If you stand in the dark with your ear to the wind...
On June 21, 1877, four men, Alexander Campbell, John Donohue, Michael Doyle, and Edward Kelly, were hung in the Carbon County Jail.
On his way to the gallows, Alexander Campbell, a bodymaster or recruiter for the Molly Maguires, said, "I am innocent, I was nowhere near the scene of the crime." Then he slapped his hand against the wall of his cell, and continued, "There is proof of my words. That mark of mine will never be wiped out. It will remain forever to shame the county for hanging an innocent man."
Through the years, this mark has been scrubbed and painted over. In 1930, the sheriff had the wall bearing the handprint destroyed and rebuilt. The handprint re-appeared in the same spot. It has been reported that a forensic scientist, James Starrs, and a police chemist, Jeff Kercheval, analyzed the handprint. They concluded that they had no scientific explanation for why the handprint remains.
When the wind blows wild at night past the breaker melancholy
If you stand in the dark with your ears to the wind you can hear the sons of Molly.
Deep in the dark of the old mine shaft you can smell the smoke and the fire
And the whisper low from the mine below is the ghost of Molly Maguire.
I'll tell ya boys Mickey Doyle is my name and I come from Carbon County
And I shot the boss of the Lansford mine now my soul is up for bounty
But I will die with my head held high for I fought for the men below
Those men who slave and sweat and die down in a black hell hole.
So I'll tell ya boys Edward Kelly is my name and I'm hanging in the morning
For I shot Jack Jones for skinning my bones now I curse the sound of mourning
And I will die with my head held high for I fought for the men below
Those men who slave and sweat and die down in a black hell hole
So I'll tell ya boys Alex Campbell is my name and no pistol did I fire
But I will fall from the gallows wall just for being a Molly Maguire
And I will die with my held high for I fought for the men below
Those men who slave and sweat and die down in a black hell hole.