19th Century Railroad Murder Mystery

[Victrola1]

 "MALVERN, Pa. – Young and strapping, the 57 Irish immigrants began grueling work in the summer of 1832 on the Philadelphia and Columbia railroad. Within weeks, all were dead of cholera.

Or were they murdered"

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100816/ap_on_re_us/us_irish_immigrants_grave_5

A different time is truly a different place. Does anybody know the fate of the section of railroad involved?

 

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

Now part of Amtrak's ''Keystone Line'', from Phila. to Harrisburg, via the PRR, then PC, then ConRail, then to Amtrak.  One article says about MP 59, but that doesn't seem right to me without looking up a track chart to confirm.

Here's the approximate location, per the ACME Mapper 2.0 application -

N 40.03731, W 75.53405

Immaculata University - where the principal investigators are employed - is about 1 - 2 miles west. 

There was also a segment on this on NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday or Sunday within the last couple of months.   

- Paul North.   

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

Yep - the location is closer to MP 23 if I'm understanding these guys right.  See this copy of a PRR "Main Line" track chart courtesy of Jerry Britton's "Keystone Crossings" website, at page 17 of 17 [approx. 1.70 MB total file size], esp. at the several culverts under the tracks/ R-O-W between MP 22 and MP 24:

http://kc.pennsyrr.com/maps/downloads/tc_phil_19xxA.pdf 

- Paul North.  

[rixflix]

The site was on the original alignment of the the main line which I believe was 1/2 to 1 mile north of today's main at that location. Abandoned long before the Trenton cut-off and electrification. I was a boarder at Malvern Prep in 1964-5 and drove home to Reading occasionally during the school year on 401 (?). A little distance after crossing Rte 30 you'd see traces of embankment and a stone culvert or tunnel with no creek. We always assumed this to be the old Philadelphia and Columbia ROW. I'll check my old PRR and Ed Alexander books when I get home tonight. Anyone remember Edwin? Besides authoring a lot of stuff, he had a barn full of model trains and a 1/4 mile live steam railroad across the road in Yardley/Washington's Crossing PA. He was also  a wonderful hospitable host to us visitors as well. 

RIXFLIX

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

Hmmm . . . OK, you know what the Trenton Cut-Off is, so that's not being mixed-up here - and yes, you're right about PA Rt. 401 being north of US Rt. 30 and heading to Reading by way of PA 100 North to US 422 West, etc. - I too lived in Malvern and Paoli from June 1977 - August 1980, and drove up that way a couple times a month, at least. The RDG's Chester Valley Branch was a little further north, just south of and roughly parallel to the Route 202 expressway, and was still (barely) active then, so I'll presume that wasn't confusing you either.  But I didn't know that the original alignment had been abandoned here, other than this northern end of the PRR's West Chester Branch*. 

Instead, I believe what you were seeing from Route 401 is a former spur line from the Trenton Cut-Off to a former mine, now a closed landfill, on the northern side of Route 202.  If you look at the "Topo" tab on the ACME Mapper 2.0 website - http://mapper.acme.com/ - for this location - N 40.04347, W 75.53249 - you'll see the contours that indicate where that spur started off the Trenton Cut-Off headed west, then curved to the right around to the north and crossed PA Rt. 401/ Conestoga Rd. on a skew angle, and then continued on north to cross the CV Branch at about a 45-degree angle, at this location - N 40.04984 W 75.53796 - pointed directly at the label "Former Mine" on the north side of Route 202.  But the contours indicate that the roadbed was just to the left/ west of the short stub road there, and then curved to the left past or through the brown "300" index contour label, to tie into the CV Branch.  If you next look at the views in either the "Hybrid" or "Satellite" tabs, you can follow the former line's location most of the way in those aerial photos, where the former R-O-W  is either bare or now a treeline.  But I could be wrong about that . . .  

I'll also look to see where the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission says its marker for "Duffy's Cut" is.   

*The northern end of the PRR's former West Chester Branch is a little   further west.  It split from the Main Line just west of the Rt. 352 / Sproul Rd. overpass at Frazer and to the northern side of Immaculata College/ University, then gradually worked its way southwesterly to the present end of the line in downtown West Chester.  Here are the coordinates for a few of those points on the Topo view: 

N 40.03215, W 75.56602;  to the southeast of Glen Loch at N 40.02949, W 75.57478;  N 40.02610 W 75.57684;  N 40.02341, W 75.57744;  past Morstein at N 40.01697, W 75.58864;  past Kirkland at N 40.01154, W 75.60019;  N 40.00106, W 75.60160; and to the "OLD RR GR" label at N 39.99205, W 75.59778, etc.  It also shows up in the Satellite and Hybrid views if you know the above points and look really hard for it.

I have Ed Alexander's PRR history book, and did visit the barn full of trains in Yardley one cold, cloudy winter Sunday in the late 1960's.  Unfortunately, I was too young to know enough to gain much else from that visit. 

- Paul North. 

 

 

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

Paul_D_North_Jr

  I'll also look to see where the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission says its marker for "Duffy's Cut" is.   

