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The 32 Caliber Secret Service
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Posted to History of the Peavine Railroad Facebook Group By Chad Fannin, January 30, 2020. Description from post.
The 32 caliber Secret Service
Railroads from the beginning were meant to do one thing, get goods or passengers from one place to another and hopefully in a timely fashion. For the most part, this is exactly what happened, except for a very small fraction of something else being transported. Hobos, bums, transits, drifters or sometimes just guys down on their luck, with no money trying to get somewhere. They would hide on trains riding as far as they could without getting caught. The railroad frowned upon this and enforced that all employees and crews address bums by putting them off or informing the railroad police so they could be arrested. Most crews followed the rules, but sometimes a blind eye was turned and the hobo was left alone to travel his journey. Probably one of the busiest times for hoboing, was during the Great Depression of the early 1930’s. Many folks couldn’t afford anything and traveled around by train looking for work and hoping the railroad crew would let them ride if they got caught. Sometimes they would just ask for permission and were allowed to ride.
In early 1950, my grandfather, Ed Fannin, was called from his layover at Clare yard. He was assigned to be head brakeman on a freight departing on a bitterly cold February evening heading east on the Peavine to Portsmouth. During the steam era, a lot of the N&W freight locomotives had what was called, “the dog house” built on top of their tenders. This was meant for the head brakeman to ride in facing the rear of the train so he could keep a eye on things. It was a small metal cab with windows and a door, just barely big enough for one man to sit in. In cold weather it was heated by a single steam pipe that ran along the floor and had a valve you could open or close in order to regulate the temperature. Papaw said it had 2 temperatures, cold or blazing hot, you couldn’t find a comfortable temperature. That evening, after he spoke with his crew about the trip, he climbed upon the tender to get into the dog house. When he opened the door, he was startled to find a man sitting in the seat with the steam valve already turned on and heating it up. He abruptly asked, “Who are you? What are you doing here?” The man quickly explained that he had no money and had received word that his mother was very ill and he was trying to get home to see her. I can only imagine that this wasn’t the first time Papaw or any other railroad man decided to let a bum get a free ride, especially on a frigid night like it was. As he sat in the seat, their was no room between them; truly packed in like sardines sitting together for the next several hours of the trip. After plenty of small talk between them, things got quiet then the man started moving around. He reached into his jacket and pulled out a chrome revolver without any warning whatsoever and pointed it into the air. Papaw, years later said, “I thought I was goner and that’s not a good feeling!” The man told him that the gun once belonged to his father and it was the only thing he had left of his. He said, “I have no money and need to sell it, if you’re interested in buying it.” Without any hesitation, Papaw said, “I’ll take it. How much? All I have is 20 dollars”. He said, “Then I guess 20 dollars will buy it.” Papaw quickly got the money out and put the gun safely in his jacket. He really didn’t want to buy it but was afraid not to. They parted ways upon arrival to Portsmouth yard and he never saw the man again.
Here is a photo that’s from the 1950’s taken by photographer, Bob Durnell who took lots of N&W photos during that era. It’s of Ed Fannin climbing into a dog house at Clare yard.
The pictured gun is of the very .32 Secret Service revolver that was bought that night, still in our family’s possessions 70 years later.
If your able to load the video it is of a song written by Glen Simpson from Williamson West Virginia. The song called “Hobo Joe” relates closely to the story of the revolver. Glen is a folk singer, player and writer who worked for he N&W in Williamson. Many years back he put out a CD out called “4th Generation Railroader”. It has all railroad songs related to the N&W and the Williamson yard on it. Great stuff!!
Chad Fannin
1-30-20
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Location:
unknown
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Date: 1/1/1955
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Source:
Chad Fannin Personal Collection
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Photo ID: 2119
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Photo Link:
Click Here To See Original
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Categories:
Peavine Documents |
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