1936 Simeon Webb Remembers You Know Who

Many years ago, I read a humorous observation which probably appeared in Trains magazine. If only John Henry had had access to career counselling and skills retraining ... and Casey Jones had been actively engaged in a 'safety culture' which provided negative outcomes for exceeding speed limits ... things would have been very different.

My early knowledge of this legend came from inaccurate illustrations in childhood books and the 1957-58 Alan Hale Jr. series in reruns. Finding the account below was a welcome opportunity to review the events with the advantage of the on-line resources which only collectors might have owned in the past.

When we get down to the 1936 interview of Casey Jones's Fireman (re-published in 1953) you'll notice that descriptors of people who look different from George Washington have changed since then. If you read Jones's 1939 biography, you'll see even more 'typical' southern terminology used.

... People - if they want to identify themselves a particular way - should be the ones to choose the appropriate words for that purpose. 

Here is the photo of Sim Webb which appears in the 1939 biography of Casey Jones. 

There are several different accounts of the events which occurred at 0352hr, 30 April 1900 at Vaughan, Mississippi. There is not even agreement between the accounts on whether there was adequate rest time between trips, or whether Sim and Casey 'doubled out' with only one hour off duty that night. 

Memories may change over time. Inconvenient facts may be omitted. Or, as a person's circumstances change, they may be more free to talk about the experiences they had earlier in life. 

A cursory knowledge of recent railway rules would lead to the conclusion that a couple of safety practices were not rigorously employed to protect life and property, leading to the collision at Vaughan. 

from: Casey Jones, Epic of the American Railroad; Fred J Lee; 1939; Southern. archive.org

from: Casey Jones, Epic of the American Railroad; Fred J Lee; 1939; Southern. archive.org

The Biography written by a friend.

The biography of John Luther Jones (1864-1900) was written by a conductor - Fred J Lee - who had known him personally. When it occurred, 39 years earlier, Jones's accident was typical of hundreds or thousands just like it. Most of these accidents were prevented with the advent of electric block signals. However, the song created an enduring folk legend, back when popular culture didn't move with the volume and velocity of YouTube and TikTok.

The interview of Sim Webb about the collision was published in a widely-read railroad periodical three years before Fred J Lee's biography came out. It seems possible that Webb's account may have precipitated a more fact-based approach to the events and legend of Casey Jones than the song had offered. The book's reference data and source are shown in the the photo caption above if you want to read it.

Perhaps, being at or near the end of his career, Lee wished to revisit and document events which occurred earlier in his career - in the good old days. Perhaps he felt compelled to create this monument, which was done with the support and endorsement of Jones's widow. 

In his recounting of the accident at the end of the book, Lee provides no new insights on the possible rules or procedures violations which were responsible for the collision.

An Explanation for the Origin of 'Casey'

Jones's railroad career began as a telegrapher on the GM&O, but it was his life's goal (just like the rest of us) to become an engineer. 

The Welsh soldiers depicted at Rorke's Drift in the movie Zulu were given numbers to allow the British Army to differentiate between individuals with the very common family name 'Jones' ... and we can imagine to sort out all of the soldiers named 'John Jones' - one of a few very common Welsh names of the time.

According to Casey's biography, there were too many Jones to keep track of in railroad telegraphy as well, so John Luther Jones at Cayce was identified as 'Casee Jones'. As in: 'He's the Brockville Jones' or 'the Belleville Jones'. However, I don't know if anything in these paragraphs would survive a rigorous historical examination by a professional historian. 

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from: 1928 Handy Railroad Atlas of the United States (reprint); 1928; Rand McNally.

On the night in question, Casey and Sim's southbound passenger train left Memphis (at the top centre of the map) and they would have gone off duty at Canton - just north of Jackson.

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An earlier 1912 map (below) shows more detail of the Sardis to Canton segment (seen above). 

Below: Sardis is at the top, centre of the map. Canton is at the bottom, centre of the map. 

Vaughan is the third settlement north of Canton.

Another settlement 'Way' - south of Vaughan - is mentioned in Webb's account.

from: Industrial Review of New York (atlas); 1912; George F Cram.

The short account below appeared first in: Railroad Stories; Eldon Roark; March 1936; Frank A Munsey. 

Here it is reproduced from: A Treasury of Railroad Folklore; Botkin & Harlow; 1953; Bonanza.

