The Backstory: My Perfect Co-worker . . Is a Baboon

change your perspective. First of all, we've all had coworkers who we felt spent too much time monkeying around, right, But gotta tell you that would be an insult to this particular hardworking guy. His name was Jack, and he was a baboon, I mean a real baboon. First off, let's acknowledge all the incredibly hardworking animals that do everything from farm work to police and firework, even to espionage,

doing things like searching for mines and explosives. And of course there are wonderful animals that help people who are disabled or just need their companionship. All incredibly valuable and pretty amazing when you realize the skills they have and how they put them to work. But Jack was a whole nother story. Let's go back to eighteen seventy seven. James Wide is a South African railroad employee. He's a hard worker and well liked, but he's a bit of

a character. He gets a laugh out of coworkers by showing off his skill at jumping between moving trains. They nickname him Jumper, so you get where this is headed. Finally, James has a terrible accident on the job. He falls under a moving train and loses both his legs. He's still able to do his job working for the Cape Town Port Elizabeth train station getting around on peg legs, but by eighteen eighty one he's struggling to perform. James realizes he needs some help. He visits a market in

town and sees a baboon pushing an ox cart. He watches him do other odd jobs in the marketplace, and he's blown away by him. In fact, he's so impressed with him he buys the babboone, names him Jack and brings him home as a pet and personal assistant. He also figures Jack's the perfect guy to push him to work every morning in a little personal trolley, since the half mile trek was a bit rough on those peg legs. Soon he deputizes Jack as an employee of the railroad

and puts him to work on other jobs. Jack sweeps out the train station and empties the trash. He takes care of the station's gardening, and he alerts coworkers when trains are approaching. He does one heck of a job, and then at the end of the day he and James go home together with Jack pushing James in his little trolley. But where Jack really comes into his own is as a signalman. James trains him to push his wheelchair to the signal polls and eventually to operate the

railway's signals, of course under supervision at first. After a while it's clear he can do this on his own and his adept at changing signals to show engineers when conditions are safe or cautionary. Now the problem is a high net worth individual sees Jack changing railroad signals and kind of freaks out, calling in authorities, so of course an official investigation gets underway. It makes sense they're worried about the safety of the trains, so they decide to

give Jack a competency test. He passes with flying colors. After observing Jack do an impeccable job and verifying his skill set, they agree he deserves an official employee number, a title, and a salary. Jack is hired as a signalman and gets a uniform and a miniature signalman's hat. Plus he's paid twenty cents a day and gets half a bottle of beer every week. Now that's a contract, right. Jack becomes a local celebrity when his story is featured

in newspapers and magazines. He's an inspiration to folks, and crowds gather to watch him work. But that's not the end of his career. Not long after, Jack is taught how to operate the station's switching mechanisms. As trains approach the rail switches at the station, they toot their whistle a certain number of times to tell the signalman which tracks to change. By watching James, Jack picks up the

pattern and starts tugging on the levers himself. Just by watching James, Jack has learned how to throw switches and change tracks. He even shows train engineers which track they need to take, and he hangs onto the coal yard keys and guides new drivers into the coal sheds, helping them get their job done. His work is so meticulous he never makes even one mistake or experiences a single incident over the course of the nine years he works

for the railroad. Eventually Jack could do all of this work without James's supervision, and passing conductors had no idea that a baboon was operating the system until they saw it with their own eyes. Sadly, Jack died of tuberculosis in eighteen ninety and was still mistake free after those nine years on the job, but he left James broken hearted. Around that time, the railways superintendent said, Jack knows the signal whistle as well as I do, also every one

of the leavers. During my visit with him, it was very touching to see his fondness for James. As I drew near. They were both sitting on the trolley, the baboon's arm round James's neck, the other hand stroking James's face. Hope you like the backstory with Patty Steele. Please leave a review. I would love it if you'd subscribe or follow for free to get new episodes delivered automatically and feel free to dm me if you have a story you'd like me to cover. On Facebook, It's Patty Steele

and on Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele. The Backstories a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the Elvis Duran Group, and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser. Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday and Friday. Feel free to reach out to me with comments and even story suggestions on Instagram at Real Patty Steele and

on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening to the Backstory with Patty Steele, the pieces of history you didn't know you needed to know.