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John Luther "Casey" Jones was an American railroader who was killed when his passenger train collided with a stalled freight train at Vaughan, Mississippi. Jones was born in Missouri in 1863
Jones was a locomotive engineer for the Illinois Central Railroad, based in Memphis, Tennessee, and Jackson, Mississippi. He was noted for his exceptionally punctual schedules, which sometimes required a degree of risk.
He was due to run the southbound passenger service from Memphis to Canton, Mississippi, departing 11:35pm. Owing to the absence of another engineer, he had to take over another service through the day, which may have deprived him of sleep. He eventually departed 75 minutes late, but was confident of making up the time, with the powerful ten-wheeler Engine No. 382, known as "Cannonball".
Approaching Vaughan at high speed, he was unaware that three trains were occupying the station, one of them broken down and directly on his line.
Jones managed to avert a potentially disastrous crash through his exceptional skill at slowing the engine and saving the lives of the passengers at the cost of his own. According to legend, Jones died with one hand on the train’s whistle and the other hand on its brake. For this, he was immortalized in a traditional song, "The Ballad of Casey Jones".
Jones was also famous for his peculiar skill with the train whistle. His whistle was made of six thin tubes bound together, the shortest being half the length of the longest. Its unique sound involved a long-drawn-out note that began softly, rose and then died away to a whisper, a sound that became his trademark.
Listen to the "Ballad of Casey Jones" .
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