Crime and Punishment
The Molly Maguires were generally seen, outside their circle of supporters, as murderers, terrorists, and foreign agitators. In 1877, along with three other men (Michael Doyle, John Donahue and Edward Kelly), Campbell was convicted of the murders of John P. Jones and Morgan Powell, but he admitted to only being an accessory. Evidence collected was presented by a single detective from the Pinkerton Agency.
The convicts were taken to Carbon County Jail, and Campbell was assigned to cell #17. For days they were forced to listen to the noise made whilst the gallows were being built, outside in the courtyard. On the morning of execution, the courtyard was packed with people. The convicts kept their dignity, but when the guards went to fetch Campbell, he tried one last time to proclaim his innocence. When they refused to let him go, he put his hand in the dirt, and marked the wall with it, stating the mark would remain forever as a sign of his innocence. All four men were then hanged.
Read more about this topic: Alexander Campbell (businessman)
Famous quotes containing the words crime and/or punishment:
“There is a blessed necessity by which the interest of men is always driving them to the right; and, again, making all crime mean and ugly.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“My object all sublime I shall achieve in time—
To let the punishment fit the crime— The punishment fit the crime; And make each prisoner pent Unwillingly represent
A source of innocent merriment! Of innocent merriment!”
—Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (1836–1911)