Miles Brown Kitts (April 24, 1880 – May 27, 1947) was a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

Erie Erie (; ) is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. Erie is the fifth largest city in Pennsylvania and the largest city in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 a ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

who served as mayor during

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and the

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. He is considered to have been one of the "most

colorful Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associa ...

" mayors because he brought about great changes to Erie but, was also investigated by a

grand jury A grand jury is a jury—a group of citizens—empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a pe ...

in 1921 and almost was

indicted An indictment ( ) is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that use the concept of felonies, the most serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use the felonies concept often use that of an ...

Early life

Miles Kitts was born on April 24, 1880, in Summit Township,

. He attended the

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

schools of Old Waterford Academy and the

Edinboro State Normal School PennWest Edinboro is a campus of Pennsylvania Western University, a multi-campus public university in Pennsylvania. Located in the town of Edinboro, the campus has more than 4,600 enrolled students. History Edinboro University was founded ...

. Kitts went on to teach at Glenwood School in Erie. He studied

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

under Aaron Albert Freeman and was

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on October 28, 1907. He also practiced law with former Congressman

Milton W. Shreve Milton William Shreve (May 3, 1858 – December 23, 1939) was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania. Biography Milton W. Shreve was born in Chapmanville, Pennsylvania. He attended the Edinboro State Normal ...

Political life

In 1908, Kitts unsuccessfully ran for county

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. He ran for

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in 1910, but was also defeated. In 1913, Kitts won the election for membership on the City of Erie General Assembly. During the mayoral elections of 1915, the Democratic candidate Bernard Veit defeated

incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an official, office or position, usually in relation to an election. In an election for president, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the office of president before the election, whether seek ...

mayor William J. Stern but died before he could be sworn in. Former mayor and Erie's Democratic "

political boss In politics, a boss is a person who controls a faction or local branch of a political party. They do not necessarily hold public office themselves; most historical bosses did not, at least during the times of their greatest influence. Numerous off ...

" Michael Liebel gave the Democratic

nomination Nomination is part of the process of selecting a candidate for either election to a public office, or the bestowing of an honor or award. A collection of nominees narrowed from the full list of candidates is a short list. Political office In the ...

to Kitts. A

special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-larges ...

was held on February 20, 1916. Under the rules of the special election, a candidate needed 4,840

vote Voting is a method by which a group, such as a meeting or an electorate, can engage for the purpose of making a collective decision or expressing an opinion usually following discussions, debates or election campaigns. Democracies elect holde ...

s to win. Kitts lost by a margin of 204 votes and had to face Stern in a

run-off election The two-round system (TRS), also known as runoff voting, second ballot, or ballotage, is a voting method used to elect a single candidate, where voters cast a single vote for their preferred candidate. It generally ensures a majoritarian resul ...

. The run-off election was held on February 29 (making it the only

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election in Erie history). Even more strange was that the Republican Kitts was running on a Democratic "

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", while his opponent, Stern, was a Democrat running on a Republican ticket.

Accomplishments

One of biggest accomplishments of Kitts's

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative assistant, Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an admini ...

was the installation of the "Mill Creek tube". It was designed to prevent the Mill Creek from

flood A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...

ing downtown Erie, as it had on August 3, 1915. Kitts also put into action the building of the Perry Monument on Presque Isle to commemorate the

Battle of Lake Erie The Battle of Lake Erie, sometimes called the Battle of Put-in-Bay, was fought on 10 September 1813, on Lake Erie off the shore of Ohio during the War of 1812. Nine vessels of the United States Navy defeated and captured six vessels of the Briti ...

. During World War I, Kitts was known to personally send off every train carrying troops destined for

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that left from Erie. Kitts also introduced ordinances to reorganize the Erie Police Department and increased the

chief Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the boa ...

's salary to $2,100 a year.

Scandal

When the

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic ...

went into effect in 1920, "the only dry lcohol freething in Erie was the inside of a

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casino A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...

s, and

brothel A brothel, bordello, ranch, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in sexual activity with prostitutes. However, for legal or cultural reasons, establishments often describe themselves as massage parlors, bars, strip clubs, body rub par ...

s were commonplace in Erie before Kitts took office, but when Kitts was elected the situation got out of hand. Reformists in the Republican party did not approve of this. When the 1920 mayoral election came up, the reformers supported their own candidate but Kitts was re-elected. The reformers became known as the "Committee of Sixteen" and demanded Erie's numerous "

vice A vice is a practice, behaviour, or habit generally considered immoral, sinful, criminal, rude, taboo, depraved, degrading, deviant or perverted in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character tra ...

s" be cleaned up. A grand jury was formed and most of the city government came under investigation, with over a hundred witnesses called to

testify In law and in religion, testimony is a solemn attestation as to the truth of a matter. Etymology The words "testimony" and "testify" both derive from the Latin word ''testis'', referring to the notion of a disinterested third-party witness. La ...

, including 47 members of the Erie Police Department. Kitts would have indicted but the charges were dismissed because women had been members of the grand jury. Kitts continued to serve as mayor until 1924 and did not seek re-election again. Kitts said:

Later work

When Joseph C. Williams succeeded Kitts as mayor, Kitts was elected to the

Pennsylvania State Senate The Pennsylvania State Senate is the upper house of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, the Pennsylvania state legislature. The State Senate meets in the State Capitol building in Harrisburg. Senators are elected for four year terms, staggered ev ...

for two terms. In 1935, Kitts became the president judge of the Erie County

Court of Common Pleas A court of common pleas is a common kind of court structure found in various common law jurisdictions. The form originated with the Court of Common Pleas at Westminster, which was created to permit individuals to press civil grievances against one ...

. Kitts was eventually removed from this position by a

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to the

Pennsylvania Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Unified Judicial System. It also claims to be the oldest appellate court in the United States, a claim that is disputed by the Massachusetts Supreme J ...

citing "mental incapacity" shortly before his death in 1947.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kitts, Miles Brown Mayors of Erie, Pennsylvania 1880 births 1947 deaths Pennsylvania state senators Edinboro University of Pennsylvania alumni 20th-century American legislators 20th-century Pennsylvania politicians