Leland J. Kennedy Memoir - University of Illinois Springfield

There was neighbor against neighbor there. You had that. But you had the cop on the
beat and - the biggest controversy though, that stirred up the most flak, was the way they
handled the bond issue. It finally was resolved and the police and firemen got their pay.
Oh, one thing that came up that was quite controversial, and it became distasteful to me. In
my closing year we elected Mr. Wadlow mayor, and he appointed a man as the fire
chief. And he couldn't get him confirmed. And I was with the faction that was against
confirmation. And he got accused of personalities and, oh, all things like that. You'd have
people call you, and I can't recall the man's name now. He just wasn't acceptable, not from
a personal standpoint, from his talent as a fireman. There was, oh, there was several
reasons given for his appointment, but they didn't prove out. And Mayor Wadlow changed
his mind and appointed a man by the name of Jim Lewis. And Jim Lewis turned out to
he probably the best fire chief Alton ever had. He passed away, Jim did, with a brain
tumor. He must have served, oh, I guess that would be about forty - that was 1945 when
they got appointed, and he served quite a number of years.
Q: Were you active in getting him . . .
A: Well no, I didn't pick him. I was active in getting him confirmed though. I knew
him. But he was a fireman. He was a captain of the fire department, but he had one remarkable
trait, at least I thought that he - I saw it as an alderman. Of course when I
left the city council, I left it period.
Q: I see. (chuckles)
A: Each shift had a captain. In those days they worked twenty-four on and twenty-four
off and there were only three houses. Alton hadn't annexed Wood River Township
yet. And well there were six captains. And if he'd have a captain that wasn't performing
his duty, instead of bawling - he'd work with him. And he'd make him. I know there
was several captains he made. 1 don't recall their names, but I mean he just - they might
have been not weak, but needed some . . .
Q: Training.
A: . . . training and supervision. And giving them some recommendations, making suggestions
to them, and things like that. He was a brilliant man. Of course most firemen take
their pension at fifty, and Jim died before he got to his pension time, but 1 imagine industry
would have picked him up as a fire and safety man, hecause I'll tell you he was a born
fireman. He was just a fireman all his life. And his dad had been a policeman and had
got shot down downtown, oh, years ago, but it didn't kill him. But his dad was a cop on
the beat. But Jim was a born fireman, and he was a hrilliant man at that. IIe was really
topnotch.
Q: What was a council meeting like? Were they pretty formal affairs?
A: No. They were - oh, there was decorum. You ran by the Robert's Rules of Law. You
had a mayor pro tern and I never got - I ran for mayor pro tem once and there used to
be an open ballot, and the night I ran they had a secret ballot. (chuckles) And I got
beat. And there was some fellows that always said that a certain fellow - oh, there was
some envy - didn't vote for me because they didn't want me to have that honor. Rut that's
just part of the game.
Oh, you had a city clerk read the minutes of the preceeding meeting. The meetings were
always like the second and fourth Wednesday, and the finance committee met on the second
and fourth Monday, the Monday preceding it. And you had your finance committee
report. You always had letters from people, from citizens you know, that the clerk would
- the ones that would be acceptable to read. I'm sure he got some snotty