Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 83, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 April 1910 — POSTOFFICE MASCOT DOG. [ARTICLE]

POSTOFFICE MASCOT DOG.

Had Headquarter! at Albany, but Now Poaea In Waahtnvton. Inclosed in a large glass case in the gallery of the dead-letter department of the Washington postoffice Is the stuffed body of an unattractive mongrel dog, whose history can but Interest every one, especially those who appreciate the wisdom and fidelity-of these almost human animals. “Owney,” the railway postal clerks’ mascot,” la the name by which this dog was known during Its very, eventful career, proofs of which may be seen In the hundreds of tags and med< als that are- to the collar and lVmesg A paiieh fdmoit-cover the body and the spuce around him. During thA winter of 1886, this dog, a half-breed fox terrier, blind in one eye, cold, starving, made bis way Into the postoffice at Albany, N. Y. The clerks took pity on hit forlorn condition and arranged to feed and house him. He became devotedly attached to bis uniformed friends, and one day followed a mall wagon to the station, where he boarded s mall ear, in which his presence ups unnoticed until after tho train started. Eventually *he re turned on another‘train to Albany. „ Having once learned the trick, he made frequent trips to different points, turning up again in coarse of time at the borne office. His travels became so extensive that, the, Albany clerks provided blm with a fine collar bearing the Inscription, “Owney, Albany P. 0., K- Y.” At the next postoffice he vis-

ited the clerks attached to his collar a metal tag bearing the name of that office. ’ This attracted the attention of all the clerks whom Owney visited, and tags of all kinds, metal, paper, leather and doth, bearing the names of places he visited, were added. On his periodical returns to Albany these were detached and preserved. Owney contln* ued to travel from one place to another tor eleven years, always using the mill cars, looking upon every man who wore the postal uniform as his friend. At times he was assisted in his selection of a route by the clerks, who from one end of the oountry to the other knew him and always gave him a hearty welcome and a tag to prove where he had been. Prom New York to California, north south, he gathered these tokens of interest, and many are the curious kinds. From ’’the western mining regions are chunks .of silver fudely molded qnd inscribed, and there are original/devices in leather and the bark of trees and scraps of cloth. During this time he also followed the mail pouches on board ocean-going steamers and visited many points in Canada, Europe and Asia, as well as, other parts of the world. The Mikado of Japan presented him with a silver medal having the Japanese national coat of arms This , medal occupies a conspicuous place in Owney’s glass case. Owney met a sad and untimely fate, at Toledo, Ohio, in 1897. He had'been chained to a post in the basement of the postofflee to await the arrival of a\ photographer who was to take his picHe became impatient at this'unusual restraint, which he could not understand, and made noisy and desperate efforts to release hlmßelf, and when a -clerk tried forcible means to quiet him he showed the first sign of temper he was ever known to display, and sprung at him* and hit his hand. The clerk spread the report that the dog had gone mad. Thereupon the postmaster summoned a policeman, who ended with a bullet the career of this most remarkable animal. The news at once reached Owney’s home office In Albany, where It caused much grief, and a demand was made for the lifeless body in order to have it preserved.