The diagram below shows the general situation at Vaughan when the Fast Mail arrived.

Among the safety practices generally used to prevent a collision here would be:

• A long whistle at the mileboard for Vaughan - a warning of the Fast Mail's approach. 
• Using reasonable caution approaching a station where congested traffic (such as train orders suggested Jones might find at Vaughan) could have been expected.

• Flagging with an appropriate unobstructed view as seen by an approaching train. 
• Flagging a sufficient distance from the movement being protected to allow an approaching train to safely stop before reaching any equipment fouling the main track.
• Flagging signals would include torpedoes, fusees (if used), and a red flagging lantern. (In one resourceful case, a flagman concluded he had not been seen at night so he hurled his lantern into the passing cab - the sudden appearance of the broken red lantern globe alerted the engine crew of the danger his flagging was intended to communicate.)

The presence of a flagman was noted in the Superintendent's official report of the accident. This type of self-regulating operations review was usually the final verdict on minor accidents during this era. 

In Webb's account, you'll notice it was No 83's (unturned) marker lights which gave the first warning of main track fouling - not anyone's flagging efforts. No mention is made of torpedoes - although their use is prescribed in a 1900-dated maintenance of way rulebook for the Illinois Central at archive.org .

At the time, this was just another railroad accident with a relatively low toll taken on people and equipment. It has a significance to history because of the legend created by the song. In 1900, it was a relatively insignificant event ... except, probably, for any employees deemed to have violated rules. 

But ... if there was adequate flagging (as the survivors must have recounted) the only rules violation was speed. There was no one alive to discipline for excessive speed so no formal follow up was needed.

... RMS Titanic, LZ 129 Hindenburg, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 ...

With major unsolved transportation disasters which have faded into history, there always seems to be a nagging desire to really understand exactly how such disasters could have happened. At the time, any survivors gave their accounts and that was it. Without the necessary scientific tools, access to, or process to, examine the transportation vehicle at the time, people in the future are drawn into the mystery. 

We are a pretty small and specialized cohort - those interested in historical railroad disasters. 

Imagine having an investigative group to immediately attend the scene at Vaughan:

• Looking for evidence where the spent torpedoes had been placed.
• Checking the rails and driving wheels for metallurgical evidence that Jones's locomotive was thrown into reverse and where this occurred.
• Calculating the probable speed of the Fast Mail.
• Conducting skilled examination of the crews of the freight trains performing the saw-by moves to determine why a disabled freight train caused the main line to be fouled. Developing a timeline of what each employee was doing before the collision.
• Determining if it was an air hose or a broken coupler which immobilized one of the freights.

In the end, at least we have the RMS Carpathia's heroic efforts (and selfless acts by passengers of the Titanic) and Casey Jones remaining at his post until the end.

from: 3:52 AM April 30, 1900 (article in Trains); Robert B Shaw; May 1965: Kalmbach.

Here are a few more views of the historical environment back then ...

from: Casey Jones, Epic of the American Railroad; Fred J Lee; 1939; Southern. archive.org

The current on-line resources are very helpful in revising the childhood images of this event. One of the engineers on one of the trains at Vaughan (like Jones) knew telegraphy. The telegraph office at Vaughan was closed for the night. In spite of the significant presence of trains at the location, it was necessary for Gaffney to break in to the station to be able to notify officials of the accident so trains would be held ... and to receive their instructions on how operations should proceed.

from: History of the Illinois Central Railroad; 1900; Railroad Historical Company. archive.org

Casey Jones was in freight service for several years at Water Valley. This book is half history of the railroad and half biographies of past and current notable personages of the railroad circa 1900. This type of industrial documentation book anticipated brisk sales to the people profiled, with extra copies being purchased for family members. 

Now, or until recently, a Casey Jones museum has existed at Water Valley at or near the location of the main line - although there is no current railroad presence surviving there today.

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from: History of the Illinois Central Railroad; 1900; Railroad Historical Company. archive.org

Also in this history is a photo of an engine similar to Casey Jones's own engine, the 382.

Unfortunately, the image is very dark and it was difficult to bring up much detail of the running gear.

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from: History of the Illinois Central Railroad; 1900; Railroad Historical Company. archive.org

A typical caboose helps us imagine the one which suddenly appeared at Vaughan.

