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Franklin B. Gowen

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      Franklin Benjamin Gowen
   Born February 9, 1836
        Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
   Died December 13, 1889
        Washington, DC

   Franklin Benjamin Gowen ( February 9, 1836 – December 13, 1889) served
   as president of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad (also known by
   the abbreviated name, the Reading Railroad) in the 1870s. During his
   tenure, he was the special prosecutor in the trial to break up the
   Molly Maguires, a secret organization of Irish Catholic mine workers
   known for their acts of violence against the mine owners; the
   controversial trial resulted in the executions of nearly 20 members of
   the organization and the organization's official dissolution.

   He was born in Philadelphia, the fifth son of Irish Protestant
   immigrant and successful grocer, James Gowen. Franklin Gowen studied
   law and was elected District Attorney for Schuylkill County in 1862. In
   the 1870s, as president of the Reading Railroad, he became the
   wealthiest anthracite coal mine owner in the world. Throughout his time
   with the railroad and afterward, he continued practicing law and trying
   cases. Gowen died of a gunshot wound on December 13, 1889, at Wormley's
   Hotel in Washington, DC, but there is still a question as to whether
   his death was suicide or the result of a revenge killing by former
   members of the Molly Maguires.

Family, education and early law practice

   James Gowen, described as a "hot-tempered, domineering, old Irishman",
   had emigrated from Ireland in 1811, and by 1834, was listed as a "wine
   merchant" following the purchase of 500 S. 5th Street in Philadelphia
   for US$3,000; the property, which would become the Gowen household and
   store, consisted of a brick building with retail space on the ground
   floor and living quarters above it. He kept the property until 1846
   when he sold it to an innkeeper named Peter Woods.

   Franklin Gowen was among nine children born to the marriage of James
   Gowen and Mary Miller. He attended John Beck's Boys Academy, studied
   law, and in 1862 was elected District Attorney for Schuylkill County.

   Many of the cases that he saw during his tenure at this office could
   not be fully prosecuted for one reason or another; no matter how hard
   he tried, his suspects would always come up with alibis. Whether he
   knew it or not at the time, many of the accused were members of the
   Molly Maguires, an association of Irish immigrants known for violence
   against its members' employers. The Maguires members would always
   supply each other with strong enough alibis to keep them out of prison.
   Gowen needed more manpower and money to properly prosecute these cases.

The Reading Railroad and the Molly Maguires

Gowen rises to the presidency

   Gowen joined the Reading in 1864 as chief counsel for the railroad,
   having gained the trust of the railroad's current president Charles E.
   Smith. He was responsible for a court victory over the Pennsylvania
   Railroad. The Reading's directors were impressed, so that when the
   railroad's president fell ill they appointed Gowen president of the
   railroad in 1866. Within two years, he had orchestrated a coup that
   would keep him in the president's seat for almost the next fifteen
   years. Smith officially resigned from the presidency on April 28, 1869,
   opening the position for Gowen to assume. Smith harbored resentment
   over Gowen for many years to come.

Investigating the unions

   James McParland who infiltrated the WBA and the Molly Maguires for
   Pinkerton.
   Enlarge
   James McParland who infiltrated the WBA and the Molly Maguires for
   Pinkerton.

   As president of the railroad, Gowen had the means to properly
   investigate the criminal element that he had seen so often before he
   joined the railroad; in 1873 he paid US$100,000 to the Pinkerton
   Detective Agency in an effort to break up the Workingmen's Benevolent
   Association (WBA) labor union. Pinkerton's agents discovered that the
   WBA was intimately associated with the Molly Maguires. The Maguires
   influence was such that if a mine superintendent did not follow the
   suggestions of the local "body-master" (the local Maguires
   superintendent), then that mine superintendent could count on a rather
   sudden end for himself.

   Although the Maguires were an organization for Irish immigrants, they
   were predominantly a Catholic organization while Gowen was Protestant.
   While the investigation was proceeding, Gowen and the Reading Railroad
   were secretly buying up as many anthracite mines as they could get
   their hands on. By the end of the 1870s, Gowen's mine holdings covered
   about 125,000 acres (506 km²), the largest holdings in the world.

   In 1875 Gowen, armed with evidence of the Maguires involvement, and
   other mine owners all reduced mine wages by 10 to 20%. As they had
   expected, the mine workers waged a strike that turned violent. Ten
   people, primarily mine superintendents, died in scuffles in Reading,
   Pennsylvania, which gave Gowen the physical evidence he needed to bring
   the case to trial.

The trial and sentencing of the Molly Maguires

   The effort to break up the union culminated in a controversial trial
   that began on January 18, 1876, in which Gowen was the special
   prosecutor. James McParland, a Pinkerton spy who had successfully
   infiltrated the Maguires under the alias James McKenna was the
   prosecution's main witness. Irish Catholics were excluded from the
   jury, but German immigrants who didn't speak English were allowed on
   the jury. When the trial ended, nearly 20 men were found guilty of
   murder during the strike and were executed. The last of the executions
   took place on June 21, 1877, at the Carbon County Prison in Mauch Chunk
   (later renamed Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania), as four members of the
   Maguires were hanged.

   The Carbon County Prison was closed in 1995 and reopened on June 21,
   1997, as The Old Jail Museum. One mysterious artifact of the executions
   remains — a handprint on the wall of the execution chamber left by one
   of the convicted men. As he was led to his execution he made the
   handprint and stated that it would remain forever on the wall to prove
   his innocence; even after thorough cleaning, painting, cementing and
   building a new wall, the handprint still remains intact.

Life after the railroad

   Gowen left the Reading in 1883 and returned to his law practice.
   Shortly before his death, many of Gowen's friends and associates
   noticed a change in his overall mood. They remarked upon his more
   somber demeanor and noted that for a trip home to Philadelphia, he had
   boarded the wrong train. Gowen wrote to his insurance agent on December
   9, 1889, to ask if he could cash in his $90,000 life insurance policy.
   Three days later, after he had arrived in Washington, DC, to argue a
   case before the Interstate Commerce Commission, Gowen purchased a
   revolver at a hardware store on Pennsylvania Avenue.

   Franklin Gowen died of a gunshot wound on Friday, December 13, 1889, at
   Wormly's Hotel in Washington, DC. Some have speculated that his death
   was the result of action by the Molly Maguires, while others have said
   that he committed suicide as a result of the guilt he felt for framing
   union members. The coroner ruled the death a suicide, but like other
   famous deaths, questions remain and are still debated to this day.

   Charles Smith, Gowen's predecessor at the railroad who had been ousted
   in a coup led by Gowen, had his comeuppance as he survived Gowen for
   another eleven years.
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