William Franklin Manuel
railroad night watchman · active 1917–1920
Black night watchman for the Baltimore, Chesapeake and Atlantic Railway at Ocean City, where the line terminated downtown. His 1917 draft registration names the job and the employer; the 1920 census finds him still in it.
In the record (1)
1917
William Franklin Manuel registers for the draft as a night watchman for the BC&A — the railway that was Ocean City's way in.
Manuel's 1917 draft registration records him working at Ocean City as a night watchman for the Baltimore, Chesapeake and Atlantic Railway, whose line ran into downtown; the 1920 census finds him still in the job three years later. A railway watchman kept watch for oncoming trains and, depending on the post, kept the line clear, worked gates and inspected cars. The BC&A carried Ocean City's visitors for more than fifty years, and in 1911 had been sued by the Black Baltimore attorney W. Ashbie Hawkins over the Jim Crow conditions on its bay steamers.
Unverified — sourced but not confirmed against a primary record.
Baltimore, Chesapeake & Atlantic Railway
Source · checked 2026-08-11