John Kelly

“ John Kelly had entered into wedlock when a very young man, and for twenty years his circle of domesticity was unclouded by a single shadow. His wife, nèe McIlhargy, was the daughter of an Irish adopted citizen of New York, and an interesting family, a son and two daughters, grew up to the verge of manhood and womanhood about him. ”

“ He went into their midst a big-boned, heavy-browed, brawny stranger, with his far-seeing eye, and firm solid step, and as he strode in among the Solons of Washington they all felt an instantaneous conviction from his conversation and bearing that in the society of the most eminent men of the Republic John Kelly was exactly where he was entitled to be. He flattered no great man by the least symptom of being himself flattered by his notice. He measured his strength in discussion with the most celebrated men in Congress, and feared the face of none. ”

“ Defeat, deprivation of office, desertion by those he trusted, and who owed all they were to him, have neither embittered him, cast him down, daunted his courage, nor shaken his faith in himself. Domestic afflictions such as few men ever know—the death of his entire family—have come upon him, and while the keen shaft scarred the granite, his constancy has remained, and neither head nor chastened heart succumbed to misanthropy or rebellion against Providence. Surely something more substantial than wit, or genius, or equable temper was required to sustain John Kelly in the trials he has borne. ”

“ Kelly’s character, referred to at a former page, is entitled to respectful consideration from every man in the United States, especially on the part of those who know nothing about him except what they have read in partisan newspapers. “I have often said, and now repeat,” declared Georgia’s great Commoner, “that I regard John Kelly as the ablest, purest and truest statesman that I have ever met with from New York.” ”

“ In this respect John Kelly almost rivals Henry Clay, and since the death of the illustrious Mill Boy of the Slashes no other man in America has had such an enthusiastic personal following.
While his liberality is great it is unpretentious. Publicity in well-doing is repulsive to his nature. His charity, which is almost ceaseless, is consequently always silent. The solidest kind of man in build and character, he delights in action more than words, and is known in New York as the safe leader. His natural ascendency over men is instinctively recognized. ”

“ The writer thinks he knows John Kelly intimately and thoroughly. His mind is powerful, without the acuteness of a Calhoun, or the imagination of a Webster, but as far as he sees his objects he sees with the eye of a statesman, and no judgment was ever sounder. Of ideas in their simplicity men in general have but a partial cognition, an apperception of consciousness, as philosophers term it, and not the clear perception. ”

“ Stephens frequently said to the present writer that John Kelly reminded him more of Nathaniel Macon than did any other man in public life. Kelly’s rugged sense of right, his blunt honesty, sagaciousness, modesty, and good humor, conspired to make friends for him on all sides of the House. If he was asked to do a favor for any one, he generally did more than was asked, and never said anything about it afterwards. Kindness and service to mankind were virtues of which he was the cheerful exemplar. ”

“ In this manner John Kelly’s political opponents have really done him a service. The universal gaze has been directed towards the man, and the monster painted by reckless partisans of other and rival politicians has been found to be no monster at all, but a plain, quiet man, honest and straightforward as old Nat. ”

“ John Kelly was brought up a lad in the Herald [Pg 258] office, when he first came to New York, and was well brought up; but he went into politics in spite of his early training. We supported him for office while he was poor and lived in the locality of the Fourteenth Ward. Now that he has made himself a millionaire, and lives like a nabob in the high locality of one of the most fashionable avenues of uppertendom, we think he should be satisfied, and give place to others who have not enjoyed such good fortune. ”

“ When he ran against the celebrated Mike Walsh for Congress, one of the most popular characters who ever figured in New York politics, and beat him, the native American proscriptionists were glad that John Kelly was out of the way, for while they feared him in local politics, they persuaded themselves that he would be swallowed up in obscurity among the great men at Washington, and that he would be heard of no more. Given a big idea lodged in the centre of a big man’s head, and be sure fruit will spring from the seed. ”

