Casey Jones was an Alum?[/quote]
Hey Neut, check this out:
From Wikipedia the 2nd paragraph: (Who woulda thunk).
John Luther "Casey" Jones was born March 14, 1863 in southeast Missouri to country school teacher Frank Jones and his wife Anne. His exact place of birth is unknown. He was the first of five children. In 1876 his family moved to the small community of Cayce, Kentucky, which is how he eventually got his nickname. As a boy he developed a growing obsession with trains from hanging around the bustling train depot there. In 1878, at the age of 15, he went to work for the Mobile and Ohio Railroad as a telegrapher in nearby Columbus, Kentucky. Casey grew to be quite tall for his day at 6’4 1/2" with dark hair, gray eyes, and a slim build. His size and strength made him a natural for the often brutal work of railroad life.
After several years he moved to North Dakota where he attended engineering school at the University of North Dakota. He even dabbled in Hockey. Being as big as he was, it was well known that he was hard to move out of the front of the net
He next moved to Jackson, Tennessee, still in the employ of the M&O as a flagman. There he stayed at a boarding house for railroad men run by the mother of his future wife who worked there as well.[1][2]
It was at the dinner table in this boarding house that John Luther Jones became "Casey" Jones. Bose Lashley, a brakeman for the M&O, looked up from his dinner plate one day and spoke to the gangly lad who had entered to be seated:
"What's your name, son?" he asked.
"John Luther Jones," the young man replied.
"Where are you from?"
"Cayce, Kentucky."
"Well, sit right down Cayce, and make yourself at home!" Lashley rejoined.[1]
It was common practice at the time for railroaders to give fellow railroaders nicknames to make it easier to tell them apart from others who had the same name. Though Casey spelled his name "Cayce," his wife spelled it "Casey" in the letters she wrote, which became the accepted spelling of his name.
Casey performed well and was promoted to brakeman and then fireman. His work in Jackson primarily involved freight service between Jackson and Water Valley, Mississippi. Both locations were busy and important shops for the Illinois Central Railroad and he developed close ties with both between 1890 and 1900.
Quite a Legacy!!!
