The tragic train accident that created an American folk hero

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“Casey Jones, you better watch your speed.” The line from “Casey Jones” by the Grateful Dead might be iconic, but it’s more fun than factual.

Tuesday was railroad engineer Casey Jones’ would-be 159th birthday. His life was cut short at 37 in a railroad crash. The infamous accident eventually made him a folk hero, with numerous ballads written about him throughout history, including tunes by such greats as Johnny Cash.

John Luther Jones got the nickname Casey from his roots in Cayce, Kentucky, where he spent most of his childhood. He began his career in the industry as a telegrapher at Mobile and Ohio railroad at 15 years old, according to Biography.com. In 1884, Jones was promoted to flagman and moved to Jackson, Tennessee. There he met his wife. Joanne “Janie” Brady, with whom he had two sons and a daughter.

He moved up the ranks during the heyday of the railroad and eventually secured a job as an engineer at Illinois Central Railroad. It was while he held this position that Jones died on April 30, 1900, in an act of self-sacrifice.