Show e ato tam ef Y es 4 07 aro eba 1 cranes t by ELMO SCOTT WATSON railroad engi neer who died at his post of duty and a negro engine wiper who wrote a simple song about his death these two gave to the world one of the w most famous gamoua of all native american ballads which you will still hear sung tn in almost any part of the country even though 31 years have elapsed since casey jones mounted to the cabin with his orders in his hand and took ills his fat fai farewell ewell trip to that mat promised land in 1000 john luther jones was the engineer on the memphis tenn can ton miss bliss P run u n of the illinois centrals crack train the cannonball 11 tie he was a husky irishman six feet four inches tall dark haired gray eyed a good natured bighearted big hearted celt well liked by all the railroaders in that section if you had asked one of them thein about john luther tones jones he probably would have answered oh you mean casey jones r for or casey jones lie was to the railroad men a nickname that was fastened on him because lie ho was born near cayce ky and down there they pronoun pronounced propounded ded it in two syllables cay cayce ce so cayce jones soon became casey jones casey started his on the mobile ohio late in the eighties he put in several years as a freight and passenger engineer on the illinois central between jackson nad water valley miss aliss and then a at f the age of thirty seven he was put at the throttle of the cannonball already lie he was locally famous for lils his peculiar skill with a locomotive whistle ills method of blowing it was a sort of a personal trademark trade mark it was a long drawn out note beginning softly then rising toa to a shrill moaning blast finally dying away almost to a whisper to people living along the right of way of the central in mississippi and tennessee it was a familiar sound at night they would lie in their beds and listen for a sound of one locomotive whistle and when they heard it they would say there goes casey jones I 1 as the train roared by and casey ahls tied led for the next crossing not only was casey well liked by the other railroad men but he was the idol of wallace sanders a negro coal heaver beaver at canton miss who became an engine wiper in the round house there about the time casey first mounted to the cabin of the cannonball non ball wallace was accustomed to brag mightily about the prowess of mintah casey and caring for his engine was a labor of love for the colored man about ten one sunday night april 29 1900 casey and his fireman sim webb rolled into memphis from canton and going into the checking ln in office were preparing to go to their homes when somebody said joe lewis has just been taken with the cramps and cant take his train out tonight all rl right bat ill double back and pull old 1 said eaid jones no was lewis locomotive it was a rainy night as no with casey and sim webb in the cabin rolled out of the station and rumbled through the south memphis yards wonder the mattar with lewis remarked one of the yardmen yardman to another for the switchmen knew by the engines moan that the man af at the throttle was casey jones through the sleeping countryside of tennessee and mississippi roared the train and more then than one farmer said to himself there goes casey jones as lie he ils bened sleepily to the long moaning whistle of old no it was four in the morning on april SO 30 as no swept around a long winding curve juba above the little town of vaughn Vau glin where the curve ended a long ions sidetrack began and casey jones peering out of his cab window to see ace it if the lights ahead were green or red led yelled across to sim webb theres a freight train on the siding sim nodded and kept on with his coal shoveling knowing that the siding was a long one and having passed many other il freights on it casey reduce hla his speed ile he know that there were two separate sections of a very long train on the sidetrack that nl night ait and that the rear one was too long to get all of its cars off the main line on oil to the ithe siding the freight train crews had figured on sawing by as soon as the passenger train passed the front part of the train it would move moe forward and the rear part would move up thus chils going off of the main track but they figured on casays speed it was more than 50 miles an hour within a hundred feet of the end of the siding the startled gaze ot of casey jone and sim webb was met by the sight of several box cars looming up through the gloom box cars which ivere still on the main track and rolling too slowly on to the sidetrack to escape the thundering rush of old no jump sim and save yourself fl 1 shouted casey jones and aad sim webb jumped fell into some bushes and rolled over and over on the ground uninjured As for apsey jones there was just one thing he could do lie he threw his engine into reverse and applied the air brakes but it was too late old no plowed into those lumbering box cars smashed them into matchwood crashed into the caboose and then turned over on her side a short distance beyond when the freight crews reached her and looked into the cab they saw that ifer her dead engineer still had one hand on the air brake lever and the other on the whistle cord later sim aim webb told casays widow the explanation 1 I remember that as I 1 jumped casey held down the whistle in a long piercing scream I 1 think he must have had in mind to warn the freight conductor in the caboose so he could jump they took casey jones to canton where a committee of three of his fellow workers edward a roundhouse round house machinist william bosma and homer english two locomotive engineers took charge of the arrangements tor for sending the body of the tha dead hero back to his