A salesman arrives at a digging site where the legendary John Henry works, in Virginia in the wake of the civil war. John Henry’s strength is well known, and he is well loved by his fellow workers. So when the salesman presents his digging machine as an alternative to human labor to their boss, every single one of them bets that John Henry could out dig it.  This annoys the salesman who doesn’t see how that would be possible, and is confused about their faith in a human to defeat a machine. So the boss and the salesman decide to have a competition to see who will finish digging first. John henry and the machine set to work digging as the workers cheer for John Henry with complete faith in his success. John Henry digs with all his might, not stopping even when it hurts, and he feels his lungs failing.  John Henry wins, but collapses when he finishes. As he is dying, the boss sends someone to get Polly, his wife. Polly arrives, and sees he’s dying. She tells someone to bring his hammer so she can can put it in his hand. As he senses it, he says “Jus' like pa said.” He dies surrounded by his workmates with a hammer in his hand held by his crying wife.