Old Carbon County Prison

Pennsylvania · USA · Execution site

A handprint left on a cell wall at Jim Thorpe by a man hanged as a Molly Maguire, put there to prove that an innocent man was being executed.

The old Carbon County Prison at Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania was in use until 1995 and is now open as a museum.

Its most famous feature is a handprint on the wall of a cell, and the history behind it is documented rather than folklore. The Molly Maguires were miners in the 1870s who turned to violence against an industry that was killing and cheating them. Several men were accused of belonging to the organisation, arrested, tried and hanged.

The prosecutions were run largely by the coal and railway companies themselves, using their own private detective and their own police, and the convictions have been argued over ever since.

The man who left the handprint maintained that he was not a Molly Maguire and that he was being killed for something he had not done. The mark he pressed onto the cell wall was meant to remain as proof of it after he was gone. According to the tradition, every attempt to remove it has failed.

The cells are open to visitors, and the handprint is still shown.

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Wo befindet sich Old Carbon County Prison?

Old Carbon County Prison liegt in Pennsylvania, USA.