 

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Above, a current Google Maps view looking timetable south.

The track may have been re-aligned since 1900, but today there is long stretch of tangent track before the line's long curve into Vaughan.

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Looking timetable south toward the tangent section between Pickens and the long curve into Vaughan. 

A view of the current track structure. Pickens is shown on the 1912 map, above.

Seen in a Google Maps view from 2023. 

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Current Google Maps view above Vaughan looking timetable north.

There are no village buildings visible at Vaughan

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from: Casey Jones, Epic of the American Railroad; Fred J Lee; 1939; Southern. archive.org

end

1855 The Grand Crimean Central Railway

The Crimean War (1853-1856) was 'a notoriously incompetent international butchery'.

Who did this?

The leaders in charge were:  

• Queen Victoria (1819-1901) of Great Britain
• Prime Ministers:
• Lord Aberdeen in office 1852-1855
• Viscount Palmerston in office 1855-1858

• Emperor Napoleon III (1808-1873) of the Second French Empire
• Abdul Mejid I (1823-1861) Sultan of the Ottoman Empire

                                        versus

• Czar Nicholas I (1796-1855) of the Russian Empire.

Both Napoleon and Abdul Mejid could have been considered reformers as they tried to make conditions and institutions in their countries better. 

'Nicholas the Stick' was kind of rigid and doctrinaire about everything.

Empire Building

The general extent of Britain's empire during the Victorian Era is well-known to most. 

Napoleon wanted France to have a greater world influence as he worked to obtain colonies in places like Algeria and Indochina. 

The Czar had been tempted for some time by the weakness of the Ottoman Empire 'the sick man of Europe' ... not much of a tourism slogan. To create a provocation, he told the Ottoman Empire to let him look after the Christians within the Ottoman Empire. Nick the Stick wanted to set up Russian circles of power and influence within the weakening Ottoman areas, particularly in Wallachia and Moldavia.

... Russia subsequently moved into those two areas and the Ottoman Empire declared war. To demonstrate their enthusiasm, Russia sent a naval force to sink the smaller Ottoman fleet at Sinope - resulting in the deaths of about 3000 Turks in November 1853, and then they shelled the place for a week.

Wanting to keep the Russian Empire in check, particularly on the high seas, France and Britain declared war on Russia a few months later ... and about 6 months later they showed up with armies to demonstrate their sincerity about the whole business.

The British military started in September 1854 to bring in a force of 26,000 soldiers ... reaching 98,000 in 1855.

The French started with 30,000 ... peaking at 310,000 in 1855.

from: Penguin Atlas of Recent History; Colin McEvedy; 1982; Penguin.

The map below spans events over a few decades. From all the green arrows, you can see that the Russian Empire was broadening its horizons. One additional reason for their interest in the Black Sea and the Dardanelle Straits leading to the Mediterranean Sea ... was a desire to gain access to a variety of harbours which were not impaired by ice for part of the year.

The Russian navy had an excellent natural harbour at Sebastopol on the Crimean Peninsula. This is correctly 'Sevastopol' as there were longstanding historical errors in transposing one letter from the Cyrillic to the Latin alphabet. 

At any rate, most of the action will centre on that location.

from: Atlas of World History Vol 2; Kinder, Hilgemann; 1978; Penguin.

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from: Google Maps circa 2016.

Above: The general morphology of Balaklava harbour might remind one of a smaller, dryer version of St John's Newfoundland - complete with a 'telegraph' tower. And if you are familiar with historical St John's, you know where to put the railway. 

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from: Google Maps.

Here is the current view of Sebastopol's excellent natural harbour. You can see the source of the historic B/V Sebastopol letter transposing error. According to Wiki, this was a closed city during the days of the USSR and the Cold War, as there were all sorts of interesting military activities to be seen here.

*  *  *

from: The Seat of War in the East; Simpson; 1855,1902; Day & Son. archive.org

A number of Crimean War events are being skipped for 'brevity'. 

Above is the main British harbour used to receive the provisions and weapons for the siege of Sebastopol. The French had other arrangements (map below). Notice that sail is still primarily the means of propulsion for ships. However, many ships are shown with supplementary steam engines which could be used when the winds were not favourable. 

The British showed up in the summer of 1854, probably with their classic expectation that the whole affair would be over by Christmas. 

