Topic ID #8409 - posted 8/22/2010 4:11 AM
Jennifer Palmer
Webmaster
At likely 1832 mass grave in Pa., unearthed bones show murder of Irish immigrant rail workers
Jennifer Palmer
Webmaster
At likely 1832 mass grave in Pa., unearthed bones show murder of Irish immigrant rail workers
KATHY MATHESON Associated Press Writer
5:24 AM CDT, August 16, 2010
MALVERN, Pa. (AP) — 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?
Two skulls unearthed at a probable mass grave near Philadelphia this month showed signs of violence, including a possible bullet hole. Another pair of skulls found earlier at the woodsy site also displayed traumas, seeming to confirm the suspicions of two historians leading the archaeological dig.
"This was much more than a cholera epidemic," William Watson said.
Watson, chairman of the history department at nearby Immaculata University, and his twin brother Frank have been working for nearly a decade to unravel the 178-year-old mystery.
Anti-Irish sentiment made 19th-century America a hostile place for the workers, who lived amid wilderness in a shanty near the railroad tracks. The land is now preserved open space behind suburban homes in Malvern, about 20 miles west of Philadelphia.
Read the rest of the article here.
KATHY MATHESON Associated Press Writer
5:24 AM CDT, August 16, 2010
MALVERN, Pa. (AP) — 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?
Two skulls unearthed at a probable mass grave near Philadelphia this month showed signs of violence, including a possible bullet hole. Another pair of skulls found earlier at the woodsy site also displayed traumas, seeming to confirm the suspicions of two historians leading the archaeological dig.
"This was much more than a cholera epidemic," William Watson said.
Watson, chairman of the history department at nearby Immaculata University, and his twin brother Frank have been working for nearly a decade to unravel the 178-year-old mystery.
Anti-Irish sentiment made 19th-century America a hostile place for the workers, who lived amid wilderness in a shanty near the railroad tracks. The land is now preserved open space behind suburban homes in Malvern, about 20 miles west of Philadelphia.
Read the rest of the article here.
Post ID#18054 - replied 8/23/2010 10:15 AM
FireArch
Moderator
Never having had cholera I have no idea what that disease does to one's body and mental state, but bullet holes to the brain box also could have been self-inflicted or assisted to ease one's suffering....
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