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{{template|This article was revised from {{{site|Wikipedia}}} but the text was originally written by BHathorn (under the name) and does not include alterations made by others from that site.|background=#aff|category=Copied Articles}}

{{Infobox officeholder

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| term_start2=July 1932

| term_end2=June 1934

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| preceded2=Henry L. Bridges

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| preceded2=[[Henry L. Bridges]]

| succeeded2=Henry L. Bridges

| office3=Member of the Minden City Council

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Fort was born in [[rural]] Bellevue in Bossier Parish, located west of Minden, to Thomas Moore Fort (1820–1887), a lawyer originally from Twiggs County, [[Georgia]], and the former Martha Ann "Mattie" Connell (1835–1927), a [[Mississippi]] native. The couple married in 1856 in Bossier Parish. In 1872, Thomas and Mattie Fort moved to Minden.<ref name=cemetery>Earlene Mendenhall Lyle, ''The Minden Cemetery: A Peaceful Resting Place,'' Self-published, June 2004, p. 4</ref> T. M. Fort, or "Colonel Fort", as he was known, was mayor of Minden from 1875 to 1876, when terms were for one year each. T. M. and Connell Fort are apparently the only father-son mayors of the city, at least since 1868; records before that date are fragmentary or nonexistent.<ref>City of Minden, List of Mayors since 1868</ref>

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In 1901, Connell Fort married the former Ellie Miles (1873–1913), a native of [[South Carolina]]. The Forts had a daughter, later Mary F. Barnes of [[Shreveport]], and five sons, Connell Miles Fort Jr. (1902–1975),<ref>"Connell Miles Fort, Jr., dies in Shreveport", ''Minden Press-Herald'', March 4, 1975, p. 10.</ref> Thomas L. Fort, John L. Fort, Carlton A. Fort, and Owen Fort, all of Minden. John Fort (1906–1992) and his wife, Louise B. Fort (1906–2000), operated the former Fort's News Stand, which was located for many years on Main Street in Minden.<ref name=cemetery/>

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In 1901, Connell Fort married the former Ellie Miles (1873–1913), a native of [[South Carolina]]. The Forts had a daughter, later Mary F. Barnes of [[Shreveport]], and five sons, Connell Miles Fort, Jr. (1902–1975),<ref>"Connell Miles Fort, Jr., dies in Shreveport," ''[[Minden Press-Herald]],'' March 4, 1975, p. 10.</ref> Thomas L. Fort, John L. Fort, Carlton A. Fort, and Owen Fort, all of Minden. John Fort (1906–1992) and his wife, Louise B. Fort (1906–2000), operated the former Fort's News Stand, which was located for many years on Main Street in Minden.<ref name=cemetery/>

In 1920, some seven years after Ellie's death, Connell Fort married the former Jessie Beopple. From that union came three more children. Bennard Moore Fort (1921–1945) died at sea during World War II, attached to the ''U.S.S. Saratoga'' in the battle of [[Iwo Jima]].<ref name=homes>{{cite web|url=http://www.mindenmemories.org/Residential%20Homes%20A-F.htm|title=Residential/Homes (A-L)|publisher=Minden Memories|accessdate=May 28, 2011}}</ref><ref>There is a cenotaph of Bennard Fort in the Minden Cemetery.</ref> The two younger Fort children were George W. Fort (1924–2005) and Katherine Virginia Fort, later Katherine Virginia Elliott (1922–2011), the last surviving child of Connell Fort.<ref name=fortdeath/>

