# Councillor McGinty — The Valley of Fear character guide

> Councillor McGinty in The Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** McGinty, Boss McGinty, Even Boss McGinty, The Boss, Mr. McGinty, Black Jack McGinty, Jack McGinty

**First appearance:** 0009-i-the-man

## Snapshot

The saloon-keeping boss who rules Vermissa Valley through the Scowrers, greeting a new police captain with cold contempt and calling him a paid tool of the capitalists.

## Who they are

McGinty is the political and criminal chieftain of the coal country, dispensing whisky and orders from behind his bar while the lodge does his bidding. He meets Captain Marvin's arrival with open hostility — 'We'd do better without you' — and treats law and order as an outside imposition on his township. His grip on the valley, and his willingness to use murder as policy, sets the moral stakes for McMurdo's dangerous double life.

## In the story

### [The Scowrers](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_valley_of_fear_se/chapters/part-ii-the-scowrers)

Leader of the Scowrers in Vermissa Valley, known as Boss McGinty.

### [The Man](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_valley_of_fear_se/chapters/i-the-man)

Referred to as 'Boss McGinty' and 'Black Jack McGinty,' the feared leader of the Scowrers who controls events in Vermissa.

### [II: The Bodymaster](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_valley_of_fear_se/chapters/ii-the-bodymaster)

Referred to as the Bodymaster and leader of the lodge; McMurdo is urged to see him.

### [Lodge 341, Vermissa](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_valley_of_fear_se/chapters/iii-lodge-341-vermissa)

Bodymaster of Lodge 341, presides over the initiation and directs lodge business, including assigning murder contracts.

### [IV: The Valley of Fear](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_valley_of_fear_se/chapters/iv-the-valley-of-fear)

Provides McMurdo with a false alibi, arranges legal defense, and orchestrates his acquittal.

### [V: The Darkest Hour](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_valley_of_fear_se/chapters/v-the-darkest-hour)

Views McMurdo as a supremely able instrument; holds him like a bloodhound in leash for future work.

### [Danger](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_valley_of_fear_se/chapters/vi-danger)

Bodymaster of the lodge, he presides over the meeting and is selected for the secret committee to deal with the detective.

### [VII: The Trapping of Birdy Edwards](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_valley_of_fear_se/chapters/vii-the-trapping-of-birdy-edwards)

Leads the conspiracy to kill Birdy Edwards; present at the trap.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_valley_of_fear_se/characters/councillor_mc_ginty
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_valley_of_fear_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_valley_of_fear_se/characters