Here's the old tale of Casey Jones
Engineer of the Cannonball
Always made sure his train was on time
This legend's been heard by one and all

He'd blow the train's whistle softly
Raising it a bit at a time
Raising it to a banshee's wail
So loud it was almost a crime

In April of Nineteen Hundred
He was working for a sick friend
But he didn't know at the time
That run would bring him to his end

Highballing it out of Memphis
He quickly made up for lost time
Then all at once in front of him
A freight train was stalled on his line

He ordered his fireman to jump
The guy jumped, made it out alive
But Casey Jones died in that wreck
Not a chance in hell to survive

Now Casey Jones' legend lives on
Not meant to be a mystery
Engineer of the Cannonball
Ever alive through history!

THE HISTORY BEHIND THIS MYSTERY - Casey Jones, engineer of the famed Cannonball Express, was a man who always brought his train in to the station right on time.  He'd start his run blowing the train whistle softly and slowly increase it to a rapid, loud wail as he increased his train's speed. People along the line easily recognized the whistle and always knew when Casey was at the controls of the Cannonball.
     On April 29, 1900, he brought his train into the Memphis station on time, as usual. As he was about to leave however, he learned that his relief engineer was ill and couldn't make the next run. Casey volunteered to help the man out. But, by the time all the paperwork had been completed allowing Casey to make an extra run on the line, that train was now an hour and thirty five minutes late leaving the Memphis station.
     Determined to make the lost time, he highballed it out of Memphis and started working on making up that time.
     At around 4:00 A.M., he had made up nearly all of it. But as he rounded a curve in the track near Vaughin, Mississippi, he came upon a stalled freight train dead ahead of him on the same track. He yelled for his fireman to jump. The fireman made it out alive but Casey died in the ensuing wreck.

     The fireman later reported that when he tried to reach Casey in the wrecked engine he found him dead.......with one hand on the brake and the other on the whistle cord.