Some fellows change their names to something catchier. Such was the case for John Luther Jones. He was born on March 14, 1863, in a little place called Cayce, Kentucky. It is a squatty little town, in that little crook of Kentucky, where Tennessee and Missouri meet up. Anyway, people gave him the nickname “Cayce,” and he changed the spelling to Casey. Casey Jones.
We know him as an American railroader — locomotive engineer of the great train era, renowned for his punctual arrival times. It was a bit of an obsession with him, as sometimes, getting to the destination on time involved a notable degree of risk.
About the time he went to work on the railroad, he met his sweetie. Jones married Mary Joanna (“Janie”) Brady at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Jackson, Tennessee, on November 25, 1886. Casey had been staying at a boarding house in that area, and Mary Joanna’s father owned the place. That’s how they met. But she was a devout Catholic. So, Casey decided to convert and was baptized, just before the wedding, on November 11, 1886. They bought a house in Jackson, where they raised their three children. They say he was truly a devoted family man and teetotaler, too.
Anyway, he got a job on the railroad. Illinois Central Railroad, to be exact. And it was his lifelong dream to become an engineer. He was promoted to engineer on February 23, 1891. It wasn’t long before he was promoted to “expert locomotive engineer.”
Now, I’ve never driven a train, but they say that railroading back then was a talent. Apparently, Jones was recognized by his peers as one of the best engineers in the business. He was known for his “creed” that he “get her there on the advertised time.” The thing that legends were made of. He was beyond punctual. It was said that people set their watches by him.
But he is most famous for his end. It happened, on this date, April 30, 1900.
Casey was due to run the southbound passenger service from Memphis to Canton, Mississippi, with the train departing at 11:35 pm. Earlier in the day, another engineer called in sick or was absent, or some such luck. So, Casey took over the early shift too, which may have deprived him of sleep.
Due to these circumstances and others, he eventually departed 75 minutes late, which really irked the heck out of him. But, he said he was confident of making up the time with the powerful ten-wheeler Engine No. 382, known as “Cannonball.” The Cannonball Express.
So he drove that train fast. He had several stops between Memphis to Canton and made up loads of time as he went. But as he was approaching Vaughan at a high rate of speed (75 mph), he was unaware that three trains were stopped at the station. In fact, one of them was broken down and directly on his line.
Jones reversed the throttle and slammed the airbrakes into an emergency stop, but the engine plowed forward through a wooden caboose, a carload of hay, one of corn, and halfway through a car of timber before leaving the track.
He had reduced his speed from about 75 miles per hour to about 35 miles per hour when he hit.
Because Jones stayed on board to slow the train, he was believed to have saved the passengers from serious injury and death – Jones was the only fatality of the collision. His watch stopped at the time of impact: 3:52 am on April 30, 1900.
Everyone agreed that Jones saved many lives that night, and he was immortalized in a traditional song, “The Ballad of Casey Jones.”
In a conversation yesterday, someone said, “We never know when we are going to become famous.” I suppose that may be true.
And that, is that.
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“Wherever you go becomes a part of you somehow.”
― Anita Desai
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“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.”
― Ursula K. Le Guin
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“The traveler sees what he sees. The tourist sees what he has come to see.”
― G.K. Chesterton
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The great train driver, and how he stopped
