The coal miners's union is nearly broken by the imprisonment of its leadership and by attacks conducted by vigilantes against the strikers.

Gowen "deluges the newspapers with stories of murder and arson" committed by the Molly Maguires.

The press produce stories of strikes in Illinois, in Jersey City, and in the Ohio mine fields, all inspired by the Mollies.

The stories are widely believed.

In Schuylkill County, the striking miners and their families are starving to death.

The strike is defeated after six months and the miners return to work, accepting the twenty percent cut in pay, but miners belonging to the Ancient Order of Hibernians continue the fight.

James McParland acknowledges increasing support for the Mollies in his reports. "Men, who last winter would not notice a Molly Maguire, are now glad to take them by the hand and make much of them. If the bosses exercise tyranny over the men they appear to look to the association for help."

Anthony Lukas observes that the defeat was humiliating, and traces the roots of Molly violence in the aftermath of the failed strike:

Judges, lawyers, and policemen were overwhelmingly Welsh, German, or English ...
When the coalfield Irish sought to remedy their grievances through the courts, they often met delays, obfuscation, or doors slammed in their faces.
No longer looking to these institutions for justice, they turned instead to the Mollies ... Before the summer was over, six men—all Welsh or German—paid with their lives.