Casey Jones
The legend of Casey Jones was born in song when an engine wiper named Wallace Saunders who had worked with him told the world his story. Jonathan Luther Jones was a real man, a train engineer who lived near Cayce, Kentucky as a young boy, and took the name of the town for his own, spelled “Casey.” Casey lived in and worked from Jackson, Tennessee, for most of his life, firing steam engines for the Mobile & Ohio Railroad.
Casey worked as fireman and later as a brakeman for the Mobile & Ohio until 1887, when he went to work for the Illinois Central. As a fireman he stoked the firebox for the big steam locomotives. In 1891 he was promoted to engineer. Jones drove mainly freight trains, and he was a stickler for remaining on schedule, to the point that it was said along the routes he drove that people could use his timing to set their watches.
In the days of steam engines many engineers shaped their steam powered whistles to produce unique calls through which they could be identified. Jones developed a whistle which produced a sound similar to the whippoorwill. As did most engineers, Jones would sound his whistle when passing through towns, letting the residents know he was coming through. Jones was not immune to occasionally bending the rules, particularly when he needed to speed in order to remain on schedule, and he developed the reputation of sometimes taking unnecessary risks.
Driving long distance passenger trains was seen as the epitome of the engineer’s profession, and Jones was transferred to Memphis in 1900, driving the Cannonball service on a leg to Canton, Mississippi. On April 30 at just before 1.00 AM, Jones left Memphis. Excessive traffic and other issues placed him behind schedule and Jones was travelling about 75 mph around a blind curve near Vaughn, Mississippi when he encountered a stopped freight on the tracks. Telling his fireman to jump, Jones remained in the engine and tried to reversed the engine to no avail. In the ensuing collision he was killed.
The legend of Casey Jones began immediately after his death when he was credited with remaining on board (he could have jumped as the train slowed to near 35 mph) and thus saving the lives of the passengers, none of whom were seriously injured. The legend grew with Saunders’ song, which more or less accurately tells the tale of what happened that night.