Casey Jones

File:CaseyJones.jpg

Portrait of "The Brave Engineer" himself: John Luther "Casey" Jones, 1863-1900.

"Casey" Jones as depicted on a 3 cent postage stamp issued by the United States Postal Service.

Marker in Memphis, Tennessee commemorating Casey Jones

Template:Otherpeople1 John Luther "Casey" Jones (March 14, 1863 – April 30, 1900) was an American railroad engineer from Jackson, Tennessee who worked for the Illinois Central Railroad (IC). In 1900 he alone was killed when his locomotive collided with a stopped freight train at Vaughan, Mississippi, on a foggy and rainy night. His heroic death trying to stop his train and save lives made him a railroad icon who became immortalized in a popular ballad sung by his friend Wallace Saunders, an African American engine wiper for the IC.

Youth and career

John Luther "Casey" Jones was born March 14, 1863 in southeast Missouri to country school teacher Frank Jones and his wife Anne. His exact place of birth is unknown. He was the first of five children. In 1876 his family moved to the small community of Cayce, Kentucky, which is how he eventually got his nickname. As a boy he developed a growing obsession with trains from hanging around the bustling train depot there. In 1878, at the age of 15, he went to work for the Mobile and Ohio Railroad as a telegrapher in nearby Columbus, Kentucky. Casey grew to be quite tall for his day at 6’4" with dark hair, gray eyes, and a slim build. His size and strength made him a natural for the often brutal work of railroad life. He next moved to Jackson, Tennessee, still in the employ of the M&O as a flagman. There he stayed at a boarding house for railroad men run by the mother of his future wife who worked there as well.

It was at the dinner table in this boarding house that John Luther Jones became "Casey" Jones. Bose Lashley, a brakeman for the M&O, looked up from his dinner plate one day and spoke to the gangling lad who had entered to be seated:

"What's your name, son?" he asked.

"John Luther Jones," the young man replied.

"Where are you from?"

"Cayce, Kentucky."

"Well, sit right down Cayce, and make yourself at home!" Lashley rejoined.

Note: it was common practice at the time for railroaders to give fellow railroaders nicknames to make it easier to tell them apart from others who had the same name. Though Casey spelled his name "Cayce," his wife spelled it "Casey" in the letters she wrote, which became the accepted spelling of his name.

Casey performed well and was promoted to brakeman and then fireman. His work in Jackson primarily involved freight service between Jackson and Water Valley, Mississippi. Both locations were busy and important shops for the Illinois Central Railroad and he developed close ties with both between 1890 and 1900.

Dark-haired Mary Joanna "Janie" Brady, daughter of the owner of the boarding house, noticed Casey's remarkable appetite and the way he blushed whenever she flashed her smile at him. Casey soon fell in love with her and got up the courage to propose. They were married at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Jackson on November 25, 1886 and bought a house on West Chester Street in Jackson where they set about raising three children. During this time he switched to the Illinois Central Railroad and was promoted to engineer, his lifelong goal. By 1890, Casey had reached the pinnacle of the railroad profession as a crack locomotive engineer for the I.C. Railroading was a natural talent, and Casey Jones was recognized by his peers as one of the best in the business. He was known for his insistence that he always "get her there on the advertised" that is, that he would never be found to be "falling down" (behind schedule) when he arrived at his destination. He was so punctual that people set their watches by him.

Casey was also famous for his peculiar skill with a locomotive whistle. Its unique sound involved a long-drawn-out note that began softly, rose and then died away to a whisper, a sound which became his trademark. The sound of it was variously described as "a sort of whippoorwill call" or "like the war cry of a Viking.” People living along the Illinois Central right-of-way between Jackson, Tennessee and Water Valley, Mississippi, would turn over in their beds late at night upon hearing it and say “There goes Casey Jones” as he roared by.

