“A Little Room for Doubt” – The Suicide of Mary Knaff

This is a true story about an event in the life of my great grandfather Joseph Kieran, offered here in the writing style known as “creative nonfiction”.

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“Come quick!”, the young boy said. Your cousin . . . your cousin Mary! She’s dying!!

As he hurried out the door, following the messenger headed down the hill on North Wyoming street, Joseph was perhaps only a little surprised to hear the disturbing news. Mary had paid him a visit just a few weeks prior to talk about how despondent she’d been feeling. He was very concerned for her even then but knew there was very little he could do to help.

Feeling a keen sense of urgency, he began to pick up his pace for the often-travelled 15-minute walk to his cousin’s house.

When he finally arrived late that Sunday afternoon, there were several people at the house. Mary’s husband John, Dr. Sullivan, Lilly Finley (a former boarder that Joseph knew), and a few other women he didn’t recognize. And Mary, of course, who was lying on the sofa in a terrible state . . . just barely alive.

Dr. Sullivan explained that Mary had ingested carbolic acid at around 3 o’clock that afternoon. He was eventually summoned by Father Calahan and immediately made his way to her house, stopping at a drugstore to pick up some antidotes. But there was not much he could do by the time he arrived that would afford any hope. 

The mood in the room was somber. 

Overcome by his emotions, Joseph immediately confronted Mary’s husband John, saying “Well, you are satisfied now, are you? “You have driven her to kill herself!”

Another doctor arrived about an hour later. And after consulting with Dr. Sullivan agreed there wasn’t much that could be done.

Joseph slowly dropped into a chair near his cousin, and began to recall the details from their last visit together.

He knew Mary had been forced to take in boarders in order to support herself and John. But her problems were even more serious than he had realized. Mary shared with Joseph that John had only worked about three weeks since the prior December; that he was recently coming home late at night, eventually arriving drunk; and sometimes would even be gone for several days at a time. 

And then there was the story about a man who showed up at their home and threatened to shoot John if he didn’t stop seeing his wife.

Mary also told Joseph that she often wished she was dead because her life had become so miserable.

Joseph suggested that she bring her things and come and stay at his house. He and his wife Kate operated a boarding house and they could surely make room for her. But after much discussion and urging on his part, Mary reluctantly declined his kind offer, saying she didn’t want to break up the marriage.

His thoughts about that last visit were bluntly interrupted when he heard John emotionally beg for a revolver so that he could shoot himself. One of the women in the house offered to get him one. But Joseph didn’t think he had any intention of using it. He thought John was running a bluff.

Mary died that evening. Sunday, April 28, 1902 at 7 pm. 

An inquest was held the next day at the undertaking rooms of the Montana Undertaking Company in Butte, Montana.

John Boyle, a friend of the couple who was present in the house about an hour before Mary drank the carbolic acid, testified that he’d known the couple for five years. He was only at the house for about 15 minutes and didn’t hear or see anything unusual.

Mrs. James Flynn, a former neighbor, testified that Mary told her about the woman whose husband had threatened John. She also testified that Mary often shared with her that she was displeased and at times wished she was dead because she had a miserable life.

Miss Lilly Finley testified that she was at the house with Mary in the morning, and until John came home at about 2 o’clock that day. John left the house at about 8 o’clock a.m., before she arrived.

Miss Finley also described an incident that occurred early in the afternoon where John was hiding two dollars from Mary. She wanted one dollar and he wouldn’t give it to her. Sometime aftewards Mary went into the front room, came back out and told John and Lilly to go for a doctor and her cousin because she was dying. 

Lilly went next door to tell Mrs. Irvine, the neighbor. Mrs. Irvine went for the priest and her husband went for the doctor.

She also testified that she found a “regular beer glass” that seemed to have been about two-thirds full of carbolic acid, with only a sign of it left.

Several of the witnesses, including Lilly Finley and Mrs. James Flynn, agreed that Mary Knaff committed suicide due to her despondency over the situation with her husband. They all reported that she had been “wasting away” over the last few months.

Dr. Sullivan testified that Mary had burns on her face when he arrived, as well as the odor of carbolic acid on her breath. Her pupils were characteristic of carbolic acid poison, which “is about the same as opium poison . . . but she had gone beond that, she was about dying.” Dr. Sullivan tried to administer some whiskey, which is the best antidote but her throat was paralyzed. He also gave her a hyperdermic injection of strychnine to “keep the heart up”, but it was too late to save her.

