He had lost his practice and he had incurred the ill will of the powerful, so that it was impossible at the moment to pick up his practice again; and the worry and disappointment affected him so much that shortly after election he was struck down by sickness.

Just before Christmas some of us were informed that Kelly was in such financial straits that he and his family would be put out into the street before New Year.

This was prevented by the action of some of his friends who had served with him in the Legislature, and he recovered, at least to a degree, and took up the practice of his profession.

But he was a broken man.

In the Legislature in which he served one of his fellow-Democrats from Brooklyn was the Speaker--Alfred C.Chapin, the leader and the foremost representative of the reform Democracy, whom Kelly zealously supported.
A few years later Chapin, a very able man, was elected Mayor of Brooklyn on a reform Democratic ticket.