Sponsored by
New evidence uncovered at 'Duffy's Cut'
NEW evidence may support the theory that dozens of people who emigrated from the North West in 1832 were murdered just six weeks after arriving in America.
It is thought the remains of a teenage boy from Donegal who disappeared shortly after his arrival in the USA almost 180 years ago, have been found just outside Philadelphia - and tests suggest his skull was hit at least twice before he died.
There have also been further archaeological discoveries at the 'Duffy's Cut' site in Pennsylvania, where 57 Irish immigrant railworkers died in suspicious circumstances in June 1832.
The immigrants from Londonderry, Tyrone and Donegal left in the mid-nineteenth century and ended up in Chester County, just outside Philadelphia working as labourers for fellow Irishman, Phillip Duffy, on the construction of the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad.
However, six weeks later all of the men were dead. Although the official explanation for their demise was death by cholera, the suspicion has always been that the men were murdered and deposited in a ditch outside the town of Malvern - a ditch that became known as 'Duffy's Cut.'
In March, after several years of searching for the exact location of the burial site, the team of archaeologists and archivists achieved their goal and began to unearth the remains of the men.
At that time, the man who has spearheaded the 'Duffy's Cut Project', academic Dr Frank Watson told the Sentinel: "In addition to leg and toe bones, we discovered two human skulls.
"I discovered the skull of a teenage boy and my brother Bill discovered the skull of an adult. We also found jaw fragments with teeth from the teenage boy.
"We believe the boy is John Ruddy, an 18-year-old from Donegal, who arrived on the ship, The John Stamp and disappeared from history after his arrival."
Now, Dr Watson has contacted the Sentinel to reveal the latest discoveries at 'Duffy's Cut'. He said: "The Chester County Coroner and our physical anthropologist have confirmed the first skull we pulled out at Duffy's Cut - the young man we believe to be 18-year-old John Ruddy from Donegal - suffered several blunt force fractures right around the time of death.
"The young man's skull was hit at least twice fairly soon before he died, thus lending credence to the theory of violence inflicted upon the men at Duffy's Cut to keep them in the valley.
"We have also discovered several items of clothing - a small fibula, a clothing fastener likely used for his pants, as well as what is likely a small shoe buckle."
Frank Watson told the Sentinel that he experienced simultaneous "joy and sadness" at the discovery.
"Sad, in that I am the father of a 17-year-old boy, and I can only speculate what his parents had gone through when he announced he was going to leave Donegal to work on the railroad in America, and then what grief they must have gone through when they never heard from him again.
"And, it was also a joyous moment in now that these young men and the sacrifice they made to help build America, can now be properly remembered.
"John Ruddy and his companions that helped build America will never be forgotten," he said.
Dr Watson also revealed that there are future plans to return the remains of some of the men back to the Irish counties from which they came for re-burial.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Londonderry
Sunday 27 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 12 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 13 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: South east
