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| Patrick Kelly's Baptism Record, |
Patrick A. Kelly left Quebec, Canada at an early age and moved to Chateaugay, Franklin, New York. He was 30 years old when he arrived in Leadville Colorado, early Spring of 1879. It's unclear if he met and married 29 year old, Ellen Healy on his way to Colorado or after they arrived but either way, they where together from Patrick's first arrival that Spring.
At their arrival, Leadville lacked much of civilized life. Those who came first were often unscrupulous about making money with both men and women trying their hand at doing so. In Leadville, inflation ran rampant on everyday items; this was the norm rather than the exception. Transporting items to the camp were difficult. Groceries were four times the price they were in Denver. Sellers made a $1,500 profit of raised prices for whiskey, and hay sold for 200 a ton during winter. In the early years, the nearest railheads were in Denver, Colorado Springs, Canon City, and Georgetown that were all at least 75 miles from Leadville.
From the time of Patrick and Ellen's arrival, and through the 1880s, Leadville had one of the most notable red light districts in the country at the time, and it was far more decadent than in any other western frontier town. Many contemporary towns roundly condemned Leadville as a den of iniquity and a pestilence that bowed only before its demigods: sex, liquor, gambling and avarice. [23, pg. 8] Leadville's red-light district was an important part of it's character, and remained so well after it was an established city with respectable women and families living there.
Half of Leadville's first settler's worked in the Liquor trade [22, pg. 119] Leadville's saloons never seemed to fade and was the most popular place for miners to gather. During the everlasting winter weather, the saloon provided a warm place to relax after a hard day of work. With so many numerous men in Leadville, the saloon became the most important social club. Men gathered to meet friends, hoist a few, and gamble, which they dearly loved to do. [26, pg. 2] Leadville's population, especially during the 1870s and 80s was predominately male, the few women living there could be divided in two categories, the respectful proper ladies, who strictly abided by Victorian morals, and those women of loose morals who were there primarily to entertain the men. The drink served in the saloons was basic, usually whiskey but sometimes and alcohol brew that the owner mixed with chemicals. Still, no matter how bad the whiskey was, it was more often than not, safer to drink than the water in Leadville. The water was so polluted from sewage, placer mining, and mining and smelting the ore that it was unsafe for consumption. When fresh water flowed into Leadville there was a drastic decline in whiskey sales in Leadville. [22, pg.15]
Nothing seemed to be able to tame Leadville's wild ways, and high crime rates were just as high in the early 1890s as they were in 1879. Drinking and public drunkenness was a source of a large part of Leadville's crime and violence problems. The newspapers attributed most of the violence to drunkenness from drinking in the saloons. [24, pg. 322] Drunk and disorderly conduct was so common in Leadville during the silver boom, that the newspapers would use the abbreviation of "d. & d." to refer to that conduct. Throughout Leadville, there were a lot of hold-ups, murders, and gunfights. Everybody went armed, many in town were professional gun men; others drank to excess and fought; some got excited and shot; where there were still others who like a grey painted war ship roved the seas in search of trouble. [25, pg. 59] With so many people, coming and going, from different classes with different temperaments meeting up in one place, violence seemed bound to erupt and it did frequently.
According to the 1879 Leadville City Directory, the town boasted 51 groceries, 10 dry-goods stores, four banks, 31 restaurants, 17 barber shops, and 4 churches, along with 120 saloons, 19 beer halls, and 118 gambling houses and public clubs.
Leadville came alive at night, and the city lights masked all the faults of the town. It was at night that a majority of Leadville's entertainment businesses opened their doors to the public. "At dusk the variety houses, dance halls, theaters, gambling houses, and saloons awaken from their daylong slumber. All types of entertainment were available, from the foulest dive to the handsome Tabor Opera House, which opened in November 1879. The red light district claimed to be one of the country's best, a dubious distinction".
By the winter of 1879 there were 35,000 people in Leadville and another 15,000 in the surrounding area. [21]
Housing arrangements in Leadville were not typical. Three varieties of households were most common, very few lived in a "family" home, which consisted of the conventional family unit, a husband, and wife and children was the rarest. One of the most common housing arrangements consisted of a single home with three to six unrelated men living under one roof sharing the premises. The most popular choice for miners were boarding houses run by either a man or a man and his wife that provided lodging for between eight and twenty men, usually from the same ethnic group. Because Leadville never slept, two boarders would often rent the same bed, one during the day, the other during the night.