Casey strongly supported the principles of collective bargaining advanced by the young rail labor movement and his name first appears on the register book of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers Division 99 at Water Valley, Miss., on March 10, 1891. He maintained membership in both the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen (a practice known as “doubleheading") which also shows Casey's concern for his family's security as well, for one of the benefits of brotherhood membership was its life insurance protection. Mrs. Jones collected from both groups when he died. Not only did the brotherhoods strive to improve the pay and working conditions of the men, but their moral conduct as well. Casey sat as Master Pro Tem one night in 1898 when a brother was tried before the lodge on the charge of “alienating the affections of another brother’s wife.”

During the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago, Illinois, in 1893 the I.C. was charged with providing commuter service for the thousands of visitors to the fairground. A call was sent out for trainmen who wished to work there and Casey answered it, spending a pleasant summer there with his wife.

It was at the fair (also called The Chicago World's Fair), that he became acquainted with No. 638, a big new freight engine the I.C. had on display there as the latest and greatest technological advancement in trains. It had 8 drive wheels and 2 pilot wheels. At the closing of the fair No. 638 was due to be sent to Water Valley for service in the Jackson District. Casey asked for permission to run the engine back to Water Valley himself. His request was approved, and No. 638 ran its first 589 miles with Casey at the throttle all the way to Water Valley. Casey liked No. 638 and especially liked working in the Jackson District because his family was in Jackson. They had once moved to Water Valley but Jackson was really home to the Jones family. Casey drove the engine until he transferred to Memphis in January of 1900. No. 638 stayed in Water Valley. That year he drove the engine that became most closely associated with him through tragic circumstances. And he actually drove it only that one time. That was Engine No. 382, known affectionately as "Ole 382." The engine Casey drove the night of his fateful last ride was a steam-driven Rogers Ten Wheeler with six drivers, each approximately six feet high. Bought new in 1898 from the Roger's Locomotive Works, it was a very powerful engine for the time. And when a potential disaster arose, its responsiveness would be put to its greatest test.

His regular fireman on No. 638 was his close friend, John Wesley McKinnie, with whom he worked exclusively from about 1897 until he went to the passenger run out of Memphis on the No. 382 with his next and last fireman, Sim Webb.

A little known example of Casey's heroic instincts in action is described by his biographer and friend Fred J. Lee in his 1939 book Casey Jones: Epic of the American Railroad (Southern Publishers, Inc.). In Chapter 35, entitled "The Rescue," is described an incident that occurred sometime around 1895 as Casey's train approached Michigan City, Mississippi. He had left the cab in charge of fellow Engineer Bob Stevenson who had reduced speed sufficiently to make it safe for Casey to walk out on the running board to quickly oil the relief valves. He then moved from the running board to the steam chest and then to the pilot beam to adjust the spark screen which he hoped to complete and return to the cab before they arrived in town. As he finished and was returning he noticed a group of small children dart in front of the train some sixty yards ahead. All cleared the rails easily except for a little girl who suddenly froze in fear on the tracks at the sight of the oncoming iron horse. Casey yelled to Engineer Stevenson to reverse the train and yelled to the girl to get off the tracks in almost the same breath. Realizing that the girl was still immobile, he quickly swung into action. He raced to the cowcatcher and braced himself on it as he reached out as far as he could to pull the frightened but unharmed girl from the rails.

Casey was an avid baseball fan and watched or participated in the game whenever his busy schedule allowed. During the 1880's he had played at Columbus, Kentucky, while he was a cub operator on the M & O. And one Sunday during the summer of 1898 the Water Valley shop team was scheduled to play the Jackson shop team and Casey got to haul the team to Jackson for the game.

Casey was issued 9 citations for rules infractions in his career, with a total of 145 days suspended. Railroaders who worked with Casey liked him but admitted that he was a bit of a chance taker. But unofficially the penalties were far more severe for running behind than breaking the rules. He was by all accounts an ambitious engineer, eager to move up the seniority ranks and serve on the better paying, more prestigious passenger trains. Passenger trains took priority on the rails. A passenger train never had to "go in the hole" for a freight train to pass. The only time a passenger train ever went to a side track or "passing track" was to allow another passenger train to pass.

