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More bodies discovered at Irish mass grave in Duffy's Cut

'We want to return these poor men home,' says historian

By
Kelly Fincham and Lauren Carroll,
IrishCentral.com
Published Monday, August 3, 2009, 3:03 PM
Updated Monday, August 3, 2009, 3:26 PM

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The memorial plaque which was put up in 2004
The memorial plaque which was put up in 2004


The bodies of 57 Irish immigrants who were left for dead in an unmarked mass grave outside Philadelphia may finally be buried in Ireland.

“We hope to find every piece of these men's history, recover it and return them home," said Lutheran pastor Frank Watson working on the mass grave known as Duffy's Cut.

Watson has been working with his brother William and a team of archeologists at Duffy's Cut in Malvern, PA, to try and discover what happened to the men in 1832.

The Watsons first found the remains of a man they believe to be John Ruddy in March. And just last week, they found the remains of two more bodies at the site, and the findings are ominous.

"We can tell they dumped the bodies," said Watson, "the men were buried hastily, their bodies weren't treated with respect."

Speaking to IrishCentral.com, Frank Watson said: “We found the second and third man buried with intact upper leg bone...it’s an amazing find.”

“We found the men buried, but oriented different in the grave. A typical burial has the head facing west and the feet facing east, the other body was the head facing east and the body facing west. From this we can tell they dumped the bodies."
 
“We’ve found the remains of the three bodies with traces of clothing and buckles from belts and shoes.
 
“This is telling us that men were buried hastily. The bodies weren’t treated with respect.”
 
The three immigrants were part of a group, many in their late teens and early 20s, who came from counties Derry, Tyrone and Donegal.

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