| Thomas Calloway Lea, Jr. | |
|---|---|
| 17th Mayor of El Paso | |
| In office 1915–1917 |
|
| Preceded by | Charles E. Kelley |
| Succeeded by | Charles Davis |
| Personal details | |
| Born | October 29, 1877 Independence, Missouri |
| Died | August 2, 1945 (aged 67) El Paso, Texas |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Zola May Utt (1906-1936; her death), Rosario Partida Archer (1939-1945; his death) |
| Alma mater | University of Missouri–Kansas City |
| Profession | Attorney, Judge |
| Religion | Baptist |
Thomas Calloway Lea, Jr. (October 29, 1877—-August 2, 1945), was a prominent American attorney from El Paso, Texas, and mayor of that city from 1915 to 1917.
Lea was born in Independence, Missouri, to Thomas Calloway and Amanda Rose Lea.
His father, Thomas Calloway, Sr., (512 North Liberty Street in Independence) was county surveyor (commissioner) for Jackson County from 1870 to 1880 (a position that Harry S. Truman would have from 1925-1933),[1] then was deputy surveyor until his death on April 10, 1910.[2][3]
His grandfather, Dr. Pleasant John Graves Lea (also grandfather of Homer Lea, author of The Vermilion Pencil: A Romance of China), is the namesake for Lee's Summit, Missouri, although the name became spelled with an "e" instead of "a" because a stone culvert next to the Missouri Pacific Railroad station was set this way.[3][4] Homer Lea would be appointed military advisory to Sun Yat-sen, the leader of the Chinese Republic.[5]
Thomas, Jr., received an LL.B. degree in 1898 from Kansas City Law School. Lea began his law practice in 1904 and was soon appointed police-court judge. On June 29, 1906, he married Zola May Utt, and the couple would have three sons, including the noted artist and writer Tom Lea. Thomas, Jr., volunteered for both the Spanish-American War and World War I (Homer Lea also wanted to join the Army with Thomas, but because of his medical condition was not accepted), and during the former he went to Fort Sam Houston, in San Antonio, Texas, for officers' training school. After the end of his service in the Spanish-America War, he decided to stay in Texas, moving to El Paso.[6]
Lea became a renowned criminal lawyer in the city, and with his partner, R. Ewing Thomason, developed acclaim for their use of dramatic emotionalism in the courtroom.[6] In April, 1911, he presided over the hearing of community activist Lázaro Gutiérrez de Lara.[7] For some time, Lea served as the official attorney for former Mexican president Victoriano Huerta.[8][9] Lea's administration passed the first U.S. law banning Mexican hemp because of its association with Mexican revolutionaries.[8]
Lea and Thomason decided to enter politics, and took on two more partners, J. G. McGrady and Eugene T. Edwards. Lea was elected Mayor (defeating incumbent Charles E. "Henry" Kelly), and Thomason was elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 1916. Harry S. Truman would later appoint Thomason as a federal district judge. [10] As mayor, Lea made a public declaration, after Pancho Villa raided Columbus, New Mexico, on March 9, 1916, that he would arrest Villa if he dared enter El Paso. Villa then responded by offering a thousand pesos worth of gold bounty on Lea. The Lea children had to have a police escort to and from school.[6]
In 1936, Zola May died of cancer, and Lea remarried on May 20, 1939, to Rosario Partida Archer (née Partida). Thomas Calloway Lea, Jr. died in El Paso at Southwestern General Hospital, of a heart attack, on August 2, 1945. Lea was a forty-year member of the State Bar of Texas and a Mason.[6]