A sepia toned black and white postcard of a man smoking a cigar with a goat in the street. Behind them is a banner with stars saying “WELCOME”. The back caption on the top left reads: “SCENES OF OLD BISBEE Presented by the Bisbee Council on the Arts and Humanities-Elks Convention, 1900 Main Street”. The postcard is unused and was published by Bisbee Council on the Arts and Humanities.

In the postcard, the name of goat and owner are unknown; but of all the livestock in Bisbee the story of Billy the goat and his owner, the fireman George Marz, was one most notable. Despite all of Bisbee’s devastating fires, there was only a single fireman who lost his life in the line of duty. George Marz was aiding miners on June 29, 1909 when a mine carload of hydrochloric acid caught fire. After what seemed to be the extinction of the fire, he tried moving one of the barrels containing the acid only for the fire to shoot out once again and he unfortunately inhaled a lethal amount of the chemicals. It took until nightfall for physical effects to occur and George Marz passed away on July 1st 1909. He was a member of the Knights of Pythias serving as Chancellor Commander and his fellow members of the fraternal order attended his funeral at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday July 3rd 1909. After services, the body of George Marz was shipped to Breckenridge, Colorado to be buried near his mother. Marz was survived by three brothers: his mother had died a year before from Bright’s Disease and his father died several years earlier. During his time as a fireman he detected and put out a fire on May 12th, 1907 in a house near the Bisbee Opera House before it could spread. George Marz owned a pet goat named Billy, the pair shared a very close bond and would take walks together all throughout Bisbee. After the death of Marz, Billy developed a mysterious illness and died six hours after Marz passed away. The emotion lives of the rest of the animal kingdom are unknown and often ignored by humanity. The passing of Billy so close to Marz can draw two separate conclusions: either Billy was poisoned by a friend of Marz who didn’t want him to depart without his goat friend or Billy the goat died from grief. Whatever the case may be, their presence was sorely missed.

2021.7.20