In the 1880s, travellers passing through Uitenhage station near Port Elizabeth (now Gqeberha) were often startled to see a baboon operating the railway signal levers.

The baboon's name was Jack, and his story began with a man named James "Jumper" Wide. A railway guard known for recklessly jumping between moving railcars, Wide's luck ran out one day when he slipped and fell under a train, losing both his legs below the knee near Kleinpoort in what is today the Eastern Cape.

Determined not to be sidelined, Wide carved himself a pair of peg-legs and built a small trolley to get around, which earned him a lighter job as a signal operator. But the half-mile trip between his cottage and the station remained a struggle.

Then, at the local market, Wide spotted a chacma baboon, called Jack, skilfully leading an ox wagon and, impressed, decided to buy him. Jack quickly proved himself around the house, helping with chores like sweeping and taking out the rubbish, and soon learned to push Wide to and from work on his trolley.

Jack's talents didn't stop there. Wide trained him to operate the railway signals himself, under Wide’s supervision.

The arrangement was eventually noticed – and reported. A passenger traveling to Port Elizabeth was horrified to see the signals being changed by a baboon and alerted authorities in Cape Town, who initially didn't believe the story. Railway officials investigated and, after testing Jack's abilities themselves, were won over. Jack was officially employed by the Cape Government Railways, earning a small salary and half a bottle of beer each week.

Over nine years on the job, Jack reportedly never made a single mistake. He died of tuberculosis in 1890. More than a century later, his story endures as one of the more unusual chapters in South African railway history.