The Story About A Brave Engineer

Wallace Saunders, an engine wiper (one who cleans the engines when they come in) at the railroad shop in Canton, Mississippi, had a talent for making up little songs and ballads about people and events. A few days after the accident that killed Casey Jones, Saunders was singing a song, a tribute to his friend, which would spread the story of his tragic death far and wide.

One version of the song's history is that another engineer on the Illinois Central line, William Leighton, overheard Saunders singing the song and shared it with his brothers Frank and Bert who were vaudeville performers. The brothers added some polish and a chorus to the song and included it in their act. However the song was copywrited to another vaudeville pair, T. Lawrence Seibert and Eddie Newton, in 1902.

By the time of World War I, many versions of the song were in existence as folk singers all over the world applied their own spin to the simple melody. More than 40 versions of the song have been published.

All of the songs tell a similar story, but each with variations and verses which embellish the true tale, some of which were not altogether flattering. Janie Jones, Casey's wife, spent much of her life refuting some of the vulgar references made in some versions of the song.

Johnny Cash's version has been selected for its lack of outright vulgar references, relative historical accuracy, adherence to folklore and for Cash's superior prowess as a story-teller. While the melody and storyline mimic the original, this version, however, does not reproduce the musical style that Wallace Saunders would have sung around the railroad yards, nor the vaudeville style which initially popularized the tune.

In the early morning hours of April, 30, 1900 Casey's train careened around the curve at Vaughan, Mississippi, doing 70 mph. His fireman, Sim Webb, saw the lights of the caboose ahead and shouted that they were about to hit something, the the caboose of the No. 83 freight about 100 yards ahead.

"Jump, Sim, jump," yelled Casey.

It would have been easy for Casey to jump with him, but Casey remained in the cabin and continued to apply the air-brakes. Webb recalls, "As I jumped Casey held down the whistle in a long, piercing scream."

Opinions vary that Casey could have safely jumped from the train as he had done all that he could, or that his sacrifice and brave efforts to slow the train as much as possible lessened the impact such that he was the only one killed.

On the day after the accident, The Jackson Sun reported that dense fog prevented Casey from seeing far enough ahead to avoid a collision. The official report stated that Casey failed to heed warning signals, disregarded signals given by a flagman and found Jones solely responsible for the crash.

Some versions of the story say that Casey was crushed by the engine, some that he was scalded to death by steam. Still others say that he was struck in the throat by an iron bolt or a piece of wood.

Perhaps only adding more to the legend, it is said that when they took Casey Jones from the wreckage he had one hand on the whistle cord, the other on the air-brake lever.