Speaker 1: All right, ever, had a coworker who was like a
Speaker 1: total baboon. No, I mean literally a baboon. Back in
Speaker 1: the eighteen eighties, on a railroad in South Africa, a
Speaker 1: baboon named Jack got a job as a signalman and
Speaker 1: later a switchman. I'm Patty Steele. His impressive record and
Speaker 1: the story behind what legged is being hired. Next on
Speaker 1: the backstory, we're back with the backstory. Okay, if you're
Speaker 1: an animal lover, this one's definitely for you. If you're
Speaker 1: not an animal lover, maybe this one will help you
Speaker 1: change your perspective. First of all, we've all had coworkers
Speaker 1: who we felt spent too much time monkeying around, right,
Speaker 1: But gotta tell you that would be an insult to
Speaker 1: this particular hardworking guy. His name was Jack, and he
Speaker 1: was a baboon, I mean a real baboon. First off,
Speaker 1: let's acknowledge all the incredibly hardworking animals that do everything
Speaker 1: from farm work to police and firework, even to espionage,
Speaker 1: doing things like searching for mines and explosives. And of
Speaker 1: course there are wonderful animals that help people who are
Speaker 1: disabled or just need their companionship. All incredibly valuable and
Speaker 1: pretty amazing when you realize the skills they have and
Speaker 1: how they put them to work. But Jack was a
Speaker 1: whole nother story. Let's go back to eighteen seventy seven.
Speaker 1: James Wide is a South African railroad employee. He's a
Speaker 1: hard worker and well liked, but he's a bit of
Speaker 1: a character. He gets a laugh out of coworkers by
Speaker 1: showing off his skill at jumping between moving trains. They
Speaker 1: nickname him Jumper, so you get where this is headed. Finally,
Speaker 1: James has a terrible accident on the job. He falls
Speaker 1: under a moving train and loses both his legs. He's
Speaker 1: still able to do his job working for the Cape
Speaker 1: Town Port Elizabeth train station getting around on peg legs,
Speaker 1: but by eighteen eighty one he's struggling to perform. James
Speaker 1: realizes he needs some help. He visits a market in
Speaker 1: town and sees a baboon pushing an ox cart. He
Speaker 1: watches him do other odd jobs in the marketplace, and
Speaker 1: he's blown away by him. In fact, he's so impressed
Speaker 1: with him he buys the babboone, names him Jack and
Speaker 1: brings him home as a pet and personal assistant. He
Speaker 1: also figures Jack's the perfect guy to push him to
Speaker 1: work every morning in a little personal trolley, since the
Speaker 1: half mile trek was a bit rough on those peg legs.
Speaker 1: Soon he deputizes Jack as an employee of the railroad
Speaker 1: and puts him to work on other jobs. Jack sweeps
Speaker 1: out the train station and empties the trash. He takes
Speaker 1: care of the station's gardening, and he alerts coworkers when
Speaker 1: trains are approaching. He does one heck of a job,
Speaker 1: and then at the end of the day he and
Speaker 1: James go home together with Jack pushing James in his
Speaker 1: little trolley. But where Jack really comes into his own
Speaker 1: is as a signalman. James trains him to push his
Speaker 1: wheelchair to the signal polls and eventually to operate the
Speaker 1: railway's signals, of course under supervision at first. After a
Speaker 1: while it's clear he can do this on his own
Speaker 1: and his adept at changing signals to show engineers when
Speaker 1: conditions are safe or cautionary. Now the problem is a
Speaker 1: high net worth individual sees Jack changing railroad signals and
Speaker 1: kind of freaks out, calling in authorities, so of course
Speaker 1: an official investigation gets underway. It makes sense they're worried
Speaker 1: about the safety of the trains, so they decide to
Speaker 1: give Jack a competency test. He passes with flying colors.
Speaker 1: After observing Jack do an impeccable job and verifying his
Speaker 1: skill set, they agree he deserves an official employee number,
Speaker 1: a title, and a salary. Jack is hired as a
Speaker 1: signalman and gets a uniform and a miniature signalman's hat.
Speaker 1: Plus he's paid twenty cents a day and gets half
Speaker 1: a bottle of beer every week. Now that's a contract, right.
Speaker 1: Jack becomes a local celebrity when his story is featured
Speaker 1: in newspapers and magazines. He's an inspiration to folks, and
Speaker 1: crowds gather to watch him work. But that's not the
Speaker 1: end of his career. Not long after, Jack is taught
Speaker 1: how to operate the station's switching mechanisms. As trains approach
Speaker 1: the rail switches at the station, they toot their whistle
Speaker 1: a certain number of times to tell the signalman which
Speaker 1: tracks to change. By watching James, Jack picks up the
Speaker 1: pattern and starts tugging on the levers himself. Just by
Speaker 1: watching James, Jack has learned how to throw switches and
Speaker 1: change tracks. He even shows train engineers which track they
Speaker 1: need to take, and he hangs onto the coal yard
Speaker 1: keys and guides new drivers into the coal sheds, helping
Speaker 1: them get their job done. His work is so meticulous
Speaker 1: he never makes even one mistake or experiences a single
Speaker 1: incident over the course of the nine years he works
Speaker 1: for the railroad. Eventually Jack could do all of this
Speaker 1: work without James's supervision, and passing conductors had no idea
Speaker 1: that a baboon was operating the system until they saw
Speaker 1: it with their own eyes. Sadly, Jack died of tuberculosis
Speaker 1: in eighteen ninety and was still mistake free after those
Speaker 1: nine years on the job, but he left James broken hearted.
Speaker 1: Around that time, the railways superintendent said, Jack knows the
Speaker 1: signal whistle as well as I do, also every one
Speaker 1: of the leavers. During my visit with him, it was
Speaker 1: very touching to see his fondness for James. As I
Speaker 1: drew near. They were both sitting on the trolley, the
Speaker 1: baboon's arm round James's neck, the other hand stroking James's face.
Speaker 1: Hope you like the backstory with Patty Steele. Please leave
Speaker 1: a review. I would love it if you'd subscribe or
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Speaker 1: feel free to dm me if you have a story
Speaker 1: you'd like me to cover. On Facebook, It's Patty Steele
Speaker 1: and on Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele. The
Speaker 1: Backstories a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the Elvis Duran Group,
Speaker 1: and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser. Our
Speaker 1: writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday and Friday.
Speaker 1: Feel free to reach out to me with comments and
Speaker 1: even story suggestions on Instagram at Real Patty Steele and
Speaker 1: on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening to the
Speaker 1: Backstory with Patty Steele, the pieces of history you didn't
Speaker 1: know you needed to know.