Nothing seemed to be able to tame Leadville's wild ways, and high crime rates were just as high in the early 1890s as they were in 1879. Drinking and public drunkenness was a source of a large part of Leadville's crime and violence problems. The newspapers attributed most of the violence to drunkenness from drinking in the saloons. [24, pg. 322] Drunk and disorderly conduct was so common in Leadville during the silver boom, that the newspapers would use the abbreviation of "d. & d." to refer to that conduct. Throughout Leadville, there were a lot of hold-ups, murders, and gunfights. Everybody went armed, many in town were professional gun men; others drank to excess and fought; some got excited and shot; where there were still others who like a grey painted war ship roved the seas in search of trouble. [25, pg. 59] With so many people, coming and going, from different classes with different temperaments meeting up in one place, violence seemed bound to erupt and it did frequently.
Street and saloon killings became so common that one newspaper carried a black bordered column called "Breakfast Bullets" that listed the names of the men who died violently the day before.
Leadville's first marshal was T.H. Harrison. He lasted only two days before he was ran out of town by ruffians. One month later, his successor, George O'Connor reprimanded one of his deputies for "spending too much time in the saloons" after which his deputy shot and killed him.
Next, Martin J. "Mart" Duggan a gunfighter of the old west was appointed by Mayor H.A. Tabor. Mart Duggan immediately began ousting any residents he believed would affect his abilities to police the town. He killed two men during this period, both in saloon shootings. Duggan was dismissed from duty as town Marshal after a February, 1879 drinking binge but was quickly re-instated when it was obvious no one would take the job. Duggan left the Marshal's position for Leadville in April 1879, when his term expired. [20]
Patrick A. Kelly was appointed Leadville's town marshal in April, 1879.
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| Leadville Colorado Police Department, circa 1878-79. Photo courtesy of the Denver Public Library. The Leadville Police Force poses on wooden stairs. P. A. Kelly was town Marshal and J.W. Frazer was Captain. Policemen included W. W. Butler, C. Dwyer, J. Dwyer, O. Heller, R. Monteith, Thomas McCulloch, George O'Connor, Cliff Perkins, Thomas Walker, and Alvah Wells. The men are officers are wearing long uniform coats with brass buttons, badges, boots and police caps. Some men have mustaches, some have beards, some have both. One man has on a fur hat. Two men on the right back row are in plain clothes and wearing hats. A Clapboard structure with a panel door and a pane window serves as the backdrop. A gas lantern is on a pole at the left edge of the stairs. |
The violence in Leadville made law and order a top issue to its residents. However the overwhelming violence and sometimes the lack of justice, caused some citizens to take matters into their own hands.
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| The Leadville Weekly Democrat, Volume 1, October 2, 1880 |
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| The Leadville Weekly Democrat, Volume I, October 2, 1880, continued no. 2 |
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| The Leadville Weekly Democrat, Volume I, October 2, 1880 - continued no. 3 |
On November 20, 1879, at 1:30 in the morning a vigilante group of 40 men in black hoods took over the city jail at gun point and hung two prisoners, Ed Frodsham and Patrick Stewart, who were under Patrick Kelly's command.
A placard was written on a half sheet of legal cap and pinned to the back of Ed Frodsham as a warning to some of the marked men about Leadville:
Notice
Lot thieves, bunko-steerers, footpads, thieves and chronic bondsmen for the same, and sympathizers for the above class of criminals. This is our commencement and this shall be your fate. We mean business, and let this be your last warning: - Cooney, Adams, Connors, Collins, Hogan, Ed. Burns, Ed Champ, P. A. Kelly, and a great many others known to this organization.
signed, Vigilance Committee
Leadville's criminal class was in an uproar over the hangings. Several hundred of them threatened to retaliate and intended to kill the vigilantes responsible for the hanging and burn down Leadville's newspaper offices and demanded charges be brought against the town marshal, Patrick Kelly under who's authority Frodsham and Stewart were incarcerated.
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| Leadville Weekly, Leadville Colorado, November 22, 1879, page 3 |
The threats by the criminal class had the town on edge for a couple of days, and the Wolf Tone Guards and Tabor Light Calvary patrolled the streets at night as a preventative measure. The majority of Leadville's upstanding citizens approved of the vigilante committee's action. They believed given the "provocation by the men" the hanging was necessary. The almost unanimous public opinion and the militia's strong guarding and patrolling, as well as, Patrick Kelly's resignation as the town marshal, two days later, on November 22, 1879, pacified the vengeful rioters, and the city was restored to order.
Horace Tabor sent a telegram to the former marshal, and gun slinger, Mart Duggan in Michigan asking him to come back and help restore peace in Leadville. Duggan took over again as Leadville's marshal in January 1880 and immediately fired all of Kelly's deputies and hired men of his own choosing. In April, 1880 Mart Duggan refused reappointment.
After leaving his appointment as Marshal, Patrick Kelly returned to the Leadville saloon business for employment. Apparently feelings ran high between Patrick and Mart Duggan's law enforcement team, who replaced him because just two month's later there was a bit of a scuffle in Patrick's saloon, Kelly and Tully.
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| Ex Marshal P.A. Kelly to the Front, Leadville Weekly Democrat, Leadville Colorado, Volume 1, February 21, 1880 [15] |
The night of February 21, 1880 a group of belligerent drunks in Patrick Kelly's saloon got out of hand. One of Duggan's officers, Lafferty came to the establishment to make an arrest. Patrick Kelly and his friends wouldn't let Officer Lafferty in the front door and ran the fighters out the rear of the saloon. Patrick faced charges the next day for resisting arrest and the above article appeared the next day in the Leadville Weekly Democrat.
Amid all the lawlessness, three months later, Patrick's wife Ellen Healy gave birth to their first child. A daughter Ellen Claire Kelly was born on May 12, 1880. She would be known as Claire throughout her life. Patrick is finding work in the Leadville mines and bartending in his Kelly and Tully Saloon on 100 West.
In 1881 Patrick volunteered to be a part of Leadville's Wolfe Tone Guards, organized as a way to keep the cities lawless behavior under control.
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| Wolfe Tone Guards, Leadville Daily Herald, April 23, 1881 [2] |
In July 1881 Patrick Kelly was elected First Duty Sergeant of the Wolfe Tone Guards, Leadville's "Soldier Boys" were one of the first military organizations in the city. It was formed into a company and given a place in the state militia on July 12, 1879. As indicated in the title the company was composed of Irish-Americans - bardy men who are prepared at any time to withstand the rigors of active warfare - men who can be depended upon and who are ready at any time to repeat the scens of Fonteney. In 1881 there were sixty men in the company, all of whom were proficient in the use of arms. The armory was located on Sixth street in the state armory. The boy's United States regulation uniforms were inspected daily. [2]
In 1882, Ellen and Patrick have a second daughter and they name her Helen Belle. They will call her Belle, probably after Ellen's sister Belinda "Belle" and her grandmother Arabella.
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| Leadville Colorado City Directory 1883 Patrick Kelly, miner, 921 East Seventh Street P. A. Kelly, Saloon, 110 West, |
In Leadville, there were "distinct regions in the city's drinking life". [22, pg. 119] The best saloons were located in Leadville's business center, the first three blocks on Harrison Avenue. [22, pg. 146] The Harrison Street scene around 1880 was "Horses, pack trains, and heave ore wagons filled this ninety-foot-wide main business street, and a surging mass of miners, businessmen, housewives, speculators, vagrants, and soldiers of fortune crowded its sidewalks and stood talking in groups along its edges. Among the hardware stores, tailor shops, restaurants, and groceries of Harrison Ave. were the largest barrooms of the community. Spacious, well-constructed, and elegantly furnished, these saloons often featured gambling casinos and concert stages in addition to facilities for drinking". [22, pg. 119,120]
If you veered off Harrison Avenue, the first three blocks either West or East would find "narrower side street lined with smaller, seedier businesses - laundries, cigar stores, shooting galleries, and lodging houses. West Second Street was known as "Whiskey Row", and represented one street full of those second rate establishments with little to distinguish one from another. The interiors were cramped, smoke-filled, lit by kerosene lamps, with men drinking at a bar or around small tables. They opened at dusk and closed as the sun came up. The seediest saloons and barrooms were "sprinkled throughout the residential blocks and among the shanties of the poorest miners and laborers on the fringes of the city" [22] .
Saloonkeepers faced high tents to pay when looking to rent buildings for their establishments. A building of moderate sized might rent for $500 a month, and a large drinking and gambling saloon for up to $2000 during the 1870s-80s. In addition to high rents, saloonkeepers had to pay high license fees to sell liquor. In February 1878, the city council set the annual fee at $200, and soon raised it to $500, then $600 per year. {153}
If you veered off Harrison Avenue, the first three blocks either West or East would find "narrower side street lined with smaller, seedier businesses - laundries, cigar stores, shooting galleries, and lodging houses. West Second Street was known as "Whiskey Row", and represented one street full of those second rate establishments with little to distinguish one from another. The interiors were cramped, smoke-filled, lit by kerosene lamps, with men drinking at a bar or around small tables. They opened at dusk and closed as the sun came up. The seediest saloons and barrooms were "sprinkled throughout the residential blocks and among the shanties of the poorest miners and laborers on the fringes of the city" [22] .