home in jackson tenn where his widow the two sons and a daughter awaited his els last homecoming 5 scarcely less touching than their sorrow was the grief of wallace V allace sanders at the news that his idol would take the cannonball out no more several days after casays funeral sanders fellow workers noticed him going about his duties singing a song about the deeds and the death of casey jones it was a simple melody but there was something about it which caught the fancy of those wh who heard it and the words of it there were only six verses in the he original were easy to remember soon they were all singing the negro engine wipers tribute to his friend one day a year or two later a professional fess ional lonal song writer passed through jackson miss and heard the song sung he saw the possibilities and rewrote the song retaining however the name casey jones and some of thein the incidents of the original story although changing the locale considerably ra la changing the original song some veras were injected into it which friends of the heroic engineer resented bitterly and they forbade its being sung at all their protests however did not prevent the song from being published and the song writer why who rewrote it Is said to have mado a fortune from it more than ten million copies having been sold not to mention innumerable records and piano rolls the term used in some of the verses and also other terms applied in various parodies would create the impression that he was wag unstable and reckless wrote edward amalie casays friend in a letter to adventure magazine several years ago such was not the caze case sober reliable loyal and friendly with everybody and of a smiling pleasant disposition posit iun which won him friends wherever he went such was my friend casey jones gentleman an interesting aftermath of the song was ft a lawsuit brought by casays widow within recent years yeara against a hollywood picture company for alleged exploitation of photographs of her and her children in connection with it a movie that hail had been built around the famous exploit of the engineer im zed by a song although casey jones Is the knost famous of all railroad ballads there are others which are not far behind it in widespread popularity for instance there Is old ninety seven there are numerous versions of this song but the following according to B R IV gordon an authority op on amerlean american folk songs Is a composite of three different versions and a representative text I 1 was standing on a mountain one cold frosty morning I 1 was watching the smoke from below it was urling curling from a long straight smokestack smoke stack wa way y down on the southern nall railroad road it was waa old ninety seven the fastest mall mail train the south had ever seen and it ran so fast on that fatal sunday that the death list numb numbered dred thirteen it was old ninety seven the fastest mall train ever run over the southern line and when strived at monroe virginia she was forty seven minutes behind steve Br anniel lel was the engineer the fastest t on the line ile he ran into monroe to get his orders and he got them on the fly they gave him his orders at monroe virginia saying steve you araway are way behind 1 this la is not thirty eight but 4 its old ninety seven you mus must t put her in spencer on aimel steve brandied Brann Bran diel lel climbed up into his cabin saying y ng pat pal ailts its do or diel atel IR he reversed his lover lever throw threw his throttle wide open saying watch old ninety seven fly steve Brann lel climbed up into his cabin at his throttle he made a grab and when h he pulled over johnsons junction junction lie ile was leaning way out of the cab steve Br brannies Brann anniel lel turned to his b brave rave little fireman n saying shovel in a little more coal theres a three mile grade round whitlow mountain you fou may watch my drivers roll steve Pr Brann anniel lel turned to his brave little I 1 fireman said jack throw in some more coal and put your head out the window boy and watch my drive wheels roll its a mighty bad road from lynchburg to danville it la Is a three mile grade on tho the grade steve steva 1 ost lost control of 0 his air brakes so you see what a lump jump he made lie ile was falling down grade at ninety miles an hour the whistle began to scream ile he was found in the wreck with his hand on the throttle and his bis body all scarred by steam did he over ever pull in ro he never p pulled u lied in though his train was duo due at ten and for hours ard hours the switchmen lay waiting vor for the mall mail train that never pulled in n the news ran over the telegraph wires and this Is what it said that the brave engineer that lett left monroe this morning 1 Is lying at north danville dead come all you young ladles ladies and take warning take warning from this time never speak rash words to your sweetheart ile he may go and never return an interesting railroad ballad Is a combination railroad outlaw song whose endless number of verses tell the story of a desperado named RAILROAD SILL BILL nall road bill was settin at the tank waltin tor for the train they call nancy hank railroad bill railroad nall road bill was settin at the curve waltin tor for the passenger but he have tle nerve railroad bill railroad nall road bill was a desperate roan man shot the lantern from the bral brak emans remans hand nall railroad road bill railroad bill had bad a 44 colt shot all the buttons oft the brak brake emans manla coat nall railroad road bill I 1 come in on all number one davir railroad bill with a 44 gun railroad bill I 1 come coma in on number lumber two railroad bill had just gone through railroad bill an so BO on aa ad infinitum a 1931 western newspaper union I 1 |