In the Alabama story, John Henry was John Henry Dabney. ![]() John Henry drove spikes in the rail tracks, and he was faster than anybody whod ever worked the rails. He was leased in 1868 to work on the construction of the C & O railroad, 1868-72, at Lewis Tunnel, where he raced a steam drill and died. He was a steel-driving man after the Civil War, working for the C&O railroad company while they were digging a tunnel through the Big Bend Mountain right here in West Virginia. The result of this contract forced the C&O to send every dead prison worker back to the Virginia State Penitentiary to be buried in front of the ‘White House’ at the Virginia State Penitentiary. Many Americans are familiar with the story of John Henry. “For each escaped convict not recaptured and returned to the penitentiary, shall pay one hundred dollars damages.” Since the cost for prison laborers was only 25 cents per day, a $100 fine would be a major loss for the C&O. And John Henry was the strongest, the most powerful man working the rails. He went to work as a steel-driver for the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, dont ya know. He was born a slave in the 1840s but was freed after the war. It was considered a death sentence.īefore John Henry received his work orders, the penitentiary’s contract with the C&O had changed. Now John Henry was a mighty man, yes sir. ![]() Cutting into rock produces tiny bits of crystalline that when inhaled, would cut up into the lung tissue. In the Virginia story, the legendary steel driver was John William Henry, a convict at the old Virginia Penitentiary, Richmond. The main ingredient required for any story or song about John Henry is the fact that he worked on a railroad as a 'steel-driving man.' Steel drivers worked in teams to carve railroad tunnels through mountains. Acute silicosis is one such disease that was not well known at that time, but common among tunnel construction workers. The story of John Henry sheds light on the hardships faced by African Americans during the railroad construction era, and the resilience they exhibited in the. There was a large mortality rate that year and many of the inmates contracted the disease “while at work on the railroad.”Ĭonsumption was a term used to describe numerous lung diseases. He used a 14-pound hammer to drill, some historians believe, 10 to 20. He used a 14-pound hammer to drill, some historians believe, 10 to 20 feet in a 12-hour day-the. ![]() In 1872, consumption among prisoners was becoming an increasing concern for the Virginia State Penitentiary. As the story goes, John Henry was the strongest, fastest, most powerful man working on the rails. As the story goes, John Henry was the strongest, fastest, most powerful man working on the rails.
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