in march 1909, riley was stricken a second time with bell's palsy and partial deafness, the symptoms only gradually eased over the course of the year. he was a difficult patient, and generally refused to take any medicine except the patent medicines he had sold in his earlier years; the medicines often worsened his conditions, but his doctors could not sway his opinion. on july 10, 1910, he suffered a stroke that paralyzed the right side of his body. hoping for a quick recovery, his family kept the news from the press until september. riley found the loss of use of his writing hand the worst part of the stroke, which served only to further depress him. with his health so poor, he decided to work on a legacy by which to be remembered in indianapolis. in 1911 he donated land and funds to build a new library on pennsylvania avenue. by 1913, with the aid of a cane, riley began recovering his ability to walk. his inability to write, however, nearly ended his production of poems. george ade worked with him from 1910 through 1916 to write his last five poems and several short autobiographical sketches as riley dictated. his publisher continued recycling old works into new books, which remained in high demand.