Casey soon got his chance for a regular passenger run.

In February 1900, he was transferred from Jackson, Tennessee to Memphis for the passenger run between Memphis and Canton, Mississippi. This was one link of a four train run between Chicago and New Orleans. Engineer W. W. "Bill" Hatfield had transferred from Memphis back to a run out of Water Valley thus opening up trains No. 1 and No. 4 to a younger engineer. It meant moving his family to Memphis and separation from his friend and Fireman McKinnie and No. 638 as well, but Casey saw the move as a good one and had bid for and got the job. Casey would drive Hatfield's Engine No. 384 until the night of his fateful last ride.

Death

On April 29, 1900 Casey was in Memphis, Tennessee, having driven the northbound Cannonball when he agreed to take the southbound Cannonball because the scheduled engineer Sam Tate had called in sick with cramps. He asked for his regular engine No. 382 and roundhouse workers installed a new six tone Calliope whistle on it. 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 further south, they were almost on time.

At Durant, Casey 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 move 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, Casey was travelling excessively fast, possibly up to 70 miles per hour, and did not have sufficient stopping distance when he applied the brakes. When a collision seemed imminent Casey shouted "Jump Sim, jump!" to Fireman Sim Webb, who crouched down and jumped about three hundred feet before impact and was knocked unconscious. The last thing Webb heard when he jumped was the long, piercing scream of the brand new whistle as Casey apparently tried to warn anyone still in the stopped freight train looming ahead. His beloved engine "Ole 382" quickly plowed through a wooden caboose, a car load of hay, another of corn and half way through a car of timber before leaving the track. Because Casey stayed on board to slow the train, he saved the passengers from serious injury and death (Casey himself was the only fatality of the collision). Casey's watch was found to be stopped at the time of impact which was 3:52 AM on April 30, 1900. Popular legend holds that when Casey's body was pulled from the wreckage of his train near the twisted rail his hands still clutched the whistle cord and the brake.

The official I.C. accident report said that "Engineer Jones was solely responsible having disregarded the signals given by Flagman Newberry," though many railroad historians have disputed the official account over the years, finding it difficult if not impossible to believe that an engineer of Casey's experience would have ignored the flagman and the fusees (flares) and the torpedoes that were exploded on the rail to alert him to danger. Shortly after the accident and until his death Fireman Sim Webb maintained that "We saw no flagman or fusees, we heard no torpedoes. Without any warning we plowed into that caboose." The passengers praised Casey's selfless actions.

The personal injury and physical damage costs of the wreck were as follows:

Simeon T. Webb, Fireman Train No. l, body bruises from jumping off Engine 382- $5.00. Mrs. W. E. Breaux, passenger, 1472 Rocheblabe Street, New Orleans, slight bruises- Not settled. Mrs. Wm. Deto, passenger, No 25 East 33rd Street, Chicago, slight bruises left knee and left hand - Not settled. Wm. Miller, Express Messenger, injuries to back and left side, apparently slight - $25.00. W. L. Whiteside, Postal Clerk, jarred - $l.00. R. A. Ford, Postal Clerk, jarred - $l.00.

Engine No. 382 - $1,396.25. Mail car No. 51 - $610.00. Baggage car No. 217 - $105.00. Caboose No. 98119 - $430.00. I.C. box car 11380 - $400.00. I.C. box car 24116 - $55.00. Total - $2,996.25.

Adam Hauser, formerly a member of The Times-Democrat telegraph staff (New Orleans), was in a sleeper on Casey's southbound fast mail and made these comments after the wreck:

“The passengers did not suffer, and there was no panic."

"I was jarred a little in my bunk, but when fairly awake the train was stopped and everything was still."

