A BRAVE GIRL.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1416, 17 April 1912, Page 8

A BRAVE GIRL.

HOW SHE SAVED A TRAIN. Kate Shelley is dead. For years unknown to the rank and file of newspaper readers, this young woman attracted an entire country s attention some thirty-one years ago by saving the lives of a trainload of passengers on a Chicago and North-western express. For this she received her reward, not in medals and prettily-engraved appreciations alone, but in real hard cash, a college education, and opportunities for honourable, work. The whole heroic storv, as recounted in the New York "Sun, , ' is as follows:— Tho Shelley family came to America in the late 'GO's. There were a father and mother, Kate, and a younger sister, and they lived in a railroad-built cottage near Honeycreek, midway between Boono and Moingona. They lived there because it was a danger-point on tho railroad, and it wa.s necessary for the section foreman to Iμ where he could see that the tracks were clear. The Des Moines River ran close to tho Shelley home, and the railroad crossed it on a high trestle. One of the foreman's duties was to watch this wooden structure and keep it safe. Old-timers along the Des Moines 'River still recall the summer of ISSt. For days it rained continually. Littla streams becamo rivers, washing out guHcys and roaring down tho side hills. Tho Des Moines etood at high-water mark for weeks at a time. In July the condition reached its worst. Eleven of the twenty-one bridges that spanned the river had been washed away. Toward evening on July 6 there was a lull in the rain. Section Foreman Shelley had been away from home all day. As it became dark Kate, who was then sixteen years old, asked permission to go out with tho lantern.

As she stept out of the door a small bridge near their homo was washed away. Kate went towards the trestle, which they called the long bridge, and looked over its wedgelike structure. Down below the Des Moinos broke into muddy spray against the abutments. To get trains, especially the heavy freights, through this section the railroad had a helper engine to couple with the regular locomotives as an auxiliary. This helper engino passed her and puffed out on the trestle. She could see the reflection from the firb-box.

Then it swayed and the engine crashed through the trestle. She heard it fall into the river. The engineer and fireman had jumped. They were floating in the river holding fast to logs. She could hear their voices from below. Back in the consciousness of every railroader is the train schedule. Kate Shelley realised that it was nearly time for the east-bound passenger train. In a littlo while it would be duo at Moingona, the first station from tho bridge, two miles away. The express did not make uso of the helper engine. It never slowed up. If it struck the bridge it would in ji moment be in the ooze of the river below. She could not telegraph. Two miles and the trembling bridge "were between her and the nearest station. Kate Shelley set out to save tho train. The storm that had been gathering for an hour let loose and her lantern was out with tho first blast. Day was gone. There was nothing but blackness nnd pelting rain as she set foot on tho bridge. Tho whole structure shook as logs and floating masses of debris were dashed by tho mad river against the weakened abutments. When tho wind was strongest she lay down on the bridge and held fast to tho rails. Then there were breaks in the ties where tho helper engine had gone through. She leapt or climbed over these gaps. Her one thought was that only minutes separated her from the lime when the express would bo' due at Moingona. The bridge passed, only half her task was over. She might better have remained at home if sho did not reach Moingona before the express pulled out. Her lantern was gone. In places the track was covered with sticky mud. In other spots there were washouts into which ono might fall. Her clothing torn, her knees and hands bleeding, she ran. Meanwhile the cast-bound express had pulled in at Moingona. Only a. few pasfengers alighted, and those who did huddled in the protection of the station against tho driving rain. The last piece of baggage was on, the engineer had mounted his cab, and his hand was at the throttle waiting , for tho conductor's signal to staTt. Then into the brightness of the headlight Kate Shelley ran, holding up both hands and crying: "Stop! Stop! The-lonp bridge's gone and the helper engine's through!" She fainted on tho track, but the express and its 200 passengers were saved. Kate was sixteen years old and strong. Sho revived in a little while and went back to the river with tho engine to bring nid to tho two men who were still clinging to the debris.about the trestle. This was her great day. The passengers on tho train gavo her a substantial purse. Tho school children of Dubuque presented he; , with a gold medal. A medal from the State Legislature of lowa followed, and tho same body later gave her 5,000 dollars. More funds wero raised through subscription in Chicago to pay off a mortgapo on the now Shelley home. Kate was enabled to finish a course in Simpson College in Indianola. Sho was appointed bill cleric of the State Senate, and in IflO-t became station agent at Moingona. In Dubunuo Dr. Ilenry S. Cogswell gave a drinking fountain in her honour, and tho new bridge which took the place of the wooden structure over the Des Moines was named after her. . . . Death found her working as station agent at Moingona, near tho scene of her bravery.