The memorial at Wesst Laurel Hill Cemetery where some of the victims are buried.
You’ll learn everything there is to know about Duffy’s Cut—its history, the songs, poems, novels, and plays written about it, films made and in the works, and even view artifacts recovered from the archeological dig—at a special day-long symposium at Immaculata College on Saturday, October 11.
Sponsored by Irish Network-Philadelphia, the day starts at 1 PM with screenings of the Kilmaine Saints’ video of a song about the 57 Irish immigrant railroad workers who died or were killed during a cholera epidemic in Malvern in 1832. That’s followed by screenings of “The Ghosts of Duffy’s Cut” and “Death on the Railroad,” two documentaries about the event and the work of Bill and Frank Watson and the late John Ahtes, who spearheaded the investigation into Duffy’s Cut which led to the discovery of mass graves not far from the Immaculata campus, where Bill Watson is a history professor.
The Duffy’s Cut Museum, which contains artifacts including clay pipes, coffin nails, and railroad spikes, will be open throughout the day. Take a virtual tour here.
Music will be provided by Marian Makins, Rosaleen McGill, Vince Gallagher, Pat Kenneally, and Mickey Coleman, as well as the Watson brothers on bagpipes. There will be two panel discussions, including one on Duffy’s Cut and the Pennsylvania Railroad and the other on “Duffy’s Cut: Why It atters,” which will feature CBS3 reporter Walt Hunter, and former Warner Brothers’ VP Bill Daly and actor and Drexel film studies professor Pat McDade, who, with Daily, has formed a company, duffyscutfilm, which is producing a feature film on this 19th century tragedy.
Novelist Kristen Walker will read excerpts from her forthcoming novel, “Between Darkness and The Tide,” which was inspired by Duffy’s Cut. Kelly Clark will be reading from her forthcoming book, “Duffy’s Cut—A Novel” and John Bohannon will read selected poems from “Barmaids of Tir na Nog.”
Ticket prices, which include a meal and a beverage provided by Tellus360 of Lancaster, range from $35 for students and seniors to $120 for the event and a IN-Philadelphia membership. Proceeds from the event will help pay for the next phase of the Duffy’s Cut dig—to recover the bodies of 50 of the victims.
So far, the remains of only seven have been recovered. Six were interred in a plot donated by West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd.
The seventh, identified as teenager John Ruddy from Inishowen, County Donegal, was buried in a family plot owned by Vincent Gallagher, president of the Philadelphia Irish Center, in Ardara, County Donegal.
To learn more about the second phase of the Duffy’s Cut dig, read our story.
Photos of some of the Duffy’s Cut artifacts, including bones, are below.
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