Thomas Patrick Kelley Jr. (6 April 1905 14 February 1982) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

writer notable for two books on the infamous

Black Donnellys The "Black" Donnellys were an Irish Catholic immigrant family who settled in Biddulph township, Upper Canada (later the province of Ontario), about 15 km northwest of London, in the 1840s. The family settled on a concession road which became ...

of Lucan, Ontario. Kelley was born in

Hastings, Ontario Hastings is a community within the municipality of Trent Hills, Northumberland County, in the province of Ontario, Canada. It is situated on the Trent-Severn Waterway and the Trans Canada Trail in what is considered to be Ontario's "cottage co ...

, the son of Thomas Patrick Kelley Sr. (John Lawrence Monahon) and English-born Nellie Burgess. He journeyed with his father's medicine show until 1931, then boxed professionally. In 1937 he began his prolific pulp writing career, with a sale to

Weird Tales ''Weird Tales'' is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine founded by J. C. Henneberger and J. M. Lansinger in late 1922. The first issue, dated March 1923, appeared on newsstands February 18. The first editor, Edwin Baird, prin ...

. He wrote many stories for '' Uncanny Tales'', a Canadian

pulp magazine Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 to the late 1950s. The term "pulp" derives from the cheap wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed. In contrast, magazine ...

. He was the author of some two-dozen paperback books, largely of the true-crime variety. Kelley claimed to be ‘king of the Canadian pulp writers’ and ‘the fastest author in the East’. He died in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

. Kelley claimed that when he began a novel he had no idea how it would end, and had used 30 pseudonyms. He is most noted for his account of the Donnelly tragedy in ''The Black Donnellys''. He later followed with the sequel ''Vengeance of The Black Donnellys'', a fictionalized account of the vengeful

vendetta Vendetta may refer to: * Feud or vendetta, a long-running argument or fight Film * ''Vendetta'' (1919 film), a film featuring Harry Liedtke * ''Vendetta'' (1950 film), an American drama produced by Howard Hughes * ''Vendetta'' (1986 film), a ...

undertaken by Francis Donnelly, one of the surviving members of the family on those responsible for the massacre of his parents and siblings. . ''The Black Donnellys'' is reputed to be the

Harlequin Harlequin (; it, Arlecchino ; lmo, Arlechin, Bergamasque dialect, Bergamasque pronunciation ) is the best-known of the ''zanni'' or comic servant characters from the Italian language, Italian ''commedia dell'arte'', associated with the city o ...

book with the most printings, with 15 printings of two editions between April 1954 and April 1968. Another source states 400,000 copies in 22 editions were sold. However successful the books were, they were denounced as grossly inaccurate. James Reaney, citing Alfred Scott Garrett, states that Kelley "totally misportrayed Mr. and Mrs. James Donnelly”, effectively murdering them again. The book was described as "sensationalistic and not very factual". ''Canada's False Prophet'' is purported to be a biography of

Brother XII Edward Arthur Wilson (25 July 1878 - 7 November 1934), better known as Brother XII, was an English mystic who, in the late 1920s, founded a spiritual community located just south of the city of Nanaimo on Vancouver Island, off the west coast of B ...

by his brother Herbert Emmerson Wilson. Citing

John Robert Colombo John Robert Colombo, CM (born March 24, 1936) is a Canadian author, editor, and poet. He has published over 200 titles, including major anthologies and reference works. Early life Colombo was born in Kitchener, Ontario, in 1936. He attended ...

, the tale was likely "concocted" by Kelley and Herbert Emerson (single “m”) Wilson. "Since this Wilson was born in Canada and Edward Arthur Wilson was born in England, there is hardly any likelihood there was a real connection between them." Thomas P. Kelley collaborated with the notorious safecracker Herbert Emerson Wilson to produce his unbelievable autobiography 'King of The Safecrackers', which was later titled, 'I Stole $16,000,000'. Interested in the story, Stanley Kubrick purchased the movie option, and after many years is now in development under the title 'God Fearing Man'.

External links

Cover of the Black DonnellysThomas P. Kelley image

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelley, Thomas Patrick Canadian male non-fiction writers 1905 births 1982 deaths 20th-century Canadian historians Canadian people of English descent Canadian people of Irish descent Pulp fiction writers Popular culture