# speechless



## privvydigger (May 8, 2008)

This is what bottle collecting to me is
 no story
 no words
 just look!
 enjoy
 privvydigger


----------



## RICKJJ59W (May 8, 2008)

Nice ...
  Is it a rare one? never seen it.
   Tell me the story on it [8D]


----------



## cobaltbot (May 8, 2008)

Nice!
 A
 miner
 probably
 drank
 that!


----------



## privvydigger (May 8, 2008)

Alex Campbell was a Molly Maguire!  He was arrested on charges of an accomplice before the fact.  Convicted of conspiracy in supplying the gun to Mickey Doyle who killed the boss of the Lansford mine J.P. Jones.  On Nov 21 1877 On the way to the gallows he placed his hand on the wall of cell block 17 and stated "this mark will remain as a sign of my innocence.  Thats the old Mauch Chunk(Jim Thorpe) Jail. It is still there to this day.  
 I believe he was eventually pardoned by the Govner but after you swing from a rope its a little to late. I aquired it through a trade and is what I call the bottle to have if your a Panther Valley Collector.  
 thx
 enjoy
 privvydigger


----------



## Jim (May 8, 2008)

That is a great bottle with an interesting history. Thanks for sharing the pics and the story. ~Jim


----------



## glass man (May 8, 2008)

I don't know if you meant the jail is still there today or the handprint is still there . As I saw on a show about the incident in which the hand print is still very visible!


----------



## privvydigger (May 9, 2008)

some more stuff
 On June 21, 1877, six men were hanged in the prison at Pottsville, in Schuylkill County, and four were hanged at Mauch Chunk, in Carbon County. A scaffold had been erected in the Carbon County prison. State militia with fixed bayonets surrounded the prisons and the scaffolds. Miners arrived with their wives and children from the surrounding areas, walking through the night to honor the accused, and by nine o'clock "the crowd in Pottsville stretched as far as one could see." The families were silent, which was "the people's way of paying tribute" to those about to die. Tom Munley's aged father had walked more than ten miles (16 km) from Gilberton to assure his son that he believed in his innocence. Munley's wife had arrived a few minutes after they closed the gate, and they refused to open it even for close relatives to say their final good-byes. She screamed at the gate with grief, throwing herself against it until she collapsed, but she was not allowed to pass.
 Four members of the Molly Maguires, Alexander Campbell, John "Yellow Jack" Donohue, Michael Doyle and Edward Kelly, were hanged on June 21, 1877 at a Carbon County, Pennsylvania prison in Mauch Chunk (renamed Jim Thorpe in 1953), for the murder of mine bosses John P. Jones and Morgan Powell, following a trial that was later described by a Carbon County judge, John P. Lavelle, as follows:
 [blockquote]
 The Molly Maguire trials were a surrender of state sovereignty. A private corporation initiated the investigation through a private detective agency. A private police force arrested the alleged defenders, and private attorneys for the coal companies prosecuted them. The state provided only the courtroom and the gallows.[/blockquote]
 Michael J. Doyle and Hugh McGeehan were led to the scaffold. They were followed by Thomas Munley, James Carroll, James Roarity, James Boyle, Thomas Duffy, Edward J. Kelly, Alexander Campbell, John Donahue, .
 Ten more of the condemned men, Thomas P. Fisher, John Kehoe, Patrick Hester, Peter McHugh, Patrick Tully, Peter McManus, Dennis Donnelly, Martin Bergan, James McDonald and Charles Sharpe, were hanged at Mauch Chunk, Pottsville, Bloomsburg and Sunbury over the next two years.


----------



## privvydigger (May 9, 2008)

more on Campbell
*The Old Jail*
*The Handprint
*Like a cry for justice from beyond the grave, the mysterious handprint of a man wrongly hanged over a 100 years ago remains on the wall of his cell - even though the original wall was replaced!
Alexander Campbell was convicted of being an accessory to murder in 1877, but proclaimed his innocence to the bitter end.
 As he was led out of his jail cell for the final time, he slapped a grimy handprint on the wall and declared it would remain there forever as a reminder of the injustice that took his life.
 Over the years, superstitious sheriffs in Carbon County, PA have painted over the ominous wall and even knocked it down.  But the cursed handprint ALWAYS reappeared.
"There's no logical explanation for it," says James Starrs, a forensic scientist from George Washington University who's investigating the bizarre mark.   "It looks like a child's handprint on a white wall."
For more than a century, Campbell's print has baffled sheriff's and prisoners.   Eventually, it attracted curiosity seekers from all over the country.  They're fascinated by the eerie image, which authorities have been trying to wipe out.
"In 1930, a sheriff named Biegler wanted to put an end to the legend," says Starrs.  "He had the county road gang tear down the wall an put in a new one.   Biegler had went to sleep, certain that he had forever removed the so called miracle.  But when he woke up the next day, he was shocked to see the handprint had reappeared!"
Thirty years later, Sheriff Charles Neast tried to cover over it with green latex paint.  "But it soon became clearly visible." says Neast.
Recently Starrs and Jeff Kercheval, a police chemist from Hagerstown, MD analyzed the strange mark using infrared photography and other high-tech equipment.
"We did everything short of painting over the print or literally taking it off the wall." explains Starrs.  "We measured the handprint and its precise location on the wall, so if it's ever painted over and reappears, we'll know if it appeared in the same location or a different one."
The jail is set to close, but there are no plans for a last ditch effort to get rid of the handprint. 
"We don't plan to touch the wall before we leave," says the current warden Bill Juracka.
Whatever the owners want to do with it after that is up to them."
 But those who know the full story behind the supernatural mark believe the grave reminder will endure for years to come.
 Campbell was falsely accused of killing a local mine boss during a bid by the Irish miners to organize labor unions.
"Campbell was a hotel owner and a liquor distributor, so he was viewed as an Irishman who made good." says Starrs.  "Prosecutors felt he was the backbone of the murder plot."
 The businessman vehemently maintained his innocence throughout his trial.  And before being led from his jail cell to his horrible fate, he left his lasting impression.   Says Starrs: "When the sheriff came to get him, Campbell declared 'I am innocent, I was nowhere near the scene of the crime.'
"Then he reached up and rubbed the wall with his hand and said: '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.' "


----------

