The Death of John Henry
After defeating the steam drill, John Henry's heart, strained beyond its limit, gave out. With his hammer still in his hand, the mighty steel-driving man collapsed and died. His fellow workers gathered around as the man who had beaten the machine lay still. The ballad recounts that John Henry had a woman—Polly Ann, Mary Ann, or Julia Ann in various versions—who took up his hammer after his death. John Henry's funeral became a massive gathering where workers from every railroad line came to pay their respects. The ballad spread rapidly across the South, carried by itinerant workers, becoming on