Jasper County Democrat, Volume 7, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 June 1904 — Mrs. Polk's Escape. [ARTICLE]

Mrs. Polk's Escape.

When Polk was a member of congress he and his wife were riding in a coach in Tennessee. The driver ventured into a swollen stream, where presently the horses got beyond their depth and commenced swimming. A little more and the coach would have been engulfed. At that moment a man came up the bank on horseback and shouted to the driver to stop. The danger seemed imminent, and Mr. Polk, who could not swim, called out from his seat inside the coach, offering any amount of money to any one who would save his wife. The man on horseback seemed afraid to venture to the rescue, but Mr. Granville Pillow, who was sitting beside Mrs. Polk, threw off his coat, exclaiming, “I will take you out, madam!” , He swam to the bank, compelled the man to give up his horse, mounted, plunged into the rapid current, came up behind the stage and told Mrs. Polk to step on the high hind wheel and thence upon the shoulder of the horse. He held her flrrnly in his arms and bore her safely to the bank.