John Luther “Casey” Jones was an American railroader who was killed when his passenger train collided with a stalled freight train at Vaughan, Mississippi on April 30th, 19001. He was a locomotive engineer for the Illinois Central Railroad, based in Memphis, Tennessee and Jackson, Mississippi.
Jones was born on March 14th, 1864 in Missouri2. He was married to Mary Jones and had three children.
Jones became a folk hero after his death and was immortalized in a ballad called “Casey Jones” which was written by Wallace Saunders.
Jones began his career as a telegraph operator at the age of 173. In 1888 he entered the service of the Illinois Central Railroad as a locomotive fireman and soon (1890) was promoted to engineer.
Jones was known for his skill as an engineer and his ability to keep trains running on time4. On April 30th, 1900 he was driving the Cannonball Express when he learned that he was running late. He decided to make up time by driving faster than usual despite warnings from his fireman that the train’s brakes were not working properly4. The train collided with a stalled freight train at Vaughan, Mississippi and Jones died in the accident.
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