Annunciation High School - Annunciator Yearbook (Pittsburgh, PA)

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.The Heroism of Kate Shelley RANSCONTINENTAL passengers speeding east or west in luxurious limiteds now cross the Des Moines river, if they travel over the Nl Chicago and Northwestern Railway, on a fine :-' r . new span of stone and steel, one of the long- ' W est and highest of its kind in the west. It is situated between the towns of Boone and Ogden and at almost the exact geographic center of the state of Iowa. It has been named the Kate Shelley bridge, and while perhaps few of the transcontinental tourists know or care, it is a monument to an outstanding act of heroism of an Irish section foreman's daughter. -While the newspapers were filled with stories of the brave deed of Kate Shelley forty-six years ago, it has been made a part of the archives of the Iowa State Historical Society, and the grateful railroad company has perpetuated her name with its bands of steel and piers of stone, few of the younger generation stop to- day to think of what the name means. The Shelley family lived in 1881 in a cottage be- side the tracks in the valley of Honey Creek, about half a mile from the Des Moines River. It consisted of the widow and several little children of Michael J. Shelley, an immigrant from Tipperary, who had died three years before. The family, poor and fatherless, continued to live on in the home provided for its section foreman by the railroad company, doing its best to keep the wolf from the door. Of the little flock of children, Kate, then fifteen, was the oldest. Late in the afternoon of July 6, 1881, a violent storm swept through the Des Moines Valley. It had been raining for days, but this downpour was heavier than the rest and accompanied by terrific thunder and lightning flashes. Honey Creek became a raging torrent. The rising waters threatened the Shelley stable half way down the slope, where the cattle had taken refuge. Kate, who had been watching the storm from a window, dashed out, let out the horse and cows to shift for themselves and rescued the little pigs. There was no sleep for the Shelleys that night. The creek was filled with uprooted trees and fence posts and kept on rising. It must have been 11 o'clock when Kate 'and her mother heard the rumble of a train crossing the Des Moines river bridge. It was a pusher engine, with a crew of four men, which helped heavy trains up the grade on either side of the river. The pusher had been ordered to run between Boone and Ogden and look out for trouble where embankments had been undermined and bridge piling loosenef. The locomotive came backing down the track to the eastward, brakeman and section foreman standing on the running board of the tender peering into the gloom, the engineer and fireman on their boxes. Kate heard the bell toll as the engine slowly went on its way, then suddenly a horrible crash and a fierce hiss- ing of steam as the engine plunged through the broken Honey Creek bridge with its crew into twenty-five feet of rapid, swirling water. The midnight express from the west was due in less than an hour. Against the entreaties of her mother, Kate, attired in an old skirt and jacket and ltraw hat, improvised a. lantern by hanging a little 'iv ? W 3' T miner's lamp in the frame of an old railroad lantern and started out into the night. Unable because of the fiood to go directly to the tracks and thence to the fallen bridge, she climbed the blui back of the house, made a semi-circular detour, struck the wagon road through a cut in the bluffs, followed it to the tracks and then ran to the broken bridge. There she saw by the lightning fiashes two men of the engine crew clinging to treetops. The other two had gone down to death with the engine. So she turned westward and hastened toward Moingona, a mile and a quarter away, to fiag the express. But the long wooden bridge across the Des Moines, trembling with the rush of waters, lay between her and the village. Kate ran, stumbled and crawled along the track in the rain and darkness, wondering if she should be caught on the bridge by the express, or if the engi- neer should fail to see her tiny light and rush on to destruction. The gust of wind threatened to put out the lantern every minute. When she reached the bridge the water was swirl- ing among the ties, almost up to the rails. She dropped to her knees and crawled slowly and laborious- ly over the ties, spaced far apart and studded with spikes to discourage pedestrians from using it as a short-cut. Now and then her dress caught on a spike or gouged her fiesh. Halfway across a huge tree was dashed by the current against the structure, its roots sweeping a spot where she had passed a moment be- fore. Every minute seemed an hour, but at last she felt the