Mary’s husband John testified that the couple “never had any trouble whatsoever”. As to the two dollars, he stated he was going to give her that money but he couldn’t remember where he put it. Later, he stated he was just teasing her. 

Oddly, he did not remember seeing Lilly Finley was at the house until after his wife announced she was going to die. 

Early in his testimony, John Knaff testified that he and Mary had five children, but all were dead. There were no follow-up questions by the coroner or any of the jurors on that point.

Joseph Kieran had a slightly different take on the situation.

When asked by the coroner, “Is it your opinion, Mr Kieron, that the ill treatment of Mrs Knaff had anything to do with hastening her death?” He replied, “Yes sir, it had everything to do with it . . . sometimes she would say that she would break up housekeeping and other times she would tell me she didn’t want to, it was pretty hard.”

Joseph Kieran

The coroner, pushing for clarification, asked, “It is your opinion, between his dissipation and staying out nights and drinking and his attention towards some other woman was bearing on her mind to that extent, that she took her own life as a relief?”

Joseph answered, “Yes, I believe it was all the cause of it, although I don’t know that she took her own life. I would not say she did. It looks to me a kind of a mystery . . . “

Question by the coroner: “ . . . have you any idea that there is any foul play connected with her death?”

Answer:  “ . . . according to the testimony I have listened to here now, it looks to me more than ever. Mr. Knaff claims this lady [Miss Finley] was not there . . . and I think it looks kind of suspicious to me to hear that evidence. It seems to me there is a little room for doubt about it.”

Six jurors arrived at the final verdict as follows:

That the said Mrs Mary Knaff came to her death about 7:00 on Sunday evening April 27th 1902 at her home number 362 East Park Street alley in the city of Butte Silver Bow County state of Montana as the result of a dose of carbolic acid solution self-administered and we believe from the evidence that the said suicidal death was the direct cause of worry on the part of the said Mrs Mary Knaff due to ill treatment and abuse inflicted by her husband John T Knaff. The jury recommends that it is a lamentable fact that there is no law through which the said John T. Knaff can be punished for his gross neglect, infidelity and abuse of his wife, which prompted her to destroy herself.


Sources for this story include the following:

  • Newspapers.com – The Butte Daily Post – 28 Apr 1902 – Page 1
  • Newspapers.com – The Butte Miner – 29 Apr 1902 – Page 8
  • Inquest on the Body of Mrs. John T. Knaff dated 28 April 1902, obtained by author at the Butte Archives located in Butte, Silver Bow County, Montana

A few women named Nora

Nora Marie (Kieron) Blacker circa 1922

This is my maternal grandmother, Nora Marie (Kieron) Blacker. She was born 7 September 1900 in Butte, Montana. First generation Irish, her parents, Joseph Kieron and Kate Myers, both having been born in Ireland.

The first two namesakes

Two of her granddaughters were named after her. One carries her first and middle name, and I am honored to carry her middle name.

A little about my grandmother Nora

In August of 1970, on one of our many summer visits to my Mom’s home town of Helena, Montana, we made a trip over to Butte one afternoon. I remember driving around while Mom tried to remember where her Irish grandparents lived. Not an easy thing to do because her mother died when she was only 8 years old, and they didn’t visit Butte very often after that.

Nora’s Certificate of Baptism

One stop we made that day was St. Patrick’s Church on Washington Street. Mom wanted to see if we could get a copy of her mother’s baptismal certificate.

Google street view of St. Patrick’s Church in Butte.

The Certificate of Baptism we obtained that day turned out to be one of the first records we obtained after we began actively researching our family, way back in 1970.

Certificate of Baptism for Nora Marie Kieron, obtained from St. Patrick’s Church in Butte

At the time, the only new piece of information we gained from this record was the birth year of 1900. We had always believed Nora was born in 1902.

But as I reviewed this record again while preparing this post, I noticed two more bits of information that we didn’t pay much attention to in 1970.

Who is Helen Cotter?

First, one of the sponsors, Helen Cotter, seemed a very familiar name to me. It took me a few minutes to realize I had seen the Cotter surname before . . . maybe Nora’s parent’s wedding certificate?

Sure enough. There she was . . . “Mrs. J. J. Cotter” listed as a witness. The woman who was a witness to their marriage was also listed as a sponsor for their daughter. Interesting. So, of course, I spent a good deal of yesterday researching her.

