In his inaugural address, Curtis discussed the importance of spending on educational facilities, advocated for a board of election commissioners, providing for public parks, and internal auditing within the city.

[16] Mayor Peters, concerned about sympathy strikes, had called up some units of the Massachusetts National Guard stationed in the Boston area and relieved Curtis of duty.

[17] Massachusetts Governor Calvin Coolidge, furious that the mayor had called out state guard units, finally acted.

[19] Samuel Gompers of the AFL recognized that the strike was damaging the cause of labor in the public mind and advised the strikers to return to work.

Commissioner Curtis remained adamant and refused to re-hire the striking policemen, and Coolidge called for a new police force to be recruited.

[20] Curtis served as Police Commissioner until his sudden death in 1922;[11] The Boston Globe wrote that he had "sacrificed his life to duty".