of the region’s railroad and mining companies.

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Read more about the turbulent 1870s in the Coal Region

Threatening letter from a “Molly Maguire” to the editor of the Shenandoah Herald | 1875

A coffin notice from Scranton, Pennsylvania | 1871

“The Last Loaf” – Pennsylvania’s Coal Region | Winter 1875

A tribute to a Coal Region labor leader | John Siney

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