Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1881-07-14
Origin Of the Railroad BelI.Rope.

origin or the Railroad BelI-Rope.
In the early days Of the railroad in
this country the locomotive engineer
was the master OF the train. He ran il
according to his Judgment, and the con-
ductor had very little voice in the mat
ter. Collecting fares, experimenting
the loading and unloading Of freight,
and shouting "All aboard" were all
that the conductor WAS expected 10 do.
The Erie railway was then the New
York and Erie railroad. There WA no
railroad connection with Jersey City in
1912. Boats carried paysengcrs from
New York TO Piermont-on-t the. Hudson.
which was then the eastern terminus Of
the road. Turner'S, forty-seven miles
from New York, was as far west as the
railroad was in operation. One Of the
pioneer conductors Of this line was the
late Captain Ayres. He ran the only
train then called for between the two
terminal points. 1t was made up of
freight and passenger cars. The idea
OF the engineer, without any knowledge
OF what Was going on back OF the loco
motive, having his way as how the train
was TO be run, did not strike the cap
tain as being according to the propriety
OF things. He frequently encountered
fractions passenger who insisted on
riding without paying his fare. As
there was no way Of signaling the en-
gineer, and the passenger could not be
thrown from the train while ii was in
motion, the conductor in such cases had
no choice but TO let him ride until
regular stop was made. Captain Ayres
finally determined to institute a new
system in the running Of trains. He
procured a stout twine, sufficiently
long to reach from the locomotive
to the rear car. To the end Of
this string next the engineer he fastened
Il stick Of wood. He ran this cord back
over the cars 10 the last one. He in
formed the engineer, who was a Ger
man, named Abe Hammel, that if he
desired 20 have the train stopped he
would pull the string and raise the
stick, and would expect the signal TO be
obeyed. Hammil looked upon this in
uovation as direct blow al his au-
thority, and when the train left Pier
mont he cut the stick loose. At Tur
ncrs he told Captain Ayres that he pro.
posed to run the train himself, without
interference, from any conductor. The
next day the captain riRged up his
string and stick Of wood again.
abe" said he, "this things got to
( be settled one way or the other to-day.
II that stick OF wood is not on the end
Of this cord when We get to Turner'S
you've got TO lick me or I'll lick you"
The stick was not on the string when
( the train reached Turner's. The cap
tain pulled off his coat, and told Hammil
10 get of his engine. Hammil declined
to get off. Captain Ayres climbed TO
the engineers place. Hammil started
10 Jump off on the opposite side. The
conductor hit him under the ear, and
saved him the trouble Of jumping. That
settled forever the question of authority
I on railroad trains. Hammil abdicated
as autocrat of the pioneer Erie train,
and the twine and stick Of wood manip-
ulatcd by the conductor, controlled its
management. That was the origin OF
the bell rope, now one OF the most i'm
/ portaut attachments of railroad trains.
The idea was quickly adopted by the
few roads then in operation, and the
bell or gong in time took the
place Of the stick of wood to signal the
engineer. Captain Ayres continued
conductor on this road under its differ
ent managers until he WIS superannu-
ated and retired on pension n yesr ago.
He died a few months ago in oEego, N
Y, at the age of seventy eight years.