Duffy's Cut

Amtrak train near the site

Duffy's Cut is the name given to a stretch of railroad tracks about 30 miles west of Philadelphia, USA, originally built for the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad in the summer and fall of 1832. The line later became part of the Pennsylvania Railroad's Main Line. Railroad contractor Philip Duffy hired 57 Irish immigrants to lay this line through the area's densely wooded hills and ravines. The workers came to Philadelphia from Counties Donegal, Tyrone, and Derry to work in Pennsylvania's nascent railroad industry. Less than two months after their arrival, all 57 are believed to have died during the second cholera pandemic,^[1] which was a worldwide contagion spanning several continents and many years.^[2]

The site is located near Malvern, Pennsylvania, USA, in East Whiteland Township^[3] near the intersection of King Road and Sugartown Road, where a Pennsylvania state historical marker has been placed.

Background

Pipes recovered at the site

Construction tool (top) and iron strapping (bottom) c. 1832 that was attached to a wooden stringer and used as a rail. Both items recovered at the site.

Prejudice against immigrants generally and Irish Catholics specifically contributed to the denial of care to these immigrant workers, who were often viewed by the owners and managers of railroad and coal mining companies as expendable components, and by "native" Americans as unwholesome and even dangerous.^{[citation needed]} Philip Duffy's blacksmith buried the first three to perish in individual graves, but when it became clear that all would die he buried the rest of the dead workers in a shallow ditch along the railroad’s right of way without ceremony or funeral. No death certificates were ever filed for these Irish non-citizens. Asiatic Cholera usually causes 40-60% casualties within a single population. In this case, all of the workers are believed to have died, leading to the theory that some may have been killed.

Official record of the deaths at Duffy’s Cut remained locked in the vaults of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) until Joseph Tripican, a secretary to a former PRR president, removed them after the company’s bankruptcy in 1970. In the 1990s, one of Tripican’s grandsons, Reverend Dr. Frank Watson discovered the papers in a file and began to research the history along with his brother Dr. William Watson and professors Earl Schandelmeier and John Ahtes of Immaculata University.

On June 18, 2004, a Pennsylvania state historical marker was dedicated near the site. The text of the marker reads, "Nearby is the mass grave of fifty-seven Irish immigrant workers who died in August, 1832, of cholera. They had recently arrived in the United States and were employed by a construction contractor, named Duffy, for the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad. Prejudice against Irish Catholics contributed to the denial of care to the workers. Their illness and death typified the hazards faced by many 19th century immigrant industrial workers."

In August 2004, the site began undergoing archaeological excavation by a research team that included Immaculata University and Pennsylvania state and local governments. The Duffy's Cut Project team consists of three primary members, Frank Watson, Bill Watson, and Earl Schandelmeier of Immaculata University. On March 20, 2009, the first human bones were unearthed, consisting of two skulls, six teeth and eighty other bones. The researchers announced their discovery on March 24, 2009.^[4] The remains will undergo DNA testing for possible identification.

In August 2009, "Finding Dulcinea" reported that the two earliest skulls found both show evidence of blunt-force trauma inflicted peri-mortem, suggesting the possibility that murder was done there.^[5] A full investigation is expected to ensue as further excavation and testing is done on the remains.

More recent research of the site suggests to some that a mass murder may have taken place against the Irish workers^[6] by local vigilantes fearful that cholera would spread. Analysis of the bones has indicated the possibility that some of the men were killed by projectiles.^{[7][8] [9]}

In popular culture

Greenwood Publishing Group published The Ghosts of Duffy's Cut in July 2006,^[1] and a documentary on the story has been produced by Tile Films LTD of Dublin for broadcast on the Irish State Broadcaster RTÉ. Irish musician Christy Moore includes a song, written by Wally Page, called "Duffy's Cut," whose subject matter is the death of the workers on the railway.^[1]
In March 2011, Irish Punk band The Dropkick Murphys released a song called The Hardest Mile which also deals with the newly discovered evidence that some of the men may have been murdered rather than dying of cholera.^[10]

"Duffy's Cut"
Song
Published	2009
Language	English
Writer	Wally Page

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Watson, William E.; J.Francis (Frank) Watson, Earl H. Schandelmeier, John H. Ahtes (2006). The Ghosts of Duffy's Cut: The Irish who Died Building America's Most Dangerous Stretch of Railroad. Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 0-275-98727-2. http://books.google.com/books?id=X55na6zYLHYC. 
2. ^ Crimmins, Peter (2009-03-24). "Irish Laborers Buried Under Suburban Railroads". Weekend Edition (WHYY/NPR). http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=114144197. Retrieved 2009-03-24. 
3. ^ Miller, Jennifer (2009-03-24). "Bones may reveal Pa. grave of Irish immigrants in Chesco". The (Delaware County) Daily Times. http://www.delcotimes.com/articles/2009/03/24/news/doc49c8da447e786711218437.txt. Retrieved 2009-03-24. 
4. ^ McClements, Freya (2009-03-24). "Secrets of mass grave revealed". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/foyle_and_west/7961564.stm. Retrieved 2009-03-24. 
5. ^ Finding Dulcinea
6. ^ Claudia Valentino, ed (November/December 2010). "World Roundup- Pennsylvania". Archaeology (Long Island City, New York) 63 (3): 14. 
7. ^ "Fates Of Irish Workers Sealed In Mass Grave". All Things Considered. May 23, 2010. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127074433. Retrieved 2010-08-24. 
8. ^ Matheson, Kathy (16 August 2010). "Old Irish bones may yield murderous secrets in Pa." (Yahoo News article online). AP. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100816/ap_on_re_us/us_irish_immigrants_grave_5. Retrieved 16 August 2010. ^{[dead link]}
9. ^ http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/duffys-cut-mass-grave-in-pennsylvania-did-irish-immigrants-die-of-cholera-or-were-they-murdered/19606498?icid=main%7Cnetscape%7Cdl1%7Csec1_lnk3%7C166114
10. ^ http://lyrics.wikia.com/Dropkick_Murphys:The_Hardest_Mile

External links

Coordinates: 40°02′0.6″N 75°31′45.84″W / 40.0335°N 75.5294°W / 40.0335; -75.5294

• The Duffy's Cut (Archaeological) Project, an Immaculata University website
• Marker Details: Duffy's Cut Mass Grave, a Pennsylvania State Historical Marker from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
• Grandfather's ghost story leads to mysterious mass grave, an August 2010 CNN article with video about the mass grave at Duffy's Cut]
• [1], Ireland's Forgotten Sons Recovered Two Centuries Later, Abigail Tucker, Smithsonian Magazine
• [2], Murder in the Time of Cholera, Jonathan Valania, Philadelphia Weekly.
• Bones Beneath the Tracks, Samuel Hughes, Penn Gazette.
• Peter Loftus The Mystery of Duffy's Cut, Wall Street Journal, April 14, 2011
• [3], Fate of Irish Workers Sealed in Mass Grave, interview on NPR's "All Things Considered," with Guy Raz, May 23, 2010
• Duffy's Cut Mass grave at Find A grave