100 years ago in North Idaho: Investigators determine that dad killed wife, 3 children by slashing their throats

Investigators determined that Mike Kelly of Rose Lake, Idaho, was responsible for the deaths of his wife, his three children, and himself.

All five bodies were found in their house overlooking the Coeur d’Alene River, with their throats cut.

The coroner and the Kootenai County prosecuting attorney determined that “no inquest was necessary.”

“It appeared that Mr. Kelly suddenly had gone out of his mind sometime Tuesday night and had killed his wife and children, then took his own life,” said the Spokane Daily Chronicle.

The prosecutor said that he did so “evidently in a fit of insanity.”

The evidence indicated that, after cutting the throats of his wife and children, Kelly tried to stab himself with a butcher knife, but succeeded only in injuring a rib.

Then he went down to the river and tried to drown himself. His slippers were found in the mud. He came back into the house and cut his throat with a razor.

Earlier reports indicating no family troubles had proven to be overly optimistic.

Kelly had recently been removed as watchman at the Rose Lake Lumber Company and demoted to a position in the planing mill. He had “become gloomy and morose after the change” and seemed downcast, according to a neighbor.