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The Molly Maguires was an Irish 19th century secret society active in Ireland, Liverpool and parts of the eastern United States, best known for their activism amongst Irish American coal miners in Pennsylvania. After a series of often violent conflicts, twenty suspected members of the Molly Maguires were convicted of murder and other crimes and were executed by hanging in 1877 and 1878. This history remains part of local Pennsylvania lore. ==In Ireland== The Molly Maguires originated in Ireland, where secret societies with names such as Whiteboys and Peep o' Day Boys were common beginning in the 18th century and through most of the 19th century.〔Kenny, pp. 10, 14-17, 23, 80.〕 In some areas the terms ''Ribbonmen'' and ''Molly Maguires'' were both used for similar activism but at different times. The main distinction between the two appears to be that the Ribbonmen were regarded as "secular, cosmopolitan, and protonationalist", with the Molly Maguires considered "rural, local, and Gaelic".〔Kenny, pp 16-18.〕 Agrarian rebellion in Ireland can be traced to local concerns and grievances relating to land usage, particularly as traditional socioeconomic practices such as small-scale potato cultivation were supplanted by the fencing and pasturing of land (also known as enclosure). Agrarian resistance often took the form of fence destruction, night-time plowing of croplands that had been converted to pasture, and killing, mutilating, or driving off livestock. In areas where the land had long been dedicated to small-scale, growing-season leases of farmland, called conacre, opposition was conceived as "retributive justice" that was intended "to correct transgressions against traditional moral and social codes".〔Kenny, pp. 18-21.〕〔Kenny, pp. 31-39.〕 The victims of agrarian violence were frequently Irish land agents, middlemen, and tenants. Merchants and millers were often threatened or attacked if their prices were high. Landlords' agents were threatened, beaten, and assassinated. New tenants on lands secured by evictions also became targets.〔 Local leaders were reported to have sometimes dressed as women, i.e., as mothers begging for food for their children. The leader might approach a storekeeper and demand a donation of flour or groceries. If the storekeeper failed to provide, the Mollies would enter the store and take what they wanted, warning the owner of dire consequences if the incident was reported.〔Kenny, pp. 20-21.〕 While the Whiteboys were known to wear white linen frocks over their clothing, the Mollies blackened their faces with burnt cork. There are similarities — particularly in face-blackening and in the donning of women's garments — with the practice of mummery, in which festive days were celebrated by mummers who traveled from door to door demanding food, money, or drink as payment for performing. The ''Threshers'', the ''Peep o' Day Boys'', the ''Lady Rocks'' (deriving from Captain Rock and the Rockite movement), and the ''Lady Clares'' also sometimes disguised themselves as women.〔Kenny, pp. 22-23.〕 Similar imagery was used during the Rebecca Riots in Wales.〔(National Archives UK )〕 British and Irish newspapers reported about the Mollies in Ireland in the nineteenth century. Thomas Campbell Foster in The Times on 25 August 1845 traced the commencement of "Molly Maguireism" to Lord Lorton ejecting tenants in Ballinamuck, County Longford in 1835.〔(Politics ie 1 )〕 An "Address of 'Molly Maguire' to her children" containing twelve rules was published in Freeman's Journal on July 7, 1845. The person making the address claimed to be "Molly Maguire" of "Maguire's Grove, Parish of Cloone", in County Leitrim. The rules advised Mollies about how they should conduct themselves in land disputes and were an attempt to direct the movement's activities:- 1-Keep strictly to the land question, by allowing no landlord more than fair value for his tenure. 2-No Rent to be paid until Harvest. 3-Not even then without an abatement, where the land is too high. 4-No underminding of Tenants, nor bailiff's Fees to be Paid. 5-No turning out of Tenants, unless Two Years Rent due before Ejectment served. 6-Assist to the utmost of your power the Good Landlord, in getting his Rents. 7-Cherish and Respect the Good Landlord, and Good Agent. 8-Keep from travelling by night. 9-Take no arms by day, or by night, from any man, as from such acts a deal of misfortune springs, having, I trust you have, more Arms than you ever will have need for. 10-Avoid coming in contact with either the Military, or Police, they are only doing what they cannot help. 11-For my sake, then, no distinction to any man, on account of his religion, his acts alone you are to look to. 12-Let bygones be bygones, unless in a very glaring case; but watch for the time to come.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Molly Maguires」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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