Kehoe was now the self-crowned king of the Mollies in Schuylkill. They moved promptly, like so many puppets, at his will, and when he commanded a halt the mysterious clan paused in its deadly work. Would he order a cessation of hostilities? Or must the word be “Forward—march”? Nobody could tell! That the General intended tough work was apparent from the activity he had inaugurated among the Bodymasters, and they were the men who acted as the Lieutenants and leaders of corps for the Commander-in-chief. At this time one Pat Hester, who had for two months past been in custody, on a criminal charge, was released and went directly to his home, not far from Summit Hill. He was a bad and violent man, and formerly of high standing in the order. More will be heard of him hereafter. Immediately following the ball at Pottsville, January 20th, in which nearly three hundred Mollies and their ladies participated, and a very brief visit to New Philadelphia and Silver Creek, the operative returned to Shenandoah. On the twenty-fifth, the country was visited by a snow-storm of unusual severity. The same day McKenna learned from a friend that Pat Dormer had met his wife at a neighbor’s, and they engaged in an animated conversation that ended in Pat giving the lady a cruel beating, for which little act of indiscretion he was still suffering in Pottsville jail, where he would have to remain for three months. At the end of January the detective had another attack of his old complaint, chills and fever, and for some days was ordered by the physicians to remain indoors.