“His birth name was Charles “Ches” McCartney. His traveling stage name was The Goat Man, and he visited DeKalb County, TN. during the mid-1960’s. The Goat Man was one of the South’s most famous wandering travelers and folk characters…powered by a large herd of goats, usually passing other transportation vehicles on the left side of the road, now Congress Boulevard in Smithville.
Bertha McBride remembers his nauseating smell! In further collaboration from the Moonlit Road, a commentator revealed, “He never bathed or shaved.”
McCartney further defensively added, “The goats don’t care how I smell or how I look. They trust me and have faith in me and this is more than I can say about a lot of people.”
McCartney was a Baptist preacher, who traveled in an unfit wagon, pulled by an estimated 30 goats. And since he slept with the goats and never bathed, he was given the name, “The Goat Man!” And, yes, his horrendous smell penetrated the air when he approached and departed (ibid).
His wagon was also unfitting for humans. He hastily threw boxes of collected junk, obtained from his travels, haphazardly into any empty landing space in the dilapidated wagon. It also contained a potbelly stove and an assortment of pots and pans. It was his home for more than 40 years.
“I remember he always stayed at the City Park next to where Glynn’s Auto Sales is located on Broad Street. He seemed to arrive on weekdays and spent one night there,” recalled Denise Johnson Brown.
“When word spread of McCartney’s local travels, the groups would gather, mostly out of curiosity,” wrote Mona B. Smith of the Knoxville News Sentinel daily newspaper. He would speak and share his life story, “and proceed to preach of the imminent second coming, and warnings of the second coming of Christ, and warnings of
everlasting doom for sinners.”
While sharing with other inquisitive persons, The Goat Man also included within his life’s history, that he ran away from his family’s Iowa farm when he was 14-years-old. Vastly and immediately, he married a Circus knife thrower, who was 10-years his senior. An only son,
Glen, was born to the couple before their divorce. The major reason was his fascination with the goats, continued Smith. He later married and divorced two more times, totaling three marriages.
Yolanda Moore Barry said, “I remember seeing his cart packed full of odds and ends. Thinking back, we always went as a family. I don’t remember interacting with him. Seems like there was always a crowd in Smithville, so we just looked at him.”
Smith’s feature article continues, “McCartney’s
Christian faith was made stronger when he was working at the Works Progress Administration (WPA) cutting trees. Then, a tree fell on him and he was pronounced dead. He woke up on the funeral home’s embalming table!”
The thrice married McCartney’s daily diet
consisted of goat’s milk and a few items of food he was able to buy. The rumors were that he was actually really rich, and growing older, he became the victim of several muggings. This led to his retirement after traveling over 100,000 miles, preaching from 1930 to 1987.
It was during the 1960’s that The Goat Man visited DeKalb County, Tennessee. Locals said you could smell him coming! This was verified earlier in the above comment by Bertha McBride.
According to Terry Maxwell of Smithville, McMurtry and his 30 goats settled down at a former small City grassland park, across the highway from today’s Tractor Supply on Congress Blvd. in Smithville. (Also verified by Denise Brown and Yolanda Barry.)
Which brings me to this important point. Although an elementary school pupil throughout the 1960’s, I remember his Smithville visit, almost verbatim. And, I especially remember
Dad’s humor and comedic pranks, especially geared toward the late Ernie Estes, owner and operator of the former Ernie’s Restaurant, then located near DCHS on West Broad Street in Smithville, TN. where the White Possum restaurant once was located.
On a regular Smithville weekend, Dad, a local practicing attorney, decided to visit The Goat Man while he and his goats were camping at the small City park. And Dad was successful. He told The Goat Man he wound give him $20.00 if he would be seated and order a big thick steak from Ernie, a staunch Republican to Dad’s huge
Democrat Party affiliation. Every morning at breakfast, Dad would make up anti-Republican stories, while reading and scanning Nashville’s Democratic morning newspaper, The
Tennessean. At which time, Ernie’s anger would surface and he’d begin throwing food around the cooking grill! The same response occurred when The Goat Man entered his restaurant as a paying customer. Dad remembers Ernie’s face turning angry red! Also, joining Dad in the verbal political abuse were the late John and Robert Alexander, also of Smithville.
Ernie never knew that Dad had paid for The Goat Man to enter and enjoy Ernie’s food. And, he didn’t care about political parties. He was just hungry. And, a thick steak was the answer to his prayers.
“In the winter of 1998, Chez’s son, Gene, was shot to death in an abandoned school bus in Georgia that had been used as a home for the father and son. The murder remains unsolved,” wrote Kelly Kazek of “It’s a Southern Thing” web article.
The Goat Man died in a nursing home in Macon, Georgia in 1998 (24 years ago) at the estimated age of 97. He always said that he was 106 years old. He always told those whom he met, “Prepare to Meet Thy God.” (Amos 4:12)
