Fact #143609

While out walking along the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway (later the Missouri Pacific Railroad) where it crosses Big River outside of Irondale (Washington County, Missouri), William Helms finds a five-day-old baby in a suitcase, evidently having been thrown from a passing train. Helms and his wife foster the child, and name him William Moses Gould Helms. Within a few months, The Rev. J.T. Barton will be inspired to write the song Ballad Of The Iron Mountain Baby, telling the story of the child. It will become a popular folk song and a new treatment of the story, entitled Sarah Jane And The Iron Mountain Baby, will be released in 2013 on the LP Love Has Come For You by Steve Martin And Edie Brickell.