==Public service==

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Connell Fort was a deputy in the second term of Webster Parish [[Sheriff]] Daniel Webster Pratt from 1896 to 1900.<ref>List of Sheriffs of Webster Parish, ''Webster Parish Centennial Booklet, 1971'', Webster Parish Police Jury publication.</ref> From 1900 to 1908, Fort, a [[Democratic Party|Democrat]], was a member of the Minden City Council, on which he pushed for the establishment of concrete sidewalks.<ref name=fortdeath/> In 1917, while Fort was still on the citiy council, E. L. Stewart, a former member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from Webster Parish, Stewart's fellow attorney and brother, Daniel Webster Stewart Sr. (1857–1935), and Alberta Glass (1834-1937), a former [[Confederate]] Army soldier,<ref>{{cite web|url=~~http~~://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Glass&GSfn=Alberta&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSst=20&GScntry=4&GSob=n&GRid=15088401&df=all&|title=Alberta Glass|publisher=findagrave.com|accessdate=March 13, 2015}}</ref> were sued by the Town of Minden for non-payment of the expense for the mandatory construction of sidewalks abutting their properties, based on a 1902 state law, which the plaintiffs challenged unsuccessfully on double appeal to the Louisiana Court of Appeal for the Second Circuit in Shreveport ant the Louisiana Supreme Court in [[New Orleans]]. The three did not request the sidewalks and sought to shield themselves from the associated costs.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jPpMqyLOd74C&pg=PA118&lpg=PA118&dq=E.+L.+Stewart+of+Minden&source=bl&ots=2x4-t4jOLJ&sig=8VPLP4PLvENu27u4wgsHWzVJ6pI&hl=en&sa=X&ei=GzADVeCHGcW-ggS2iIHYBw&ved=0CCwQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=E.%20L.%20Stewart%20of%20Minden&f=false|publisher=Southern Reporter, Vol. 77|pages=118–121|title=Town of Minden v. Stewart et al|date=November 26, 1917|accessdate=March 13, 2015}}</ref>

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Connell Fort was a deputy in the second term of Webster Parish [[Sheriff]] Daniel Webster Pratt from 1896 to 1900.<ref>List of Sheriffs of Webster Parish, ''Webster Parish Centennial Booklet, 1971'', Webster Parish Police Jury publication.</ref> From 1900 to 1908, Fort, a [[Democratic Party|Democrat]], was a member of the Minden City Council, on which he pushed for the establishment of concrete sidewalks.<ref name=fortdeath/> In 1917, while Fort was still on the citiy council, [[E. L. Stewart]], a former member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from Webster Parish, Stewart's fellow attorney and brother, Daniel Webster Stewart Sr. (1857–1935), and Alberta Glass (1834-1937), a former [[Confederate]] Army soldier,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Glass&GSfn=Alberta&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSst=20&GScntry=4&GSob=n&GRid=15088401&df=all&|title=Alberta Glass|publisher=findagrave.com|accessdate=March 13, 2015}}</ref> were sued by the Town of Minden for non-payment of the expense for the mandatory construction of sidewalks abutting their properties, based on a 1902 state law, which the plaintiffs challenged unsuccessfully on double appeal to the Louisiana Court of Appeal for the Second Circuit in Shreveport ant the Louisiana Supreme Court in [[New Orleans]]. The three did not request the sidewalks and sought to shield themselves from the associated costs.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jPpMqyLOd74C&pg=PA118&lpg=PA118&dq=E.+L.+Stewart+of+Minden&source=bl&ots=2x4-t4jOLJ&sig=8VPLP4PLvENu27u4wgsHWzVJ6pI&hl=en&sa=X&ei=GzADVeCHGcW-ggS2iIHYBw&ved=0CCwQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=E.%20L.%20Stewart%20of%20Minden&f=false|publisher=Southern Reporter, Vol. 77|pages=118–121|title=Town of Minden v. Stewart et al|date=November 26, 1917|accessdate=March 13, 2015}}</ref>

In 1908, Fort and later Mayor J. Frank Colbert managed the successful gubernatorial campaign in Webster Parish of Jared Young Sanders Sr., of St. Mary Parish in south Louisiana. Governor Sanders named Fort as the conservation agent for northwestern Louisiana. Sanders left office in 1912, and Fort returned to the Minden City Council for another eight years. In 1914, Fort joined Colbert in the newspaper business in Minden. During Fort's second council stint, he pushed for the paving of the main business district of Minden.<ref name=fortdeath>"Connell Fort Dies Saturday Night at His Residence Here: Was Great Civic Worker and Builder of This City," ''The Webster Signal-Tribune'', March 5, 1937, pp. 1, 6.</ref>

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During the first term of Mayor W. Matt Lowe, councilman Fort supported the purchase of the municipal generating station after a fire in 1917 swept through the Minden Lumber Company and the former Minden Electric Light and Power Company, the previous owner of the station.<ref>Marilyn Miller, ''Sons of Darkness Sons of Light'' (Many, [[Louisiana]]: Sweet Dreams Publishing Co., 2000), p. 177, {{ISBN|1-893693-09-0}}</ref> Minden is one of a limited number of municipalities in Louisiana in which residences and businesses still purchase their electricity from the city, with profits diverted to finance some of the costs of government.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://dnr.louisiana.gov/sec/execdiv/techasmt/electricity/electric_vol1_1994/005.htm|title=Government-Owned electric Utilities: Municipal Power Authorities and Electric Utilities54|publisher=dnr.louisiana.gov|accessdate=May 28, 2011}}</ref>

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During the first term of Mayor [[W. Matt Lowe]], councilman Fort supported the purchase of the municipal generating station after a fire in 1917 swept through the Minden Lumber Company and the former Minden Electric Light and Power Company, the previous owner of the station.<ref>Marilyn Miller, ''Sons of Darkness Sons of Light'' (Many, [[Louisiana]]: Sweet Dreams Publishing Co., 2000), p. 177, ISBN:1-893693-09-0</ref> Minden is one of a limited number of municipalities in Louisiana in which residences and businesses still purchase their electricity from the city, with profits diverted to finance some of the costs of government.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://dnr.louisiana.gov/sec/execdiv/techasmt/electricity/electric_vol1_1994/005.htm|title=Government-Owned electric Utilities: Municipal Power Authorities and Electric Utilities54|publisher=dnr.louisiana.gov|accessdate=May 28, 2011}}</ref>

In 1922, Fort was elected to the first of his two consecutive two-year terms as mayor to succeed Mayor J. Berry Sandefur. Mayor Fort worked to bring to Minden the Louisiana and Arkansas Railway shop facility from its former location in Stamps in southwestern [[Arkansas]]. The city paved ten miles in concrete, and efforts were made to rid Minden of [[mosquito]]es.<ref name=fortdeath/> [[Natural gas]] lines were laid. A bond issue financed the establishment of the city sewerage system. Modern fire-fighting equipment was also purchased during Fort's tenure.<ref name=fortdeath/>

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Mayor Fort broke his cane across Nation. As Nation lifted the cane back toward the mayor,<ref>Lyle, ''Minden Cemetery'', p. 88</ref> John Fort pulled a .38 caliber pistol from his trousers and shot Nation, who died before he could reach the nearby Minden Sanitarium, since the Minden Medical Center. "I'm getting tired of you[r] treating my father like you have," shouted John Fort.<ref name=johnfort>"Fort Will Be Held in Caddo Parish On Murder Charges," ''Webster Signal-Tribune,'' November 14, 1933, p. 1.</ref><ref>It is unclear why Fort was at first taken to Caddo Parish because even then Webster Parish was in the 26th Judicial District with neighboring Bossier Parish.</ref>

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Sheriff [[O. H. Haynes, Sr.]], transported John Fort to Shreveport, where he was held under a bill of information awaiting presumed [[indictment]] from a [[grand jury]].<ref name=johnfort/> The Louisiana Supreme Court months later denied Fort's motion for [[bail]] without a preliminary hearing.<ref>"Fort's Release Refused by Louisiana Supreme Court: Loses in Attempt to Secure Bail Without a Preliminary Hearing", ''Minden Herald'', April 6, 1934, pp. 1, 12.</ref> However, with no indictment ever forthcoming, Fort was soon a free man.

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Sheriff [[O. H. Haynes, Sr.]], transported John Fort to Shreveport, where he was held under a bill of information awaiting presumed [[indictment]] from a [[grand jury]].<ref name=johnfort/> The Louisiana Supreme Court months later denied Fort's motion for [[bail]] without a preliminary hearing.<ref>"Fort's Release Refused by Louisiana Supreme Court: Loses in Attempt to Secure Bail Without a Preliminary Hearing," ''Minden Herald,'' April 6, 1934, pp. 1, 12.</ref> However, with no indictment ever forthcoming, Fort was soon a free man.