Saloonkeepers faced high tents to pay when looking to rent buildings for their establishments. A building of moderate sized might rent for $500 a month, and a large drinking and gambling saloon for up to $2000 during the 1870s-80s. In addition to high rents, saloonkeepers had to pay high license fees to sell liquor. In February 1878, the city council set the annual fee at $200, and soon raised it to $500, then $600 per year. {153}
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| Kelly Saloon, 130 East Sixth St., Gold Watch Raffle, The Leadville Daily Herald, Saturday, January 3, 1885 [8] |
Leadville's Irish population owned and patronized the majority of the saloons operating east of Harrison Avenue. The Irish saloons of Kelly, Owens, O'Keefe, and O'Leary were located on east Sixth Street. Most ot the Irish residents worked the mines of Stray Horse Gulch.
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| Annunciation Catholic Church, Leadville, Colorado |
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| Thomas Silvester Heffernan Baptism Record, 21 January 1885 the Annunciation Catholic church, Leadville, Diocese Colorado Springs, father James Heffernan, mother Alice Kelly, godparents Patrick A Kelly and Ellen Healy |
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| Social Happenings in Leadville - Belle Kelly age 12 years attends a friend's birthday party at 138 East Seventh St., November 22, 1891 [3] |
The Silver Boom came to an abrupt half in 1893 with the appeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act. The price of silver plummeted, causing mines to close and unemployment to rise. Leadville suffered greatly and the economy faltered.
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| Patrick A. Kelly, miner, living in the Kelly House, 912 Harrison Ave., Leadville City Directory, 1894 |
In 1894, Patrick and Ellen Kelly were living in the Kelly place boarding house on Harrison Avenue with their two children, Claire and Belle. Ellen's brother Daniel Healy and cousin, Nellie A Healy were living with them.
In 1895 living in the Kelly House, Patrick was working at the Ibex gold mine and Ellen was expecting their fourth child.
Belle Kelly - Ninth Street School
December 19 1895, Patrick's brother Captain, T.B Kelly from Venezuela, District of Columbia is visiting Leadville and recruiting fighters to form a brigade [16]
In 1895 living in the Kelly House, Patrick was working at the Ibex gold mine and Ellen was expecting their fourth child.
Belle Kelly - Ninth Street School
December 19 1895, Patrick's brother Captain, T.B Kelly from Venezuela, District of Columbia is visiting Leadville and recruiting fighters to form a brigade [16]
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| The Herald Democrat, Leadville Colorado, Wednesday May 29, 1895 |
In May of 1895, Patrick's wife, Ellen went into labor with their third child. The delivery was hard and complicated causing Ellen and their son to both die on May 25, 1895. Ellen Healy Kelly and her stillborn son, Patrick Kelly were both buried that same day. Ellen Kelly is buried in the Leadville St. Joseph Cemetery. There is no record of her son's burial on the same date in the St. Joseph Cemetery, in fact she is the only "Kelly" or "Kelley" buried in 1895. The Evergreen Cemetery has an infant "Kelley", died May 25, 1895, stillborn, Block 14, Lot 5 [18] [19] . This is Patrick and Ellen's child.
The 1897 Leadville City directory lists Patrick Kelly was living in the boarding house with Daniel, Nellie, and his daughters Claire and Belle. and working as a "miner".
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| Ibex Mining Company, east of Leadville, 1894 |
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During the 1880s, John Campion and associates bought the Little Jonny Mine and a number of adjacent claims on Breece Hill east of Leadville and started the Ibex Mining Company. In 1893, James J. Brown (husband of Molly Brown) was hired as superintendent of the Ibex properties. Brown timbered through notoriously unstable ground that had stopped earlier miners and discovered vast quantities of high grade gold and copper. In 1894, the company was paying it's investors a million dollars per year dividends and rewarded James J Brown with 12,500 shares of Ibex stock.[6] Feverish exploration was under way on the new "Leadville Gold Belt.
Patrick Kelly was there in 93, working in the Little Jonny mine. The grade of gold they found was so pure and the vein so wide it was heralded as the world's richest gold strike. By October 1893, the Little Jonny was shipping 135 tons of gold per day.
