Goat Has An Explosive Appetite, Freaks Out Entire Town

What would you do if your goat ate half a pound of nitroglycerin in gelatin form and then gobbled two sticks of dynamite? In November 1923, this question made front-pages news—and puzzled authorities in Aurora, Illinois, who feared approaching the loaded animal. After all, he could blow at any second.

One idea suggested that the goat be lured into a corner with a tasty head of cabbage and then chloroformed and detonated on a dump heap. Though a volunteer would still be required to do the dangerous deed. Its owner, Dick McMahon, rejected the plan, refusing the kill the goat. He felt confident it would digest the dynamite “as completely as he had racing sulky tires and similar delicacies.” The explosives had been stored in a shed by workers digging a well.

Macomb Daily By-Stander (Macomb, Illinois), November 15, 1923.

McMahon had been given the goat by Harry Reno, a millionaire printer in Chicago, who’d been given the goat by gum manufacturer and Chicago Cubs owner, William Wrigley.

According to reports, the goat was well liked by race horses sharing the pasture, and taking him away from the horses might dampen their spirits.

The press reveled with a series of jokes, including: “A goat in Aurora, Illinois, ate two sticks of dynamite and may become the Aurora Borealis soon.” But no reports of a goat explosion followed.

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