50 years ago: A legendary police chief bids farewell to O’Fallon

Fifty years ago on Sept. 1, 1973, James W. Tiley retired as O’Fallon’s Chief of Police after 20 years. He had followed in the footsteps of his father, John E. Tiley, who was Chief in O’Fallon during the Prohibition era.

In advance of an appreciation night held for him, the O’Fallon Progress printed the following interview on Sept. 27, 1973, recounting the tenure of the man who set O’Fallon on the path of creating its first truly modern police department.

“‘If the people of O’Fallon wouldn’t have been as great as they are, my job would have been a lot tougher,’ retired O’Fallon Chief of Police James Tiley said summarizing his 20 years as chief.

“A public appreciation reception for Chief Tiley is scheduled for 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 3 at the Knights of Columbus Hall.

“Tickets for the reception are available at both banks or from any local businessman. Funds from the ticket sales will go towards a cash gift for Chief Tiley.

“Tiley, who officially retired two weeks ago, credits himself with some of the advancements the department has made over the years.

“‘We built up the department. I started with two men, myself and another man. We worked 12-hour shifts, seven days a week. It wasn’t easy,’ Tiley said.

“Being a policeman was in Tiley’s blood as the old expression goes. The Chief’s father and brother were both law enforcement men and so were Tiley’s wife’s father and brother.

“When Tiley first started on the job he had to make do with what the department had and sometimes improvisation was necessary.

“Such is the case with the light atop the old First National Bank building which now houses the O’Fallon Public Library [101 W. State].

“Before the department had a police dispatching system, those who needed the police had to call the local O’Fallon telephone operator. She was stationed in the bank building. When a call came through for police assistance, she’d flip a switch which would turn the light on atop the building.

“When Tiley saw the light on, he knew he was needed and could call the operator for the necessary information and directions. Tiley’s wife Juanita, who Tiley will have been married to for 41 years today (Thursday), also got into the act after the light signaling was done away with.

“‘They used to call here (Tiley’s home) when Jim was needed,’ Mrs. Tiley said, ‘and I would send the two kids off in two different directions until they found him.’

“Soon afterwards, Tiley worked out a plan with the Belleville police department, whereby the city of O’Fallon could have its emergency calls taken by Belleville and radioed to O’Fallon and Tiley.

“The cost of the service was $10 a month.

“Tiley says he is grateful to a lot of people for the confidence and help they gave him while he was chief. ‘Mayor Henry Hesse was the greatest mayor this town ever had. The night before I was supposed to start on the job Henry told me, “Jim, all we want you to do is enforce the law. You don’t have to arrest people to make your salary,”’ Tiley said.

“Tiley’s salary at the time was $63 a week. The first day on the job for Tiley was quite shocking, too.

“Tiley remembers, ‘They handed me a gun and a badge and told me to enforce the law. I thought to myself, “What law?” I didn’t know it.’

“With that, Tiley got books and manuals on law and its enforcement. He studied and asked other law enforcement officials about how the law works.

“One of those Tiley asked for help was Paul Klincar, former Chief of Police in Belleville and now Chief Deputy for St. Clair County.

“‘Jim was a good officer to work with. He could be depended upon,’ said Klincar. ‘The people of O’Fallon were very fortunate to have such a man as chief. I know other police departments envy and respect what Jim has done. He was a leader.’

“Tiley’s entire career put him in direct contact with people everyday. To Tiley, that meant treating them as such.

“‘I treated everyone like a human being no matter what the crime was the person committed. I never beat anything out of anyone and I never pressured anyone into saying anything. The people we took in were, for the most part, local people. What would be the use of beating someone when you had to live with them the rest of your life?’ Tiley asked.

“Tiley did say that he came close to “smacking” a few people he arrested once in a while.

“‘For $5 or $10 (the fine) you could hit a cop and once in a while some guys would try to beat up Tiley,’ the Chief said, ‘until they changed the law.’

“The Chief is proud of the fact that he never had to draw a gun on anyone and hardly ever had to use a lot of force to take someone in.

“‘Occasionally someone would draw a knife or something but I talked them out of it and they dropped it,’ Tiley said.

“But what really made Tiley the proudest and what earned him the respect of everyone was the way he worked with the youth.

“‘I’ll put the kids of O’Fallon up against any other town’s kids. Ours are the best,’ Tiley said.

“Tiley admits there were a few bad kids in town but for the most part kids in O’Fallon were good natured.

“‘Sometime those kids would make me so mad I’d kick a tree. It would take me a while to cool down before I’d go talk to them,’ the Chief said.

“‘He’d just remember he was a kid once too,’ his wife interjected.

“Tiley had a quick remedy for straightening out kids who were too wild, especially those who abused the use of a car.

“‘I’d either write them up a ticket or take them home to papa. Papa either tore up the license, like it happened once, or took it away for awhile. Sometimes dad would tell me, “I’ll take care of it.” We usually didn’t see that youngster in trouble again,’ Tiley said.

“The new Chief of Police in O’Fallon is Darwin Lehmann. His name is now on the Chief of Police’s office door and his name is on the police stationery.

“But as long as there is a law enforcement department in O’Fallon and as long as there are people in need of police help in O’Fallon, Jim Tiley will be remembered as the man who used his own common sense and good judgment to put the human element in law enforcement. Say, is that light on at the bank building?”

75 years ago, Sept. 9, 1948

Les Proffitt, operator of the Clover Farm store at 119 West First Street, this week is observing his 25 anniversary in the food business in O’Fallon.

The event is being celebrated with special offerings in food values, in both quality grocery and meat items which appear elsewhere in this issue of the Progress.

Mr. Proffitt, operator of one of the city’s modern markets, started business on September 11, 1923, in a small building at the corner of South Lincoln and West Second Street, being associated with Walter Schaefer.

Later the firm moved into the old Keil building (now occupied by the Thomas Electric Shop) where the firm dissolved partnership, John Proffitt becoming associated with his brother.

Later John went to Mascoutah to open a store and Les became sole owner of the local business. The store moved to the corner of Lincoln and First Street and four years ago moved to its present location where the business was modernized according to present merchandising methods with the installation of new fixtures and refrigeration equipment.

Featured during the week’s sales event will be the giving away of a Westinghouse automatic toaster and Sunbeam electric iron. (First Street Lounge is now on the site of where the Clover Farm store building stood in 1948.)

50 years ago. Sept. 6, 1973

Darwin Lehmann has been appointed O’Fallon Chief of Police by the O’Fallon Board of Fire and Police Commissioners.

Lehmann, 41, succeeds James Tiley, who retired Saturday after 20 years of service as police chief. Lehmann was appointed Saturday, effective immediately.

Lehmann has been an O’Fallon policeman for 15 years and has been sergeant of the force the last 10 years.

The salary for the chief’s post is $12,250 annually.

Corporal Vic Logan was also promoted to the position of sergeant during Saturday’s meeting of the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners.