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Wallace Saunders

Wallace Saunders was an engine wiper in the railroad shop at Canton. Bruce Gurner says creating simple ballads about people and events seems to have been his talent.

Saunders knew Casey Jones and composed a ballad which, Gurner assumes, he played and sang in Canton. The fact that some liberties were taken with the story had no effect on the song's popularity.

"It was an instant success," Gurner says, "and was soon being whistled and sung up and down the Illinois Central."

Illinois Central Engineer William Leighton heard the song and made it known to his brothers, Frank and Bert, who were vaudeville performers. They sang it in theaters around the country, adding a chorus.

T. Lawrence Seibert was credited with the words and Eddie Newton the music when it was published and offered for sale in 1902. By World War I dozens of versions had been published and millions of copies sold creating a new American folk hero.

Casey was a legend. The song made him that, but ironically neither his wife, Janie, nor any member of his family ever received a cent from the proceeds of the song.

Neither did Wallace Saunders.