Southern Railway Police

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Dear Sirs:

We went to the museum in Spencer, NC this weekend hoping to talk to someone about the chief Southern Railway policeman who was the subject of an exhibit at the museum about 8 years ago. When my sons were small (1970) we went to see a collection of toy trains advertised for sale by an old man (he was at least 70 years old) in Asheville. He had an antique Southern Railway bell in his back yard and that led to a conversation about where he had worked. He told us he was the "chief railroad dick" for the Southern Railway when he retired.

At one point when we had paid for the toy trains he sold to us, he stated that the boys had been really good and he wanted to give them a present. He gave us four (4) 8 1/2" X 11" prints of what appear to be stylized prints of Southern Railway engines. They are framed under glass. We have them hung in our home now and wanted to consider reframing them in better frames. We wondered if anyone knew anything about their origin and whether we are damaging their value by changing the frame.

In addition, we would like to know the man's name and what has happened to him since that very pleasant visit with him 30 years ago. A fun footnote to our visit was him saying he would walk out of the house with us as he had a "date" that evening. He went to a hutch in the dining room, got out a 38 caliber pistol and put it in his pocket. I questioned him and he noted that there were still a lot of people who hated him for his tough actions when he caught someone riding the rails. He carried the pistol with him everywhere, even on a date.

He was a very nice man and any history of him or the pictures would be appreciated.

Sincerely,

Wayne T. Peterson

-- Wayne T. Peterson (peterson@pipeline.com), April 24, 2000

Answers

Could that have been "Captain" Brown?

-- Albert Pope (aepope@att.net), April 25, 2000.

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