The Ancient Order of Hibernians, Alec Campbell, Mauch Chunk Division 1 of Carbon County held a memorial Mass at the Old Jail Museum in Jim Thorpe Saturday.

The event was to commemorate the “Day of The Rope,” marking the 141st anniversary of the execution of the Molly Maguires in 1877.

On June 21 of that year, four men accused of being Molly Maguires were hanged at the former Carbon County Prison on West Broadway in Mauch Chunk.

The Mass was held below a full-size replica of the gallows at the very spot where these men were all hanged at the same time.

Those hanged in Mauch Chunk were Alec Campbell, John “Yellow Jack” Donahue, Michael Doyle and Edward Kelly.

The men swore that they were innocent.

One man, Alec Campbell, to prove that he was innocent, placed his hand on the wall of his cell and proclaimed that his hand print would remain there forever as proof of his innocence. The handprint remains visible on the wall of Cell 17.

On that same day in 1877, another six men faced the same fate at Pottsville in Schuylkill County. They were James Boyle, James Carroll, Thomas Duffy, Hugh McGeehan, Thomas Munley and James Roarity.

Also executed later in the Carbon County Prison were Thomas P. Fisher on March 28, 1878; James McDonnell and Charles Sharp on Jan. 14, 1879.

The site of these events in local history, the Old Jail Museum, was an active prison up until 1995.