 | |
|
Both
the United States and Mexico have national folk heroes who were real railroaders. They were even near
contemporaries. James Luther “Casey” Jones of poetry and song was an engineer on
the Illinois Central Railroad who
was killed in 1900 when his speeding locomotive rammed a sitting
freight train. The accident was entirely
Jones’s fault who was trying to keep up a reputation
for “always bringing her in on time” despite weather related delays. But what Jesús García did seven years later in the state of
Senora will shock and amaze you.
Jesús García
y Corona
was born on November 13, 1883 in Hermosillo,
Sonora and was one of eight
children. In 1897 his mother moved the
family to Nacozari, a copper mining boom town. No mention is made of his father, but
there were so many ways for a peon to
die young in northern Mexico in those days—over
work, disease, bandits, accidents, bad
liquor and sometimes a man with too
many mouths to feed would go off to find a fortune north of the border and never be heard from again.
The
copper mines were operated by the Moctezuma
Copper Corporation, a subsidiary of American
giant Phelps Dodge which also
had significant operations in Arizona. In addition the original mines near
Nacoazri, another lode was
discovered at Pilares, about five
miles away.
In
1898, a year after the García had
arrived in town the company built a narrow
gauge railroad between the mines and the town. This replaced the mule trains that had originally packed the ore back to a
breaker mill in town and brought
supplied back up the mountain. It was
built on exceptionally steep grades,
which were relieved by few switchbacks to
save money in construction.
His
mother helped young Jesús get a job on the short line railroad. He started out as a water boy, but quickly advanced because he was hard working, bright,
and could read and write.
It was hard work and the hours were long but the railroad saved the
boy from a life as a peon or the dangerous drudgery of the mines and mill. He was promoted in quick succession to switchman, brakeman, fireman, and
finally, by the age of twenty, to maquinista—engineer. He had risen quickly to the pinnacle of the local aristocracy of labor.
 |
Jesús García was almost surely in the cab when this photo of Engine #2 crossing a trestle near the mine as taken.
|
García
was assigned to Engine #2, a 0-6-0 locomotive built to order in 1901
from H. K. Porter, Inc., a specialist
in small engines, in Pittsburg. It was one of three that the line
operated. All three made several trips a
day between Nacoazri and Pilares hauling ore one way and supplies for the mine
on the return trip. Starting in 1904 a standard gauge spur had been extended
to Nacoazri so the broken ore could make connections to Phelps Dodge’s smelter
in Douglas, Arizona.
The
young engineer was so well thought of by his employers that they paid for an excursion to the Saint Louis World’s Fair in 1904.
He was also a handsome young
man who was popular in town and cut quite a figure with the ladies cutting a
dashing figure as an accomplished horseman
as well. He became engaged to the lovely María
de Jesús Soqu. He made enough money
to regularly hire local musicians to
serenade his novia. Even though it was a
Wednesday evening, he had done the same, on November 6. 1907.
The
next day, November 7, he found that his regular conductor, a German, was
in the hospital. He would have to operate that day with a
brakeman substituting for the conductor.
It may have been fatal. A conductor was in charge of, among other things,
overseeing the safe makeup of the train. For
the run back to the mines from town that day two cars were loaded with crates
packed with 70 boxes of dynamite and
placed directly behind the engine and tender,
a violation of company policy. Behind
those the other cars others were loaded with bales of hay for the
mules used in the mines.
As
the train was being loaded García had enough time to walk to his mother’s
nearby house for lunch. Local lore has it that she had a premonition of her son’s death.
At
2 pm García began rolling out of the
yards for the trip to the mines. He
did not get far when crewmen noticed smoke coming from the cars. A faulty spark
retarder in the funnel was
allowing a shower of sparks to
escape from the wood-burning firebox which
set fire to hay. That spread quickly to
the dynamite cars. Crewmen tried desperately
to beat out embers on the boxes but
they caught fire.
Realizing
that the dynamite would blow with enough force to obliterate the town, García
ordered his crew to jump and opened the throttle. He hoped to get
the train out of town and over a rise
called the hump after which he
probably hoped to be able to jump himself with the train clear of the
town. He was afraid without his hand on
the throttle, the train might lose steam and slide back into town before
getting over the hump.
