The Father, The Son, and the Railroad Ghost is the bittersweet epoch saga of three generations of cops beginning with the career of T.J. (Pappy Tom) Starrett, an ex-Virginia State Trooper and Game Warden torn between a brain tumor and the stigmas of leaving the state police and an accidental gunshot wound.

Continuing the saga is T.J.’s second son Dan, a Virginia law enforcement officer and correctional officer. After seven years of research Dan uncovers the mystery surrounding his grandfather Walter B. Starrett’s line of duty death. Walter was killed in a running gun battle on Christmas Eve of 1917 while a detective for the B&O Railroad Police Department in Mitchell, IN.

Dan must live with the stigmas of an illicit love affair and his struggles to place his grandfather’s name on the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Written in cop talk, The Father, the Son, and the Railroad Ghost involves life, death, murder, and adultery topped off with a startling revelation-- and an ultimate triumph.

Dan Starrett, a native Virginian, his wife Faye and dog Muffin make their home in Reidsville, NC. Dan has been involved in police and corrections work since 1969. He has traveled extensively throughout the country obtaining documentation and story line for this book and perhaps another one about his life in corrections.

Dan has worked in nine separate institutions and four state governments: Virginia, Montana, South Carolina, and North Carolina Department of Corrections consisting of maximum and minimum custody levels. He has also been a police officer for six years. He is the third generation of law enforcement in the Starrett family.

Dan is presently working for the City of Martinsville, VA Sheriff’s Office as a deputy. Dan and his wife Faye are members of the East Side Baptist Church in Reidsville, NC.

WINCHESTER’S FIGHTIN’ COP

The early years were filled with joy maybe not as much for my mother but for my father. Tom Starrett loved being a cop. If he had ever claimed marital bliss before it was the fact of "being married to his job." It was on December l0 of l939 that Tom obtained a job through an answered ad in the WINCHESTER EVENING STAR. Fred Nelson, his boss, told Tom he ought to apply for it as it could pay a whole lot more than what he paid him. Fred was the daddy that Tom never had so he took his fatherly advise and applied.

At the time of the application, there was a man named Hollis or "Chief Hollis" as he was affectionately called by my father, was very interested in giving this young man an interview. Chief Hollis had been a policeman in Maryland at the time my grandfather Walter B was a police officer in Sparrows Point, MD and knew first hand, having known Walter, the potential of Walter B’s young son, Tom. Chief Hollis worked with Tom who only had a sixth grade education but had had the build, the height, and that unwavering look in you eye type look that would play an important part in the author’s ability of getting out of a "buttkickin." Three generations have had that inherent look or "stare" and as evidenced by Chief Hollis, he hired young Tom the "ticking time bomb" on those attributes.

Tom and Virginia had rented a house on Shawnee Avenue from Fred Nelson and started their life together with $l25.00 per month salary on the Winchester Police Dept. The following stories related by the author were related to me by my father many times over leaving me to wonder how in the world could one man become involved in so much activity and still maintain a marriage, career, and boxing club activities. It was not until later years that I realized after I became a policeman how he did it. Most of it can be summed up in one word of enjoyment, "nooners."

Throughout his career and tenure especially Winchester, Tom Starrett was dubbed "Winchester’s Fightin’ Cop." He had started a boxing club at Sarah Zane Fire Station and used to organize and promote boxing events staged by different age groups and weight divisions. However, this was not the only way he obtained or entertained notoriety.