By Jessica Gorman

Last week, the City of Minden announced the winners of its successful Pet Mayor Contest and collared these new city officials. However, legend has it that a bull was once elected mayor of Minden. Calling him a pet is certainly a stretch, but let’s take a look at the legend of Chaffe’s Bull.

The details of the story vary from one telling to another, but basically it goes something like this. During Reconstruction, one mayoral election pitted a local candidate against a Northern candidate deemed a carpetbagger. Just before the election, the local candidate is said to have died. Rather than cast their vote for the remaining, undesirable candidate, many voters of the town cast their vote for Chaffe’s Bull. The bull received the majority of the vote, but was forced to give up his seat to the carpetbagger. To illustrate the disdain that is said to have been felt toward this man, Chaffe’s Bull was described in a 1934 newspaper article as “an obstreperous old vagabond, wandering about town bellowing more noise than present-day radios.” It would seem that he was not a well-loved member of the community.

So far, I have found no contemporary sources that mention either Chaffe’s Bull or a contentious mayoral election. It’s also important to note that during Reconstruction, many local officials were appointed by the governor. While elections were sometimes held, there is documentation to support the fact that at least some of Minden’s Reconstruction-era mayors were appointed and not elected.

In the absence of direct evidence to corroborate the story, we shift our attention to the available information. The earliest telling of the story that I have found so far is from 1934. It names the carpetbagger only as “Jones” and even questions whether that was his real name or an alias. No exact year is given in that article but others have suggested 1871, 1872, and 1874. We can take this information and compare it with what we do know. Most of the mayors for this time period are documented. At the close of the Civil War, R.A. Lancaster was mayor, followed by T.W. Randle who was re-elected in 1866. It seems that J. Walter Scott took office in 1867 as evidenced by his reported resignation the following year. He was replaced by previous mayor, R.A. Lancaster and in 1869, T.W. Randle was once again serving as mayor. None of these men fit the description of the carpetbagger candidate.

In 1870, local lawyer S.G. McKemie was appointed mayor. He was followed by J.G. Warren, brother of Sheriff G.W. Warren. He resigned and John Miller served the remainder of his term until the appointment of John Hart in 1872. In 1873, Col. S.F. Goode became mayor. Here, we find the possibility a gap as it is unclear if Col. Goode continued to hold office in 1874. In 1875, T.M. Fort was elected and followed by C.S. Smith in 1876 who seems to have been re-elected in 1877 as he is named as the only candidate in the race. Again, none of these men fit the description of the man we are looking for and none are named Jones.

The only year that seems to hold any possibility for the origin of the story in 1874. Political tensions were high across the state and locally. We do not have any specific information concerning elections or political appointments in Minden for that year, but we do have newspaper reports that give some insight into local happenings. One of those reports, from July 1874, reveals “that the citizens of Minden had caused the mayor and members of the city council to resign.” At the time of publication, the reason for this was not known and no follow-up reports have been found. Neither the mayor nor the city council are identified.

All stories, whether accurate or not, have an origin. I would love to find the origin for the story of Chaffe’s Bull that has been a part of our local history for so long. For now, there is no way to say whether or not it truly happened, and so, the legend of Chaffe’s Bull lives on.

(Jessica Gorman in the Executive Director of the Dorcheat Historical Association Museum, Webster Parish Historian, and an avid genealogist.)