Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1886-11-06
A KATE SHELLEY.
How She Risked Her Life and Pre-
vented a Disaster.
The CoulngeO us Iowa Girl In AAcr
WomanhoOd-SaOry of n July
storm in ISS1-A. Young
Heroine In a Hurri.
cane.
From the Philadelphia Times.

To-day ut the house oil q mutua
friend l met a nineteenth century
heroine-a young girl who wears upon
her breast a massive gold medal thai
was presented to her by the Legislature
of the state of Iowa some years ago as
a mark of it's appreciation of her Won
derful courage and presence of mind.
Tall, erect and well propOrtioned, with
her dark. bright eyes, rosy cheeks and
clearly cut features forming a charming
picture OF strong, true American
womanhood. Kate Shelley, of Boone,
Is,, is a girl that any father or any
state might be proud of. She is to-day
81 years old, but she was only 16 when
by an act Of daring bravery she won
the admiration and gratitude of the
people of her native state and made her
name famous among them.
About dark on July 6, 1881, a wind
and rain storm of unparalleled severity
burst over Kate Shelley's home. in the
country near Honey creek. The Des
Moines river rose six feet. and every
creek was over its banks in less than
an hour. The window Of this brave
girls room commanded a view of the
Honey creek railroad bridge. Peering
out into the darkness she saw, by the
aid of the vivid flashes Of lightning
which at frequent intervals illuminated
the scene, that houses, barns, fences,
lumber and everything portable within
reach of The flood had been carried
away, while the wind swept by with
fearful and ever increasing velocity and
the waters continued quickly aud stead
lily to rise.
A LIGHT THROUGH THE STORM.
Through the blackness and storm she
saw a locomotive headlight advancing
swiftly in the direction of the bridge,
which the flood had borne away. A
second later and the light suddenly
dropped down out OF sight, and though
the roaring of the wind and the waters
rendered it impossible for her to hear
the frighttul crash it must have made,
she knew that a train of cars had plung-
ed into the abyss.
Throwing an old waterproof about
her shoulders and hastily Lighting a
storm. The flood was far above all
roads and pathways to the waters edge,
and she oon realized that 1t would be
impossible to reach the wreck. She
must try some other plan. A steep,
rocky bluff led up to the track. She
began to ascend it. With her clothes
torn to rags and her flesh lacerated by
the thick growth of bushes she at last
reached the rails. There was still a
small portion of the bridge left. On
her hands and knees she crawled out
on the remaining ties to the last one,
and, holding on with one hand for her
life, she leaned out over the water as
far as she could and, waving her lam
tern. cried out at the top of her voice.
From the black gulf below there
came In answer the faint accents Of
the engineer, who told her it was a
freight train that had gone owe and
that, though badly injured. he had
saved himself from drowning by crawl
ing no on some broken timbers. He
believed that all the other train hands
had persisted and advised her to pro-
coed at once to the nearest station,
warn the approaching express train of
its danger and return with help tor
him.
AGAINST THE WILD TEMPEST.
Retracing her steps the young heroine
was soon fastening along the track
with all the speed she could make
against the bowling tempest toward
Moingona, q small station about one
mile from Honey creek. To reach that
point she had to cross the high trestle
bridge over the Des Moines river, a
distance of 500 feet. Her trembling
foot had scarcely taken its first step up
this structure when a sudden and
appalling burst of thunder, lightning,
wind and rain nearly threw her owe
into the water and at the same time
exiinguishing her light. Matches
would have been powerless to relight
it in such a hurricane, even if she had
had them, and she was now unable to
ses ever a hands length before her,
except when a vivid flash of lightning
revealed the raging waters beneath her
the dark outlines of the swaying
bridge to which she chung. Throwing
away her lantern this dauntless Amer
lean girl again dropped on her hands
and knees and thus made her way
through the darkness and storm from
tie to tie I've the perilous ~tressel.
Reaching firm ground again she soon
covered the short remaining distance to
the station, breatil5ssiy told her story
and then fell in a dead faint at the sta
ton agents feet.
Succor was hastily dispatched to the
suffering engineer at Honey creek.
kilograms eel flying up and down
the line notifying the railroad officials
that the bridge was gone. Just one
minute after the brave girl had tainted,
and while she lay unconscious. the ex-
press train came rushing in. When the
passengers learned of the awful acct
dent from which they had been saved
by the indomitable courage of one
fragile girl, loving hands took her up
tenderly, chated the lori and bleeding
limbs, laved the pallld face and soon
called her back to life again.
When the fame OF brave Kate Shell
ley's exploit spread throughout her
native state men and women of all
classes united TO do her honor. Several
subscriptions were started for her ben
eft, and if money is ever an adequate
recompense for such heroi-ln she has
been well rewarded for her brave con-
duct. The legislature voted that a
medal should be given her to commem-
crate her daring act and appointed a
special committee to present it.