47 Facts About Casey Jones

1.

John Luther "Casey" Jones was an American railroader who was killed when his passenger train collided with a stalled freight train at Vaughan, Mississippi.

FactSnippet No. 2,248,910
2.

Casey Jones was noted for his exceptionally punctual schedules, which sometimes required a degree of risk, though this was not a factor on his fatal last journey.

FactSnippet No. 2,248,911
3.

Casey Jones was due to run the southbound passenger service from Memphis to Canton, Mississippi, departing 11:35pm.

FactSnippet No. 2,248,912
4.

Casey Jones eventually departed 75 minutes late, but was confident of making up the time, with the powerful ten-wheeler Engine No 382, known as "Cannonball".

FactSnippet No. 2,248,913
5.

All are agreed that Casey 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.

FactSnippet No. 2,248,914
6.

Casey Jones met his wife Mary Joanna "Janie" Brady through her father who owned the boarding house where Casey Jones was staying.

FactSnippet No. 2,248,915
7.

On March 1,1888, Casey Jones switched to IC, firing a freight locomotive between Jackson, Tennessee, and Water Valley, Mississippi.

FactSnippet No. 2,248,916
8.

Casey Jones was promoted to engineer, his lifelong goal, on February 23,1891.

FactSnippet No. 2,248,917
9.

Casey Jones reached the pinnacle of the railroad profession as an expert locomotive engineer for IC.

FactSnippet No. 2,248,918
10.

Railroading was a talent, and Casey Jones was recognized by his peers as one of the best engineers in the business.

FactSnippet No. 2,248,919
11.

Casey Jones was known for his insistence that he "get her there on the advertised [time]" and that he never "fall down", meaning he never arrived at his destination behind schedule.

FactSnippet No. 2,248,920
12.

Casey Jones was so punctual, it was said that people set their watches by him.

FactSnippet No. 2,248,921
13.

Casey Jones was famous for his peculiar skill with the train whistle.

FactSnippet No. 2,248,922
14.

Casey Jones's whistle was made of six thin tubes bound together, the shortest being half the length of the longest.

FactSnippet No. 2,248,923
15.

Casey Jones answered it, spending a pleasant summer there with his wife.

FactSnippet No. 2,248,924
16.

Casey Jones shuttled many people from Van Buren Street to Jackson Park during the exposition.

FactSnippet No. 2,248,925
17.

Casey Jones asked for permission to drive the engine back to Water Valley.

FactSnippet No. 2,248,926
18.

Casey Jones's request was approved, and No 638 ran its first 589 miles with Jones at the throttle to Water Valley.

FactSnippet No. 2,248,927
19.

Casey Jones liked No 638 and liked working in the Jackson District because his family was there.

FactSnippet No. 2,248,928
20.

Casey Jones drove the engine until he transferred to Memphis in February 1900.

FactSnippet No. 2,248,929
21.

Casey Jones had left the cab in charge of fellow engineer Bob Stevenson, who had reduced speed sufficiently for Jones to walk safely out on the running board to oil the relief valves.

FactSnippet No. 2,248,930
22.

Casey Jones had finished well before they arrived at the station, as planned, and was returning to the cab when he noticed a group of small children dart in front of the train some 60 yards ahead.

FactSnippet No. 2,248,931
23.

Casey Jones shouted to Stevenson to reverse the train and yelled to the girl to get off the tracks in almost the same breath.

FactSnippet No. 2,248,932
24.

Casey Jones was an avid baseball fan and watched or participated in the game whenever his schedule allowed.

FactSnippet No. 2,248,933
25.

Casey Jones was issued nine citations for rules infractions in his career, with a total of 145 days suspended.

FactSnippet No. 2,248,934
26.

Railroaders who worked with Casey Jones liked him but admitted that he was a bit of a risk-taker.

FactSnippet No. 2,248,935
27.

Casey Jones was by all accounts an ambitious engineer, eager to move up the seniority ranks and serve on the better-paying, more prestigious passenger trains.

FactSnippet No. 2,248,936
28.

Casey Jones had to move his family to Memphis and give up working with his close friend John Wesley McKinnie on No 638, but he thought the change was worth it.

FactSnippet No. 2,248,937
29.

Casey Jones would drive Hatfield's Engine No 384 until his death in 1900.

FactSnippet No. 2,248,938
30.

Casey Jones made up another 15 minutes in the 25-mile stretch from Grenada to Winona, Mississippi.

FactSnippet No. 2,248,939
31.

Casey Jones was told that No 26 was in two sections and would be on the siding, so he would take priority over it.

FactSnippet No. 2,248,940
32.

Casey Jones pulled out of Goodman only five minutes behind schedule.

FactSnippet No. 2,248,941
33.

Casey Jones alerted Jones, who ordered him to jump from the train.

FactSnippet No. 2,248,942
34.

The last thing he heard as he jumped was the long, piercing whistle used by Casey Jones to warn anyone still in the freight train looming ahead.

FactSnippet No. 2,248,943
35.

Casey Jones reversed the throttle and slammed the airbrakes into emergency stop, but the engine quickly plowed through several loaded train cars before derailing.

FactSnippet No. 2,248,944
36.

Casey Jones had been able to reduce his speed to about 40 miles per hour before impact.

FactSnippet No. 2,248,945
37.

Casey Jones's body was found lying under the cab, with his skull crushed and right arm torn from its socket.

FactSnippet No. 2,248,946
38.

Casey Jones was in a sleeper on Jones's southbound fast mail and said after the wreck:.

FactSnippet No. 2,248,947
39.

Engineer Casey Jones did a wonderful as well as a heroic piece of work, at the cost of his life.

FactSnippet No. 2,248,948
40.

Casey Jones continued north a further distance of 500 to 800 feet, where he stood and gave signals to Jones's train No 1.

FactSnippet No. 2,248,949
41.

At least ten years after the wreck, the imprint of Casey Jones's engine was clearly visible in the embankment on the east side of the tracks about two-tenths of a mile north of Tucker's Creek, which is where the marker was located.

FactSnippet No. 2,248,950
42.

Casey Jones's beloved Engine No 638 was sold to the Mexican government in 1921 and still ran there in the 1940s.

FactSnippet No. 2,248,951
43.

Casey Jones's widow, Janie Brady Casey Jones was born on October 29,1866, and died on November 21,1958, in Jackson at age 92.

FactSnippet No. 2,248,952
44.

Casey Jones's wife received $3,000 in insurance payments and later settled with IC for an additional $2,650.

FactSnippet No. 2,248,953
45.

Casey Jones wore black nearly every day for the rest of her life.

FactSnippet No. 2,248,954
46.

Casey Jones's tombstone in Jackson's Mount Calvary Cemetery gives his birth year as 1864, but according to information his mother wrote in the family Bible, he was born in 1863.

FactSnippet No. 2,248,955
47.

Songs titled “Casey Jones”, usually about the crash or the engineer, have been recorded by Vernon Dalhart, This Bike Is a Pipe Bomb, Feverfew, Tom Russell, The New Christy Minstrels, Skillet Lickers, and the Grateful Dead.

FactSnippet No. 2,248,956