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"Born
in Conway, N.H., July 20, 1800; died August 20, 1879; served during
1854-1855.
Benjamin Seaver
had been nominated by the Whigs; Smith by the Native American Party, and
Jacob Sleeper by the temperance men. On the third ballot Smith was elected.
He was commonly known as Doctor Smith, having taken the degree of medicine
at Williams College.
It is said
that Mayor Smith "was never taken quite seriously as the Chief Magistrate."
He had many schemes for the betterment of the city government, but did not
succeed in carrying them out; and some of his ideas were of a singular, if not
visionary, character. He did succeed, however, in making a certain reform in
the Police Department. It consisted in uniting the "watch" and the
police under one department in charge of a chief of police, a form of
organization which was not materially changed until 1878.
During Mayor
Smith's administration the voters of Boston accepted the proposal for a new
charter."
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