Thursday, April 13, 2017

J is for Jones

Not just the protagonist of a Grateful Dead tune, Jonathan “Casey” Jones was a real life train engineer who died at 37 because he stayed on his train trying to slow it down rather than jumping to safety. Casey Jones was the only fatality when his train collided with Engine 83 outside of Canton, Mississippi on April 30, 1900. Not only immortalized by Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead, Wallace Saunders, Jones’s friend and colleague wrote “The Ballad of Casey Jones” which has been recorded numerous times in various incantations.
I too, enjoy riding public on transportation.

1 comment:

The Silver Fox said...

I never knew thew story behind Casey Jones, but was definitely aware that the tale pre-dated the Grateful Dead.