The Kevin review. [volume] (Kevin, Mont.) 1922-1929, 1922-10-19
ALEXANDER M'KEMZlE'S SECRET HOMIE
LIKELY TO REMAIN UMS0LvED RIDDLE;
NJ. d.. BOSS CONCEALED FAMILY 80 YEARS

at the contents of the telegram
which read:
Mother died today; can yo'
come?
SANDY, Tom and jeanette"
According to Judge Flannery
McKenzie's office the "boss' was il
California for the benefit of hi
health. The telegram was kept b,
his secretary for him and was hand
ed to him when he returned, nearl,
a month after the telegram haC
come. Two letters had come aftel
the telegram.
Mckenzie, it is told, read the mis-
sives without comment. Then ht
placed them carefully in the inside
pocket of his Goa 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 a 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
Thomas fastened to the funeral, ar
irving, however, one day too late. He
had been buried by his two daugh-
tiers 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-
ed in North Dakota they told a story
that amazed and perplexed McKen-
zie's old cronies. Mckenzie seemed
" udfO OCCD piOQo VI LIE IOuhSlS
family-but not in Dakota. This
was further emphasized by the fact
that he would not permit his sons
to enter politics. He said it was too
strenuous. He insisted, however,
that they each have a college educa-
ton.
Nowhere in the history of the un-
discovered side of McKenzie's life
was there the slightest hint of scan
dial, wrongdoing or any of the usual
grounds which many an American
business man has kept secret in the
background. Mckenzie had divorced
his first wife, Mary Ellen Hayes, le-
gally, in 1887. She died in st. Paul,
where he had purchased her a home,
in 1897, SO there was, therefore, ap-
parently no obstacle in the way of
legalizing his second marriage to
Elva A. Stewart, a Bismarck school
teacher, in 1890.
Why, then, the concealment?
No satisfactory explanation has
been forthcoming from the daugh-
tiers in Montreal.
At the Yonkers household similar
secrecy prevails, and only with mani
ltSt lCiuCtdHCS ulu Ills lQI Gil ulo-
cuss their fathers life. They were
unwilling to advance any explana-
tion of the secret of his life, and it
is quite apparent that both sides of
the will contest would rather settle
the matter quietly out of court than
to bring the complete disclosure of
their fathers motives, with its at
tendant publicity.
There was no mystery in fathers
life," declared Miss jeanette McKen-
zie, although even as children we
were conscious of an air of mystery
about him. He was kind and ap-
peared to love us. Although he did
not visit us but once in every two
three years he never forgot our
birthdays and wrote often. He spent
little time with us that he did
not permit US to have company when
he called. He never met any of mo-
theirs friends, either. He said it was
because he wanted to spend every
moment with us. / suppose the rea-
son he never took us west to live
with him was because he thought his
other daughters would be jealous Of
us and there would be no peace for
any of u.s."
One Explanation
In North Dakota among McKen-
zie's associates many explanations
are advanced to account for his sin
gular concealment. One is that his
wife, now dead, was a Pro-
testant. Mckenzie was believed to
be a Roman Catholic, especially as
his first wife was a Catholic and he
contributed literally to the church.
1t is theorized that he feared a loss
of his political prestige If it were
that his wife was not of SINH
lar faith. This is a superstition only,
because it is obvious that if Roman
Catholicism was the basis of his poll
teal strength it was also the cause
Of opposition to him. If it were
he was not a Catholic. for
every friend he might have lost he
would have gained another.
Adding to the depth of the mystery
S the fact that his second wife, who
It'd =. fh4 GOOD I'll h0,- ;, rr{o6 1ifn 1