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John Luther "Casey" Jones (March 14, 1864-April 30, 1900) was a locomotive engineer who worked for the Illinois Central Railroad (IC). In 1900 he was killed when his locomotive collided with another train. His climactic death made him a folksong hero beginning with a song written by Wallace Sanders who was an engine wiper for the IC.
Beginnings
As a boy growing up in Cayce, Kentucky (which is pronounced "Casey"), Johnathan Luther "Casey" Jones had an obsession with trains. In 1878, at the age of 15, he went to work for the Mobile and Ohio Railroad as an apprentice telegrapher. By 1890, "Casey" had reached the pinnacle of the railroad profession as a crack locomotive engineer on the Illinois Central line. The railroad sent him to Jackson, Tenn., where he met and married Janie Brady, bought a house, and set about raising a family. Railroading was a natural talent, and Casey Jones was recognized by his peers as one of the best in the business.
Death
In 1899, Jones was given a regular passenger run on the Cannonball route which ran between Chicago and New Orleans. On April 29, 1900 Jones was in Memphis, Tennessee from the northbound Cannonball when he agreed to take the southbound Cannonball because the scheduled engineer called in sick. He left Memphis at 12:50 am, 95 minutes behind schedule, but made up almost an hour between Memphis and Grenada, Mississippi nearly 100 miles away. By Durant, 55 miles farther down, they were almost on time.
At Durant, Jones received orders to "saw by" two freights that had taken the siding in Vaughan. The two freights were too large to fit into the siding, leaving one end on the main line. If the "sawing" maneuver had been done correctly, the freights would have allowed the approaching train to pass the first switch, and then the trains on the siding would moved past the other switch. However, an air hose on one of the freight trains burst, applying the brakes on the freight cars behind the break, and left them immobile on the main line. Meanwhile, Jones was travelling excessively fast, possibly up to 70 miles per hour, and did not have enough time to brake. When collision seemed imminent, his fireman, Simm Webb, jumped, but Jones rode the engine into the cars and was killed. It is believed that because Jones stayed to slow the train, he saved the passengers from injury and possible death. Popular legend holds that when Jones' body was pulled from the wreckage of his train his hands were still firmly latched onto the throttle and brake.
Jones as folk hero in art
- Jones' picture appeared on a 1950 United States postage stamp honoring railroad engineers.
- In the AC/DC song What's Next to the Moon, a railroad engineer is mentioned to be "dreaming about Casey Jones".
- Joe Hill used Jones as an anti-hero in his parody song "Casey Jones, the Union Scab", later sung by Harry McClintock and Utah Phillips, among others.
- The Grateful Dead used Jones as a metaphor for reckless behavior in the song titled "Casey Jones".
- There are several other versions of the tale of Casey Jones recorded into song, including not only the original song credited to Saunders, but also a version entitled "The Ballad of Casey Jones" written by Mississippi John Hurt, and performed by, among others the Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band and the David Nelson Band. Folk artist Dave Van Ronk has a song entitled "Casey Jones" on the album 'Somebody Else, Not Me'.
- An American TV series named Casey Jones, loosely based on his life, was made in 1958 starring Alan Hale Jr., with many subsequent re-runs.
- An episode of the animated series, the Real Ghostbusters features the ghost of Casey Jones trying to prevent a railway accident
- The stationmaster in the American television series Shining Time Station, was named Stacy Jones in a tip of the hat to the folklore legend.
- In 1946, the Delmore Brothers, a country duo from Elkmont AL, wrote and recorded 'Freight Train Boogie', a song about Casey Jones.
- Allan Sherman used the tune as a basis for one of his many early ethnic Jewish songs, this one called "J.C. Cohen".
- On March 3 1950, Disney Studios released a short cartoon titled The Brave Engineer about Casey Jones.
- In 2003 a hardcore Straight Edge band was formed, its name is Casey Jones.
- The comic strip "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" the name Casey Jones is use for the vigilante hero.
- The nom de guerre Casey Jones was given to the leader of "trains" enemy of MiG-15s taking off from the Chinese side of the Yalu River in the Korean War movie The Hunters
External links
1864 births | 1900 deaths | American folklore | Important people in rail transport
"Casey Jones"