solid ground beneath her. She stopped a moment to recover her breath, then set out on a run to the station, a quarter of a mile away. How she got there she was never able to tell clearly afterward. The girl's crazy! she remembered hear- ing someone say. Then someone recognized her as Mike Shelley's daughter. The whistle of the express from the west was heard as it slowed' up to enter the yards outside the town. The train, not scheduled to stop there, was Hagged, and the conductor and engi- neer heard her story. A crew with ropes and rigging went to the rescue of the two trainmen in the tree. guided by Kate Shelley. The excitement kept up for several days. Kate was overwhelmed with gifts from the grateful passen- gers on the express. Reporters came from Chicago, Des Moines, Omaha and elsewhere, and the story of her deed was flashed far and wide. Then several days later her strength gave way, the strain had been too great, and for three months was confined to her bed. Poems were written about her and she was show- ered with letters in praise of her heroism. The school children of Dubuque gave her a gold medal. The Chi- cago Tribune raised a fund for the Shelley family. The Iowa legislature of 1882 passed an appropriation to give her a gold medal suitably inscribed and S200 in cash. A drinking fountain dedicated to her war' erected in a Dubuque park. The employees of the Chicago and Northwestern presented a fine gold watch and chain to her and the company gave her 2 .pass for life over the road. The trains always stopped to let her off at the humble cottage in which she lived until her death. The company provided for her funeglf PAGE 16

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I U ' '72, NT i. . L'5.2ffl P W miv'lW' 1.-' ia ZZ-.fre AW Pf 'k' .lfl,f.....2f ff-' if l ff qgiwig . L, I GTI-I ' ' 'num - REQ -' as 2 'PQ' J - 43 -is TQ! 'i -AWN it fl IVXW Q ' 3? i val-I A M l fs' 45. Emi! M' i f L ,KP ' w A4 Q if , x r lr' T X Z X7 Xl? E- , ku, X rl L ,fd ff lf! E657 fx R. S' -to J. fi. .22 5 F' 5 ii -H 490-' We X, ff, X L fi 1 ff XJ N In 1 uw 0,2 .3-W 'f ' xx gil zffgcii Nl Mother's Day-Is it only one day in May? Oh! no, every day is mother's day. We love, obey, help, and pray for our earthly mother daily. God has given us also a Heavenly Mother, His Mother, that we might imitate her spirit, her virtues, her life, which were ever in accordance with G0d's Holy Will. SOD She will be our help in need, our comfort in sorrow, our strength in temptation, and a friend to plead our cause with her Divine Child. Every faithful cherishes, loves, and honors his mother, and is happy to have others revere and befriend her. How pleased then is our Lord to have us love His Mother, how He delights to see us imitatlng herg taking all our joys, sorrows, failures, and successes to her! What a pleasure for Christ to hear us sing her praises! We beg our Heavenly Mother to bless our own dear mother on earth, to be a cause of joy to her and to us now and at the hour of our death. Mary Gordon, '36 ..A..0A.A .Tw rw X ' 4.. i, hu 34,2254 ,, LMS. Q, xg ? I 455510 , I-'Q 1 .F -'AI G3 ,Q Z.-.741 ' 1 -1 .3' i' 1Z5f?' r e3'ff1ifafiV!'i, ' li in ' V - -'gp 'fu .. v u : f- -,pf f W . , - 1 .5 ' 1 ' -, I . .ea-.xeuawfw..,.-we . W c aw Y .- , - , If . . .,,,, . ... MM., on . HIS BANQUET Before we say our farewell to Annunciation High, we shall join the whole student body and enter Our Lord's banquet hall, for we have a standlng invita- tion to the Great Supper, His Banquet, where H-e furnishes the food, which is food indeed. This Ban- quet is the outcome of a great love-His last invita- tion, Come, for all things are ready. We hope to have the Alumnae present at the ten o'clock Mass on June 14, to participate in His Banquet. St. Luke relates that many invited guests found excuses for not attending the Great Supper. Let other plans and projects not hinder us from accept- ing Christ's invitation and satisfying His desires- My delights are to be with the children of men. - Gertrude Schrott, '36 Wzll Appreczate Your Patronage YUM Advertisers 421. U Q +o-Q-0-0-04-o-o-o4-o-+vo-o4-0-0o+o-vo+-o0-o-Q4-oo-o-o-+00-0 BAUER HARDWARE 8 ELECTRIC We Have It or It Isn't Made All Kinds of Electric Appliances SALES and SERVICE 2503 Perrysville Ave. Fa. 9832 Q +040-o-fo-0-0-000+ 00-of-0-04+ Q +++rQ++4++o4-++o+44++f+444+Q 0 ALBA'S GRILL 2515 Perrysville' Avenue Fa. 5651 SPECIAL SPAGHETTI DINNER Every Wednesday and Saturday BEER and WINES 3 . -eo-+oo+4-e+oQo-obo-oo-0400-4-Q-Q-Q-oo-0 4- C Frank V. Luksik FUNERAL DIRECTOR 1400 Monterey Street N. S. PITTSBURGH, PA. M- 2 5 I Fairfax 1246 +0-o-0+o-0-04-0-fo-o-Q-o-0-o-+0-0o-+o-o-o-++o-Q-o-o-o-o-vo-0++ 0 PAGE 15