I was hoping to learn that Mrs. Cotter was perhaps a cousin to either Joseph or Kate. And while it appears that she is of Irish descent, she was born in New York and at this time I don’t think their paths crossed until they all ended up in Butte.

But I did learn one interesting thing about her.

In 1900, Mrs. Cotter lived with her husband at 507 Colorado in Butte. Again, I recognized that address. After a little poking around, I located the May 1900 ship record of Kate’s brother Thomas, as well as the May 1901 ship record of her brothers Michael and Patrick. And the 507 Colorado address is referenced in all three ship records.

Ship record of Kate’s brother Thomas, showing the address of his brother Denis in Butte

And I noticed another bit of information on the baptism certificate. Nora was baptized five days after she was born, which is a bit unusual because most Catholic babies are baptized several weeks after they are born.

We knew Nora was born a twin. And we knew her brother Peter died several days after they were born.

Nora’s Church record

Many years later, we obtained a copy of the actual Church record, which states Peter died on September 11th, four days after the twins were born.

Per the last line of this record, Peter died on September 11th and was buried on September 12th. NOTE: The three lines above reference other individuals and their identity was redacted by the Church.
In this continuation of the Church record, we were told that “None” in the last line (Peter’s record) meant the child died before Father Harrington was able to administer Last Rites.

The record below is the entry for my grandmother Nora. The record, written in latin, indicates Nora was also very ill. She received an emergency baptism on September 12th, one day after Peter died and the same day he was buried. Also, note Helen Cotter named as the godmother in the bottom left-hand corner.

Another namesake?

According to Irish naming tradition, Joseph’s first born son was named after his own father Peter.

That story will have to wait for another day.

The record that knocked a hole in our Irish brick wall

In the summer of 2011, my Mom decided we should pay a visit to the diocese office in Helena to see if there might be a record of the marriage of Nora’s parents, Joseph Kieron and Catherine Myers.

Certificate of Marriage for Joseph Kearon [sic] and Kate Myers

This record turned out to be the one that knocked a hole in our very large Irish brick wall. And that’s because it gave us the names of Kate’s parents, John Myers and Nora Henally [sic]. That was a bit of information we’d never had before. In addition, it also confirmed the names of Joseph’s parents, Peter Kearon [sic] and Jane Martin.

Subsequent civil documents revealed that Joseph was born in Drumgoosatt Townland, County Monaghan, Ireland, and Kate was born in Ower Townland, County Galway, Ireland.

Armed with the names and specific locations of our Irish ancestors, that Irish brick wall finally came tumbling down.

A little about Nora Hennelly

If you have an Irish line in your family, you know how difficult Irish research can be. But I’ve learned a little about her.

She was born in about 1833, either in County Galway or County Mayo. She married John Myers of Ower Townland, County Galway, in about 1858 or 1859. The couple had nine children between about 1860 and 1879.

Nora’s oldest daughter Julia stayed in Ireland, as did her oldest son John who inherited the family’s small farm. The remaining seven children, two daughters and five sons, all were forced to leave in order to have some chance for a better life elsewhere.

Both daughters ended up in America. My great grandmother Kate in Butte, Montana, and her sister Delia in Helena.

One of the five sons ended up in England and the other four joined their sisters in Montana.

A big family mystery

What happened to four of Nora’s sons?

Possibly the biggest mystery in our family involves Nora’s sons, Denis, Thomas, Michael and Patrick.

As stated above, all four immigrated to America in 1900 and 1901, and immediately made their way to Butte, Montana where they found work in the copper mines.

Shortly after the deaths of their sisters Kate in 1902 and Delia in 1903, the brothers slowly disappeared in the records.

I have spent many hours trying to track them down but to no avail. And I keep hoping some of their descendants will show up in our DNA matches . . . but nothing so far.

I’ll keep looking.

As for now . . .

Full circle

My blog post has come full circle . . .

Nora Marie (Kieron) Blacker circa 1922

Because as it turns out, the Certificate of Marriage we obtained in 2011 revealed that my grandmother Nora was likely named for her maternal grandmother Nora (Hennelly) Myers.

Since her mother died when she was only two years old, she may not have been aware of that. I hope I’m wrong.

One more woman named Nora

Armed with all that great information I mentioned above, and many hours of research, we’ve made several contacts with cousins we never knew we had.

