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Casey Jones
Born March 14, 1864, Missouri, U.S. :: died April 30, 1900, near Vaughan, Mississippi.
Born John Luther Jones, this railroad engineer became an American folk hero, basically for the legend of him driving a fast train and a musical use of the train's whistle.
The story goes that he was speeding along to make up for lost time when it became realized that there was about to be a head on collision. He told his crew to jump, but Casey himself held on till the end, blowing the whistle and holding the brake. It appears that a Wallace Saunders, a railroad worker, wrote the first ballad to his death. Many other versions, including that by Lawrence Siebert and Eddie Newton, and the famed Grateful Dead, have been on the American music palette for many years. Author: - :: Hits: 0 :: Added: Sun Dec 03 2006 :: Last Modified: Wed Apr 25 2007
