The Hollywood Goat Who Took On the Police

Hollywood has always had its share of difficult personalities.

In July 1940, one of them was a goat.

The trouble began when a woman identified in the newspaper as Mrs. J. A. Goggim opened her door for her yelping dog.

The dog came flying inside.

Unfortunately, it had company.

A goat was right behind it.

I have questions already. Mainly, where did the dog meet this goat, and what exactly had happened between them before they arrived at Mrs. Goggim’s front door? Whatever it was, the dog clearly wanted out of the arrangement.

Mrs. Goggim tried to get the animal out, but the goat apparently had no intention of accepting suggestions from management. When she couldn’t drive it away, she called the police.

Honestly, that seems fair.

At this point the goat had already chased a dog into somebody’s house and refused to leave. Calling the police probably felt like a reasonable next step.

The goat apparently disagreed.

That brought radio officers C. B. Silvester and A. B. Vian to the scene. The newspaper described the goat as a “struggling belligerent” as the officers hauled it off to the pound, which seems both wonderfully dramatic and, judging by what happened next, completely accurate.

Now, if you have ever spent any time around goats, you may already know where this is going.

At the pound, Officer Silvester released the goat.

Then he bent over.

This was a mistake. A big mistake.

The goat had apparently been waiting for somebody to make one.

It charged Officer Silvester.

Silvester ended up at Hollywood Receiving Hospital, where he was treated for painful bruises.

You would think that after chasing a dog into a house, resisting removal, getting taken into police custody and then sending an officer to the hospital, our goat might have considered his work finished for the day.

Nope.

Nobody claimed the goat.

And according to the newspaper, it remained at the pound still challenging visitors.

That last part is what really makes the story for me. Not only did this goat create an entire chain of events involving a dog, a startled homeowner, two radio officers, a pound and a hospital visit, but he still apparently felt there was more work to do.

So somewhere in Hollywood in the summer of 1940 sat an unidentified goat that had chased a dog into a house, resisted removal, been taken into police custody, sent an officer to the hospital and apparently remained willing to discuss the matter with anyone else who came near him.

There is no word on whether anybody eventually claimed him.

I hope not.

Some goats clearly belong to themselves.

The story appeared in the July 30, 1940 edition of the Waynesboro News-Virginian under the headline “Even Goat Makes Hollywood News.” It was a syndicated United Press item and appeared in other newspapers under slightly different headlines.