Special Agent Ralph Taylor

Ralph Taylor, a special agent with the Union Pacific Railroad Police Department, was excited about his job transfer a week earlier to the Albina railroad yards in Portland, Oregon. It was Friday the 13th of October, 1933, and he had just enough time to finish a letter to his wife, Ola, before going to work that night. He told his wife, who had stayed behind in Walula, Oregon, that he had found the perfect place for them to live. He gave her directions in the letter and expected to see her and his son, Phil, in the next few days.

Tragically, though, that day would never come. At about 3 a.m. in the morning on Saturday, October 14, Special Agent Taylor fell on the tracks and was run over by two runaway oil tank railcars. One leg was severed and the other was so badly injured that it had to be amputated. Four hours after the accident, he died.

Special Agent Taylor's death is just one example of the unique dangers that railroad police officers have faced over the past century and a half. In fact, there are 59 names of railway officers inscribed on the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C. Of these 59 officers, 44 of them were shot to death, seven were struck and killed by trains; three were stabbed to death; two were killed in automobile accidents; one was beaten to death; one fell to his death; and another was struck and killed by an automobile.

To understand the nature of their job, it is necessary to know the history of railroads in the United States. The openings of the first railroads in Maryland and North Carolina during the first half of the 19th century marked the real beginning of the railroad era in America. By 1850 there were more than 9,000 miles of railroad on the eastern side of the Mississippi River. In 185l, the westward expansion of the railroad accelerated at a rapid pace and changed the face of the American landscape. By 1860, there were more than 30,000 miles of railroad in the country.

With the discovery of gold in Colorado, Nevada and California, people flocked to the west in huge numbers. Boomtowns were formed along the railroads and a mining frontier was created. There was little in the way of law and order out west, other than the U.S. Army, but policing was not their specialty and the outbreak of the Civil War and Indian warfare stretched their resources. Western towns organized vigilance committees in an attempt to enforce the law, but they proved insufficient.

Well-organized outlaw gangs took advantage of the situation and soon began preying on the railroads. Among the more famous of these outlaws were the "Hole in the Wall Gang," led by Robert Leroy Parker (a.k.a. Butch Cassidy) and Harry Longbaugh (a.k.a. The Sundance Kid), and the "James Gang," led by the two infamous brothers, Jessie and Frank James. Frank Dalton, a highly respected Deputy U.S. Marshal, was shot and killed while making an arrest in November 1887. Ironically, four years later, his brothers formed the notorious Dalton Gang and made their mark robbing trains. The railway passengers and freight became easy pickings for these outlaws.

Deputy Marshal Frank Dalton

Matters only became worse after the Civil War when thousands of unemployed soldiers migrated to the rail yards and rail cars. Commonly known as "hobos," they sustained themselves by looting and robbing. Hobos proved to be especially dangerous to police. Roderick D. Gordon, a patrolman with the Western Pacific Railroad Police, was stabbed 29 times by a hobo he found sleeping on a railroad car on September 8, 1935. At least three other officers were also killed by hobos.

Railroad companies were basically left to protect themselves and began hiring their own police officers. In the east, the term, "detective," was commonly used for these officers. The western railroads, however, called their police officers "Special Agents" because their job was to protect the railroad agencies that developed along the rail lines, and the business agents who managed the offices. According to Steve Hanes, Director of the Norfolk Southern Railway Police, it was the railway police who coined the term, special agent, and it has been adopted by most federal law enforcement agencies today. Among the most famous of the early railroad special agents were Bat Masterson and Allen Pinkerton.

The number of railroad police officers peaked around World War II when there were approximately 9,000 serving in the U.S. and Canada. Today, there are fewer than 2,300 railway police officers serving in North America. Most of these officers receive their law enforcement powers from the state in which they work and reside, but they are "authorized to enforce the laws of any jurisdiction in which the rail carrier owns property."

The first two railroad police officers known to have died in the line of duty were Special Agents Henry Vincent and Robert Widdowfield of the Union Pacific Railroad Police Department. On August 19, 1878, these two officers were both shot and killed while attempting to arrest a band of train robbers known as the "Big Nose" George Parrott gang.

In the early part of the 20th century, railroad labor unrest was also a deadly threat to police. One grim example occurred on December 11, 1912, when some 200 striking coal handlers rioted in Shadyside, New Jersey. As a group of Erie Railroad Police Officers attempted to protect company property, gunfire erupted and the rioters charged the police. During the melee Erie Railroad Police Captain Andrew J. Craw was shot repeatedly in the head with a revolver. Police Officer Thomas Mallory was shot through his neck and hands by a load of buckshot. Both died a short while later and nine other officers were injured.

Detective Duane Winkelman

Another shooting death involved Detective Duane D. Winkelman of the Illinois Central Railroad Police Department. On December 28, 1972, Detective Winkelman and a co-worker were conducting a routine check of the rail yards in East St. Louis, Illinois, when they spotted a group of men robbing a loaded boxcar. Detective Winkelman was shot and killed by a shotgun blast to the chest as he chased the fleeing suspects.

Detective Winkelman is one of 10 railroad police officers who were killed in the line of duty after World War II. The others include: Union Pacific Railroad Special Agent Gerald A. Schuett (1968); Chicago & North Western Railroad Police Officer Glen R. Bright (1973); Illinois Central Railroad Special Agent Richard J. Saba (1974); Illinois Central Railroad Special Agent James M. Bostick (1975); Union Pacific Railroad Special Agent Dean L. McLaughlin (1977); Union Pacific Railroad Special Agent Larry E. Boles (1977); Chicago & North Western Railroad Police Officer Charles L. Moeller (1979); Union Pacific Railroad Special Agent Kevin P. Hogan (1991); and Norfolk Southern Railroad Special Agent Larry E. Jordan (1997).