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Members of Families Unable to Learn Whether It Is Their Loved One Who Fell in France, as Several of That Name Are Abroad.
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The War Department reports Edward J. Kelly killed in action and Charlie Johnson dead of natural causes in France.
Five Brooklyn soldiers bearing the name of Edward J. Kelly are with the colors. There is at least one from Harlem, one from Dobbs Ferry, probably several others in the metropolitan district, and only the War Department knows how many dozen other Edward J. Kellys throughout the country are in the service and now in France.
In Brooklyn alone there were four Charles Johnsons with regiments in France, and ten other Charles Johnsons with middle initials. In the entire city there probably are two or three times that many.
The pain of anxiety, the dread uncertainty in all those Kelly and Johnson families had not been relieved at a late hour last night by any official message from the War Department.
Relatives Are Grieving.
In the homes of four of those Kelly families at which reporters for the HERALD called there was a feeling of the tensest anxiety. Mothers and sisters who had read the name of Edward J. Kelly in the newspapers were in tears, with fathers and brothers bravely trying to assure them it could not be their Edward, but secretly fearing it was.
Three of the Brooklyn Kellys quickly were eliminated because they are with regiments still in this country. One Brooklyn Edward J. Kelly, of No. 609 Second Street, is in France with the Marine Corps.
The remaining Brooklyn Kelly, of No. 149 Jefferson avenue, the Edward J. Kelly, of Dobbs Ferry, and the one from Harlem, Edward J. Kelly, of No. 246 Bradhurst avenue were all in 165th infantry (old Sixty-ninth, New York), that went to France with the Rainbow Division.
Only one Kelly was killed in action, and the failure of the War Department to announce the address of the one killed caused distress in the families of all the Kellys.
One Expected Action Soon.
Miss Sarah Kelly was just leaving her home in Bradhurst avenue last night to get a safety razor to send to her brother, Edward, in the trenches when a HERALD reporter arrived. She and her father, Edward H. Kelly, had not heard from the War Department, and only knew that Edward J. Kelly was reported killed. The girl broke into tears and said she knew she had lost her only brother. The father tried to reassure her, but he had no facts to back his optimism. He had received no message from the War Department that his Edward J. Kelly was not the man who had given his life to his country.
Only a few days ago the sister had received a letter from Edward, in which he wrote:"We have just heard of the Tuscania sinking in the European edition of the NEW YORK HERALD and the boys are wild about it. We expect to go into the trenches in a few days." He gave instructions about collecting his war insurance "if anything happens to me."
Sorrow in Other Homes.
After the Dobbs Ferry Kelly enlisted, at the beginning of the war, his family moved to No. 110 East Ninetieth street, Manhattan. The father, Patrick, said they had seen the name in the evening papers, but had received no official word from Washington. The man's three sisters were weeping, hoping their Edward was not meant, but almost collapsing with fear every time the doorbell rang. That Kelly had been employed by Brandt & Kirkpatrick, short story brokers, No. 101 P. avenue. He was made a corporal just before the 165th started for France.
News that Edward J. Kelly had been killed in action carried grief, maybe needlessly, into the home of Charles J. Kelly, No. 149 Jefferson avenue, Brooklyn. He had a son, Edward J., with the 165th infantry.
Mrs. Kelly was very nervous last night, crying most of the time and praying that "my Eddie" had been spared. They have another boy, eight years old, and a daughter, twelve, who is ill in the Kings County Hospital. They had received no word from the War Department.
Some Receive Death Notice.
Relatives of other men in the same regiment were notified by the War Department of their death while in battle, although Mrs. Margaret Hegney, of No. 1,887 Morris avenue, the Bronx, had suffered hours of great anguish before the official notice arrived. She had seen in the newspapers that Arthur Vincent Hegney had been killed in action and at once became hysterical. She was being attended by Father Egan, from the Church of the Holy Spirit, when the War Department telegram arrived.
It had been sent, through error, to the gas company's office in Brooklyn, where the man had worked, and then forwarded to her. Arthur was only eighteen years old when he gave up his position, joined the 165th regiment and went to France. The mother was said to be in a serious condition. Arthur was her only son. He had three sisters.
William A. Moylon was killed in action in the same regiment, according to an official telegram received from the War Department by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. William Moylon, No. 546 West 126th street. He enlisted in the Seventy-first infantry in 1916, and went to the Mexican border with it. Later he saw service up-State and last autumn was transferred to the 165th.
Football Player Killed.
Michael F. Galvin died fighting, according to the War Department message to his sister, Mrs. Dennis Duffy, of No. 103 West 102d street. He was thirty-five years old and was captain of the County Waterford football team in New York. He was a giant almost and exceptionally strong. When trouble with Mexico began he quit as a subway motorman and enlisted in the Sixty-ninth regiment and was sent to the border.
Frank A. Meagher, twenty-two years old, a clerk for Tyson & Co., ticket brokers, was another of that famous fighting regiment to be killed in action. His only near relative was a brother, also in the service, and the War Department notified John L. McNamee, of Tyson & Co. He lived at No. 564 West 160th street. He enlisted in the Seventh infantry, was transferred to the 165th and went to France last October.