The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1896-09-16
JOHN w. KEilY's BIG HEART.
Stories of the Late Comedians Generous
Nature Told by His Friends.

JOHN w. kGilf'S oi1 TS-Hn''
Stories Of the Late Comedians Generous
Nature Told by His Friends.
The analysis of JOAN W. Kelly's char
acter as IN artist and man was perhaps
made the other night in an up town
cafe in manner best shown to illus
trate his various attributes. Said one
speaker:
"Kelly'e versatility was ipimitable.
He had no equal in his particular line
of vaudeville comedy, because no other
variety performer ever approached his
plane. he stood alone in the midst OF
his own creation. The glare Of the foot
lights and the accessory of stage make
up added nothing to Kelly's humor. He
was not mimic. He followed no man
as model. What he did was spontane-
Gus. He knew nothing Of detail, and If
he did he would have scorned to use it
for artificial purposes. His climaxes OF
fun and wit were natural and his mag
petism was so great that one irresistlbly
followed him wherever he led. He was
above vulgarity. Ho never uttered
joke unfit for a child's ear. Take him
all in all, the rolling mill man will
never be duplicated, for he died on the
day Of John ". Kelly's death. "
Said another speaker: "Kelly's chat
ity to his brother actors was as unlimited
as his wit. 1t was the charity, too, OF
the real sort, in which the right hands
gift was never known to the left. While
in Chicago a year or more ago, Kelly
was met by a friend Of his, Catholic
priest ON q sick call. Come, said the
Clergyman to John, and I will show you
some of the city's squalor, how the poor
and wretched live in poor and wretched
lodgings and how they die there too.
s'John accompanied his friend to a
poor quarter down near the stockyards.
In one of the poorest houses. amid the
most squalid surroundings, without o
doctor, CT food, or fire, lay q middle
aged woman in fever. 1t was the old
story of q drunken husband, the wife
becoming wage Garner and stricken
down under the burden.
"After the priest had administered
the rites of his church, and the two got
in the open air again, Kelly said:
I" Father, that woman didn't need
You 80 much as she wants doctor, fuel
and food.
CATER further commiseration upon
the sick woman and the poor in general,
the two separated. By noon that day
doctor, not in hospital service, visited
the woman. Coal and wood, food and
liquor, arrived too II you believe III
miracles, you might think an angel
brought them, If you don't, you'll
guess John W. Kelly sent them, and
you'll call the turn. Kelly, finishing
his weeks engagement, left Chicago for
his circuit and did not return again for
upward of six months On his first
night at the stage door he met wom-
an, comfortably clad, Of the poorer
class, who shook his hand cordially
and through her sobs endeavored to tell
him that she was the woman OF the
wretched home who lay in fever six
months before; how she would have
died bat for the nourishment he provid-
ed, and how, night and morning since
her recovery, she had prayed for his
welfare. She was charwoman then in
one of the big Office buildings and had
saved out Of her earnings $50 in old.
worn, we'll thumbed greenbacks, which
she rendered to Kelly as part payment
for her life, saved through his fore.
thought, promising more when she
could save it.
." Tut, tut, my good womau' said
Kelly, looking the other way with
moist eye and in bluff voice as he
forced tine money back upon the woman.
Sure, where in Gods name do you
think would ever get money enough to
buy doctor and coal and wood and all
the other trimmin's you tell OF. It was
Tony Pastor sent all those things to
you.
"The woman seemed q trife disap-
pointed in being misled. She could not
doubt Kelly, his voice was 20 sincere.
She did not know Pastor from Xerxes,
but, suppcsing him friend of Kelly, a
happy thought struck her.
"Wouldn't Mr.. Kelly take the $50 to
Mr.. Pastor and tell him for her how
grateful she was and how she would
continue all the days Of her life praying
for him and Mr.. Kelly?
"This would have been stumper for
any other man except Kelly. He was
equal to the occasion.
!" Ny good woman said he, put
your morey i'll your pocket or in the
bank. Tony Pastor is dead nearly a
year. He left 81, 100000 and two rail-
roads behind him, and bis heirs would
not thank you for your money
"And everybody said Kelly was at
his best that night. New York Tele-
gram.