It wasn't. And the British were not ready for winter. It had been a few decades since they had fought a war. They had kept themselves beautiful, with an emphasis on immaculate uniforms and parade square precision. 

However, their logistics and supply chains did not work, did not exist. There were no warm clothes, no shelter, no food, few draft animals, no fodder for draft animals, no medical care to speak of. Water-borne and other diseases, starvation and death were present in abundance for the poorly supported British soldiers in Crimea.

Fortunately, this was the first British foreign war with a correspondent working for a homeland newspaper - William Howard Russell (1827-1907). And he would soon have access to a telegraph wire. Officials began to feel the heat for this fiasco. 

Indeed, as you will already know, in November 1854 Florence Nightingale arrived and eventually revolutionized the existing military health care system. But she worked in Scutari, near Constantinople - over 300 miles away. Far more soldiers would die from disease, poor sanitation, and lack of food than were killed in fighting in Crimea. 

British Army Deaths 1854-1856. Combat 2755; Wounds 1847; Disease 17,580.

New Technology for the Crimean War

We've already noted the steam power at sea. This included some fast, powerful steamships.

The rifle and ball/'bullet' invented by Claude-Étienne Minié in 1849 saw their first service with the British here. Instead of a ball rattling down a smooth musket barrel, the muzzle-loading Minié rifle used a 'ball' (designed in a bullet shape but with no enclosed powder, etc) with a concave base which deformed on firing to capture all of the thrust imparted by the exploding gunpowder. A little rifling near the muzzle gave this projectile the spin necessary to achieve much greater accuracy. This high-velocity 'bullet' was much more effective than an old musket ball in its ability to smash bones and cause large wounds which were often fatal - particularly in Crimea.

The undersea telegraph wire, and exploding artillery shells on land and for naval guns, were also 'new' in this military effort. 

The Crimean 'trench warfare' pre-dated that of the US Civil War ...

With explosive shells and rifled muskets making life very dangerous for soldiers in the open, living in a trench was essential to limit casualties. 

from: The Seat of War in the East; Simpson; 1855,1902; Day & Son. archive.org

The careless mistakes leading to the infamous Charge of the Light Brigade occurred on 25 October 1854. The Woronzoff Road (below) was lost to the Russians by the British as a result of battlefield errors. Its loss meant that supplies for the camps overlooking Sebastopol were hauled through mud. 

As winter approached, the British managed to kill off almost all of the indigenous draft animals they found from overwork - as they dragged wagons through the mud. As we discussed, there was no fodder for them. Energy-dense grains and periods of rest are required to sustain animals working this hard. The artist has emphasized the ribs of the animals in the image.

from: The War in Crimea; Hamley; 1910; Seeley. archive.org

One More New Technology

The following names may sound familiar ... 

Thanks to that unwanted war correspondent, railway contractor Samuel Peto found out about the Crimean logistical mess and he rounded up fellow railroaders Edward Betts and Thomas Brassey. Peto had an idea to resolve the military's transportation problems in Crimea. 

We all know what a great invention the self-steering, low-friction railway was ... because it enabled long processions of heavy loads to be carried over all types of difficult terrain. For example, in Canada.

With support from the Secretary of State for War, Peto and his colleagues organized and sent steamships out with 500 experienced railway-building personnel - including 250 railway navvies - in December 1854. They were fully-equipped with supplies and equipment and ready to build the 7-mile Grand Crimean Central Railway. (The name really lacked something like '& Pacific' or '& Hudson Bay' to add pizazz.)

Their surveyor had previously arrived after the typical two-month voyage in mid-January and his plan for the railway's construction was ready. Peto, Betts and Brassey never did travel to Crimea. Their experienced on-site engineer for the railway was James Beatty. 

Many of the navvies had previous experience with work on Canadian railways. Their warm clothes, construction skills, supporting logistics and provisions, and efficiency ... was the envy of the poor retched soldiers. Doctors, locomotive engineers, carpenters, and other support personnel were sent with this group as well. 

*  *  *

A Map of the Battlefields and Railway

Below, is the best map I could find of the siege area and the railway connecting the British forward positions to the harbour at Balaklava. You'll see that the Russian positions are yellow and that main military formations are arrayed from left to right: French, Turks (Ottoman), British, more French, and Sardinians (late arrivals are welcome). 

