Mass Murder - Duffy's Cut, Malvern, PA, USA
N 40° 02.222 W 075° 31.946
18T E 454575 N 4432003
This stone enclosure contains the remains of several Irish workers that were probably murdered during the cholera pandemic of 1832.
Waymark Code: WM13EFA
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 11/23/2020
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While there are nearby PA Historical signs commemorating the event, this is where the 'bodies are buried'. Evidence was found in a nearby ravine of more remains. The enclosure is near the train tracks of Amtrak's Keystone Corridor, but anyone can access safely if they can interpret the surroundings using google earth and are not afraid of going off trail.
On this spot in 1832, 57 Irish immigrant laborers died building the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad. Hired by contractor Philip Duffy, the men were charged with digging a cut in the hill so that the railroad, now Amtrak's Keystone Corridor, could continue westward. In August of that year cholera came to their little encampment, leaving only a blacksmith (and later four nuns from Philadelphia) to aid the sick and dying, In all, nearly half of the men, 57 to be exact, died and all were buried by the tracks.
Forensic evidence suggests that some may have been murdered by local vigilantes, perhaps due to fear of contagion. 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 they were murdered. More recent research of the site suggests that a mass murder may have taken place against the Irish workers 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.
A more detailed description of the archeological investigation, carried out by the University of Pennsylvania, is at the following link:
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