WHEREAS, Agents and employees of the Philadelphia and Reading
Railroad, the Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company,
the Lehigh and Wilkes-Barre Coal and Iron Company and the Lehigh
Valley Railroad conducted the investigation, arrest and
prosecution of these individuals; and
WHEREAS, Special prosecuting attorneys who were on the
payrolls of railroad and mining companies were used, and jury
selection was conducted in a manner that ensured ethnic bigotry
and bias; and
WHEREAS, The trial judges were closely connected with the
railroad and mining companies that instigated the investigations
and trials; and
WHEREAS, Witnesses were intimidated to commit perjury against
the defendants, and entrapment was used to accumulate evidence;
and
WHEREAS, On a day which lives on in infamy known as the "Day
of the Rope," 20 Irishmen were ultimately hanged with little or
no evidence of their complicity in any crimes; and
WHEREAS, It has been shown that due process and
constitutional rights were lacking in these trials; and
WHEREAS, As a result of these trials, Barney Boyle, Kate
Boyle, Patrick Butler, John Campbell, Dennis Canning, Patrick
Dolan, Christopher Donnelly, Neil Dougherty, James Duffy, John
Gibbons, Bridget Hyland, Michael Lawler, Charles McAllister,
Patrick McKenna, Ned Monaghan, John Morris, Michael O'Brien,
Patrick O'Donnell, Francis O'Neil and John O'Neil were sentenced
to imprisonment; and
WHEREAS, James Boyle, Alexander Campbell, James Carroll, John
Donahue, Michael J. Doyle, Thomas Duffy, Edward Kelly, Hugh
McGehan, Thomas Munley and James Roarity were hanged in 1877;
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