Owney:Honorary Mascot of the Railway Mail Service

 

Owney guarding a mail sack Wikimedia photo

Originally, I had a different idea for this blog. My latest contemporary romance released this month, so I was looking for a historical dog-related theme for this month. And in the process, I found a rabbit hole to research. Over the centuries, only the wealthy had dogs as pets. Everyone else kept dogs to perform useful services such as watchdog, ratter, or cattle dog. While researching the origin of dog tags, I found a brief mention of a mixed-breed terrier who was a postal service mascot, and I had to know the story. And now I'm sharing it with you.

Vest full of medals  Wikepedia photo

During the 1890s, Owney was the unofficial mascot of the Railway Mail Service. Owney was owned by a postal clerk in Albany, New York, who took the dog to work with him. When he left that job, he left Owney behind. The dog loved traveling in the mail cars. Postal employees adopted him as their mascot. For nine years he was a mail-riding dog.

Riding the rails

He rode resting on the mailbags, protecting that mail from anyone who wasn't a mail clerk. He would growl at anyone coming near those bags unless they were mail clerks. 

Sometimes he'd leave Albany and not return for months, moving from train to train. The Albany clerks became concerned he might get lost. They purchased a collar and added a dog tag with his name and Albany post office. As he arrived at other post offices, they added tags.

Medals and Tags

Soon at every stop he made, a new tag was added. It is believed he visited all forty-eight states, Alaska, Canada and Mexico. Everywhere he went, he received a tag, some brass or silver, others made from leather or aluminum. 

John Wannamaker

There were also commemorative medals from organizations that wanted to honor him. Tokens with the date and place he visited were also added. Eventually, the Postmaster General John Wannamaker had a special vest made for him to display his tags. Wannamaker was concerned Owney would injure his neck from their weight. Overtime, as new medals were added, older ones were removed and mailed to Albany or Washington, D.C. for safekeeping. It is said he accumulated over 1,000 medals and tags. Currently, the National Postal Museum has only 372. Some of the more fragile medals didn't survive.

Tidbits from Owney's travels

While he visited Montreal, Ontario, Canada, the city postmaster kept him in a kennel. He sent a request for reimbursement of the $2.50 fee for care and feeding. Once it was paid, the dog was returned to Albany.

In 1895, Tacoma, Washington, businessmen, concocted a publicity stunt to honor George Francis Train, the inspiration for Phineas Fogg in Jules Verne's Around the World in 80 days. Train had once ended one of his world travels in Tacoma. In honor of Train, they wanted to send America's most famous K9, around the world on a mail ship.

Owney set sail on August 19,1895 on the steamship Victoria. According to an article published in The Roanoke Daily on July 24, 1896, his trip was quite fanciful. He carried a travel bag containing a comb, brush, his blanket and his vest full of medals for formal meetings, along with letters of introduction. Reportedly, the port authority in Japan, on seeing all his medals, thought he must be someone very important and treated him with respect. While in Japan, he was given a passport by the emperor. The emperor of China also gave him a passport and then arranged for Owney to tour a silk and tea factory. Chinese coins and commemorative ribbons were added to the dog's vest as well.

  Captain Panton of the Victoria took Owney on tours of the American ships in the Hong Kong harbor where he acquired more medals and letters of introduction. After touring Asia, he boarded the steamship, Port Philip, and was placed in the care of Captain Grant and his crew for his return trip to Tacoma, Washington. He returned August 19,1985 after 132 days. He broke no speed records and, according to ship's records, never visited Europe. Even so, his fame grew.

At the end of his life

Owney traveled over 144,000 miles, more than any wealthy individual in that era. He was beloved by all the postal employees along his train routes. As he aged, Post Office management felt his traveling days were over. Mail clerk J. M. Elben, of St. Louis, agreed to take him in. The Chicago manager of Railway Mail Service insisted in colorful language that the "mongrel cur" no longer be allowed to travel on the trains. Management was looking for ways to improve service. The postal employees felt their mascot represented the working class and didn't appreciate the new management's attitude toward Owney. The remarks seemed to mirror their attitude toward them as postal employees.

Smithsonian display

Owney's passing was reported in every newspaper in the country. Some gave a soft report that Owney had become ill and died. While others called it murder. Owney had become aggressive in his old age and supposedly bit a clerk and then a US Marshal, at which point a sheriff put him down.

But according to some modern research into the details of his death, they discovered a clerk had chained Owney in a basement. His freedom to roam was taken away, probably adding to his aggression. My question, if a clerk in St. Louis took him in, how did he end up in a basement in Ohio. Whether he was in a basement or outside attacking people, it was confirmed he was put down in Toledo, Ohio on June 11, 1897.

Postal Employees insist he is honored

The postal employees refused to bury him. Instead, they ask that he be preserved and presented to the Post Office Department's headquarters. Their request was granted. The postal department placed him displayed at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. Cleveland, Ohio, postal workers commissioned a silver spoon in honor of their mascot. Owney is on exhibit at the Smithsonian. He was sent there in 1911 and has been called one of the museum's most interesting artifacts.

He was the subject of two poems by postal clerks.

      And the Smithsonian National Postal Museum in 2012 published a digital edition Owney: Tails for the Rails, written by Jerry Rees, with songs by Stephen Michael Schwartz and illustrated by Fred Cline, and narrated by Trace Adkins who also voiced the songs. Here is a link to the free book.

I had never heard of Owney before. When I visited the Smithsonian years ago, I never made it to their postal museum. As I've spent few years writing contemporary romances with hero dogs in them, I couldn't pass up a chance to tell a real hero dog story.

Have you ever heard of Owney?

Cindy Ervin Huff is a multi-Award-winning, hybrid author of historical and contemporary romance. She loves researching odd historical tidbits and visiting museums with her husband of 50-plus years. Although they don't currently have a dog, Cindy takes pictures of all the ones she meets at vending events. She's addicted to chocolate and reading and loves encouraging future authors. You can visit her at www.cindyervinhuff.com or on social media. 

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Here is a link to my contemporary romance series featuring adorable dogs.