Today marks the 140th anniversary of an ambush and murder that brought about the end of the reputed Molly Maguires.

Tamaqua policeman Benjamin Franklin Yost was the victim. And he remains the only Tamaqua officer to die in the line of duty.Yost, then of 8 S. Lehigh St., was murdered by gunmen in the wee hours of July 6, 1875, as he concluded his walking beat.Historical accounts describe how the unsuspecting cop was ambushed as he stepped onto a ladder to extinguish a gas light at the corner of West Broad and Lehigh streets, just steps from his home.Published reports say his wife heard the shots and ran to his aid, finding him crumpled to the ground.She and officer Barney McCarron tried lifting the dying man to carry him home; however, he was crippled in pain and pleaded for a physician.They laid him back on the ground, and McCarron rushed to Dr. E.J. Solliday's house just a few doors away for help.Yost was mortally wounded. He lingered in great pain for several hours before dying in his wife's arms.He was able to provide only vague descriptions of his assailants, who fled west toward Newkirk under cover of darkness.Yost's death was attributed to members of the reputed Molly Maguires, an alleged secret society of Irishmen who supposedly sought revenge for an earlier arrest made by Yost.AftermathTamaqua Borough Council held its regularly scheduled meeting later that day. The meeting's minutes are stored behind locked doors in a vault beneath borough hall. A scan of the documents reveals town fathers denounced the crime.Records state: "On motion it was agreed to offer a reward of one thousand dollars for any information that will lead to the arrest and conviction of the person who assassinated policeman B.F. Yost on the morning of July 6th and that notice of the offer of reward be published in the Item and Courier and by handbills."Council also agreed to attend Yost's funeral "in a body" and to appoint J.S. Kepner to replace the officer.Moreover, council entertained a motion to place a lamp on Broad Street near the entrance to the cemetery, the vicinity in which the assailants reportedly fled. That request was referred to the lamp committee.Finally, council approved payment to be made to the deceased Yost in the amount of $60 for services rendered for the month of June.As a result of the tragedy, Yost's brother-in-law, Daniel M.B. Shepp, a merchant and borough council president, traveled to Philadelphia and enlisted the aid of Pinkerton Detective James McParlan.McParlan infiltrated the ranks of the Mollies under an assumed identity to finally bring an end to what some call the reign of terror in Pennsylvania's southern coal fields.Eventually up to 20 alleged Molly Maguires were hanged in prisons at Pottsville, Mauch Chunk, Sunbury and Bloomsburg, accused of taking part in this and other murders, crimes and assaults. The men claimed innocence.BurialYost was buried in Odd Fellows Cemetery in an unmarked grave.Cemetery records reveal: "Yost, B. Franklin, assassination while on duty as police officer, July 6, 1875. Buried August 7, 1875, Lot 218, section 8, aged 34 years, 1 month, 13 days."Over time, the grave's exact location became obscured and forgotten. Then, in 1999, nearly 125 years after Yost's murder, the grave revealed itself through subsidence, presumably due to the coffin's rotting wood."Years ago they didn't use burial vaults, only a wooden coffin," said Charles Bailey of Odd Fellows."Over the years, the wood disintegrates and eventually collapses. When that happens, the dirt above the coffin sinks and forms a depression that you can see in the ground. It has to be filled in."Historians placed a permanent marker on the site. Even more, they conducted a re-enactment of the funeral procession from the train station to the cemetery, complete with period-correct, horse-drawn hearse. Local police departments took part in the event.In an eerie development at the same general time, Yost revealed himself in another way, too.By strange coincidence, an Allentown area man who purchased a box lot of paperwork at a Sheppton public auction discovered a portrait of Yost inside the box. It's the only photo of Yost known to exist.A copy was turned over to the Tamaqua Historical Society and Tamaqua Borough.The photo hangs in town hall as a reminder of a cop's ultimate sacrifice in an era that will never be forgotten.