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Nation, meanwhile, was interred within twenty-four hours of his death in the newer section of Minden Cemetery. Services were held at the Nation home prior to interment amid an overflow of mourners.<ref>''Webster Signal-Tribune'', November 14, 1933, pp. 1, 6.</ref>

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Nation, meanwhile, was interred within twenty-four hours of his death in the newer section of Minden Cemetery. Services were held at the Nation home prior to interment amid an overflow of mourners.<ref>''Webster Signal-Tribune'', November 14, 1933, pp. 1, 6.</ref> Nation's children included Daniel Webster Nation (1922-2014), who from 1941 to 1983 worked for the L&A, and the educator, principal, and [[football]] coach Patrick Cary Nation (1918–2005), who lost a race in 1974 for the Minden City Council to later Mayor [[Bill Robertson]]. [[Billy Joe Booth]], one of Nation's grandsons, became a professional football player in [[Canada]] but died early in life in a private plane crash.<ref>Billy Joe Booth obituary, ''The Shreveport Times,'' June 2, 1972.</ref> A granddaughter, Kathryn Diana Nation (1946–1968), daughter of Webster and Kathryn Watson Nation, died in 1968 in an automobile accident while commuting to her elementary school teaching job in Sarepta in Webster Parish, shortly before her pending marriage.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mindenmemories.net/obituaries/1964.htm|title=Obituary of Kathryn Diana Nation|publisher=Minden Memories webpage|accessdate=May 28, 2011; no longer on-line.}}</ref>

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Nation's children included Daniel Webster Nation (1922-2014), who from 1941 to 1983 worked for the L&A, and the educator, principal, and [[football]] coach Patrick Cary Nation (1918–2005), who lost a race in 1974 for the Minden City Council to later Mayor Bill Robertson. ~~A Nation grandson,~~ Billy Joe Booth, became a professional football player in [[Canada]] but died early in life in a private plane crash.<ref>Billy Joe Booth obituary, ''The Shreveport Times'', June 2, 1972.</ref> A granddaughter, Kathryn Diana Nation (1946–1968), daughter of Webster and Kathryn Watson Nation, died in 1968 in an automobile accident while commuting to her elementary school teaching job in Sarepta in Webster Parish, shortly before her pending marriage.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mindenmemories.net/obituaries/1964.htm|title=Obituary of Kathryn Diana Nation|publisher=Minden Memories webpage|accessdate=May 28, 2011}}</ref>

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Brisco Nation was succeeded on the city council by another railroad employee, Grady L. Hancock, an appointee of Governor Oscar Kelly Allen. Hancock said that he did not solicit the interim appointment, had no political agenda other than support for [[U.S. President]] [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], and would make an effort to work with Mayor Fort and the entire council.<ref>"Grady L. Hancock Succeeds Nation", ''Webster Signal-Tribune'', November 21, 1933, p. 1.</ref>

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Brisco Nation was succeeded on the city council by another railroad employee, Grady L. Hancock, an appointee of Governor Oscar Kelly Allen. Hancock said that he did not solicit the interim appointment, had no political agenda other than support for [[U.S. President]] [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], and would make an effort to work with Mayor Fort and the entire council.<ref>"Grady L. Hancock Succeeds Nation," ''Webster Signal-Tribune,'' November 21, 1933, p. 1.</ref>

Meanwhile, John Fort was incarcerated for two years in Bossier Parish, within the 26th Judicial District, awaiting a true bill against him that the grand jury never presented. The district attorney at the time was the same Robert F. Kennon, who had unseated Connell Fort for mayor in 1926.<ref name=cemetery/> No indictment against John Fort was ever presented despite the testimony of two eyewitnesses to the shooting, John L. Garrett and J.R. Murph, then the secretary of the city council.<ref name=johnfort/>

