Tom Lea, born Thomas Calloway Lea, Jr., was a lawyer and mayor of El Paso. He was born in Independence, Missouri, on October 29, 1877. He served as a volunteer soldier in the Spanish-American War and World War I. After his military ventures he established law practice in El Paso. Here he became a good criminal lawyer. In 1915 he defeated Charles E. Kelly and became mayor of El Paso from 1915-1917.
Lea’s term as mayor was during the time of the Mexican Revolution and during the time of Pancho Villa’s advancement along the border. It is said that he threatened Villa with arrest and in turn Villa threatened death to Lea or compensation to anyone who would bring Lea to him dead or alive. On some occasions Lea received threats that his children would be kidnapped. This could in turn have lead to Lea’s displeasure with the revolutionary forces but it was also due to his racist ideologies.
In 1911, Tom Lea, as a judge in the city, issued a fine of $750 to Lazaro Gutierrez de Lara because of his speaking at a Pro-Maderista rally in south El Paso. He was said to have fined Lara not for his alligiences but for the noise he had caused. However, Lea was somewhat revolutionary himself. He, at one point, purchased 25,000 rounds of ammunition and weapons which he was supposedly give to the Huerta government in order to topple the revolutionary govetnment in Mexico. This purchase was made out of the Teatro Alcazar which was owned by Frank and Ike Alderete who were pro-Huerta.
Lea was also responsible for attempting to deport various leaders and participants in revolutionary practices. One such person was police officer Fred Delgado. At this point Lea was a mere mayoral candidate but had promised the people he would get rid of the revolutionary antics in the city. This was to be a platform for his campaign. He would later arrest revoltuionary participants.
Tom Lea, in March of 1916 banned four Spanish language newspapers which were published in El Paso. The banned newspapers were El Rio Bravo, La Justicia, Mexico Nuevo, and El Paso del Norte. These papers were banned by the then mayor becasue they gave their own interpretations of the events occuring the Revolution and of Pancho Villa’s raid of Columbus, New Mexico. Previously Mayor Tom Lea had accused the El Paso Times of selling thier columns to Villa in exchange for gold.
It was Mayor Lea who urged and helped instill the city wide disinfection campaign. In March of 1916 there was a fire that was casued by a mixture of gasoline, creosote, and formaldahyde and led to 50 prisoners catching fire. Lea would later say that the city was not responsible. The main forcus of Tom Lea was to clean up the city and make it a better place for all. He instilled disinfections and de-lousing of all Mexicans entering the city. He, along with Dr. Klutzz, came up with the idea of cleaning the Mexicans before entering the city. However, these were not good measures and the immigrants would be bathed in a mixture of things that were detrimental to their health. Lea also had health inspectors venture into Segundo Barrio, Chihuauita, to check for lice and unclean living. Those found with lice were forced to have a kerosene bath and shave their heads.
