I tried searching, but found nothing on the board.
Is there a current scholarly opinion as to the issues/guilt/whatever about the coal miners in the 1800"s?
The Molly Maguires.
There was a book published a few years ago that attempted to get to the “truth” (or, at least, to get past the propaganda). As the blurb on this site notes, most of what we know about them comes from their enemies. As a secret society, they were not given to publish their thoughts and they were suppressed so ruthlessly, that no one ever came forward in later years to claim/admit that he was also one.
There are a couple of web sites out there, but it is sometimes hard to distinguish the myth from the reality.
Columbia County, PA: Coal Mining, Mine Fires, & The Molly Maguires Several links (a couple, hagiographic)
Early version of story in McClure’s Magazine, 1894, demonizing them
There is a book I saw (name/author evades me at this time) that is published specifically by/for Pinkerton, about Allen Pinkerton. It can be found in every Pinkerton Security or Pinkerton Consulting & Investigation office in the world. The chapter on the Maguires has a paragraph that states that several of them whom were hanged were actually innocent. This is significant to find in a Pinkerton endorsed book, as if it weren’t for Pinkerton those men wouldn’t have hanged.
I’ll try to find the name of the book and post it here.