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When I interviewed with the Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Mississippi.  I mentioned the fate of Casey's hat and gloves.  Over the centennial weekend, I got numerous requests for more information on the Sisters who owned the Rose Rest Hotel in Vaughan.

That hotel is now owned by Nancy Swayze of Vaughan.  She tells me she doesn't have the money to completely restore it, she is just trying to keep it from falling down until she can do something with it.  I will help her as much as I can, as it is a fine old building with a lot of history behind it.

Nancy has uncovered a wealth of information left behind by the sisters.  They apparently kept everything and I do mean everything.  Nancy has in her possession numerous letters and other written forms of documentation revolving around the events of Casey's wreck and how the citizens of Vaughan reacted.  Nancy tells me that much of the information is written on scraps of paper or whatever else the sisters could find and meticulously packed away for preservation.

The Sisters were very fond of Casey Jones.  They had apparently known him prior to his wreck.  They went to a great deal of effort after the accident to record information about Casey and wreck.  They even wrote articles to submit to various news papers.  If my information is correct, all of this has been preserved and is now in the possession of Nancy.

The story of the hat and gloves goes like this:

The morning of the wreck, the sister's brother came and awoke them to come see the wreck site.  Their brother had been to the site and had came into possession of Casey's hat and gloves which he kept.

After the wreck, their brother, as brothers will do, thrived on tormenting the sisters with the hat and gloves.  He would chase the sisters around the house and the yard with them and he would hide and jump out with them when they came by.  All was intended to terrorize them and worked so well that their mother became tired of the racket.

She made them pack the hat and gloves in a box and bury them in the yard of the Rose Rest.  To the best of our knowledge, they are still there.  I have theorized that if it is a wooden box, we might be able to take a metal detector and pick up on the nails or hinges and locate the box.

At the same time, I have to wonder if it might not be better to let them lie.  As it is, the story stands as yet another interesting by-line in the Casey Jones story.  It may have just as much value as is rather than having actual possession of these artifacts.  Depending on the quality of the box, the hat and gloves may be completely gone by now.

Nancy has promised to sit down with me and help me get a better grasp of the sister's story and the other stories emanating from Vaughan and Casey's wreck.  I don't know about the historical value but I have found the entire experience captivating.

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