 OK, here's the data for the PHMC marker for the "Duffys Cut Mass Grave":

Dedicated: Friday, June 18, 2004
County: Chester
Marker Type: Roadside
Categories: Business & Industry, Ethnic & Immigration, Labor, Medicine & Science, Railroads

GPS Coordinates: LNG: 75.5296, LAT: 40.0335

Location: King Rd. at Sugartown Rd., Malvern

Marker Text: Nearby is the mass grave of fifty-seven Irish immigrant workers who died in August, 1832, of cholera. They had recently arrived in the United States and were employed by a construction contractor, named Duffy, for the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad. Prejudice against Irish Catholics contributed to the denial of care to the workers. Their illness and death typified the hazards faced by many 19th century immigrant industrial workers."  

 

Note that this location is about 1,000 ft. = 0.2 mile southwest of the PRR Main Line in this vicinity, and a pretty good-sized hill at N 40.03703, W 75.52659, which may be the "Duffy's Cut" itself. 

 

- Paul North.  

 

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

My guess is that the gravesite and archeological excavation is about here:

N 40.03655, W 75.53444

Looking at various aerial photo views that are available on-line - Google and Bing, for example - there seem to be some dirt roads or paths that wind down to this location, and there seems to be an oval clearing with a fenced area in the middle of it.  That's unusual in the middle of the neighborhood of many homes that surrounds the site on 3 sides.  That also raises the question of who owns that wooded area, and how the group got permission to dig there, and how they keep it secure . . .

Despite what several articles and reports say, the excavation is not in the railroad's fill - no railroad would tolerate that, because it would undermine the active tracks. 

Another fact that argues against this portion of the Phila. and Columbia Rwy. Main Line ever having been relocated is the distance between the Mile Posts on the track chart that I linked to several posts above - in this vicinity, they're all right around the correct value of 5,280 ft.  The PRR was notorious for its practice of having oddball distances between its MPs where a line relocation occurred, but that's not the case here, so from that I infer that this line is still in its original location.

It would be interesting to see what - if anything - Charles S. Roberts and David W. Messer say about this in their comparatrively recent "Triumph" series on the history of the PRR - see http://www.barnardroberts.com/bookdescriptions.html .  I believe this segment is covered in PRR Triumph II: Philadelphia to Harrisburg, 1828 to 1998, ISBN 0-934118-24-8, and possibly also in PRR Triumph III: Philadelphia Terminal, 1838 to 2000, ISBN 0-934118-25-6, neither of which I have (yet    ). 

- Paul North.  

[tacitdreamer]

Living in Portland, Or. and reading the Sat., 10th. Oregonian,  I saw a wireservice article about the re-internment of five bodies excavated from Duffy's cut.  They were given full honors with a headstone brought from Ireland, in the presence of the Deputy Ambassador from Ireland.

Considering the theme of the current issue, "Myths and Legends"; This is a timely event.

The article said the location of all of the bodies are known, but that they are beneath an active right of way.

It is my own hearsay, but I had thought the story was the workers had died when the cut they were digging collapsed, and the railroad chose not to recover the bodies.  I also remember hearing that there were stories of hauntings.

[samfp1943]

tacitdreamer

Living in Portland, Or. and reading the Sat., 10th. Oregonian,  I saw a wireservice article about the re-internment of five bodies excavated from Duffy's cut.  They were given full honors with a headstone brought from Ireland, in the presence of the Deputy Ambassador from Ireland.

Considering the theme of the current issue, "Myths and Legends"; This is a timely event.

The article said the location of all of the bodies are known, but that they are beneath an active right of way.

It is my own hearsay, but I had thought the story was the workers had died when the cut they were digging collapsed, and the railroad chose not to recover the bodies.  I also remember hearing that there were stories of hauntings.

As railfans we likely are only partially aware of the 'carnage' of early railroad building in the 19th and early20th centuries.  The tale of the deaths of workers at 'Duffy's Cut' is just one of many such incidents.

The tales of the deaths while the Clinchfield RR was being constructed are mind boggling.

"...During the rail building era of the late 1800's, the geography dictated this site would be perfect for a railroad. Although several bankruptcies delayed it, 1908 saw the completion of the Clinchfield Railroad. The last piece was the Clinchfield loops, consisting of 18 tunnels in 13 miles of track and built beside and below the orchard. It was the 'engineering wonder of the 20th century' when finally done. Four thousand immigrants crowded the slopes below the orchard to build the bed and tunnels. Many died in accidents, fights, murders. The raw lives and deaths of these men added another chapter to the Orchard story..."

[snip from this linked site]:http://altapassorchard.com/history.htm

And those are just a couple of examples. Another example might be the worker deaths of the Chinese workmen while building the Central Pacific.

And then we possibly are familiar with the statement that has appeared around these Forums from time to time that the Railroads Rules Bible (GCOR) is 'written in the blood of those who died on the railroads' (paraphrased).

 

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

tacitdreamer

[snipped - PDN] . . . It is my own hearsay, but I had thought the story was the workers had died when the cut they were digging collapsed, and the railroad chose not to recover the bodies. . . .

No, the cut is not that deep or so steep on the sides that it would have collapsed, unless they were really dumb about excavating it as a 'slot trench' instead of as a broad 'bench cut'.  See these approx. Lat./ Long. coords.: N 40.03691 W 75.53101

Some links to recent news articles about this:

http://articles.philly.com/2012-03-11/news/31145477_1_railroad-workers-researchers-philadelphia-columbia-railroad 

http://www.dailylocal.com/article/20120310/NEWS/120319953/-1/news/duffy-s-cut-workers-receive-proper-funeral 

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/46681172/ns/us_news-life/  (photo of old burial site)

- Paul North.