This week's hero is...
Kate Shelley
Katherine "Kate" Shelley was born on December 12, 1863 in the country of Ireland to Michael and Margaret Shelley. Her family immigrated to the United States in 1865 and eventually settled in Freeport, Illinois where four kids were born (Kate being the oldest). There Kate's father Michael, found work on a railroad for the Chicago and North Western Railroad. Much of his work was done near the railroad bridge that spanned the nearby Honey Creek. While Michael worked at the railroad, Margaret Shelley ran the family's farm. For a while the family lived a happy and productive life.
That all changed in 1878 when tragedy stuck. Michael Shelley died after a long battle with tuberculosis. As a result of this the family lost much of their income, Kate had leave school to help her mother raise her younger siblings and work on their farm. Less than six months after, the family suffered another tragedy. One of Kate's younger brothers (James) drowned in the Des Moines River, he was only 11 years old. These two tragedies had a major influence on Kate and forced her to become an adult when she was only 15.
Kate's maturity and care for others would be put to the test on the night of July 6, 1881. That night, a violent thunderstorm blew in. The heavy rainfall from the storm caused a flash flood in the nearby Honey Creek. During the storm Kate Shelley and her family huddled together in their house until 11 PM, when they heard a loud crash. Kate grabbed a lantern and left her house to investigate. To her horror, she saw that the Honey Creek Bridge had collapsed due to the flash flood throwing four men (who had been crossing the bridge on a pusher locomotive) into the raging waters.
Kate knew that without help, the men would die. She also knew that another locomotive (the Midnight Express) was due to cross the Honey Creek Bridge later that night. If they were not were warned that the bridge was out, the express would surely plunge into the creek resulting in great loss of life. Kate realized that the only way to stop the express was to reach the station in the nearby town of Moingona (present day Boone County, IA). To do this, she would have cross a high bridge that spanned the Des Moines River in the middle of the raging storm.
The bridge had a number of flooring gaps in it (ironically done to discourage people from walking across it). This coupled with the near blackout conditions, pouring rain, and strong gusts of wind made the crossing highly dangerous. As a result of these hazards, Kate had to cross the bridge on her hands and knees. With only her small lantern to light her way, she began a long and grueling crawl across the high bridge. When she was halfway across, the lantern went out due to the downpour. This left her in near total darkness. For the rest of her crawl, Kate had to slowly feel her way across with bursts of lighting being her only source of light.
Through sheer will and determination, Kate Shelley made it across the bridge and quickly ran to the train station in Moingona. Once she was there she told the station attendant about the Honey Creek Bridges collapse and the men in the water. After that she collapsed in exhaustion. The attendant quickly sent a telegram to the oncoming midnight express to halt its course. After that a rescue was mounted to save the four men trapped in the creek. Sadly two of them had been washed away before they could be rescued. But the Midnight Express (which was carrying 200 people at the time) received the warning and stopped before it even came close to Honey Creek.
Thanks to Kate Shelley's warning, a tragic accident that could've resulted in many deaths was avoided. She instantly became a legend overnight and was thanked by the passengers on the train. In 1901, a new bridge was constructed over the Des Moines River. It was named, "Kate Shelley High Bridge" in her honor. After her heroic act, Kate returned to her quite life back at the farm with helping her mother raise her siblings. By the early 20th century (just after the new bridge was built) her health began to decline. She died on January 21, 1912 at the age of 48.
Kate Shelley's story is truly amazing. She was a young girl who had so much responsibility put on her shoulders at such a young age. For someone so young, she demonstrated and incredible amount of courage and determination to help those around her and to take the initiative to prevent what could've been a terrible tragedy. Her story is clearly one that is worth being told for many years to come.
Further Information:
https://www.kateshelley.com/about-kate.html
http://iagenweb.org/boone/history/kateshelley.htm
http://www.rejectedprincesses.com/princesses/kate-shelley
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