Exactly 125 years ago today was a Thursday. It was a quiet rainy day in Plymouth, Pennsylvania. In the evening, the storm became fierce.
Annie Driscoll was a 13-year-old girl who lived on Beade Street next to the Susquehanna River. Late in the evening, over the sound of pouring rain, Annie heard the sound of frantic cries. Squinting through the rain, she detected two men in the river. Their boat had capsized in the rough waters.
Annie was a remarkable girl! She could have called for help, but it likely would have come too late to save the men. Instead, she ran to the shore, pulled an old skiff into the water and pushed out into the storm-tossed river.
Rowing in a storm would be hard work even for a man, but Annie did not give up. At last she managed to reach the men, who were fighting to keep their heads above the water. With the girl’s help, one man managed to get into the skiff with her. The other man was too exhausted to even keep his head above water, let alone work with Annie to get into the skiff. His friend was in no condition to help.
Lucky for the second man, this girl was as quick-thinking and resourceful as she was brave. She seized a chain in the bow of the boat and wrapped it around him to keep him from sinking.
By then, help was on the way. Happily for everyone, both men were rescued and Annie Driscoll was rightly credited with saving their lives.
I was curious to see if Annie went on performing daring rescues, but I couldn’t find another confirmed mention of her. I also wondered about the men. Though newspapers from Washington D.C. to South Carolina covered the story, not one of them mentioned the names of the men!
I was a little suspicious that it might be a hoax but I found a census record for Annie Driscoll made that same year. She was the oldest of five children, living with her parents on Beade Street in Plymouth, Pennsylvania!
old spirituals 
makes me wonder what the vast impact of her actions were. Who were those men and what did they do with their lives?
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Great questions, Ruby. I’ve come to enjoy “the rest of the story” not told about the individuals before and/or after being involved in a significant event. Nothing stops me from speculating who the men likely were and why they were out in a storm.
The Susquehanna River is the longest river in the eastern part of the United States; it flows through New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The name comes from the Lanape indigenous people who populated that area. Its meaning is either “Muddy River” or “Oyster River.” The Lenape farmed the oyster beds at the mouth of the river, which is the northern end of the Chesapeake Bay.
In 1900, the Susquehanna River was likely populated with a variety of fish, one for certain is the American shad. Shad, like Salmon, swim upstream to spawn in the rivers on the east coast — in the Delaware and Susquehanna for example. Shad can weight between 6 to 8 pounds and be as large as 2 feet. There are still small towns in New Jersey and Pennsylvania that have an Annual Shad Fest each April when the shad start to swim upstream, which can last until June.
with a gill net and lantern.
lancasteronline.com
My guess is the two men Annie Driscoll saved were local men fishing for the annual shed that swim upstream. That notwithstanding, the Susquehanna River has other game fish as well.
Below is a link to the website for an annual Shad Fest:
https://www.lambertvillechamber.com/shad-fest/
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I love the picture! It gives me a visual of how this story could have happened. I wonder if people fly fish in the river? I’m going to send this link to a friend of mine who loves oysters.
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I like that way of looking at it
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I like to think they went on to do good things. Even if they were mediocre people, they must have felt grateful to be alive. Maybe they vowed to live worthwhile lives!
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