Jesús García

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Monument to Jesús García in Nacozari

Jesús García Corona (13 November 1883 – 7 November 1907) was a Mexican railroad engineer who was killed trying to keep a train loaded with dynamite from exploding near Nacozari de García, Sonora, in 1907. As el héroe de Nacozari he is revered as a national hero and many streets, plazas, and schools across Mexico are named for him.

García was born in Hermosillo, Sonora. In 1898 his family moved to Nacozari, where his father worked as a blacksmith. García, too, learned the trade, and at the age of 17 got a job with Moctezuma Copper Company, but due to his age, he was made a waterboy. He was promoted to switchman, then to brakeman, and finally to fireman. By the age of twenty he was machine engineer.

Jesús García was the railroad engineer for the train that covered the line between Nacozari, Sonora, and Douglas, Arizona. On 7 November 1907 the train was stopped in the town and, as he was resting, he saw that some hay on the roof of a car containing dynamite had caught fire. The cause of the fire was that the locomotive's firebox was failing and sparks were going out from the smokestack. The wind blew them and got into the dynamite cars. García drove the train at full-steam six kilometers out of the town before the dynamite exploded, killing him and 12 other railwaymen and bystanders, but sparing the population of the mining town. Jesús told the fireman to jump-off the train and survived.

In his honor a statue was raised and the name of the town of Nacozari was changed to Nacozari de García. He was declared Hero of Humanity by the American Red Cross, many streets in Mexico carry his name, and the Estadio Héroe de Nacozari sports stadium in Hermosillo is also named after him. García's sacrifice is remembered in the corrido "Máquina 501"("Locomotive 501", although the real number was #2), sung by Pancho "el Charro" Avitia, and Mexican railroad workers commemorate 7 November every year as the Día del Ferrocarrilero.