The bars represent the positions of the headquarters and reserve troops. You can see the jagged trenches and saps reaching the Russian perimeter. Many of the artillery batteries were positioned behind the infantry. 

Note: Some of the unit positions may have been specific to the battles fought in the area at different times and they may not represent the positions of units for the entire siege period. 

from: The History of the War with Russia; Tyrrell; 1900; London Printing & Publishing. archive.org

Railway Operations

from: Engines of War; Christian Wolmar; 2010; Perseus.

from: Delaware & Hudson; Jim Shaughnessy; 1982; Howell-North.

This undated image from some of the original Delaware & Hudson coal-mining lines in Pennsylvania shows the application of a stationary steam engine to haul railway cars up an 'inclined plane' railway using a cable. This system operated on part of the the D&H from the 1830s until circa 1900. A counterweight was attached to the 'loose end' (shown taut, passing under the cars) at the bottom of the grade to prevent tangling and fouling of the track. 

This inclined plane method was used early in the railway era, when contemporary engineering and construction techniques could not economically locate a line in areas of steep grades. If possible, descending routes would be longer with milder gradients to enable uncabled return movements. Control of these uncabled movements was performed by skilled brakemen using only handbrakes. 

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from: The Seat of War in the East; Simpson; 1855,1902; Day & Son. archive.org

At first glance, I thought this image portrayed the transportation of the wounded. However, it is probably Ottoman Empire personnel marvelling at the railway. 

It should be noted that the railway materially improved the care and transportation of wounded soldiers. Before the railway, the wounded were shaken and jarred all the way from the front lines at Sebastopol to Balaklava. They were transported on litters borne by mules or horses in all types of weather. 

... Using this method, after first aid at a battlefield dressing station, and possibly further treatment by medical staff, it might take two or three hours to travel to Balaklava for eventual evacuation by ship to the Scutari hospital. Of course, a seriously-wounded patient would not survive the trip to Balaklava on the mule litters.

*  *  *

from: The Seat of War in the East; Simpson; 1855,1902; Day & Son. archive.org

The shelling component of the Siege of Sebastopol is being represented here. Thinking of the previous reference to explosive shells, it seems possible that the mortar 'cannon balls' with holes are designed to receive explosive and a fuse.

So, here we have an early example of a railway feeding the artillery before the US Civil War and the trench railways of World War One.

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from: Pictorial History of the Russian War; George Dodd; 1856; W&R Chambers. archive.org

My blog post went to Crimea and all I got was some kid's line drawing of a train.

This is probably a deadhead move between Kadikoi and Balaklava - otherwise, wounded might be on board. The image of the animals struggling to drag wagons through the mud, further above, was also at Kadikoi. If someone asks, we can use these two images as 'before and after' justifications for the railway.

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from: Atlas of Military History; Parker; 2004; Collins.

Above is a map showing most of the engagements of the Crimean War. 

Ironically, after describing the British efforts, it was the French who finally seized the Malakoff Redoubt on 8 September 1855, making further defence of Sebastopol untenable. The Russian field army had evacuated, destroying the remaining fortifications and naval facilities before they left. 

... The Malakoff Redoubt is shown on the largest map above: Find the centre of the harbour, then look to the harbour's south for: Malakoff 'White Tower'.

Regarding railways ... after their Black Sea re-supply routes were cut, Russia's campaign suffered from not having railways to support their counter-offensives on the Crimean Peninsula. 

In the end, Czar Nicholas and his campaign failed. He did not witness this, however, as he had died in February 1855. 

He was succeeded by his son who became Czar Alexander II (1818-1881). Alexander was a reformer who freed the Russian serfs (Catherine the Great, 1729-1796, used to give serfs away to her many paramours as parting gifts ... by the thousands!). Alexander continued Russian imperial expansion - but in different directions. 

... Burned by Britain in Crimea, he later sold Alaska to the US in 1867 to prevent it from being absorbed into Britain's North American colonies. 

Ultimately, the British-French 'success' in the Crimean War created no conditions which could not be reversed in due course by Russia. 

From cannon captured at Sebastopol were cast the first Victoria Crosses and 111 survivors of the war received this decoration. The Victoria Cross was not awarded posthumously until this policy was reversed in 1907. 

Metallurgical research has led to the conclusion that metal from captured Chinese cannon has been used since 1914 to create the medals. 

end