Ep 247: Massacre at Duffy's Cut Part 1
“The Irish canallers and diggers and haulers belonged to a largely forgotten narrative of American History, that of the unskilled immigrant worker.”
Description:
In September of 2000, history professor Dr. William "Bill" Watson of Immaculata University stopped by the campus for a break with friend and fellow bagpipe musician Tom Connor during a long drive back from a performance. While there, around 10:00 p.m. near the typically deserted faculty center lawn, both men witnessed a strange apparition that would later lead to a remarkable and meaningful coincidence. Two years after this experience, Bill's twin brother, Reverend Dr. Frank Watson, by chance, came across a file once kept by their grandfather Joseph Tripician, a former secretary to the president of the Pennsylvania Railroad in the 1970s. One official record in this file documented a tragedy connected to a ghost story their grandfather told annually at Thanksgiving dinner. The report outlined a mass death of workers on an arduous stretch of the then Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad in the summer and fall of 1832. Contractor Philip Duffy had hired 57 Irish immigrants to lay the tracks for roughly a mile through thickset trees and over a deep ravine about 20 miles west of Philadelphia. 39 newly arrived immigrants, one of them a woman, and 18 others already working there would all be dead within ninety days of their hire. Irish Catholic immigrants were often viewed with prejudice as unseemly and unwelcome intruders by established society and expendable workers by the railroad and mining companies profiting from their cheap and desperate labor. When the second global cholera pandemic reached this work camp, the record suggested that all 57 had succumbed to the deadly disease. Compelled by the discovery of this document, in August 2004, Bill and Frank Watson, along with two university associates, led an archaeological excavation to find the accurate burial site for these victims. On March 24, 2009, it was announced that the first human remains had been found. However, a curious twist was discovered by noted physical and forensic anthropologist Janet Monge, who analyzed the bones. Her examination revealed that at least two of the skulls found first likely received perimortem blunt-force trauma and gunshot wounds. This conclusion leads to the prominent theory that workers were either killed out of fear they would spread the contagion, to quell a rebellion or both. Please join us for part one of a story that yearns to be told, the Massacre at Duffy's Cut.
Location: Duffy’s Cut memorial
Additional reading:
Click this text to read “The Sisters of Charity, the 1832 Cholera Epidemic in Philadelphia and Duffy’s Cut” by Prof. William E. Watson
Click this text to read the article “History and memory at Duffy’s cut” by prof. William E. Watson from the magazine railroad history
Click this text to read the article “Who was the real Philip Duffy?” by prof. J. Francis Watson, from the magazine railroad history
Reference Links:
Essay on “Duffy’s Cut” by William E. Watson, from The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia
“Death on the Railroad” episode on PBS’ Secrets of the Dead on YouTube
Ember Night and other Irish Halloween traditions on IrishCentral.com
Pennsylvania Canal Historical Marker and the PA Mainline of Public Works
Martin Withington Clement, the 11th President of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), from 1935 to 1948
“Paoli – Oklahoma’s Strangely Named Towns” from The Oklahoman
Total cost of the Philadelphia and Columbia rail line at Duffy’s Cut in today’s dollars
Map of Ireland at the beginning of the 16th century from the Cambridge University Press
Related Books:
Bagpipe tributes to the fallen 57
Join us on Patreon!
Click HERE or go to patreon.com/astonishinglegends to become one of our Patreon members and receive exclusive offerings, like our bonus Astonishing Junk Drawer episodes (posted every weekend the main show is dark) commercial-free episodes, and more!
SPECIAL OFFERS FROM OUR SPECIAL SPONSORS:
FIND OTHER GREAT DEALS FROM OUR SHOW’S SPONSORS BY CLICKING HERE!
CREDITS:
Episode 247: Massacre at Duffy’s Cut Part 1. Produced by Scott Philbrook & Forrest Burgess; Audio Editing by Sarah Vorhees Wendel of VW Sound. Music and Sound Design by Allen Carrescia. Tess Pfeifle, Producer, and Lead Researcher. Ed Voccola, Technical Producer. Research Support from The Astonishing Research Corps, or "A.R.C." for short. Copyright 2022 Astonishing Legends Productions, LLC. All Rights Reserved.