Come and meet Shadow at The Downtown History Walk next Saturday. The pup has a great story to tell and it is true, a wonderful part of Meridian History.

 

Shadow was a puppy found many years ago inside a box tucked into an empty railcar. Someone didn’t want him and tried to throw him away, but it didn’t work.

 

Today we would call him a rescue, because you see he was rescued.

 

This all happened in the late 1920s. And the people who rescued him were railroad workers. One morning the men came to work and heard a whimper. Upon searching the area, the pup was found. He was starved and desperate for water.

 

Now if you know your history, you will remember the 1920s as terrible times. It was the Great Depression, and these railroad workers were thankful for their jobs, however money was still tight.

 

But with a benevolent heart, the men fed the little dog out of their lunchboxes. Bite by bite the puppy regained his health and actually became a member of the Mobile and Ohio team. The men took him in as an orphan dog, but he did so much more than they ever expected. They named him Shadow.

 

Someone described a typical working day for Shadow:

 

He could hear a train coming in when it was miles away. He would wake up and get ready to inspect the train. That little dog would go with the car inspector. Because his hearing was so much better, he could detect a leak in a line three or four cars ahead.

 

He lived in the railroad workers’ headquarters during the day. But at night he would roam the yard, sniffing and eyeing anything suspicious. Shadow was on duty day and night. The pup was well respected, because you see Shadow was never wrong.

 

When the pup detected a leak, he ran ahead to sit by said detected leak and barked until he was noticed. One of his fellow workers said, “…the dog’s work was vital as pressure in the brake lines would stop a train.”

 

After several years, Shadow’s photo was framed and hanged in the workers’ headquarters, and next to it was a vet bill which stated, “Received of the men of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, Sixteen Dollars … hospital bill for Shadow, Dr. Jenkins.”

 

Oh my, the poor little puppy had taken a snooze close to the tracks when a switch engine whizzed by and removed the end part of his tail, thus the doctor bill.

 

But he quickly recovered and began his self-appointed duties immediately after returning home (his home, the railroad workers’ headquarters) from the hospital.

 

And it was noted that Shadow didn’t sue the railroad after his accident — nice dog.

 

But as he aged, Shadow lost his acute hearing and eyesight. So, it was in 1938 when Shadow met his demise. A train ran over him.

 

The railroad workers who loved him (and who didn’t?) held a funeral and there were a lot of tears but even more stories about the brave little dog.

 

Yes, you must come and meet Shadow. He will be at Dumont Plaza and is portrayed by Buddy, the Wonder Dog. He is the Boss at Zane Royal’s house.

 

 

 

Anne B. McKee is executive director at The Railroad Museum. See her website annemckeestoryteller.com.