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Jack, The Baboon Who Became a Railway Signalman and His Partner ‘Jumper’ Wide
Jack the baboon worked for the South African railway for nine flawless years
In the late 19th Century, a railway signalman called James Edwin ‘Jumper’ Wide worked for the South African railways as a guard in a town called Uitenhage. He got his nickname from his dangerous habit of jumping or swinging from one railcar to another.
Unfortunately for Jumper, this predictably went horribly wrong one day. While leaping from one railcar to the next, he slipped on some canvas and fell under a moving train. The heavy steel wheels severed his legs below the knees.
Jumper Wide was lucky to have survived, but he now found himself unemployed. He begged the Cape Railway Government for a job but to no avail. Not one for giving up, Jumper Wide (he retained his nickname) made himself a pair of peg-legs and a trolley to help himself get around.
This was good enough for the railways, and he got a new, less active job as a signalman.
Wide buys Jack the baboon, and a friendship is formed
A few years later, around 1880, Wide visited the Uitenhage market. While there, he witnessed the incredible sight of a young chacma baboon acting as a ‘voorloper’ or oxen leader, driving an ox-wagon into the market.
Wide introduced himself to the owner and offered to buy the ape. The owner was reluctant to sell his favorite pet, as the animal was so intelligent and helpful. Eventually, he took pity on the disabled man and sold it to him. Wide named him Jack.
The owner told Wide that the ape was incredibly smart and a great worker, but only if he got a tot of Cape brandy every night. If his night-time beverage were missed, the baboon would sulk the following day and refuse to do anything. Wide only forgot once in all the years that followed, and after a day of Jack’s sullen behavior and refusal to work, he never forgot again.
Wide lived about half a mile from the train station, and so the first thing he did was train Jack to pull his small trolley along the track. The baboon pushed the trolley up the small hill and would gleefully jump on board for the faster downhill sections.
