The Duffy’s Cut Fundraiser on Sunday in Lansdowne not only hit its goal of $15,000 to pay for fees related to retrieving the last 50 bodies of Irish immigrants who died while working on the railroad in 1832, it exceeded it—by at least double that.
“We’ll be able to do the work and finish up the DNA testing,” said the Rev. Frank Watson who, with his brother, Bill, a history professor at Immaculata University in Malvern first brought to light the hidden graves of the 57 immigrants who died during a cholera epidemic.
Frank and Bill Watson
Their work revealed that at least some of those 57 had likely been murdered, probably by a vigilante group worried that they would spread the disease through the wider community. Seven bodies have already been recovered; six were interred at West Laurel Hill Cemetery and the seventh, tentatively identified (via a dental anomaly) as John Ruddy, was buried in a donated plot in Ardara, County Donegal, last year. Ruddy came as a teenager from Inishowen Peninsula in Donegal to work on the railroad.
For more information about this phase of the Duffy’s Cut Project, click here.
A diverse group of individuals and organizations planned and sponsored the event at the Twentieth Century Club on Sunday afternoon. One sponsor was Kris Higgins, a former nun and a public school teacher, who donated $10,000 in the memory of her partner, Mary Pat Bradley, who died last year of ovarian cancer. When asked why, she responded simply, “Because I can. I’m no Lewis Katz [the late philanthropist] but I can do something.”
Other donors included The Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, Bringhurst Funeral Home and West Laurel Hill Cemetery, Wilbraham, Lawler & Buba, The Irish Memorial, Kathy McGee Burns, Peter Burns on behalf of his children, the Delaware Valley Irish Hall of Fame, Infrastructure Solutions Services, Chris Flanagan and Brian McGarrity of Mid-Ulster Construction, the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 542, the Irish American Business Chamber and Network, the Philadelphia Ceili Group, the Ladies Ancient Order of Hiberians, Trinity Div. 4, Vince Gallagher of Loughros Point Landscaping and the Vince Gallagher Radio Hour, Marianne MacDonald’s “Come West Along the Road” radio show, Ann Baiada, AOH Notre Dame Div.1, Simple Clean, Curragh LLC Newbridge Silverware, Brian Mengini Photography, The Plough and the Stars, Maggie O’Neill’s Irish Pub and Restaurant, Con Murphy’s Irish Pub, Twentieth Century Club, Conrad Obrien, and Tir na Nog Bar & Grill.
Check out the photos below.
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