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Convent of the Blessed Sacrament St. Elizabeth's Cornwells Heights, Pennsylvania Feast of the Ascension My dear graduate: So you want to have a career! Well, I certainly hear that. I suppose, you are going through volumes of catalogues and papers to get information on all kinds of work open to one who intends to devote her life to a cause. You won't lose sight, I know, of the fact that the best sort of career is that in which one's neighbor is most benefited. ' You must not allow the rosy glow of romance to shine too persuadingly over your ideals. Everything looks perfectly grand in that light. That is why it's so hard to dis- regard it. Don't mistake me, dear graduate, for a practical old bore. I want you to be enthusiastic about your future work. I haven't much use for anyone who can't be alive and very interested in an important thing like this. Just don't forget the Lord -that is what I am trying to say. You see, God never, never thrusts Himself for- ward. If you want Him, you must ask Him to come to you and help you. Let me be explicit. I wonder if you've ever had a lump in your throat when you of some masterpiece, am glad to ---- 51: Z. .r.,,,.m, 3 7 1: E P wf 91,?'-21.1 4 - 5- , as ' . 'its 2 y he fe . fe heard an excellent rendition or at the strains of the Tantum Ergo ? Do you know why? I'll tell you. God is in everything that is exquisite and beautiful and grand. You look up to the great vast expanse of blue sky and then realize the truth of the words, What is man that Thou art mindful of Him? God lets you see how wonderful He is. Saint Augustine meant that when he said, Our hearts are restless till they rest in Thee for then we know that only God can fill the awful void within us. Will you let Him do it? Are you going to let His love fill your heart? I always think of the passage of the Bible that states that when God had fashioned man, He breathed into the form He had made. Our souls are God's breath. So are the souls of His neglected onesg and He wants to come to them. Is God asking you to make your career the bringing of souls to Him that He might fill them with Himself? Won't you think it over? There are thirteen millions of colored people who are waiting to be taught to love God. Several hun- dred thousand children of the Red man are without Him, too. The Lord of heaven and earth is looking down on you. When you turn your gaze upward and see His face,-God's face-what will your answer be? God love you and bless you. Yours devotedly, A. H. S. Alumna. .., O.l. . We Sophomores think that Biology is the only subject. This is our first year for science. Regular trips to the laboratory are made, during which visits we dissect everything from fishes to grasshoppers. The work is delightful, but it's a mystery how we endure the handling of dead specimens and the odor of formaldehyde. We frequently take our uniforms along with the fishy odors, to the cleaners. Catherine Smith, '38 -...- The Childhood of Jesus Out of Egypt have I called My Son QOsee xi-ID The Royal Psalmist sings: Thou art beautiful above the sons of men! From these two quotations and from Jewish customs we have to surmise the beauty and the peace that surrounded the Child Jesus after His return from Egypt until the incident of His being lost and found in the temple. At Nazareth under the care of His young mother and Saint Joseph, His limbs grew strong and His young lips learned to speak. Like other mothers, Mary taught Jesus His first lessons until He had reached the age of seven, at which time the Jewish child was handed over to the father for training and educating. The -child- hood of Christ must have been marked by health and vigor. During those years, no doubt, Jesus thanked His mother for her loving care of Him while a help- less babe. The neighbors and His relatives, when they beheld the beauty of His face and His gentle ways, could not help loving Him. While His parents silently adored Him, they treated Him as their son. The artist may picture the child Jesus amid the in- struments of the passiong but I do not think His childhood days were ever saddened by thoughts of the sufferings awaiting Him. Dorothy Forrest, '36 . . l In Memoriam Where age nor tears nor pain nor cruel care Can harm her now, or enter Memory's Hall She that we loved so beautiful and fair Shall come to us still radiant when we call. From all Life's dangers now, secure is she Lovely she was and lovely she shall be. The announcement of Dorothy Carr's death came as a shock to her school day companions and to all of us who loved her so tenderly. Were it not for our strong faith, we might be tempted to say that it was sad that one so young with a promising, bright future should be called from our midst. God, who does all things well, has taken her to Him- self and we trust, has placed her among His chosen friends to enjoy the unending delights of Paradise. Catherine Martin, '36. PAGE 17