“ Although John Kelly had been an ardent Hunker, or Cass and Butler man, in 1848, he was now acting with the Soft Shells, having, when the reconciliation took place between the Hunker and Barnburner factions in 1849, followed the leadership of William L. Marcy and Horatio Seymour, the two eminent Hunkers, who became Soft Shells. It was by the Soft Shells he was nominated against Walsh in 1854. The country was roused to a high pitch of excitement by the Kansas imbroglio when he took his seat as a Representative of the city of New York in the Thirty-fourth Congress. ”

“ Fugitive and imperfect sketches of John Kelly’s career have appeared from time to time in the newspapers. No detailed narrative of his life has hitherto been submitted to the public. The writer of these pages is conscious of the difficulty of portraying the character of a living man. Appreciation of merit should not run into panegyric; condemnation of faults should not be spared where faults are found. ”

“ John there, with his big head, taking it all in, and not saying a word.” “Oh, yes,” said the mother, “that is his way; he thinks a great deal more than he talks, but be sure he is not dumb.” A New York newspaper once cynically characterized him as an ox, but the dumb ox, to use the figure of Albertus Magnus, has given a bellow which has been heard round the world. The devotion of Mrs. Kelly to her elder son was peculiarly tender. At one time, when he was a small boy, he had to cross the East River daily. ”

“ He is less given to generalization than to subtle methods of mastering subjects. He has a quiet way of talking, and of saying trenchant, sententious things. Governor Tilden strikes me as a man who would be very slow to gain popularity by dash of manners or exterior conduct, but as having grit in him, and a genius for accomplishing what he undertakes. He is already named in several quarters as a prominent Democratic candidate for the next Presidency.
John Kelly, leader of Tammany Hall, remains to be described. He is a very different man from Seymour or Tilden. ”

“ KELLY, PATRICK (1756–1842) , mathematician and astronomer, born in 1756, was for many years master of a successful private school, called the ‘Mercantile School,’ in Finsbury Square, London. He was appointed mathematical examiner at the Trinity House, and in 1813 had the degree of LL.D. conferred upon him by the university of Glasgow. Kelly was acquainted with Dr. Maskelyne, Sir John Herschel, Dr. Hutton, and other men of science, and was occasionally consulted by committees of the House of Commons as an authority on questions of coinage and currency. He died at Brighton, 5 April 1842. ”

“ The Derry Journal 2, 4, 6 Sep. 1889.
KELLY, Gordon William (only child of rev. Dr. John Kelly 1750–1809, Manx scholar, V. of Ardleigh near Colchester) . b. Isle of Man 1786; ed. at St. John’s coll. Camb., fellow, B.A. 1808, M.A. 1811; called to bar of Isle of Man; recorder of Colchester to death. (m. 1830 Miss White, she founded 1858 the Kelly scholarship in King William’s college, Isle of Man, also the Kelly prize in same college for proficiency in the Manx language) . d. Oxney Green House, Whittle near Chelmsford 4 April 1858. ”

“ Kelly as president. It is now the best agricultural fair in Northern New York. Mr. Kelly was married in 1886 to Miss Mary Spratt and has a family of one son and three daughters.
Kelly, John Joseph, General Agent in Missouri, State Mutual Life Assurance Company of Worcester, Mass., born in Albany, N. Y., May 23, 1871. Son of Thomas and Mary (Raleigh) Kelly, both of whom were born in Ireland; was educated in public schools of 532Albany, N. Y.; graduated with honors from St. Louis Law school, Washington University, LL. B., 1899; unmarried. ”

“ John was dead! She had heard and read of the perils of New York. She had seen a hundred potential accidents on her drive from the ferry. Trolley, anarchist, elevated railroad, collapsed buildings, frightened horses, runaway automobiles. Her dear John! Her mangled husband! Passing out of the world, even while she, his widowed bride, was dressing in hideous colors, and thinking so falsely of him!
He must be brought to her. Some one should go and say something to somebody! Telephone Uncle Richard! ”

“ Kelly did not give her a second glance, but strode away, cursing under his breath.
People have an awkward habit of dying at all hours of the day and night, and an undertaker is never care free for a moment. ”

