The Crepeaus Coloured, around 1927Hmm. I was wrong when I said in the last (after a cursory glance at the newsclippings in a scrapbook once belonging to my Aunt) that the English papers denounced my grandfather, Jules Crepeau for the Montreal Water and Power Deal Controversy) and the French papers supported him.
The Montreal Gazette didn't approve of Houde getting rid of him.
"Both these officials have long terms of valuable service to their credit. Each occupies a position of responsibility and of authority and it is quite evident from the terms of the city charter that a certain independence of action on their part has been provided with deliberate intent. The labours of these officials, extending in the case of M. Tetrault over more than a decade and in the case of Mr. Crepeau over more than forty years, have contributed more to the orderly progress and development of the city than most people realize."
No kidding! From articles in the Montreal Gazette and elsewhere it is clear my grandfather was the City's Jack of All Trades. Technically, his job was to deliver and explain information from the heads of the various departments to the Executive Committee, which ran the city.
But from what I have read he was not only a liaising kind of guy, but also a damage control guy, a spin doctor and porte-parole, a fill-in for the Mayor for certain n0t-that-important visitors to City Hall as well as the Chief Planner of Events for real serious VIPS, like the Governor General or British PM. And he sat on all kinds of Committees, like the Town Planning Committee of 1923 (when it was discovered that maybe it paid to look ahead) and the City Improvement League, which was most interested in increasing the number of parks.
The latter job plays PERFECTLY into my story... where Mayor Mederic Martin calls him to perform a duty during the 1927 visit of the Prince of Wales. (It's perfect, as the PofW came to Canada for a month, visiting Montreal at the beginning for formal events and then resting for four days at the end..)
If Jules wasn't at Council Meetings, answering questions, he had sent a letter in, answering questions. And even as early as 1900, as a clerk, he had some duties: he was on the Bonsecours Market Committee for one. And as Assistant City Clerk he often went to Quebec to give depositions to the Legislature there.
Oh, and MOST interesting, after that January 1927 theatre fire that killed 77 people, mostly kids, he was the one who gave the first day's testimony at the inquest. Apparently there was low public interest.
Funny, as child in Montreal I couldn't go to the cinema until I was 10 because of a by-law enacted after that infamous fire. I sneaked in, though, being tall for my age, to see the Lippizanner movie.
So many momentous events in 1927 in Montreal! Fodder for my play Milk and Water.
A busy man. I wonder how he found the time to go to Atlantic City, above.
So, maybe it's the other way around: the English Papers supported him, the French did not. (Must read all the press clippings closely.) But Le Devoir wrote such a nice obit for him. And wasn't La Presse owned by the Forgets?
