CASEY JONES

James and Bruce head further south, heading for the town that give birth to the song that is Casey Jones, Canton, after a train crash that killed a popular driver in nearby Vaughn, Casey Jones.

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The story of the song has elements of railroad corruption, with avoidance of time penalties more important than the safety of the drivers, along with a cover-up, where the failure of a railway worker was overlooked in order to lay the blame at the driver with his hands on the throttle of the Cannonball Express, that it was better to claim that a driver had ignored the warnings that a train was broken down on the tracks ahead than admit that the warnings hadn't been made at all.

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Canton is very much an archetypal Mississippi town, the town centre buildings with awnings to beat out the sun and clustered around a courthouse, which is why it was frequently used in movies, such as A Time To Kill.

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But because this is the South, and in the Klan heartland town of Canton, there is racial prejudice too, where the real songwriter was sidelined and someone else allowed to stake his claim.

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On the way, there are a couple of pitstops: the Blue Front Cafe in Bentone, and Yazoo City, where parts of O Brother Where Art Thou were filmed.

The Blue Front Cafe in Bentone - a symbol of segregation, displaying the Coca Cola sings it was prohibited from having during the segregation years

The Black & White Store in Yazoo City was used as the department store in O Brother Where Art Thou

The streets around the courthouse in Canton

Canton, courthouse square

The pull into Vaughn station. A northbound train pulled into here, to allow Casey to pass. Another slower southbound train pulled into a passing track further north, but a coupling broke leaving part of it stranded on the southbound track, and Casey was heading towards it

The colourful main street of Yazoo City

Yazoo City, this was the scene of the bank robbery in O Brother Where Art Thou

The courthouse in Canton, used in A Time To Kill

Canton, courthouse square

Looking north, Casey was heading along here, and he hadn't been given the warning that part of a slower southbound train was stranded on the track. This is where Casey Jones died.