Casey Jones / by Stephen Krensky ; Illustrations by Mark Schroder

Adapted by Stephen Krensky Illustrations by Mark Schroder THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK Adapted by Stephen Krensky Illustrations by Mark Schroder

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Krensky, Stephen. Casey Jones / by Stephen Krensky ; illustrations by Mark Schroder. p. cm. — (On my own folklore) ISBN 978–1–57505–890–0 (lib. bdg. : alk. paper) ISBN 978–0–8225–7035–6 (eBook) 1. Jones, Casey, 1863–1900—Juvenile literature. 2. Locomotive engineers—United States—Biography—Juvenile literature. I. Schroder, Mark. II. Title. III. Series: Krensky, Stephen. On my own folklore. TJ603.5.Q56K74 2007 385.36092—dc22 2005032536

Manufactured in the United States of America 4 – CG – 9/1/13 For James E. Storer —SK

To my wife, Nicole, and daughter, Anya —MS Casey Jones: A Folklore Hero

Maybe you have heard of Casey Jones. Perhaps some- one has mentioned his name, or you have heard a story or song. Casey Jones is one of America’s tall tale heroes. Stories about him come to us from the men who worked the railroad in the late 1800s. Some of these men were firemen. They shoveled coal into the boiler of steam engines to make the trains run. Some were telegraphers, who sent and received messages. Others were engineers. They drove the trains. Casey was one of the greatest train engineers of his time. We call stories like Casey’s tall tales because every- thing in them is extra big, extra fast, and extra wild. And the truth in these stories might be just a bit stretched. The heroes and heroines in tall tales are as tall as build- ings, as strong as oxen, or as fast as lightning. They meet with wild adventures at every turn. But that’s okay, because they can solve just about every problem that comes their way. Tall tales may be funny and outsized. But they de- scribe the life that many workers and pioneers shared. The people in these stories have jobs that real people had. And the stories were always set in familiar places.

4 The first tellers of these tales may have known these people and places. Or they may have wished they could be just like the hero in the story. The stories were told again and again and passed from person to person. We call such spoken and shared stories folklore. Folklore is the stories and customs of a place or a people. Folklore can be folktales like the tall tale. These stories are usually not written down until much later, af- ter they have been told and retold for many years. Folklore can also be sayings, jokes, and songs. Folklore can teach us something. A rhyme or a song may help us remember an event from long ago. Or it may be just for fun, such as a good ghost story or a jump-rope song. Folklore can also tell us about the people who share the stories. Casey Jones was a real person. He took on inventions such as the telegraph and the steam locomotive. His biggest challenge, however, came the morning of April 30, 1900, when he was trying to get a late train back on schedule. Tales of his brave actions that morning quickly spread up and down the rails. His deeds live on in the many versions of “The Ballad of Casey Jones.”

5 Getting Started

Casey Jones liked to be on time. He made this clear right from the start. As his birth neared, his parents wondered when he would make his first appearance. They needn’t have worried. He wasn’t born a day early or a day late. He appeared right on time. Of course, he wasn’t Casey Jones then. He was John Luther Jones. But he grew up in Cayce, Kentucky, and the name Casey stuck to him later like soot on a smokestack.

There was no question that little Casey had a certain way about him. When he was hungry, he cried every four minutes until he was fed. No more and no less. Neighbors could set their clocks by his nap times. Every afternoon, he fell asleep at 2:00 and woke up exactly two hours later. Even when he was ill, Casey kept track of things. When he got the 24-hour flu, he wasn’t sick a minute more than necessary.

Casey Jones was the most famous railroad engineer there ever was. Casey had one hang-up though. He had to be on time. He expected his trains to be on time too. One night Casey was asked to drive a train that was far behind schedule. He got that train running as fast as she could go. Would Casey make it on time? Hop on board this fast-paced tale and find out what made this railroad engineer an American hero.

“These easy readers introduce tall tale characters from American history. ...Krensky gives children a feeling for the characters as well as the flavor of the time and the story’s setting.” —School Library Journal

On My Own Folklore titles

Anansi and the Box of Stories Little Sima and the Giant Bowl

FOLKLORE Bokuden and the Bully The Magic Pomegranate Casey Jones Mike Fink The Chocolate Tree Paul Bunyan How Coyote Stole the Summer Pecos Bill John Henry

007–010 ATOS: 4.2 GRL: N