He
got the train 3 ¾ miles and was rolling past Camp 6, a secondary loading
area on to the way mine cluster of miner’s cabins and tent, when the
dynamite blew. He was killed instantly, just days short
of his 24th birthday. Twelve workers at Camp six were also killed, but
hundreds probably would have died had the explosion happened in Nacoazri. The explosion was heard 10 miles away, debris rained down over a wide radius, and most of the glass windows in Nacozari were shattered.
Remarkably
Engine #2 was not destroyed. It was
later repaired and sold to the Mereci Southern
Railroad in
Arizona.
 | |
|
García
was proclaimed a hero across Mexico.
Nacoazri dedicated a monument to
him in its central Plaza in
1909. It was just the first of
many. Others can be seen at Hermosillo where the Héroe
de Nacozari Stadium was home to the Coyotes
de Sonora fútbol [soccer] team, Mexico City, Zacatecas,
Veracruz, Tapachula, Guadalajara, Mazatlán, Naco, Aguascalientes, Ciudad Obregón, Empalme, San Luis Potosí,
and Tierra Blanca, as well as in
other countries—Cuba, Guatemala, the United Kingdom, and Germany.
But
all the accolades in the world were
not enough for his fiancé María who was said to have died of a broken heart only a year after the love
of her life.
The
State Congress of Sonora changed the
name of the town to Nacozari de García as
it is known to this day. He was named a Hero of Humanity by the American Red Cross. In 1944 the Mexican Federal Government declared November 7 would become the Día del Ferrocarrilero [Railroad Worker’s Day.] He has also been commemorated on Mexican post stamps,
After
the old narrow gauge railroad ceased operation in 1949 its last locomotive, #501
was moved to the Plaza of Nacoazri next to his monument and re-named Jesús
García.
 |
Believed to be a publicity illustration for the 1935 film El Héroe de Nacozari.
|
García
has inspired numerous works of art, novels, non-fiction books, film, and song.
The 1935 film El Héroe de Nacozari directed by Guillermo Calles is considered a
classic of Mexican cinema.
The
best known of many songs is the Corrido de la Máquina 501, sung by
one of the country’s greatest singing
stars, Pancho “el Charro” Avitia. The title mistakes the engine on
display in Nacoazi with #2 which García actually drove. Below are the Spanish words followed by a
loose English translation.
Corrido de la
Máquina 501
Máquina quinientos
uno,
la que corrió
por Sonora,
por eso los
garroteros
el que no
suspira, llora.
El fogonero le
dice:
“Jesús, vámonos
apeando,
mira que el
carro de atrás
ya se nos viene
quemando.”
Era un domingo,
señores,
como a las tres
de la tarde,
estaba Jesús
García
acariciando a su
madre.
Jesús García le
contesta:
"Yo pienso
muy diferente,
yo no quiero ser
la causa
de que muera
tanta gente."
Dentro de pocos
momentos:
“madre tengo que
partir,
del tren se
escucha el silbato,
se acerca mi
porvenir.”
Le dio vuelta a
su vapor,
porque era de
cuesta arriba,
y antes de
llegar al seis
allí terminó su
vida.
Cuando llegó a
la estación
un tren ya
estaba silbando
y un carro de
dinamita
ya se estaba
quemando.
Desde ese día
inolvidable
tú te has ganado
la cruz,
tú te has ganado
las palmas,
eres un héroe
Jesús.
Engine 501
Engine 501
rolls through Sonora.
And the brakeman
who won’t sigh will cry.
One fine Sunday, gentlemen,
‘round three o’clock,
Jesús García sweetly
caressed his mother.
“Soon I must depart,
kind mother,
the train whistle
draws the future near.”
Arriving at the station
a whistle blew shrill.
The wagon with dynamite
menaced with its roof afire.
The fireman says,
“Jesús, let’s scram!
that wagon behind
will
burn us to hell.”
Jesús replies,
“That I cannot own—a
this conflagration
will kill the whole town!”
So he throws it in reverse
to escape downhill
and by the sixth mile
into
God’s hands he’d arrived.
From that unforgettable day
You’ve earned the holy cross
You’ve earned our applause.
Jesús, you’re our hero.
Engine 501
rolls through Sonora.
And the brakeman
who won’t sigh will cry.
No comments:
Post a Comment