John Ernst Worrell Keely - Death

Death

Keely died at his home in Philadelphia from pneumonia on 18 November 1898. His will was admitted to probate on 1 December, and bequeathed his entire estate of about $10,000 to his widow, Anna M. Keely, who was appointed his executor. The will made no reference to his motor.

After his death a close friend revealed that he had once asked Keely what he wanted for an epitaph, and Keely had replied, "Keely, the greatest humbug of the nineteenth century". Keely is buried in West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.

The first meeting of the Keely Motor Company's stockholders following his death was held on 20 December 1898. Charles S. Hill, his widow's attorney, stated that Keely's secret did not exist in manuscript form, but that Keely had suggested before his death that an inventor, Thomas Burton Kinraide of Boston, was the one man who could successfully carry on his work. Hill then announced that he had a secret which he would pass on to only one person. This secret, he said, was "of a nature to encourage the stockholders and to induce them to leave everything in Kinraide's hands for one year". John J. Smith, one of the Company's Directors, was appointed to confer with Hill, and later reported that the secret told to him by Hill "offered great encouragement to the stockholders" but did not divulge any further details.

In January 1899 Kinraide had 20 large packing cases transported to his laboratory in Jamaica Plain, Boston, said to contain the material part of Keely's motor. Kinraide said that he had often talked with Keely about the principles of his invention and said that he felt he knew more about it than any other person. He was to continue with Keely's experiments at the request of Mr and Mrs Keely. However, on 6 May 1899 it was reported that Kinraide had abandoned all work on the Keely motor and was to return all the machines and notes to the Keely Company. He stated that he wanted nothing more to do with the motor due to the notoriety caused him by the Philadelphia Press's report and when asked whether he thought the motor was a fraud simply replied that he had not arrived at any such conclusion and had decided to make no further investigations.