Because the death date was not given, the newspaper article date was used as his death date.

An old man locked himself in a shabby furnished room in Omaha Sunday night. All around he could hear the droning hum of the night life in a big city. He realized the emptiness of life at sixty and the utter loneliness of his position. In his pockets were three cents; a box of crackers, dry and unpalatable, and a bottle which contained release from all earthly cares, stood on a nearby table. A shabby suitcase with few personal effects lay at his feet. He wrote his will, leaving his sole earthly possessions, the battered suitcase and contents to one, A. R. Kelley,”

When the dead body of George Kelley was discovered and the newspaper men ran the story down the beneficiary of the brief will denied knowing the deceased. Here is a page from the book of the dead man’s life.

George B. Kelley owned a grocery store at Dodge, Nebr., many years ago. He quit business and with his wife came to Blair about 1893. He became a traveling representative for a grocery concern. The Kelley’s apparently lived happily and raised a family of four sons: A. R., Edwin, Sidney and Harold and one daughter, Gertrude Kelley. Three of the children graduated from the Blair High School. The family lived in the little cottage one door east of the Latter Day Saints Church. About ten or twelve years ago, George B. Kelley, the husband and father, stopped making visits to his family and after the usual nine day’s gossip of a small community his continued absence caused no further comment and the incident was forgotten. As the children reached maturity the family began to drift apart. Edwin and A. R. Kelley went to Omaha where they finally established the Kelley Mercantile Agency. Sidney Kelley located at Cody, Neb., Gertrude Kelley, the daughter, was employed at Mount Hope Fruit Farm; she finally married and lives in another part of the state. Harold Kelley, the youngest son, is residing with his mother in Omaha.

George Kelley was apparently a steady, easy going and genial gentleman during his residence in Blair. The cause of the unfortunate severance of family ties is buried in the hearts of the family and has never become public property.

World weary, denied the recognition of a father even in death, George Kelley stage a pitiful and dramatic setting in which to make his exit from life.

#2-Enterprise 2-16-1917

George B. Kelley, Suicides

Formerly a resident of Blair

George B. Kelley, who committed suicide in an Omaha rooming house, last Sunday night, was a resident of Blair some years ago, taught school in the Brewster district one term. His family consisted of a wife, three sons,and one daughter. He deserted his family here and the general understanding was that they were mighty glad to be rid of him, as he contributed little to their support. Mrs. Kelley did sewing and dressmaking and was an industrious, intelligent lady, well liked by all of her acquaintances. The two older sons and the daughter graduated from Blair High School, the sons going to Omaha where they secured employment and are now in business, and the daughter teaching in Blair, Calhoun, and other schools in the county until last year when she was married, Aug. 2 to Henry C. Nagel, a real estate dealer at Leigh, Neb. A short time after the marriage of the daughter, Gertrude, Mrs. Kelley and her youngest son, Harold, one of the brightest, energetic little fellows in Blair, moved to Omaha so that he could attend school there, and also to keep house for her two older sons.

Following is the account of Kelley’s suicide, as it appeared in Tuesday’s Omaha World Herald: ‘Give my satchels and things to A. R. Kelley, 308 Paxton block,” was all the word left by George B. Kelley, aged 60, before he died in his little room at 1909 California Street some time Sunday night. A bottle containing poison indicated the means of suicide. A box containing a few crackers was found on the table, and there were just 3 cents in the dead man’s pockets. The dead man was found Monday afternoon when Mrs. Oscar Kellar, the landlady, started to wash the window outside the room. Dr. Charles F. Shook said Kelley had evidently been dead twelve hours when found. Neither A. R. Kelley nor Edwin M. Kelley, the former manager and the latter a clerk in the Kelley Mercantile agency in the Paxton block, would admit any relationship with the dead man when notified by the World Herald of his death and the manner of his dying.

“There are oceans of Kelley’s in Omaha. I don’t know whether he was my father or not,” and that was all A. R. Kelley would say. “I don’t care to have anything come out about it,” said Edwin M. Kelley. “Certain family matters would hardly do to get in the newspaper,” he added. Then he would say no more. The two brothers then hurried to the house where George B.Kelley died.

Mrs. Kellar, the landlady, said that Kelley had been rooming with her for about a year and a half. He was a magazine solicitor, she said, and very reticent about himself. Other roomers and neighbors said that Kelley could never be induced to talk about himself or his family, and nothing could be learned concerning them.

“I heard that he once remarked that he once reared a large family,”said Mrs. Kellar, “but that is a much as I ever heard about it. He always paid his rent promptly, but always cooked his own meals in his room. He never burned a light but invariably retired very early in the evening.” “He always went out to his work very early in the morning even in the most severe weather. He would accept very few favors and the only time he ever asked one was a few weeks ago when he asked me to loan him a bucket of coal. He never had visitors.” Mrs. Kellar said Kelley had lived alone in her house and in the one next door, with a former tenant, for about seven years.

It was learned last night that both A. R. and Edwin M. Kelley, of the Kelley Mercantile agency are sons of the dead man, and it is also understood that the dead man’s wife survives but her address could not be learned. The body is at Jackson’s undertaking rooms. Later:- An autopsy by Dr. S. McCleneghan resulted in the filing of a certificate setting forth that deceased, George B. Kelley, died of pulmonary tuberculosis instead of suicidal poisoning as previously stated in the Omaha papers.

A brother of the deceased came from Kansas City and arranged for the funeral and burial at Forest Lawn cemetery. The World Herald says: “Arch R. and Edwin M. Kelley, members of the local collection agency, are said to be his sons, though they refused to acknowledge the relationship when asked,”

~~~ Obituary courtesy of the Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair Public Library at Blair, Nebraska.~~~