CHARLES T. CONNELLY                         GRAVESTONE PHOTO                      

FROM "THE RECORD", 

COFFEYVILLE, KS

Oct. 7, 1892                                                        

  IN MEMORIAM.

  Charles T. Connelly was born in the state of Indiana, November 25th, 1845, where he resided until he moved to Kansas in 1885.  He enlisted in the Ninth Indiana Battery at the age of 17 years and served his country gallantly until the close of the war.  In the year 1867 he was married to Mary McCord.  Two children, Bert and Grace, blessed their union.  His wife died in 1874.  Two years after her death, he was married to Sarah Alexander.  This union was also blessed with two children, but one of whom is living, Miss Jessie.  As a teacher in our schools Mr. Connelly was ever faithful and efficient, and enjoyed the confidence and esteem of his pupils.  As city marshal he discharged his duty with great courage, and absolute fidelity to the best interests of the city.  He gave his life freely in defense of the lives and property of our citizens and his faithfulness to duty will ever be held in grateful remembrance by the people of Coffeyville.  The deepest sympathy of the entire community goes out to The bereaved wife and children as they mourn to loss of a loving and devoted husband and father.

FROM "THE MORNING REPORTER", 

INDEPENDENCE, KS

Oct. 7, 1892     

 SAD NEWS FOR VISITORS.

KANSAS CITY STAR.

  C. A. Connelly, the only son of Marshal T. C. Connelly of Coffeyville, killed today by Daltons, arrived in town this morning accompanied by his sister Grace.  They came to Kansas City to attend the fair and were in the Exposition building when a telegram was handed to the son apprising him of his father's death.  The daughter was utterly prostrated and was carried to the St. James hotel in a carriage, where kind friends cared for her.

  Though greatly shocked, the son bore up bravely, and told of his father  and the plans he had mapped out.  "I left Coffeyville last night," said he, "and, when I bid my father farewell had no idea that was to be final.  With my sister I reached here this morning and was attending the fair when I received the news of the Dalton's raid.

  "My father had been Marshal of Coffeyville about five months.  Last spring he was selected by the law and order element because it was thought he could succeed in cleaning out the joints.  In a few days his resignation would have been tendered and he would have taken his place as principal of the high school now nearly completed.  His plans were made and the proposition made to him by the high school board had been accepted.  Father had been a citizen of Coffeyville for four years, three of which were spent in the public schools.  His election as city marshal was only for the vacation, as it was thought he could in that time succeed in  restoring order and in closing up the joints which at the time of the election flourished.  His family consists of my mother, two sisters and myself.  The citizens entertained no fears of a raid so far as I know.  My father was a fearless man, however, and I am sure he did his duty."

  Mr. Connelly accompanied by his sister, will go to Coffeyville on the first train tonight.  It will be a sad ending to a trip begun only this morning which included seeing all the gay features of carnival week in Kansas City.

  Mr. Daniel Wells of the firm Wells Bros. of Coffeyville is also in the city today.  He received a dispatch from his brother telling of the raid.  For some time, he says, the citizens have thought the Daltons intended raiding the town and thet had been quietly preparing for them and the result was that the gang fared badly today.

  The remains of C. T. Connelly, one of the Daltons' Coffeyville victims, will arrive here on the Missouri Pacific train from Coffeyville, at 9:25 this morning .  As he was a member of the Modern Woodmen of America and Select Friends, all members of those orders who can are requested to be at the depot upon the arrival of the train to escort the remains to their resting place.

 

FROM "THE MORNING REPORTER", 

INDEPENDENCE, KS

Oct. 8, 1892     

  The funeral of Mr. C. T. Connelly occurred yesterday morning, the remains being brought to the city and interred in Mt. Hope cemetery directly from the train.  The banks closed and the public schools were dismissed, the scholars and teachers marching to the depot in honor of the dead.  Mr. Connelly having been connected with the public schools of the county for several years, and was soon to resign as marshal to take a position as principal of the Coffeyville high school.  The funeral procession was the largest ever seen in the city.  The school children came first and formed in line of each side of north Penn avenue, and stood with bowed heads until the funeral train passed.  The members of McPherson Post, G. A. R., the A. O. U. W. and Modern Woodmen marched in front of the hearse.  Following the mourners were about sixty carriages and other vehicles, containing citizens.  The services at the grave were in charge of Rev. Martin.

Transcribed from A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans, written and compiled by William E. Connelley, Secretary of the Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka. Chicago: Lewis Publishing Company, copyright 1918

  

Charles T. Connelly, who was born in Parke County, Indiana, in 1845, is especially deserving of note in a history of Kansas. He was reared and married in Indiana and in 1885 moved to Garden City, Kansas, and proved up a claim there. In 1887 he came to Independence, and resumed his earlier profession as a teacher. In the meantime he had made an honorable record as a soldier of the Union during the Civil war. He enlisted in 1862 at the age of seventeen and served 3 1/2 years until the close of the struggle, being a member of the Ninth Indiana Battery. From Independence he moved to Coffeyville, and served as principal of schools there, and during the summer vacations filled the post of city marshal. It was while in the performance of his duty that he was killed in 1892, when the Dalton gang of outlaws raided Coffeyville. He was a republican, a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, was affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and was clerk of the camp of the Modern Woodmen of America at the time of his death. Charles T. Connelly married Mary McCord, who was born in Parke County, Indiana, in 1846 and died there in 1873. The two children of that union were Charles Albert and Grace. The latter, who died in 1908, at the age of thirty-eight, was the wife of William N. Cox, county assessor of Parke County, Indiana. Charles T. Connelly married for his second wife Sarah Alexander, who died in 1896, survived by one daughter, Jessie May, now wife of Harry W. Lang, a druggist at Coffeyville, Kansas. This branch of the Connelly family came from Ireland to North Carolina in colonial times, and subsequent generations moved to Kentucky and from there into Indiana.