Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1907-10-09
GENESIS OF BELL ROPE.
Combat that Settled Conductors SUI
premacy Over Engineer.

premacy Over Engineer.
Although there does not seem to
be anything In common between pu-
giifsm anu railroad rules, yet the ad-
option of the familiar bell rope that
stretches through every car of the
modern train was the result OF
fistfe encounter. AT, !, the same time
and by the issue of the same combat.
says the Philadelphia Public Led ger.
the supremacy of the conductor In
railroad travel was ordained. 1t was
wo tld. :. @ ~
oue or the Oldest railroads In the
Icountry is the Philadelphia. Wiimirass
ton and Baltimore, now known as
the Philadelphia, Baltimore and
Washington, which was opened iu
1887. The first schedule contained
one passenger train, which went to
baltimore one day and came back
the next, which was considered re-
markable feat In rapid travel. When
train day each way was placed In
service the people of the two cities
served concluded that the acme lof
convenience In transportation had
been reached.
Next to the president of the rail-
road the most important functions
ries were the engineer and conduc.
toI. " was q question whether or
not the head of the line was consid.
cred a subsidiary official in popniar
destination to the men who ran the
train; but Robert Fogg, who pulled
the throttle, and John Wolf, who col.
lected fares, won the Difference OF
the public because of their high and
Irresponsible duties.
Fogs, an Englishman, had all the
tenacity Of Dopirion of his race.
Wolf, an American, had the inge.
nuity of the Yankee, and seeing the
need OF some method by which he
coui. communicate with the engi-
neer, devised a scheme of running a
cord through the cars to the locomo-
tive. AS the engine was wood bur-
ner, Wolf fastened one end OF the
cord to log, which was placed on
the engineers seat and was pulled to
the floor when the conductor desired
to signal for q stop.
Fogg resented what he considered
an interference with his rights on
the platform of the engine, and on
the hrst run out with the new device
paid no heed to the displacement of
the log from the seat when the con-
ductor desired to take on q passen-
ger from farm near Gray's Ferry.
but sped on over the bridge and did
not deign to bring the engine to q
stop until Blue Bell station, on the
south side Of the SchuylkilI, had been
reached Then he demanded to know
of Wolf why he had been Jerking
that log all about the locomotive.
Wolf hotly declared that he had
signailed to stop, but Fogg retorted
tnat ne would stop when and where
ne pleased, and that, too, without
any reference to orders from the con-
ductor, whom he did not regard as
his superior in the management of
the train. The alteration grew very
heated, and Wolf invited the engi-,
neer from his cab to settle the mat
ter, and the challenge was quickly
accepted. lI1i = -
Passengers and group of men
who had gathered at the station to
see the train come IN formed a ring
ABOUT the combatants, but the fight
did not last long, as Wolf proved by
Tar the superior artist with his fists.
and with a few blows made 1t almost
impossible for the engineer to see
suficfently to complete his run; but
Fogg admitted that he had been fair
!" beaten, and the supremacy of the
conductor on a railroad train was
settled.
AS the log signal was crude and In
enectfve, Wolf devised the use of a
bell on the locomotive, and this me-
thod was soon adopted by all OF the
American railroads. Then q code of
signals was adopted, and these re-
main practically to this day. The
only change in the bell cord ia that
by use OF the air from the brake sys-
tenn whistle has superseded the bell
In the locomotive cab. tU =