New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1906-03-22
BANKER HAS TWO WIVES
T.. ". KILEY CONFESSES.
Brooklyn Merchant, 1t Is SAID, Paid
S15O.OOO for Silence.

hidden the secret that Thomas W. Kiley bank
president and well known merchant Is a big
amist, and John F. Clarke the District Attorney
OF Kings County is preparing to investigate the
case. Mr.. Kiey is not to be found in his usual
haunts, and his friends say they do not know
where he is. He is president of the North Side
Bank of Brooklyn. but is principally known as
the head of the hardware firm of Thomas w.
Kiley & Co., with offices at No. 81 Grand street.
Both Of his wives live in Brooklyn His law
full wife lives with him at No. POI Jefferson
avenue. The other lives at No PIG Brooklyn
avenue. mile away under the name OF Mrs.
Flora A. Colt. Her neighbors consider her a
wealthy widow. She IS, IN fact, the widow OF
named Colt
Last October Mrs. Colt obtained the services Of
John F. Griffith, an attorney Of No 20 Court
street, Brooklyn, to bring suit against Mr.. Kiley
for fraudulently getting her to marry him. Grit
fifth is now suing for his fees. In her complaint
Mrs. Colt said she was married to Kiley on Oc-
tober Z, 1903 at Hammond. Ind believing him
to be a single man. He told her he did not
want her to assume his name for time. as he
wished first to close certain business transac-
tons. He brought her to Brooklyn, and soon
she found out that he had married his sister-in-
law in 1898. and still living with her as
his legal wife.
las soon as Kiley learned that Mrs. Colt was
about to bring action against him." said J. s.
Ross, Griffith's counsel yesterday, "he went to
see Griffith and offered to give the woman $50
600. She refused. Then he offered her land and
securities, bringing the amount up to $97, 900.
She still refused. Then Griffith heard that Mrs
Colt had transferred her case to Scott, Epson
* NewcOmb. a law firm of Manhattan, and that
William Force Scott acting as her counsel
He then discovered that MI Kiley had set
tied his difficulties with Mrs Colt by the pay
ment Of $4,000. He had taken Mrs. Colts case
on a contingency basis, with the understanding
that he was to receive % per cent of what Mr.. !
Kiey paid. AS he could not collect s375OO |
which he asserted was due him upon his con
tract with the woman, he began suit in the
Supreme Court. Kings County, against Mrs. Colt
and Mr.. tiley Jointly. Mr.. Scott is now act
ing as the attorney for both defendants. The
hearing viii come up March 81"
Ross said he had no intention Of instigating
criminal proceeding for bigamy against Mr.
Key.
District Attorney Clarke made the following
statement last night:
I am greatly surprised to hear this story
about Mr.. Kiley. The announcement that he is |
bigamist has been made too conspicuousIy to |
be avoided. cannot ignore 1t. That is all |
can say tonight"
Mr. hiley said yesterday that his marriage 10 |
q
life. He is now sixty-five years old He said |
that Mrs. Colt knew that he had wife living !
when she consented to be married TO him The |
ceremony occurred while he was on his wav to a !
bankers convention at San Francisco. AS his |
excuse he said that he was under the impress |
sion that his legal wife could not live His |
home life had been extremely unhappy, he |
said
He has known Mrs. Colt since her childhood |
She is ten years his Junior His agreement with |
Mrs. Colt, he said, was that they were to live |
publicly as man and wife as soon as Mrs Ktlev |
died. His relations with Mrs Colt had been |
intimate for several years, and she was accom- |
panying him on his westward trip at the time of |
their marriage
On their return to Brooklyn a month later
Kiley bought and fitted M for Mrs Colt the |
house at No. PIG Brooklyn avenue Kiey saws
Mrs. Colt brought suit against him not because
Of any unpleasant relations but to insure herself
against want in case Of his death He had been
severely III in September 1905. the month before
she took action At the time of the filing Of
the complaint she was mentioned in his will for
$4,000. He denied that he had paid her a cent
in settlement and asserted that all he had agreed
to do was to insure her a comfortable home for
the rest OF her life
Mrs. Colts father was Guy R. Brown once a .
r.
died when he six years old, and he went /
10 work for Brown At the age Of twelve he |
got a job with another firm and rose to be its /
head a few years later. He became a rich man |
and Brown became a poor man In the last
years Of his life Brown worked for his former /
Office boy Mrs. Colts husband was a West
erner, who died eight or ten years ago leaving /
one son, who lives with her,
Kiley married the widow Of his brother James I
when he was ifty-three years old. Her two /
sons and two daughters lived with him The
daughters are now dead, and the sons, T. w. !
Kiley, jr, and w. A. Kiley are members OF the |
hardware firm Mrs Kiley has been an invalid /
most Of the time since her second marriage.
Mr. Kiley left his office early yesterday after
noon and has not been seen since. His employees
said they had no idea where he had gone. Mem
bers of his family said they did not expect him
home, and did not know where he was