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Better Take Two Guns By Jack L Dickinson & Stamper Dickinson
Better Take Two Guns By Jack L Dickinson & Stamper Dickinson The N&W's Special agents (Railroad Detectives) and teir WV cases
Hard Cover
211 pages
Copyright 2008
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Foreword 1
Acknowledgments 2
Introduction 3
Responsibilities of the Railroad Special Agent 6
Beginning of Law on the Railroads 7
The Baldwin-Felts Era 11
The Cinder Dicks19
Investigate and Advise61
Boys Will be Boys99
The Coal Town of Vulcan113
Some Courthouse (& Other Interesting) Cases 121
Officer Down129
Bridge and Tunnel Guards137
Towns and Villages163
Appendix A: Roster of N&W Special Agents171
Appendix B: Legal Precedents172
Appendix C: Arrest Report Analysis 1938 - 1944 185
Endnotes 188
Bibliography 194
Index204
INTRODUCTION
Historically, railroads have meant prosperity and development to the areas in which they have chosen to lay track. They have also meant boom towns, tent villages, speculators, adventurers, women of questionable virtue, and highwaymen.
Called "Railroad Detectives," "Special Agents," or "Railroad Police" by respectable society, they were called "Bulls," "Dicks," or "Gumshoes" by the hoboes or tramps breaking into boxcars. Regardless of what they were called, their job was a dangerous one.
One of the most persistent images of the Depression era of the 1930's was the hobo. Hoboes were essentially migrant workers who attempted to jump freight trains and ride for free, hence the term "to hobo a train." They are differentiated from bums and tramps, who did not work. In 1934, there were estimated to be over 1,500,000 hoboes in the U.S.
Hoboes and tramps called the city police in most small towns the "town clowns." As a rule, these small-town policemen did not enforce or prevent trespassing on railroad property. The hoboes and tramps, however, had respect and fear for the "hard-nosed cinder dicks" who often adopted a "scare hell out of them" policy. In many cases the special agents raided hobo jungles and actively escorted vagrants and tramps off of railroad property.
By the end of World War II, there were approximately 9,000 railroad special agents throughout the U.S. and Canada. These agents represented about 400 railroads covering almost 250,000 miles of track. Today this number has dwindled to about 2,800 railroad police officers.
The impact of the efforts of the railroad police has been significant. Figures published by the Interstate Commerce Commission for 1920 show that claims paid out due to freight robberies had risen to a total of $12,726,947. By 1928, the amount of payments had fallen to $928,563, a net reduction in nine years of 92.7 percent. Certainly a large contributor to this decline was the hard work of the special agents. In 1930 on the Scioto and Pocahontas Divisions of the N&W alone, which span from Portsmouth to Bluefield, there were 667 arrests recorded by the special agents. These arrests amounted to over $11,000 in fines and 170 total years in jail sentences.
Today, the nature of crime on and against the railroads has changed drastically from that of the early twentieth century. Juvenile crimes against the railroad have almost disappeared, as compared to the first half of the twentieth century. But some of the new problems are very different. One of the new problems for the railroad police is graffiti on railroad rolling stock. After the attacks of 9/11 terrorism threats targeting the railroads have to be investigated immediately and thoroughly. Also today the theft of copper is a frequent crime. In the summer of 2008, the riding of 4-wheelers or ATV's on the railroad tracks in southern West Virginia became such a problem that Norfolk-Southern developed a safety course for schools to discourage this dangerous practice. But some things do not change, and just like a century ago, boxcar theft still remains a problem.
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