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Duffy’s Cut

Location
§ King and Sugartown Roads, Chester County, Pennsylvania

History

In 1832, Phillip Duffy, a railroad contractor, hired 57 Irish immigrants in Philadelphia and brought them to Malvern, PA. The Irishmen’s jobs were to help prepare the area for new tracks to be constructed. After 6 weeks of working for Duffy, all of the immigrant workers turned up dead, the cause of was death presumed to have been cholera. Legend tells a much different story, that all of them were murdered. The record of their deaths were uncovered in the 1970s, then later in August 2004 Reverend Dr. Frank Watson discovered the papers in a file and began to research the history along with his brother, Dr. William Watson, as well as professors Earl Schandelmeier and John Ahtes of Immaculata University.

People involved in research
Dr. William Watson and his twin brother Dr. Frank Watson have led the dig at the Duffy’s Cut railroad site since 2004. Other professors have aided in guiding the digging project since then.
§ Dr. William Watson – Chairman of the History department at Immaculata University and director of Duffy’s Cut Project. William Watson is the author of The Ghosts of Duffy’s Cut,Tricolor and Crescent: France and the Islamic World, and The Collapse of Communism in the Soviet Union.
§ Dr. Frank Watson - Lutheran pastor in New Jersey, specializing in religious history.
§ John Ahtes – Adjunct Faculty, History and Theology Departments, Immaculata University. Died July 11, 2010.
§ Earl Schandelmeier - Adjunct Faculty, History Department, Immaculata university; received his BA in History from Immaculata University.

Tentative Conclusions
While the initial cause of death was thought to be cholera, further investigation has uncovered wounds left behind in bone fragments that suggest otherwise. Bones with traces of lead residue, as well as skulls with dents from blunt force trauma indicate that at least three men did not die of cholera, but may have been murdered. The leaders of the dig have found that fear of the spread of disease and anti-immigrant sentiment seem to reinforce the theory that at least some of the men that died at Duffy’s Cut were victims of a murder cover-up.

Media
Duffy's cut has been covered by many media outlets.

BBC has covered it at least twice once in March 2009 and again in September 2010.

The first article from March of 09 said

“The men were buried where they had died, in a mass unmarked grave along 'Duffy's Cut', the section of the Philadelphia and Columbia railroad they helped to build.”

	For the five years before this article, Frank Watson, his brother William, and other professors and students from Immculata University have been searching for the remains.

They made a breakthrough the Friday before this article was published when they found their first two skulls.

Dr. Watson said, "I myself was able to pull out of the first grave the skull of a man who we believe was called John Ruddy, an 18-year-old who came over as a labourer from Donegal to work on the railroad.” Also they found the skull of an adult man and some leg and toe bones, and a good bit of one of their skeletons. It was an emotional moment for the team a dream. "There was excitement mixed with sadness that these poor men ended up in such an ignominious site, dumped alongside a hillside at Duffy's Cut. "But it was also joyous, because we'll now be able to commemorate these men and remember them.

Dr. Watson also hopes to return at least some of the bones back to their native land. He also says that,

“With the advances in DNA testing they might be able to identify them and to even trace relatives, and we might find that there are still relatives alive here in Ireland.”

The second article talks about new evidence:

New evidence from Philadelphia suggests that the Irish railroad workers buried in a mass grave in 1832 may have been murdered. The bones of some of the 57 men from Derry, Donegal, and Tyrone were found in a mass grave in Malvern. Their deaths were long believed to have been from cholera. But the skulls show signs of violence. Rev Dr Frank Watson has spent nearly a decade to unravel the mystery at what's known as Duffy's Cut with his brother, William, of Immaculata University. He told Sarah Brett how his interest began.

There is a podcast that you can listen to as well just click on this link http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/radiofoyle/features/features_duffys_31aug10.shtml

There is also a documentary on Duffy's Cut. The IMDb page for it: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1197505/

FoxNews had an article that talked about similar topics as those above:

http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2009Mar24/0,4670,IrishImmigrantsGrave,00.html

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Duffy’s Cut

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