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| Ibex Mine, Breece Hill, Leadville Colorado - Gold, collector sledge |
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| Patrick Kelly, miner at Ibex Mining Co., Leadville Colorado 1906 |
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| Two Colorado miners 1880-90. Two miners pose in a photographic studio wearing mining clothes, work boots and holding a pick-axe, canteen, miner's dinner pail "pie-tin", kerosene lamp, pipe and cigar [12] |
From 1893 until 1907 Patrick continued working for the Ibex Mining Company. In 1907 he was involved in a mining accident which was serious enough that he left Leadville with his brother Thomas and headed toward Texas. [1]
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| Ibex Mine Accident, Herald Democrat, Leadville, Colorado, July 3, 1907 |
About this time Patrick left Leadville and went to Beaumont, Texas where Claire and Belle were living. He then travelled to gold mines of old and New Mexico. About ten years later, Patrick A. Kelly died in Pinos Altos, New Mexico on December 24, 1915 at age 66 years. His sister, Alice Kelly Heffernan, a widow and last member of their family was still living in Leadville. She brought her brother's body home to be buried next to his wife, Ellen Healy in the St. Joseph Cemetery. Their infant son, Patrick Kelly, appears to be buried in Leadville's Evergreen Cemetery, but this may be a mix-up in record keeping. Patrick's funeral was held in the same chapel as Ellen's twenty-years earlier.
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| Patrick A Kelly Obituary, The Herald Democrat, Friday Dec. 24, 1915 |
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| Patrick Albert Kelly Obituary, The Herald Democrat of Leadville Colorado |
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| Patrick A Kelly Funeral Announcement, Herald Democrat, Leadville, Colorado, December 26, 1915 |
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| The record of Patrick A. Kelly's funeral service at the Church of the Annunciation Catholic chapel in Leadville. December 26, 1915 [20] |
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Sources
(1) Hurt in Mine - Herald Democrat, July 3, 1907
[2] Brief History of Leadville's Soldiers - Wolfe Tone Guards, Leadville Daily Herald, January 1, 1881
[3] Herald Democrat, November 22, 1891 - Belle Kelly attends party
[4] Colorado Past - The Ibex Mine owners - James Brown
[5] Ores and Mine - Little Jonny Mine History
[6] Mining Hall of Fame - Campion, owner of the Ibex Mining Co.
[7] Funeral Services of Patrick Albert Kelly, Herald Democrat, December 26, 1915, page
[8] Amusement - Saloon Gold Watch Raffle, Leadville Daily Herald, January 3, 1885, page 4
[9] Death of Patrick A Kelly, Herald Democrat, December 24, 1915
Colorado Historic Newspapers
[10] Corbett, Hoye and Co's Leadville City Directory 1880, Patrick Kelly, Kelly and Tully Saloon
[11] Historic Colorado Mansions and Castles, by Linda Wommack
[12] History Colorado Online Collection
[13] Colorado School of Mines
[14] Leadville Daily/Evening Chronicle, March 7, 1895, Miss Nellie A Healy teaching, room 5 at the Ninth St. School, Belle Kelly student, room 6 at the Ninth St. School.
[15] Leadville Weekly Democrat, Volume 1, February 21, 1880 -
Ex Marshal P.A. Kelly to the Front
[16] Herald Democrat, Dec 19, 1895 - Thomas Kelly visits Leadville from Venezuela
[17] Herald Democrat, May 19, 1895, The late Mrs. Kelly - A Card of Thanks
[18] Lake County Public Library, Who's Where in Leadville's Catholic Cemeteries 1888-1981, St. Joseph Cemetery, St. Joseph Cemetery Ellen Kelly, May 25, 1895, age 44 yrs. Lot 1, St. Joseph Cemetery, Marker yes,
[19] Lake County Public Library, Who's Where in Leadville's Catholic Cemeteries 1888-1981, Evergreen Cemetery, Infant Kelley, died May 25, 1895, stillborn, block 14, Lot 5, Grave 7, Section CF, no marker.
[20] Wild West Magazine, June 2013
An article about Mart Duggan was published in the Wild West Magazine and reposted at History.net - Mart Duggan, not a believer in regulations ruled rowdy Leadville with an iron hand.
[20] Leadville, Colorado, Annunciation Catholic Church, Burial Register, 1914-1931, Colorado, Roman Catholic Diocese of Colorado Springs Sacramental Records, 1800-1967
[21] Silver Boom! The Rise and Fall of Leadville Colorado, 1860-1896
[22] The Saloon on the Rocky Mountain Mining Frontier, by Elliott West, University of Nebraska Press, 1979
[23] A Quick History of Leadville, by Christian J. Buys, Western Reflections Publishing Co., 2004
[24] A Companion to The American West, by William Deverell, Blackwell Publishing, 2004
[25] A History of Leadville, Colorado, by Marshall Conant Graff, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1920
[26] Saloons of Leadville, by Jim Andrews, Colorado Mountain College, East Campus, Leadville Colorado, February 11, 1970
