Casey Jones

Casey Jones (HM11NF)

Location: Water Valley, MS 38965 Yalobusha County
Buy Mississippi State flags at Flagstore.com!
Country: United States of America
Buy United States of America flags at Flagstore.com!

N 34° 9.021', W 89° 37.923'

  • 0 likes
  • 0 check ins
  • 0 favorites
  • 1665 views
Inscription
(Front)
On April 30, 1900, railroad engineer John Luther "Casey" Jones died when his Illinois Central train, the "Cannonball," collided with a stalled freight train in Vaughan, Mississippi. Jones, who once lived and worked in the railroad town of Water Valley, was credited with saving the lives of his passengers and crew, and was immortalized in song by many artists, including Mississippi-born bluesman Furry Lewis and Mississippi John Hurt.

(Backside)
The railway engineer occupied a celebrated role in the American cultural imagination during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the peak era of the steam locomotive. None achieved more acclaim than "Casey" Jones, although his exploits, true and otherwise, only became popularly celebrated years after his death. A native of Cayce, Kentucky-the source of his nickname-Jones (1863 - 1900) began working for the Illinois Central as a fireman in 1888. Two years later he joined the Water Valley Lodge of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Fireman, and at some point moved to the city, which housed a major roundhouse and shop for servicing locomotives.

In 1891 Jones was promoted to engineer, and in 1900 began working on the Memphis to Canton, Mississippi, run of the New Orleans special or "Cannonball," which carried passengers and mail between Chicago and New Orleans. Around 1 a.m. on April 30 Jones and his fireman, Sim Webb, boarded engine No. 382 in Memphis, where the "Cannonball" had arrived an hour and half late. Jones was almost back on schedule as he approached Vaughan shortly before 4 a.m., but as he rounded a curve he encountered a stalled train. He ordered Webb to jump, and died with his hand still on the brake as he crashed into the train's caboose, but his passengers suffered no major injuries. These basic facts were missing from many of the subsequent songs and stories about Jones, which often altered the story by imagining the reaction of his family, introducing new characters (including other engineers), changing the locations, and exaggerating Jones' exploits.

After the wreck Wallace Saunders, an African American worker at the Canton roundhouse who knew Jones, composed a ballad (with some verses reportedly added by fellow employee Ike Wentworth) that spread widely among railroad laborers. These included Cornelius Steen (or Stein), whose version was recorded by folklorist John Lomax in Canton in 1933. Saunders' ballad was first published in a railroad magazine in 1908, and the following year the first sheet music version appeared, credited to T. Lawrence Seibert and Eddie Newton. In 1910 a recording by vaudeville singer Billy Murray reputedly sold over a million copies, and the first country music version was recorded by Fiddlin' John Carson in 1923. The first issued blues recording was Furry Lewis' two-part "Kassie Jones" from 1928. Mississippi John Hurt recorded "Casey Jones" earlier in 1928 but it was never released; in the 1960's he recorded multiple versions. Bluesman Jesse James and Bob Howard both recorded "Southern Casey Jones" in the 1930s. Artists who subsequently recorded Casey Jones songs included Johnny Cash, Sidney Bechet, Spike Jones, and the Grateful Dead. The Jones saga was also popularized via newspaper and magazine articles, stage and cinema productions, a TV series, toys, trading cards, a comic book, and museums.

Details
HM NumberHM11NF
Series This marker is part of the Mississippi Blues Trail series
Tags
Year Placed2012
Placed ByMississippi Blues Commission
Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Tuesday, September 9th, 2014 at 5:19am PDT -07:00
Pictures
Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)16S E 257333 N 3781956
Decimal Degrees34.15035000, -89.63205000
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 34° 9.021', W 89° 37.923'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds34° 9' 1.26" N, 89° 37' 55.38" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)662
Closest Postal AddressAt or near 301 Blackmur St, Water Valley MS 38965, US
Alternative Maps Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap

Is this marker missing? Are the coordinates wrong? Do you have additional information that you would like to share with us? If so, check in.

Check Ins  check in   |    all

Have you seen this marker? If so, check in and tell us about it.

Comments 0 comments

Maintenance Issues
  1. What historical period does the marker represent?
  2. What historical place does the marker represent?
  3. What type of marker is it?
  4. What class is the marker?
  5. What style is the marker?
  6. Does the marker have a number?
  7. This marker could use another picture or two.
  8. Can this marker be seen from the road?
  9. Is the marker in the median?