This is an image of Kate Shelley in her later years. Although she had a variety of jobs and lived until 1912, she was always defined by her heroics on the night of July 6, 1881. Photo courtesy of the State Historical Society of Iowa
By Timothy Walch
It had all the makings of a legend — a young girl, a raging storm, a speeding train and an extraordinary act of heroism. Not surprisingly, the story of how a teenager named Kate Shelley saved dozens of lives from certain injury continues to captivate the general public. In fact, one can make the case that she is among the Iowans most deserving of the title “heroine.”
Like many Iowa stories, Kate’s story begins in promise and poverty. She was born to Michael and Margaret Shelley in 1864 in County Tipperary, Ireland. With her parents, she immigrated to the United States in 1865 and traveled across the country to Iowa to settle a small homestead on Honey Creek in Boone County.
The Shelleys arrived in Iowa with the hope of becoming farmers. During these years, the Shelleys added four more children to their family — James, Mayme, Margaret and John. Together, the Shelleys planted assorted crops, raised chickens and hogs, and had a cow for milk. Poverty, however, was always at the door.
To supplement the family income, Michael took a job with the Chicago and North Western Railroad (C&NW). He started as a section hand and later became a crew chief maintaining the track and bridges proximate to his homestead. It is no surprise, therefore, that the Shelley family came to know the chug of the trains along with the roar of the wind and the smells of the wildflowers.
Although not idyllic, the Shelleys got by with the income from the railroad and the farm. And then tragedy struck. Never robust, Michael died suddenly of undisclosed circumstances on Dec. 1, 1878. It was a common fate for many families — mother and children left to fare for themselves on the family farm.
In spite of this adversity, Margaret stood her ground. With Kate’s help, the family scraped by and squeezed enough income to put food on the table and make the mortgage payments. There was no question, however, that the Shelleys struggled without the additional income from Michael’s railroad work.
Everything changed on the dark night of July 6, 1881, when a storm struck Boone County and rain came down in torrents.
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