Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1896-08-31
JOHN w. KELLY'S BIG HEART.
Stories of the Late Com edian's Generous
Nature Told by His Friends.


Stories of the Late Comedian's Generous
Nature Told by His Friends.
The ANALYSIS of John W. Kellv,s char
acter as an artist and man was perhaps
made the other night in an I'D town
cafe in a manner best shown to illus
trate his various attributes. Said one
speaker:
s'Kelly's versatility was ipinitable.
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 a 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
netism was so great that ore irresistibly
followed him wherever he led. He was
above vulgarity. He never uttered
Joke unfit for a chiId'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 char
ity to his brother actors was as unlimited
as his wit. It was the charity, too, OF
the real sort, in which the right hands
gift was never known to the left. While
in Chicago q 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 eity's squalor, how the poor
and vretched live in poor and wretched
lodgings and how they die there too.
'sJohn accompanied his friend to
poor quarter down near the stochyards.
In one of the poorest houses. amid the
most squalid surroundings, without a
doctor, or food, or fire. lay middle
aged woman in fever. It was the old
story Of d 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:
+" Father, that woman didn't need
you SO much rs she wants doctor, fuel
and food.
s'After 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. If 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 week s 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 a wom-
an, comfortably clad, of the poorer
class, who shook his hand cordially
and through her sobs endeayored to tell
him that she was the woman of the
wretched home who lay in fever six
months before; how she would have
died but for the nourishlnent 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 $40 in old,
worn, well thumbed greenbacks, which
she rendered to Kelly as part payment
for her life, saved through his fore
| thought, promising more when she
| cOuIQ save 1t.
tut, tut, my good womanp said
! Kelly, looking the other way with a
| moist eye and in q bluff voice as he
forced the. money back upon the woman.
Sure, where in Gods name do you
think I 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.
s'The woman seemed a trifie disap-
pointed in being misled. She could not
doubt Kelly, his voice was so sincere.
She did not know Pastor from Xerxes,
but, supposing 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 money in your pocket or in the
bank. Tony Pastor is dead nearly a
year. He left 81, 600, 600 and two rail
roads behind him, and his heirs would
not thank you for your money.
"And everybody said Kelly was at
his best that night. New York Tele-
gram.