Watch Your Speed - The Legend of the Real Casey Jones
- by Joe Nolan
John Luther Jones was born on March 14, 1863. The son of a Kentucky school teacher, Jones eventually moved to Jackson, Tenn., and took work as a railroad engineer on the Illinois Central. Almost exactly 37 years after his inauspicious entry into the world, on a foggy night in Yazoo County, Miss., Jones would be born again, as a hero who became a legend.
Jones was born in southeast Missouri, although the exact place of birth is unknown. What is known, is that Jones and his family moved South to Kentucky when he was 13 years old. In no time, Jones grew into a strapping young man, standing nearly 6 feet 5 inches tall on the streets of his new small town, the place that was to give him his nickname: Cayce, KY.
By the time Jones was 15, he had his first job as a telegrapher for the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, located near Cayce, in Columbus, KY. With Casey’s natural size and strength, opportunities for advancement in the often brutal world of railroad labor came quickly and easily. By 1884, Casey moved to Jackson, Tenn., where he worked as a flagman for the M&O.
Living in a boarding house for railroad men, Casey found himself falling for his landlady’s daughter. Janie Brady had already taken a shine to the tall, shy stranger who always brought an enormous appetite to the communal, evening meal. It was at Mrs. Brady’s boarding house that Jones was first christened “Cayce” by his housemates. Eventually, Janie’s spelling of “Casey” on her love letters to her traveling husband, became the accepted spelling.
In February of 1891, Casey realized a lifelong goal - he became a railroad engineer. Now working for the Illinois Central line, Casey’s natural talent for railroading reached full-steam in the engineer’s seat, and he was universally recognized by his peers as one of the best in the business. Casey’s train was known for his set-your-watch-to-it punctuality, and the strange, keening way that Casey would blow its whistle. Alternately described as a “whiporwill call,” and “the war cry of a Viking,” the lonely wail of Casey’s train was a familiar sound to the people who lived along its run between Jackson and Water Valley, Miss.
In February of 1900, Casey was transferred to Memphis, Tenn., for a passenger run to Canton, Miss. On the evening of April 29, Casey was unwinding at the Poplar Street Station in Memphis, having just returned from his Canton run. When scheduling difficulties arose, Casey took on two extra runs. Having returned from the first, Casey was asked to immediately take another train back to Canton. The run was way behind, but Casey always loved a challenge.
By the time Casey pulled his six cars out of Memphis, it was 12:05 a.m., and he was 95 minutes late. With a big engine, a reliable fireman, and a drizzling rain, conditions were perfect for a hurtling run to Canton. Steam engines ran better in damp weather, but as Jones sounded his whistle on the way out of Memphis, the tell-tale mist of a coming fog swirled in his wake, foretelling a deadly tragedy to come.
By the time Jones made Senatobia Miss., he was up to 80 miles an hour. By the time he reached Grenada, he had cut his schedule in half. Jones made up 15 more minutes between Grenada and Winona, Miss., and was nearly on time as the train barreled towards Durant. At one point, Jones was rumored to have yelled out to his trusty fireman, “Sim, the old girl’s got her dancing shoes on tonight!” Sim Web just smiled and shoveled on the coal. Casey laid on the steam.
Having got the train back on schedule, Jones was instructed to let another train pass him before heading on to Vaughn. What should have been an elementary maneuver became a tragedy. As the other train switched into a passing lane, it broke an air hose and was unable to pull its last few cars off the main track. Down the line, Casey’s train was blowing full-steam at speeds approaching 80 miles an hour. A turn in the track, and the gathering fog were ultimately to blame for what happened next.
Fireman, Sim Webb, was first to see the lights of the caboose on the train up ahead. “Oh my Lord, there’s something on the main line!” he warned Casey. Casey immediately yelled for Webb to jump from the train. Webb hurtled nearly 300 feet from the momentum of the locomotive, crashing to the ground beside the tracks, knocked unconscious.
Casey let loose a long, shrieking cry on his whistle, threw the train into reverse and laid on the brakes. Jones’ heroism in that moment warned the train up ahead of the coming impact, and managed to nearly cut the impact speed in half. The train torpedoed the four cars that blocked the track. The resulting explosion shattered wood into toothpicks, and bent metal like pipe cleaners. Many of the passengers on Casey’s train were not even aware they had been in a wreck, as Casey negotiated the train with tremendous skill, not stopping to consider his own safety.
When they pulled Casey – the only fatality – from the wreck, his watch was stopped at 3:52 a.m. He had been only two minutes behind schedule. All the passengers on both trains walked away from one of the worst railroad disasters of all time. The cause of death is unclear, but many witnesses claimed that Jones had been speared through the head by a broken piece of lumber.
FATAL WRECK – Engineer Casey Jones, of This City, Killed Near Canton, Miss. - DENSE FOG DIRECT CAUSE – Of a Rear End Collision on the Illinois Central. - Fireman and Messenger Injured – Passenger Train Crashed Into a Local Freight Partly on the Siding – Several Cars Demolished. - Headlines in the Jackson, Tennessee Sun
For 10 years after the wreck, an impression of Casey’s engine was visible next to the track where it came to rest. Casey’s wife never remarried, and she is rumored to have worn black until the day she died. Casey was immortalized in story and song as one of the greatest – and bravest – of America’s railroad heroes.
Joe Nolan is a poet, musician and freelance journalist in Nashville, TN. Nolan writes about visual art for the journal, Number, published by the University of Memphis. Find out more about his projects at www.joenolan.com.