We made one particularly significant discovery early on when we found out my grandmother Nora had two maternal first cousins who immigrated to America from County Galway.

And the best part? We’ve since connected with many of their descendants, one of whom gave me a lovely picture of one of those cousins . . . and her name is also Nora.

Is it just me? Or do you also think these two cousins look like they could be sisters?

I can’t help but wonder what their grandmother Nora looked like.

Obituary of Nina Jean (Blacker) Dalin

Nina Jean Dalin, formerly of Helena, Montana, passed away September 10, 2020 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she has resided for the past 63 years. She was preceded in death by her parents, John David Blacker and Nora Marie (Kieron) Blacker; four siblings, John Dean Blacker, Mary Margaret Williams, Katherine Helen Heaney, and David Lewis Blacker; one son, Randy Carter Dalin; and one granddaughter, Leanne Michelle Lucero.

Nina was born in Oakland, California on March 11, 1929. By October 1935, the family had moved back to Helena when the family’s brick home on 7th Avenue was destroyed in an earthquake. The entire family, as well as Nina’s grandmother and two aunts, moved in with Tom and Babe Hauser on Floweree. By late 1936, the family moved into the house built by Nina’s father located at the corner of 7th and Davis. Sadly, tragedy struck again only a few months later when Nina’s mother Nora died in May of 1937. 

Nina began working as a long distance operator for “Ma Bell” in about 1945 when she was 16 years old. While working the night shift several years later, she met Cid (“Buddy”) Dalin who drove her home in his cab every night. The couple soon married, then moved to Great Falls for a short while, eventually moving to Albuquerque in 1956, where Nina continued working for Ma Bell for another 46 years, retiring in December of 1990.

While still living in Helena, Nina was on the switchboard the night of the Mann Gulch Fire in August 1949, and also remembers putting through a few long distance phone calls for Gary Cooper when he visited Helena in 1949. In Albuquerque, she was one of the first 911 operators and because of her training, was able to save the life of a child after instructing the child’s mother, over the phone, on how to perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Nina received a commendation and write-up in the local paper.

Although she lived most of her 91 years in New Mexico, Nina’s heart was always in Montana (or “God’s Country”, as she called it). She travelled there to visit family and friends nearly every summer, where many happy memories were made on the deck of her sister Katherine’s house, located near downtown on Clarke Street.

Nina’s lifetime hobby was genealogy and she was always ready to share her genealogy “books” which contained years of research on her Montana ancestors. Her paternal grandfather David Lyman Blacker became a successful miner in the Radersburg area, having arrived in Virginia City in the summer of 1864. He went on to achieve success in stock raising, eventually moving the family to Helena in 1883. Her paternal grandmother Ada Cordelia Buchenau was born in 1853 in Kansas and came to the Montana Territory in 1871 as a young bride of 18. Nina’s maternal grandparents, Joseph Kieron of County Monaghan, Ireland, and Catherine Myers of County Galway, Ireland, met and married in Butte in 1899. 

Nina and her sister Katherine shared a love of genealogy, and the two were known as the family storytellers. 

She is survived by two daughters, Lark Marie (Dalin) Robart and Tracey Ann Dalin; two grandchildren, Jacob Dalin Hertz and Lindsay Dalin Hertz; six great grandchildren, including Kara Jane Hertz, Kate Marie Hertz, Jacob Carter Blanton and Wesley James Blanton; numerous nieces and nephews; and many dear friends . . . all of whom remember her fondly, and who will speak her name and tell her stories for generations to come.

The family plans to hold a graveside service in the summer of 2021 at Forestvale Cemetery near where her parents are buried. Details will be shared with family and friends once final arrangements have been made.

© 2020 Copyright by Lark M. Dalin Robart. All rights reserved.

Three funerals and a wedding

On this day in 1952, at 8:30 a.m. on a Saturday morning, my parents Cid H. Dalin Jr. and Nina Jean Blacker were married at St. Mary’s Church in Helena, Montana.

My Dad (25 yrs old) and Mom (23 yrs old) sitting on my Grandmother’s sofa on the evening of Saturday, November 15, 1952.

It was a great day, one that both of them had looked forward to for quite some time.

How do I know? Well, the two of them started a scrapbook several months before they married. And it’s full of all their hopes and wishes for the future.

Lucky me, right?

And I think my favorite part of the scrapbook is all the wonderful ephemera.

Like this Blondie cartoon cut from the August 16, 1952 newspaper . . .

