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Railway Employs Baboon | Tales From the Bottle

Qxir | December 23, 2025



All this little monkey was missing was corduroy britches.

“Jack was the pet and assistant of double leg amputee signalman James Wide, who worked for the Cape Town–Port Elizabeth Railway service. James “Jumper” Wide had been known for jumping between railcars until an accident where he fell and lost both of his legs. To assist in performing his duties, Wide purchased the baboon named Jack in 1881, and trained him to push his wheelchair and to operate the railways signals under supervision.
An official investigation was initiated after a concerned member of the public reported that a baboon was observed changing railway signals at Uitenhage near Port Elizabeth.
After initial skepticism, the railway decided to officially employ Jack once his job competency was verified. The baboon was paid twenty cents a day, and half a bottle of beer each week. It is widely reported that in his nine years of employment with the railway company, Jack never made a single mistake.
After nine years of duty, Jack died of tuberculosis in 1890. Jack’s skull is in the collection of the Albany Museum in Grahamstown.”

More on Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_(baboon)

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Written by Qxir

Comments

This post currently has 49 comments.

  6. @clueless4085

    December 23, 2025 at 6:32 am

    Calling a guy like that "Jumper" is classic blue collar comedy.

    It's like going to a new job and they say, "Go see Tiny, he'll get you set up." Who's Tiny? The big fat guy, of course.

  23. @jamespuffer2889

    December 23, 2025 at 6:32 am

    This is all obviously subjective evidence, but they really just don’t make people like they used to in American ~125-150 years ago.

    There was just a special kind of crazy that we don’t see any longer.

  27. @jessesteelman1238

    December 23, 2025 at 6:32 am

    Honestly, I think the most insane thing about this is how much it makes sense. Baboons are scavengers and have proven their intelligence in their methods for sustaining themselves like their brain is hardwired to problem solve in order to get to food. Baboons are notorious for being one of the worst kinds of monkeys to work with (mainly in film) due to agression but maybe because Jack was provided constant nourishment in exchange for problem solving he was truly in his ideal enviornment.

  37. @markjames1713

    December 23, 2025 at 6:32 am

    in all fairness i think the railways today seem to be run by drunk baboons maybe he slowly worked his way up the ranks and has now been promoted to ceo of a large modern train operating company? it would certainly explain some things of late

  43. @Hime1515

    December 23, 2025 at 6:32 am

    Great to hear stories from here in your lovely Irish accent, I'm a South African. It's crazy to give alcohol to a baboon, they are so aggressive and dangerous with huge teeth. Chill Jack was a rarity for sure. I live in the mountains with many baboons around, I wish they made that cute monkey sound but they make a barking sound instead and loud "wahoo" calls too.

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