“Engineer Jones did a wonderful as well as an heroic piece of work, at the cost of his life."

“The marvel and mystery is how Engineer Jones stopped that train. The railroad men themselves wondered at it and of course the uninitiated could not do less. But stop it he did. In a way that showed his complete mastery of his engine, as well as his sublime heroism. I imagine that the Vaughan wreck will be talked about in roundhouses, lunchrooms and cabooses for the next six months, not alone on the Illinois Central, but many other roads in Mississippi and Louisiana."

The wreck was surprisingly poorly documented photographically, with perhaps as few as 1 good convincing photo of the wreck in existence and several that are specious.

There has been some controversy about exactly how Casey died. Massena Jones (former postmaster of Vaughan and director of the now closed museum there), said "When they found Casey, according to Uncle Will Madison (a section hand who helped remove Casey's body from the wreckage), he had a splinter of wood driven through his head. Now this is contrary to most of the stories, some of which say he had a bolt through his neck, some say he was crushed, some say he was scalded to death. But we have to go along with Uncle Will Madison. He was there, we were not."

For at least 10 years after the wreck, the imprint of Casey's engine was clearly visible in the embankment on the east side of the tracks about two-tenths of a mile north of Tucker's Creek, which is where the marker was located. The imprint of the headlight, boiler and the spokes of the wheels could be seen and people would ride up on handcars to view the traces of the famous wreck.

The wrecked 382 was brought to the Water Valley shop and rebuilt "just as it had come from the Rogers Locomotive Works in 1898," according to Bruce Gurner, historian at the Water Valley Casey Jones Railroad Museum. It was soon back in service on the same run with Engineer Harry A. "Dad" Norton in charge. But bad luck would follow it in the future. During its 37 years of service "Ole 382" was involved in accidents which would take 6 lives before it was retired in July 1935. During its career, the 382 was renumbered 212, 2012, and 5012.

January 1903: criminal train wreckers caused 382 to wreck, nearly demolishing the locomotive. Norton's legs were broken and he was badly scalded. His fireman died 3 days later.

September 1905: Norton and the 382 turned over in the Memphis South Yards. This time, however, the train was moving slowly and Norton was uninjured.

January 22, 1912: 382 (now numbered 2012) was involved in a wreck that killed 4 prominent railroad men and injured several others. It is called the Kinmundy Wreck as it happened near Kinmundy, Illinois. An engineer by the name of Strude was driving this time.

Casey's fireman, Simeon T. Webb, died in Memphis on July 13,1957 at the age of 83. Jones' wife, Janie Brady Jones, died on November 21, 1958 in Jackson at the age of 92. At the time of Casey's death at age 37, his son Charles was 12, his daughter Helen was 10 and his youngest son John Lloyd (known as "Casey Junior") was 4. Mrs. Jones hated the last line of one version of the ballad, which read "Go to bed children and hush your cryin', cause you got another papa on the Salt Lake Line." She spent her remaining years refuting that offending line, once saying "That devil hasn’t shown up in 58 years!" She said she never had any thought of remarrying. She wore black nearly every day for the rest of her life.

Casey's tombstone in Jackson's Mount Calvary Cemetery gives his birth year as 1864 but according to information written in the family Bible by his mother he was born in 1863. The tombstone was donated in 1947 by two out of town railroad enthusiasts who accidentally got his birth year wrong. Until then, a simple wooden cross had marked his grave.

Museums in Casey Jones's honor

• The Historic Casey Jones Home & Railroad Museum in Jackson, Tennessee
• Water Valley Casey Jones Railroad Museum in Water Valley, Mississippi
• Casey Jones Railroad Museum State Park in Vaughan, Mississippi Museum Closed in 2004

See also

• Casey Jones in popular culture

External links

• Ballad of Casey Jones
• Casey Jones on Find-A-Grave
• Casey Jones - The Real Story
• Casey Jones -- The Union Scab by Joe Hill, lyrics and audio