The medical examiner’s office is testing human remains uncovered at a construction site adjacent to St. James Chapel in Charlestown. The property once belonged to a notorious rumrunner, Danny Walsh, who disappeared in 1933.
Local historians say there are two theories about what happened to Walsh, who was last seen leaving a meeting with associates at a Pawtuxet restaurant. One theory is that he was killed, either by the mafia or a rival, and pushed over the side of a boat in “cement slippers.”
“The local lore, because no one ever figured out what happened, was that he had a big rock tied to him and got sent over the side of a boat out to sea,” said Pam Lyons, president of the Charlestown Historical Society.
But there’s another theory that Walsh was buried on the horse farm he owned on the border of Charlestown and South Kingstown. Part of that property is where human remains were unearthed during a construction project. Authorities are now working to determine whether the remains might be Walsh himself.
Born to Cumberland mill workers, Walsh worked, at one time, as a clerk in a Pawtucket hardware store. He later became a bootlegger, working his way through the ranks first as a driver, according to the South County History Center.
Bootlegging made Walsh a wealthy man, allowing him to purchase the property in South County. A 1930 census listed the home value at $15,000 and Walsh’s occupation as “horse breeder.”
“We have one member whose older brother worked for Walsh in the 30’s,” said Lyons, of the Charlestown Historical Society. “And said that Mr. Walsh had seven very beautiful, expensive cars he kept on that property. One for every day of the week was the joke.”
Of course locals knew Walsh was a rumrunner, a trade that flourished in Rhode Island during prohibition — the state was known to be lax in its support for and enforcement of prohibition laws.
