The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1907-07-05
WON BY CONDUCTOR
FlSTic CONTEST cETTLED 81.
PaEnAcY QUESTION.
incident Of the Early Days OF Rail
reading That Led to the &dop-
ton Of tire Nov Familiar
Bell Rope.

Although there does not seem Il
be anything In common between
puallism and railroad rules, yet the
adoption Of the familiar bell rope that
stretches through every care Of the
modern train vas the result Of a
hstic encounter. At the same time
and b. the issue OF the same combat
the supremacy Of the conductor In
railroad travel was ordained Il was
Philadelphia which gave both to the
world
One Of the oldest railroads In the
country is the Philadelphia. Whining
ton d Baltimore, no# known as the
Philadelphia, Baltimore 4 Washing
ton, which was opened in 1887, says
the Philadelphia Ledger. The termi-
nus in this city was al Broad aud
Prime strects-Prme street uuw be-
ing known a. Washington avenue
and after crossing the SchuyikiI river
az Graya Ferry the route led along
The Delaware river on what is now
the Chester line Of the Reading rail-
way. The first schedule contained
one passenger train. which went TO
BALTIMORE y day and came back the
next, which was considered a remark
able feat In rapid travel. When a
train a day each day was placed In
service the people OF the two cities
served concluded that the acme of
convenience In transportation had
been reached.
Genesis Of the Bell Rope.
Next to the president Of the rail.
road the most important functionarles
were the engineer aud conductor. II
was a question whether or not the
head OF the line was not considered a
subsidiary Official in popular estima.
ton to the men who ran the train;
but Robert Fogg, who pulled the throt.
tie, and John Wolf, who collected
fares, won the Difference Of the pub.
lie because Of their high and responsi.
Bile duties,
Fogg, an Englishman, had all Of the
tenacity Of opinion OF his race: Wolf,
an American, had TIE ingenuity OF the
Yankee. and seeing the need Of some
method by which he could communi.
cate with the engineer, devised the
scheme OF running a cord through the
cars to the locomotive. As the en-
Bine was a wood burner, Wolf
fastened II end of the cord to a log,
which was placed on the engineers
seat and was pulled to the floor when
the conductor desired to signal for a
stop.
Decisive Fight at Blue Bell.
Fogg resented what he considered
interference with his rights on the
platform Of the locomotive, and on
the first run out from Broad and
Prime streets with the new device
paid no heed to the displacement Of
the log from the sea- when the con
dnctor desired to take on a passenger
from a farm near Gray's Ferry, but
sped on over the bridge and did not
delgn to bring his engine to a stop
until Blue Bell station, on the south
side of the Schuykill, had been
Then he demanded to know
Of Wolf why he had been jerking that
log all about the locomotive.
Wolf hotly declared that he had
to stop, but Fogg retorted
that he would stop when and where
pleased. and that, too, without any
reference to orders from the conduc.
whom he did not regard as his
superior In the management of the
The alteration grew very
heated, and Wolf invited the engineer
the cab to settle the matter. and
he challenge vas quickly accepted.
Supremacy Settled for All Time.
Passengers and a group of men who
had gathered at the station to see
he train come In, formed a ring
lbout the ~combatants, but the fight
lid not last long, as Wolf proved by
ar the superior artist with his fists.
md with a few blows made il almost
impossible for the engineer to see
sufficiently to complete his run; but
Fogg admitted that he had been fair.
y beaten, and the supremacy of the
conductor on q railroad train was set.
led for all time.
As the log signal was crude and In.
affective, Wolf devised the use of a
,ell on the locomotive, and this meth.
ID was o % adopted by all of the
American railroads. Then a code of
was adopted, and these remain
practically to this day. The only
in the bell cord is that by use
If the air from the brake system a
whistle has superseded the bell In the