This steel drivin' man beat a steam drill in a race to make a railroad tunnel but died with his "hammer in his hand"
In ballad and legend he is simply John Henry, but John Henry is a ... wife or 
woman and places his contest with a steam drill at Big Bend Tunnel on the C&O 
... was the legendary steel driver, that he died at Lewis Tunnel, and that his body
... [DOC] [TLE] Page 3 - TerpConnect [PAR] So John and Willie left to help build the railroad.