Looks like an inside joke, especially with the reference to “Cabin Cafe”. And of course, I had to look that up. I came across this wonderful picture from 1957 . . .

Photo courtesy of www.helenahistory.org

I can just see my Mom and Dad sitting at a table here, sipping their coffee and laughing about their little joke. If I had to guess, that joke had something to do with my Mom — she drank lots of cream in her coffee, my Dad always had his black.

Next time I’m in Helena, I’ll be sure to locate this building so I can just stand there for a minutes . . . and imagine them going in and out.

Funeral #1

The tone of the happy scrapbook turns a bit sad on the next page, however.


My Dad’s father Cid Dalin Jr. passed away suddenly on July 13, 1952, after having suffered a heart attack only six days earlier. He was only 56 years old.

By all accounts of people that who knew him, he was a fine man. Loving and gentle, with a fun sense of humor. My Mom only knew him for a short while but always told me how sweet he was to her. And my Dad always spoke of his father quite fondly.

You can see in the note my father wrote later that he missed him on the day my parents were married but said he felt his presence.

Cid H. Dalin Sr. circa 1922

Back to premarital bliss

A few more pages of sweet greeting cards and love notes . . .

I love the little note under the “WARNING” card that says “I didn’t scare – I married her”.

. . . and a month-long trip my Mom made to Las Vegas, Nevada with her friend Blanche, designed, she told me on many occasions, to get my Dad to finally propose to her.

And based on the next few pages in the scrapbook, I guess it worked!

The Wedding

The wedding announcement!
The “ring size card”!
And the wedding invitation!

Followed by page after page after page of wedding cards, and two Western Union Telegrams.

Western Union telegrams

Funeral #2

When I was still quite young, I remember the first time I heard the story that is about to follow.

Two days before my parents’ wedding, my Dad’s maternal grandmother, Mary Gertrude (Rumping) Riordan, passed away. She was 74 years old.

Mary Riordan
1878-1952

She had been ill for quite some time so her passing wasn’t entirely unexpected. But she must have planned to attend her grandson’s wedding. I say this because one of the first “wedding card” postings in the scrapbook are a few items labelled, “Grandma Riordan’s things for our gift from her”, followed by this note written by my Dad . . .

“We love you very much Gram. It was the bunk the way things worked out but we know you would have wanted it this way as well as Nina & I did.”

The phrase “we know you would have wanted it this way as well as Nina & I did” is a reference to some difficulties that arose amongst my Grandmother and her sisters.

The details of what happened after Mary’s death between my Grandmother and her sisters is a bit fuzzy. But I can only imagine that it must have been particularly painful for my Dad’s mother. Nonetheless, on Saturday November 15th, she attended her son’s wedding at 8:30 a.m., then hosted the wedding breakfast at her home, then attended her mother’s requiem mass at St. Helena cathedral, followed by the interment at Resurrection Catholic cemetery.

The scrapbook continues on to Christmas, with lots more cards and even a whole page of Christmas gift tags . . .

And then this . . .

Funeral #3

Mom’s older sister Mary was killed in a tragic car accident in California on December 26, 1952. She was only 28 years old.

It was several days before my Mom and her siblings in Montana were notified. The authorities had a difficult time identifying her family until they located my Mom and Dad’s wedding invitation among her belongings. The invitation was mailed to Mary in late October but she never responded.

“Please Come Mary!!” written by my Mom on the outside of the wedding invitation envelope mailed to her sister Mary.

The young man who was driving the car that night wrote to my Mom. They corresponded several times and she kept those letters. She also kept the last letter Mary wrote to their sister Katherine on December 25th, the day before she died, as well as several letters from the man who owned the store just half a block from where the accident occurred.

In one of his letters, he stated that he had “studied seven years for the Priesthood” and, “Not knowing [Mary] was Catholic I told her to pray and I did also of course . . . I’m sure she had time to make an Act of Contrition which I did also, so I think by the Mercy of God and his justice she made herself right with him.”

Mom spoke often about her older sister Mary . . . about the difficulties in her life, some “bad” decisions she’d made . . . but also about what she loved and missed about her. She often described her as a “lost soul” and prayed for her every night. And she said to me on many occasions that she was worried everyone would forget Mary.

But thanks to my Mom, no one will forget about Mary Williams, Cid Dalin Sr., or Mary Riordan.

Thank you, Mom.