One has only to
glance through the database of missing persons at the website Information Wanted (and I highly suggest you do) to see the
large number of Irish immigrants who somehow lost touch with their friends and
families during the desperate exodus of the famine years. I’ve found it in my own research-- the will of
an ancestor that read, “Son left for Detroit 20 years ago and not heard from
since-presumed dead”, and the notice in a British paper seeking news of a
brother of one my ancestors whose rumored death in St. Louis somehow filtered
back to South Tipperary.
Many of these
unfortunate families were never reunited with their loved ones, or even learned
their fates. Now for one family the mystery
has been solved albeit nearly 200 years late.
I’ve been following the story in the weekly newspaper “The Irish Echo” of
the mysterious deaths in1832 of Irish rail workers in a Pennsylvania valley. The mainstream press hasn’t seemed to give
much coverage to this haunting story, but it’s one that fascinates me.
Railroad
development was just getting under way in 1830’s America. In the decade between 1830 and 1840 over
2,000 miles of track would be laid, and as they had done in the building of the
Erie Canal, entrepreneurs looking for cheap, expendable labor turned to
Ireland. In 1832, 57 men from County
Donegal were recruited to work on the dangerous section of track that would
come to be known as Duffy’s Cut. They
arrived on the Philadelphia docks in mid spring, and within 6 weeks they were dead. Cholera was the cause given, and it was certainly
present, but there was much more to the story.
Locals seemed to sense something terrible had happened in the labor
camp. Cholera was a very serious disease, but it was not 100 percent fatal. Even if untreated, some of the victims would
have survived. Stories circulated of
ghosts dancing on their own graves, and then there was the unsettling way the
railroad had hushed up the incident, to the point that relatives in Ireland
were never notified of their loved ones deaths.
It would not be
until the 21st century that the facts slowly emerged. It began with the discovery of a secret file
detailing how the railroad had covered up the deaths. Included in the file were directions from a
later railroad president that a marker should be built for the men, and further
instructions that the file should never be made public, indeed should never
leave his office. After its discovery,
excavations began and the site of the labor camp was unearthed, but aside from
some artifacts nothing else came to light for over four years. Then in 2009 two sets of remains were found,
one them of a teenager, and what they told investigators was unnerving. Both had holes in their skulls, hardly a
symptom of cholera. Forensic examination
of the bones also revealed the hard life these men had led; young though they
were, their joints were worn down with heavy labor and lifting and showed signs
of various illnesses.
Using ship passenger records, (there was only
one 18 year old on the ship), and DNA along with a genetic dental anomaly that
still runs in the family today, researchers were able to give a name to the
young victim—John Ruddy. The first
weekend in March he was reburied in his native County Donegal. Four
more sets of remains were discovered, and there are still more buried at
Duffy’s Cut, some so close to the active rail line they may never be
disinterred. The additional remains were
laid to rest in Pennsylvania under a Celtic Cross of Irish limestone. It’s a small comfort that at least one of those
men got to go home.
To learn more
about this project, try this Smithsonian site which has 3 short videos, http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/site/sn/show.do?show=131088
or listen to the very interesting 2009 interview with researchers on MP3 at
this site Radiotimes
Also, watch for
the PBS special, scheduled to air on May 8th at 10 pm.
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