Casey Jones

Casey Jones

Come all you rounders, I want you to hear
The story of a brave engineer;
Casey Jones was the rounders name, On a big eight-wheeler, boys, he made his fame.
[chorus]
Casey Jones, he pushed on the throttler,
Casey Jones was a brave engineer,
Come on, Casey, and blow the whistler,
Blow the whistler so they all can hear!
Now Casey said, "Before I die
There's one more train that I want to try,
And I will try ere many a day
The Union Pacific and the Santa Fe.">br> [chorus]
The caller called Casey at half past four,
He kissed his wife at the station door,
Climbed in his cab and was on his way,
"I've got my chance at the Santa Fe!"
[chorus]
Down the slope he went on the fly,
Heard the fireman say, "You've got a white eye!"
Well, the switchman knew by the engine's moan
That the man at the throttle was Casey Jones!
[chorus]
The rain was a-pounding down like lead,
The railroad track was a river bed.
They slowed her down to a thirty-mile gait,
And the southbound mail was eight hours late.
[chorus]
Fireman says, "Casey, you're running too fast!
You run the blackboard at the last station you passed!"
Casey says, "I believe we'll make it through,
For the steam's much better than I ever knew!"
[chorus]
Around the curve comes a passenger train,
Her headlight was shining in his eyes through the rain.
Casey blew the whistle a mighty blast
But the locomotive was a-comin' fast.
[chorus]
The locomotives met in the middle of the hill,
In a head-on tangle that's bound to kill.
He tried to do his duty, the yard men said,
But Casey Jones was scalded dead.
[chorus]
Headaches and heartaches and all kinds of pain
They all ride along with the railroad train.
Stories of brave men, noble and grand,
Belong to the life of the railroad man!
[chorus]

John Luther Jones (Casey)

That was one of the many songs that was created for Casey after his death. But now let’s end the music lesson and get the facts straight. First off, Casey wasn’t even Casey’s real name. His real name was John Luther Jones, and was born May 16, 1864. He was married to Janie Brady Jones and had three children. At the time of the crash, Charles was 12, Helen was 10, and John Lloyd was 4.

Now that we have all the basic parts down, let's get into the interesting part, the crash that made Casey famous. On April 29, 1900, Casey left an hour and thirty-five minutes late – the scheduled time was 11:15. Casey left at 12:50 from Memphis’ Street Station, southbound to Canton. If the recorded time of a 12:50 departure is correct, Casey would have made the best run of his time; Canton was just two miles from where he crashed. He was in engine #382.

While Casey was rolling south, Freights #72 and #83 were passing into the siding at Vaughan Station with more cars then they could hold. They would have to do a saw-by, a railroad term used for when the two trains move one way to allow the other train to pass on that side, then switch as the passing train moved through. However, they were not doing the saw-by for Casey. Passenger train #26 was coming from Canton.

As Casey approached, #83 backed up to allow #72 to move for #26, and nobody realized till to late that Casey would crash into #83’s caboose and last cars. Casey’s fireman, Sim Webb, suggested that Casey should jump, and that we was going to himself. Casey replied that would not jump, but try to prevent the crash. Sim shouted goodbyes as he disappeared over the side of the cab. The crash was horrible. Rails were ripped off the sleepers and the end of #83’s train was completely destroyed. Amazingly, Casey was the only one who perished. He was found dead in the cab with one hand on the whistle and one hand on the brake… That’s how Casey Jones died. That’s why Casey Jones is my hero.