McParland arrived in New York in 1867 . He worked as a laborer , policeman and then in Chicago as a liquor store owner until the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 destroyed his business . He then became a private detective , noted for his success against the Molly Maguires . McParland first came to national attention when , as an undercover operative using the name '' ' James McKenna ' '' , he infiltrated and helped to dismantle an organization of activist Pennsylvania coal miners called the Molly Maguires . During the 1870s , miners in the region of the anthracite mines lived a life of " bitter , terrible struggle . " Wages were low , working conditions were atrocious , and deaths and serious injuries numbered in the hundreds each year . Conditions were certainly ripe for labor unrest : Labor angrily watched " railway directors ( riding ) about the country in luxurious private cars proclaiming their inability to pay living wages to hungry working men . " The Molly Maguires were Irish Catholic when there was frequent prejudice against such persons . It was a time of rampant beatings and murders in mining districts , some committed by the Mollies . Franklin B. Gowen , the President of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad , and of the Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company , " the wealthiest anthracite coal mine owner in the world " , hired Allan Pinkerton 's services to deal with the Molly Maguires . Pinkerton assigned McParland to the job . McParland successfully infiltrated the secret organization , becoming a secretary for one of its local groups . McParland turned in reports daily , eventually collecting evidence of murder plots and intrigue , passing this information along to Benjamin Franklin , his Pinkerton manager . He also began working secretly with Robert Linden , a Pinkerton agent assigned to the Coal and Iron Police for the purpose of coordinating the eventual arrest and prosecution of members of the Molly Maguires
Great Chicago Fire
Great Chicago Fire
James McParland