![]() Jones reached the pinnacle of the railroad profession as an expert locomotive engineer for IC. He was promoted to engineer, his lifelong goal, on February 23, 1891. On March 1, 1888, Jones switched to IC, firing a freight locomotive between Jackson, Tennessee and Water Valley, Mississippi. Illinois Central Railroad (IC), providing an unexpected opportunity for faster promotion of firemen on that line. In the summer of 1887, a yellow fever epidemic struck many train crews on the neighboring Jones went to work for the Mobile & Ohio Railroad, performed well, and was promoted to brakeman on the Columbus, Kentucky to Jackson, Tennessee route, and then to fireman on the Jackson, Tennessee to Mobile, Alabama route. By all accounts he was a devoted family man and teetotaler. They bought a house at 211 West Chester Street in Jackson, Tennessee where they raised their three children. Mary's Catholic Church in Jackson, Tennessee on November 25, 1886. Bridget's Catholic Church in Whistler, Alabama to please her. ![]() Since she was Catholic, he decided to convert and was baptized on Novemat St. ![]() Jones met his wife Mary Joanna "Janie" Brady through her father, who owned the boarding house where Jones was staying. It was there that he acquired the nickname of "Cayce", which he chose to spell as "Casey". The Jones family moved to Cayce, Kentucky after his mother Ann Nolan Jones and his father Frank Jones, a schoolteacher, decided that the rural areas of Missouri offered few opportunities for their family. Jones was born in rural southeastern Missouri. For this, he was immortalized in a traditional song, " The Ballad of Casey Jones". All are agreed, however, that 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. Some claim that he ignored a flagman signaling to him, though this person may have been out of sight on a tight bend or obscured by fog. 382, known as "Cannonball".Ĭasey Jones postcard with a commemorative postage stampĪpproaching Vaughan at high speed, he was unaware that three trains were occupying the station, one of which was broken down and directly on his line. He eventually departed 75 minutes late, but was confident of making up the time with the powerful ten-wheeler Engine No. 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 was due to run the southbound passenger service from Memphis to Canton, Mississippi, departing 11:35 p.m. However, there is some disagreement about the sequence of events on that night, April 29–30, 1900. He 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. Jones was a locomotive engineer for the Illinois Central Railroad, based in Memphis, Tennessee, and Jackson, Mississippi. John Luther " Casey" Jones (Ma– April 30, 1900) was an American railroader who was killed when his passenger train collided with a stalled freight train in Vaughan, Mississippi.
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