Alexander Campbell (businessman)

Alexander Campbell
Alexander Campbell
Born	c. 1833 Dungloe, County Donegal, Ireland
Died	1877 (aged 43–44) Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, U.S.

Alexander Campbell (c. 1833 – June 21, 1877) was a tavern owner, who, with three other convicted Molly Maguires, was hanged for the murders of two mine operatives.

Campbell proclaimed his innocence to the end, and in doing so, slapped a muddy handprint on the wall of his prison cell, declaring the mark would remain forever as a sign of his innocence. Legend has it that despite many attempts to remove it, including building a new wall, the mark still remains today.

Campbell was born in Dungloe, County Donegal, Ireland around 1833. In 1868, he emigrated to the United States, where he began operating a tavern in the eastern Pennsylvania town of Tamaqua. Campbell later moved to Storm Hill in Lansford, where he served as a recruiter for the Ancient Order of Hibernians. He became a hotel owner, and liquor distributor, and was allegedly a member of the Mollies. This was a term used in the Pennsylvanian coal mining counties Carbon and Schuylkill by miners, mainly Irish immigrants, to describe those who took part in organized labor movements and violently resisted conscription.

The Molly Maguires were generally seen, outside their circle of supporters, as murderers, terrorists, and foreign agitators. In 1877, along with three other men (Michael Doyle, John Donahue and Edward Kelly), Campbell was convicted of the murders of John P. Jones and Morgan Powell, but he admitted to only being an accessory. Evidence collected was presented by a single detective from the Pinkerton Agency.