|
|
Mass grave reveals new clues
18.08.10
HISTORIANS in the US
have found new evidence about the mass deaths nearly
180 years ago of 57 Irish immigrants including a
number believed to be from Inishowen.
It had previously been thought the group, who died
just weeks after starting work on the Philadelphia
and Columbia railroad, in 1832, were cholera
victims.
But four skulls unearthed from the mass grave now
suggest the men suffered blows to the head and at
least one may have been shot.
The young men, with an average age of 20, left
famine-ravaged Donegal, Tyrone and Derry, in search
of a new life in America. Their names include John
Ruddy, 18, from Co Donegal; George Doherty from Co
Donegal; William Devine from Co Donegal; Daniel
McCahill from Co Donegal and George Quigley from Co
Donegal.
It is understood the deaths may have been linked to
strong anti-Irish feeling among the affluent.
Dr William Watson, of Immaculata University and his
twin brother, Frank, have spent the past eight years
trying to solve the mystery of the men's deaths at
Malvern, Pennsylvania. |
 |
Dr Watson said at least
four of them had died violent deaths and this proved
"this was much more than a cholera epidemic".
The Watsons believe some of the men had sailed from
Ireland to Philadelphia four months before their sad
demise. They now hope to recover all the remains,
identify the men and give them a proper burial,
either in the US or Ireland.
"We see this more as a recovery mission. We do have
a cemetery that has agreed to take them from this
ignominous place where they are now, into a proper
burial - a very nice suburban cemetery on the
outskirts of Philadelphia, where, ironically, a lot
of the elite of Philadelphia railroad society are
also buried," said Dr Watson. |
|
