The article stressed, however, that this very same claim surfaced after a Boston train wreck and that one had been disproved.
“The Illinois Central officially said
He’s a good engineer to be a-lying dead.”
Actually, the Illinois Central blamed the wreck on Casey Jones, although best evidence seems to fault the conductor of the stalled train ahead even more. (Jones acted heroically, holding the brake till the very end to mitigate the effect on passengers in his train, when he could have jumped as he ordered his fireman to do.)
The official report said that Jones ran through several flares and torpedo signals, based on the word of the conductor of the other train. Jones was not available to comment, although his surviving fireman claimed that there were no such signals.