New-York tribune., 1921-02-18
Williarrlkell1lel.
Mayors Guard
20 Years, Dies
Smiling Bill'' Succumbs
to Pleurisy After am
Illness of Three Weeks:
Funeral Next Sunday
81 Years a Policeman
Forcibly Elected John L.
Sullivan, Who Insisted
ON Seeing Seth Low

omlllng BIZ Kennel, ponce lieu
tenant and bodyguard for years to sew
eral Mayors of this city, died yester-
day in the Presbyterian Hospital. sue
cumbing to an attack Of pleurisy after
an illness of three weeks.
With Lieutenant Kennel when he died
were his wife and his brother, Detec-
tive John Kennel, of the Lost Property
Bureau at Police Heaquarters. His
home was at 81 Grove Street, Brooklyn.
The illness which caused the officers
death was recurrence of an attack in
May, 1919, brought about by exposure.
de contracted q severe cold during
driTing rainstorm at the police parade
that year and was stricken with an
abscess on one of his lungs. After
long delay an operation was performed
last year in Mount Sinai Hospital, and
1t was believed he had recovered. He
resumed his duties in the Mayors of
fees, but recently asked to be trans
ferred to less strenuous work in the
Chief Inspectors Office. Three weeks
ago he suffered relapse and was taken
to the hospital.
Thirty-one Years on Force
Thirty-one years on the force, and
twenty-six years as the special guard
of the Mayors Office in the City Hall,
is the record which Lieutenant Kennel
was on the point of completing. 1t was
on August 3, 1890, that the stalwart
young man he then was became
patrolman and began patrolling his
daily or nightly beat. 1t was on Feb
ruary 2S, 1895, that he was assigned
from the detective bureau, to which
he had been attached for some time,
to the City Hall, there to be the guard
of the Mayors Office and, in measure,
the bodyguard of the Mayor.
At that time William l.. Strong was
Mayor and he found Kennel a most
acceptable attendant. After him came
Mayor Van Wyck's Robert the Testy."
as he was dubbed, the very antithesis
of Mayor Strong, yet he was equally
pleased with Kennel
There followed Seth Low, George B.
Mcclellan, William J. Gaynor, Ardoiph
Kline, John Purroy Mitchell and John F.
Hylan, each OF them differing from the
others in temperament and habits, yet
all of them finding Lieutenant Kennel
precisely what they wanted.
Thousands of other people, too, found
the big policeman just what they
wanted, or else just what he ought to
be to deal with them effectively. Legit-
innate callers had access to the Mayor
facilitated, while bores and cranks of
every sort and condition were steered
away with the proverbial neatness and
dispatch. Among the former whom
Kennel courteously ushered into His
Honor's presence were Ii Hung chang,
Admiral Togo, the Duke of Veragua,
Prince Louis of Battenberg, Prince
Fushima and Henry Hohenzollern, then
known as Prince Henry of Prussia
Count Szechenyi and Miss Gladys Van
derbilt also were received by him and
guided to the proper Office when thev
visited the City Hall to get their mar
rlage license.
Elected Sullivan
Perhaps the most formidable of the
other kind of callers was John. L. Sui
livan, who walked in one day, very
much Gin his cups" and demanded to
see Mayor Low. "Now, John," expos
tulated Kennel, "be good and go along
quietly"
Sullivan roared out ar epithet and
aimed blow at Kennel, who cleverly
lodged it, caught Sullivan around his
chest and firmly, swiftly and effective
ly rushed him out of the building.
Others called with clubs and guns and
bombs, but Kennel, suiting himself
with dexterity to each peculiar case,
was invariably match for them.
William Kennel was born in 1864,
ana oegan business life as q butcher.
He left that trade at the age of twenty
six to become policeman, and was at
first attached to the Fifth Street sta
ton, doing patrol duty on the East
Side streets. He was made a sergeant
in 1897 and lieutenant in 1907. He
distinguished himself in 1894 by saw
ing hundreds of persons from injury
or death in the old Florence Building,
or Second Avenue, where Justice Steck-
ler was holding court. He saw the
floor sag and begin to give way, and got
the people out without panic just in
time to save them from an appalling
disaster.
In the course of his experience he
acquired an excellent working knowl-
edge of half a dozen of the principal
foreign languages spoken in this city,
which proved of great service to him
in dealing with the polygot callers at
the City Hall. On December 81, 1917,
he asked to be retired, two years in
advance Of the time when he would be
automatically retired on a pension, but
he was persuaded to withdraw the ap-
plication and remain in the service.
Lieutenant Kennels body was taken
last night to the family home, where
funeral services will be held at 2:30
p. m. Sunday. Interment will be in
Lutheran Cemetery.