“ One day this person got angry with Kelly and struck him. Kelly returned the blow. The men in the establishment separated them, but the blood of both was up, and a fight was agreed upon between them as soon as the bell should be rung for dinner. They went into the factory yard and prepared for battle. The hands about the establishment finding the boys meant to fight, undertook to secure fair play in the encounter. Kelly was much shorter than his antagonist, and no one supposed he had any chance to win. ”

“ Kelly, to help Mr. Jones,” exclaimed Virginia, highly interested in the bookkeeper’s plans for the benefit of the stenographer. “It must make you very happy to be able to do it.”
“Sure,” he agreed. “I laugh myself sick every time I give him a new stunt to do. That fellow has good points. One of these days he’s going to have the smile on some one else. You can’t keep a good man down.”
“Couldn’t I help Mr. Jones, too?” asked the girl eagerly.
Kelly stared at her in amazement. “No, it can’t be done,” he cried, emphatically. “Whoever heard of a woman trainer? ”

“ Kelly’s victory made him a favorite among his companions, and they all soon came to look upon him as a sort of leader, although he would not loiter with the crowd at street corners of evenings, nor haunt the purlieus of the city where youth loses its innocence, and flaunting vice slopes the way to ruin. Such a mother is a guardian angel to her children, and Mrs. ”

“ Jones rubbed himself ruefully when Kelly loosed him. “You big stiff, ain’t you got no sense, gouging around in a fellow’s insides that way? You are liable to put a man out of business,” he protested.
Utterly indifferent to these complaints, Kelly was judging the stenographer coldly and dispassionately. “You’ve got no bone. You’ve got no muscle. You’ve got no fat.” Kelly forgot that pride and dignity are intangible assets. ”

“ Mr. Kelly said, “that’s a queer charge to make against any one. I had a good careful mother who sent me to the Sunday-school regularly. I have been to church regularly ever since. Under such training, no doubt, [Pg 22] I ought to be a great deal better Christian than I am. I suppose I have been very wicked sometimes, and yet I can’t recall any time when I have been wilfully bad.” [3]
“During Tweed’s ascendancy in New York politics,” said the well informed Utica editor, in the article already quoted from, “Mr. Kelly retired from Tammany Hall. ”

“ James Kelly and his supporters gazed glumly on; the delirious display was not pleasant to them.
“Bloody wars,” breathed Owen in Haley’s ear, “d’yez see that, Gratten? They’ve made up.”
[265] “It looks bad for Kelly,” admitted Mr. Haley; “and he don’t like it for a cent.”
“Here’s them two old guys doin’ the love feast stunt,” sneered young Kelly, “right out in the open. It’s bin fixed to cop votes with; a blind man kin see that. It makes me sick!”
“We’ll do that all right,” said Goose McGonagle; “youse’ll all be a sick lot o’ ducks after we slam youse a few.” ”

“ As the crestfallen private secretary departed, Kelly and Virginia moved over to a window. The summer day in all of its beauty fought back the ugliness of the tin roofs and chimneys. The bookkeeper viewed the prospect. “By gum,” he asked, “how’d you like to go snowshoeing?” This marvelous witticism was greeted by a burst of laughing applause from its author and the girl, far in excess of its merit.
“Jones doesn’t feel very well today,” Kelly explained to her. “He is the victim of unusual exercise.”
158“He doesn’t look like a man who would over-exercise. ”

“ In an interview published in the New York World, October 18, 1875, Mr. Kelly explained more fully how he was induced to return to politics. Details omitted, the salient points of that interview were as follows: “When I returned from Europe in the fall of 1871, it was my intention to have nothing to do with politics at all. I had been sorely afflicted by the loss of my family, and I wanted to [Pg 277] spend the rest of my life as a private business man. ”

“ I hope we’ll carry it, but between you and me, Rhoda, I don’t like the look of things over there. They’re stealing our thunder. They’re yelling ‘Buck and Breck and Free Kansas’ all over the state. And Kansas has about as much chance of becoming free if Buchanan is elected as—Prince has of flying.”
“Has Julia said anything in her letters to you about John Brown and what the free-state people in Kansas think about him? You know the others accuse him of most awful murders.”
“War is always murder, and it doesn’t pretend to be anything else,” he responded with energy. ”