The circle banner. [volume] (Circle, Mont.) 1914-1939, 1922-10-20
ALEXANDER M'KEMZHE's SECRET HOME
LIKELY TO REMAIN UMS0LWED RIDDLE;
IN. ID. BOSS CONCEALED FAMILY 80 YEARS

at the contents of the telegram
which read
Mother died today; cans yol
come?
Sandy, Tom and jeanette"
According to Judge Flannery
when this telegram was received a.
McKenzie's office the "boss" was ii
California for the benefit of his
health. The telegram was kept by
his secretary for him and was hand
ed to him when he returned, nearly
month after the telegram had
come. Two letters had come after
the telegram.
Mckenzie, it is told, read the mis-
sives without comment. Then he
placed them carefully in the inside
pocket of his coat and left the office.
When Judge Flannery approached
him the next morning, he found him
sitting dejectedly in a chair in the
lobby of his club, looking out of the
window. The next day he died in
hospital.
Reading his letters the next day,
Judge Flannery found the addresses
of McKenzie's children of whose ex-
istence even McKenzie's daughters by
his first marriage had never been
aware. The letters explained the
situation, saying in part:
Dear Father:
"You have always told us that if
anything happened to mother we
should place her body in vault and
await Instructions from you. We
have done so and are waiting to hear
from you. We can not understand
why you have failed to get in touch
with us. Jeanette"
Then the judge Immediately wired
the Mckenzie family of the death of
their father Miss Jeanette and
fastened to the funeral, ar
irving, however, one day too late. He
had been buried by his two daugh-
.ers from Montreal in the family lot
IN the Catholic cemetery at Bismarck,
beside the remains of their baby
brother, who died many years ago.
Told Amazing Story
When the Yonkers children arriv-
ID in North Dakota they told a story
hat amazed and perplexed McKen-
les old cronies. Mckenzie seemed |
o have been proud of the Yonkers
not in Dakota. This
vas further emphasized by the fact
hat he would not permit his sons
O enter politics. He said it was too
strenuous. He insisted, however,
hat they each have a college educa-
ion.
Nowhere in the history of the I'M
discovered side of McKenZie's life
vas there the slightest hint of scan
al, wrongdoing or any of the usual
rounds which many an American
usiness man has kept secret in the
Mckenzie had divorced
is first wife, Mary Ellen Hayes, le-
ally, in 1887. She died in st. Paul, i
here he had purchased her home,
1 1897, so there was, therefore, APP
arently no obstacle in the way of
,galizing his second marriage to {
Iva A. Stewart, Bismarck school I;
,acher, in 1890
Why, then, the concealment?
No satisfactory explanation has
cen forthcoming from the daugh-
RS in Montreal.
At the Yonkers household similar ,
,crecy prevails, and only with mani
st reluctance did his children dis |
ISIS their fathers life. They were
nwilling to advance any explana- S
on of the secret of his life, and it {
quite apparent that both sides of
e will contest would rather settle ;
e matter quietly out of court than t
bring the complete disclosure of I
cir fathers motives, with its at +
ndant publicity.
There was no mystery in fathers
e." declared Miss Jeanette McKen- Y
2, although even as children we n
ere conscious of an air of mystery r
'out him. He was kind and APP +
AIRED to love us. Although he did ~
It visit us but once in every two o
three years he never forgot our {
fridays and wrote often He spent "
little time with us that he did
t permit us to have company when {
called. He never met any of mo-
er's friends, either He said it was
cause he wanted to spend every |;
,ment with us. 1 suppose the rea- !,
n he never took us west to live :,
tn him was because he thought his q
Ter daughters would be jealous of b
and there would be no peace for a
Y of u.s." -.
One Explanation =
In North Dakota among McKen- :"
IS associates many explanations 81
} advanced to account for his sim W
lar concealment. One is that his "
.ond wife, now dead, was a Pro- &,
tant. Mckenzie was believed to =
a Roman Catholic, especially as u
first wife was Catholic and he n
ltributed literally to the church. O.
is theorized that he feared loss !;
his political prestige if it were =
own that his wife was not of SINH 81
faith. This is a supposition only, al
,ause it is obvious that if Roman in
tholicism was the basis of his poll II
al strength it was also the cause
opposition to him. If it were w
own he was not a Catholic, for er
Try friend he might have lost he
uld have gained another. r
Adding to the depth of the mystery
-ba faof that hic caoopd xrrifa Whn III