Hometown By Handlebar site shares this interesting tale of politics and polygamy.
The time was 1890, and “Fort Worthites” (as the local newspaper described residents) were witnessing something like a wild episode of Jersey Shore — with newly elected mayor W.S. Pendleton serving in the role of Snooki.
Pendleton was discovered to have married a phone operator despite already having a wife and children. The Fort Worth Gazette predicted that Pendleton would “sink into the oblivion which his conduct has earned for him.”
Sure enough, Pendleton left the city.
Replacing him as mayor was old standby John Peter Smith, described by the Gazette as “the Moses that is to lead the Fort Worthites out of the wilderness.”
