Colin Miles Kelly (d. 1913)

Colin Kelly was a native of Halifax. He joined the North-West Mounted Police in 1900 and was stationed in Whitehorse that year. He took his discharge in 1908 and was employed by the mail department of the White Pass & Yukon Route. In 1913, he was the stableman at the Black Hills Roadhouse, about thirty-five miles south of Dawson on the Overland Trail. Kelly was called “Pop” by his friends. He was well-liked and one of the best horsemen in the Yukon.¹⁾

Kelly was killed by William Franklin Smith, the proprietor of the roadhouse, in late January 1913. White Pass stage driver El Reeves spent the night at the roadhouse and went to bed at 9:30. Smith and a number of miners in the area stayed up drinking until 3:00 am when Hanna Smith arose to censure her husband about the noise and letting the men drink too much. The couple fought and then all was quiet. Reeve woke early on Monday morning and banged on the stove pipe to rouse the couple so he could get some breakfast, but there was no response. Kelly had already hitched up his team, so Reeves left without eating.²⁾ Driver Burwash, on the northbound sleigh, arrived at the roadhouse on Tuesday evening to find the bodies of Kelly and the Smiths. Smith had killed the others and then shot himself.³⁾