100 Years Ago: Sweet William the Smoking Goat Takes Alton By Storm

“Billie,” or “Sweet William,” as he was affectionately called by the local schoolchildren, was an Angora goat ram who belonged to Emil Koch of the Koch Brothers Meat Market at 634 E. Broadway in downtown Alton. And Sweet William was a smoker: “the prize cigarette smoker in Alton,” according to an April 17, 1925, Alton Evening Telegraph newspaper article. He could smoke six cigarettes at a time if they were lit for him and placed in his mouth. He would carefully smoke a cigarette halfway and then turn it sideways with his tongue and swallow the whole thing, “fire and all.” He then smacked his lips to ask for another. He did not prefer any brand over another “but may signify a preference later on after he has tried all brands.”

The whole area loved Billie and helped take care of him. He got his wool clipped at Walnut Grove Dairy, where they also styled his beard with a curling iron and permanent wave. He could stand on his hind legs and shake hands. He liked candy and popcorn and especially enjoyed chewing gum. He was a very peaceful goat and rarely got into trouble, even when he roamed around the neighborhood.

Surprisingly, the cigarette habit was not what caused Sweet William’s untimely death on August 2, 1925. He died after eating green grapes. “Sweet William had an iron stomach, there is no doubt, for he would eat tin cans, barks of trees and of course tobacco stems but when he went up against a mess of green grapes after stripping a certain grape arbor in the neighborhood, it was too much for him.” The whole neighborhood was devastated and held a funeral the next day. They hung crepe on the goat’s shed, carefully placed his body in a large wooden box, and buried him in a marked grave.

The Koch brothers planned to have a descendant of Sweet William as their new mascot. “The new mascot will be warned to stay off of green grapes but he may eat all the tin cans, tobacco stems, tree bark and may smoke all the cigarettes that he likes.”

I think this goes without saying, but please do not give cigarettes to animals.

Sources

“Cigarette for Goat After His Tin Can Meal.” Alton Evening Telegraph (Alton, IL), April 17, 1925.

George Arents Collection, The New York Public Library. "Angora Goat ram." The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1850 - 1959.https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e2-d4da-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99

“Green Grapes Too Much for Even a Goat.” Alton Evening Telegraph (Alton, IL), August 5, 1925.

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