6/22/2010:
The Litchville Bulletin reported a curious case from that city on this date in 1904; citizens of the town were reported to be in an uproar over the mayor's recent activities. The cause of the commotion was none other than a Mexican burro, purchased a few weeks earlier by Mayor W. J. Taylor while on a trip.
Litchville residents alleged that the Mayor's "...municipal affairs [have become] of secondary importance" since the acquisition of the animal, with the Mayor spending the majority of his time doting on the burro. The Bulletin also reported that the rest of Litchville did not share the Mayor's adoration: it was said that the donkey was "...so darned ugly, she will stop a clock [and now] the citizens judge the hour by the sun, so unreliable have their time pieces become." But it was not only the animal's appearance that caused so many offence; apparently, the animal's horrific lamentations broke "...crockery, curl[ed] up the weather boarding on...buildings, and encourage[d] the sale of cotton batting for filling one's ears."
The residents of Litchville, however, were to have the last laugh. On Sunday, June 19th, the Mayor finally decided that the appearance of his pet burro could in fact be improved. Enlisting the help of one of the elevator men, the Mayor determined to give his pet a proper hair-cut. The Mayor proposed that he would hold the small burro in place while the elevator man did the clipping. Grabbing hold of the animal, though, was not as easy as Taylor had hoped; the burro swiftly tossed the Mayor into the air once the clipping began. The Mayor, in turn, tossed the burro, and a regular tussle ensued. The commotion brought most of south Litchville's residents from their homes, and they were treated to quite a show. For three hours, the burro and the Mayor battled it out on the city's main streets. The elevator man, for his part, managed to clip a patch of hair here and there during moments of respite.
The Bulletin reported that "the more the crowd laughed, the madder Taylor got," and by the end, most were assured that the Mayor lacked his previous enthusiasm for the animal and would return to his civic duties. As for the burro, The Bulletin reported that the haphazard clipping job left her looking like a "ruffled petticoat."
Dakota Datebook written by Jayme L. Job
Sources:
Fargo Forum and Daily Republican. Wednesday (Evening ed.), June 22, 1904: p. 10.