Marion Police Chief Retires After 21 Years on Force
“Twenty one years of other people’s troubles” is how the retiring Marion Police Chief describes his career on the force.
“I’m gonna start on my own life now, but I’m gonna try to keep it straight,” John F. Kelley added with a laugh.
Today was his final day as a policeman. He became Chief in May, 1967. He has been night chief since 1955. Continue reading
Use of Radar Cuts Marion Speed Rate
Use of radar has cut speeding in Marion, Police Commissioner Bob Yearack said Monday.
The radar was put into used November 7th. Yearack said 20 persons driving from 11 to 16 miles per hour over the limits were ticketed since then. Continue reading
A few of the articles extracted from a special 1929 Progress Edition of the Marion Daily Republican newspaper reflects the state of the city of Marion on its 90th year of existence as follows.
Marion the county seat of Williamson County is the oldest city in the county and as such is one of the most stable cities of the rich Southern Illinois or Egyptian coal fields where it is with its more than one and a half million dollars’ worth of public improvements the home city of 15,000 people. Continue reading
Law enforcement in Marion in the 1920’s, during the heyday of the bootleggers and their gangs, was a chancy job. Our city traffic policeman during those times was John H. Smothers. He and his wife, the former Edna Tippy, lived with their three children, Ralph, Paul and Zella, at 702 South Madison Street. Continue reading
Gene Goolsby with Thompson
This photo was taken in 1995 by Jon Musgrave for the Marion History Edition of the Marion Daily Republican. Officer Gene Goolsby displays a 1921 Thompson submachine gun that was apparently confiscated during the gang wars era of the 1920’s. Policemen still test fire it on the shooting range periodically.