Pat Kelly – Missoula Speedster 1908
Aged Sprinter Wins Over Convict
P. H. Kelly, 62 Years Old, Out-runs Mike Burke, A Man 37 Years Younger.
Yesterday 10 prisoners from the county jail were put to work on the road west of the city near the county and city bridge. The members of this improvised “chain gang” were in reality not shackled at all. Not a one was bound in any way – until Mike Burke started across lots for liberty. Mike made a break immediately after dinner, and almost got away before a fleet youngster named P. H. Kelly ran him down, sat on him, and brought him back to jail, where leg-irons were applied. Mr. Kelly, who with L. F. Keim was guarding the bunch of prisoners, is a mere youth of 62, while Burke is a child of about 25. Kelly had the youngster outclassed for speed, endurance and form, winning the impromptu race with apparent ease. When the two drove up to the jail in a rig impressed by the officer, Burke was all in, while Kelly hadn’t found it necessary to call out his second wind yet. It is likely that Burke will work today in shackles, as an example to the rest of the prisoners. He is a surly fellow, and to his disposition can credit the length of his term in jail – 60 days. Several weeks ago he was in police court on a vagrancy charge, and was about to be turned loose. Burke thought sentence had already been pronounced, and began to “cuss” the court. A few minutes afterwards the haze of profanity cleared away and Burke found himself walking toward the county jail with a 60-day term staring him in the face. Burke is certainly ambitious to make a name for himself, but does not seem to go about it in the right way. Mr. Kelly is thinking of getting into condition in time to enter the next year’s interscholastic.
The above article appeared in The Daily Missoulian on June 13, 1908.
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Pat H. Kelly, above, was the father of William Kelley who later became a sheriff of Missoula County. Arriving in Missoula in the 1880’s, he was a member of the family for whom Kelly Island in Missoula is named. He was also a Great Great Grandfather of another Missoula speedster, Kelley Stensrud, who lit up the University of Montana Grizzly scoreboard while scoring 160 points back in the 1990’s.