The matter then most canvassed by the Mollies was a conference, held on the twenty-seventh of the month at Scranton, between Bishop O’Hara and five clergymen on one side, and a delegation of twenty-five Bodymasters from all parts of the country, on the other, to discuss certain changes in the constitution and by-laws, as well as in the secret work of the order. Mr. County Delegate Kirk, and Peter Duffy, of Hazelton, represented Luzerne County. The proceedings of the convention were harmonious, but no conclusion was arrived at, excepting in hearing the Bishop’s _ultimatum_. The clergy insisted that there must be a thorough revision of the rules regulating divisions; that they should cease holding meetings in bar-rooms, and consent to have a priest for spiritual adviser, before the Church could recognize or affiliate with them. The sentence, “If I hear a brother illy spoken of I will inform him of it,” was also to be expunged from the obligation. They did not seem to interfere with the secrecy, and the signs and pass-words, and little was said about the murderous acts which had been done by the Mollies. It was, after much argument, left in about the same condition as before. No mere county convention could abrogate work done by the National Board, or the Board of Erin. Indeed it was doubtful if the Mollies would ever consent to any changes, Church or no Church, and whether Bishop O’Hara would not, after all, have to follow the example of Bishop Wood, and proceed to deal in anathemas and excommunications. Remaining in Luzerne until the fifth of June of the same year, McKenna then received orders from Superintendent Franklin—under whose immediate supervision, guided by Mr. Bangs and myself, he had all the time been acting—to report at once in Philadelphia, and he immediately obeyed. It should have been mentioned, in its proper connection, that, while waiting at the Shenandoah depot for the arrival of the train to Wilkesbarre, on the fourteenth of May, Tom Hurley had cautiously dropped something heavy into McKenna’s outside coat pocket, whispering at the same time: “Jim, don’t you say I never made you a gift of anything! You’ll have a hard set to deal wid, over in Luzerne, they’re tellin’ me, an’ my billy’ll come mighty convanient to have at hand for your defense!”