Rescued From Drowning

SMITH

Posted By: Ken Wright (email)
Date: 10/9/2013 at 08:11:28

Dubuque Herald, July 16, 1869

A man and wife, a team, an emigrant wagon, a mule, and a thousand dollar jackass, tried to cross a slough five miles above Bellevue, and got into fifteen feet of water. The mule and jack were both drowned, and the man and woman would have been, but for the courage of Miss Leonora Smith, residing nearby, who seized an old skiff nearby, partly full of water, paddled it with a stick to the scene of the disaster and rescued them. The horses and wagon were finally saved, but the most of their goods and some money was lost, the total loss amounting to over $1,500.