John Henry

4.8

John Henry was a steel-driving man: a famous Negro, a strong man and work hero. And he died with his hammer in his hand; the 5-kilogram hammer (some say 6 kg) that flashed like gold when he worked. The women came out from town when John Henry worked to hear him sing and the hammer ring.

John Henry was born in the United States and was thirty-four years old when he died. He was a big man — about a hundred kilograms.

His story begins in the early 1870’s when a big tunnel was built in the Virginia hills. John Henry had great strength and he was a good worker. He could drive steel ten hours without stopping. He could drive his hammer into big rocks and break mountains.

One day the boss bought a steam drill to hurry the work in the tunnel. John Henry’s pride was touched: “A man is nothing but a man,” he said. “But before I let that steam drill beat me down, I will die with the hammer in my hand.” And he did. John Henry worked better than the new drill — and won. But he died of it John Henry was drilling on the right side of the tunnel, and the steam drill started on the left. The conditions were to drill for thirty-five minutes. John Henry made about five meters, and the steam drill made only three. John Henry said, “I beat him, but I am dead,” and he fell down dead. He still had the hammer in his hand. They buried him near the tunnel and every big engine that goes by whistles, “There lies the strongest steel-driving man.”