==Defeat and death==

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In the first primary election held on April 10, 1934, Fort was eliminated from his bid for a fourth nonconsecutive term as mayor.<ref>''Minden Herald'', April 13, 1934, p. 1</ref> Instead, former Mayor Henry L. Bridges was placed into a runoff election on May 15, 1934, against [[David William Thomas]], a former university professor, journalist, and a native of [[Wales]]. In the ~~[[runoff~~ election~~]] held on May 15, 1934~~, Bridges handily defeated Thomas, 624 to 377.<ref>''Minden Herald'', May 18, 1934, p. 1.</ref> Thomas rebounded in 1936 to win the first of his two terms as mayor. Fort never again held office; his defeat was attributed to fallout from the shooting death of Brisco Nation.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g_t0BgAAQBAJ&pg=PA126&lpg=PA126&dq=Tom+Colten&source=bl&ots=frCU6aVj_E&sig=qa4-IvKaTIzj9BGXTKwRhweGBc0&hl=en&sa=X&ei=vTP-VNTKObO1sAS37YHYDg&ved=0CF0Q6AEwDg#v=onepage&q=Tom%20Colten&f=false|title=Lost Minden|publisher=Arcadia Publishing Company|location=[[~~Columbia,~~ South Carolina]]|author=John A. Agan|pages=113|date=2014|isbn=978-1-4671-1319-9|accessdate=March 9, 2015}}</ref>

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In the first primary election held on April 10, 1934, Fort was eliminated from his bid for a fourth nonconsecutive term as mayor.<ref>''Minden Herald'', April 13, 1934, p. 1</ref> Instead, former Mayor Henry L. Bridges was placed into a runoff election on May 15, 1934, against [[David William Thomas]], a former university professor, journalist, and a native of [[Wales]]. In the election, Bridges handily defeated Thomas, 624 to 377.<ref>''Minden Herald'', May 18, 1934, p. 1.</ref> Thomas rebounded in 1936 to win the first of his two terms as mayor. Fort never again held office; his defeat was attributed to fallout from the shooting death of Brisco Nation.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g_t0BgAAQBAJ&pg=PA126&lpg=PA126&dq=Tom+Colten&source=bl&ots=frCU6aVj_E&sig=qa4-IvKaTIzj9BGXTKwRhweGBc0&hl=en&sa=X&ei=vTP-VNTKObO1sAS37YHYDg&ved=0CF0Q6AEwDg#v=onepage&q=Tom%20Colten&f=false|title=Lost Minden|publisher=Arcadia Publishing Company|location=Mount Pleasant, [[South Carolina]]|author=[[John Agan]]|pages=113|date=2014|isbn=978-1-4671-1319-9|accessdate=March 9, 2015}}</ref>

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Fort was a [[Methodist]]. Upon his death, Fort was interred in the old section of the Minden Cemetery in the Miles plot, where his first wife's family is buried. In addition to his second wife and children from both marriages, Fort was survived by two brothers, Walton Fort (1857–1940) of Minden,<ref name=homes/> a member of the Webster Parish Police Jury from 1932 to 1936, preceding W. Matt Lowe,<ref>''Respect for the Past; Confidence in the Future: Webster Parish Centennial, 1871-1971'', Webster Parish Police Jury, 1971, p. 14.</ref> and Moses Fort of [[Louisville]], [[Kentucky]]. Pallbearers included his business colleague and later mayor, J. Frank Colbert, and Judge Harmon Caldwell Drew.<ref name=fortdeath/> who was subsequently unseated three years later in 1940 by then District Attorney Robert F. Kennon,, prior to Kennon's tenure as mayor.

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Fort was a [[Methodist]]. Upon his death, Fort was interred in the old section of the Minden Cemetery in the Miles plot, where his first wife's family is buried. In addition to his second wife and children from both marriages, Fort was survived by two brothers, Walton Fort (1857–1940) of Minden,<ref name=homes/> a member of the Webster Parish Police Jury from 1932 to 1936, preceding W. Matt Lowe,<ref>''Respect for the Past; Confidence in the Future: Webster Parish Centennial, 1871-1971'', Webster Parish Police Jury, 1971, p. 14.</ref> and Moses Fort of [[Louisville]], [[Kentucky]]. Pallbearers included his business colleague and later mayor, J. Frank Colbert, and Judge [[Harmon Caldwell Drew]].<ref name=fortdeath/> who was subsequently unseated three years later in 1940 by then District Attorney Robert F. Kennon, prior to Kennon's tenure as mayor.

==References==

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