This made the third or fourth person that had been killed during the time of the operative’s residence in the vicinity of Shenandoah—and all before he had become a member of the organization of Mollie Maguires. I make mention of this, in the present connection, from the reason that enemies have undertaken to instruct the public that until my detective was sent to and appeared in the coal region, and was duly constituted a member of the order of Mollies, the murderous society lay comparatively dormant. This endeavour to have it seem that McKenna fomented discord and caused crimes to be perpetrated which led to the arrest and punishment of his companions and intimates, is so absurd, that only those who desire to do so, put any faith in it, and for such persons and their wretched opinions I have supreme contempt. McKenna was constantly instructed to avoid prompting outrages. He obeyed his orders faithfully. The truth is, he entered the stronghold of a gang of assassins, and, despite his presence, they succeeded in doing a few murders. He could not stop them. Before closing, I shall show some of the troubles that he did succeed in preventing. Dating from 1868, and from that year down to 1873, murder and other violence ran riot in the coal districts. Since the authorities have been able, through our exertions, to punish assassins and conspirators, there has been a noticeable decrease in acts to be punished. When the Mollies’ ever-convenient _alibi_ was shattered and scattered to the wind, they had nothing left to fall back upon, and there was no chance for them. They were forced to flee the country, or remain and behave like good and orderly citizens. When McAndrew heard of the last act of blood—the shooting of Dougherty—(this was not the man of the same name—who was no Mollie—causing so much trouble at Tamaqua, as related in another and preceding chapter)—he was very indignant, and passionately exclaimed that “if such things continued, there would soon be regular war in Schuylkill county!” These words must have reached the ears of some of the Chain Gang—or those who were not Mollies—as, only a few days subsequently, a message was received by Muff Lawler that a portion of the Modocs (Germans) and Sheet Irons had made common cause against McAndrew, Monaghan, Garritty, Ferguson, Lawler, and several others, all of whom would meet the fate of Dougherty if they did not cease their cruel work, or depart from that portion of the State. When Monaghan heard about this, he said: “Some fire will fly and some blood be spilled before _I_ get out of this neighborhood!” He evidently did not intend to be frightened away with merely hard words.