Owney
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Owney (c. 1888 - July 11, 1897), was a stray mixed breed terrier adopted as the first official postal mascot by the Albany, New York, post office in 1888.
[edit] Story
Postal workers in the Albany post office found a puppy asleep on their mail bags in 1888. It seems that he had been attracted to the texture or scent of the mailbags and traveled with them as they were transported around the country on the Railway Mail Service train. He was considered to be good luck by postal workers, since no train he ever rode on was in a wreck.
As his trips grew longer, the postal clerks at Albany became concerned that the dog be identified, and, if necessary returned to them. They bought Owney a collar with a metal tag that read: "Owney, Post Office, Albany, New York" at which point he became the first official postal mascot.
The dog was later adopted by Railway mail clerks as their unofficial mascot. They marked his travels by placing tags on his collar. Throughout his life, Owney accumulated 1,017 tags, tokens, trinkets, and medals which are now on display at the National Postal Museum.
In 1895, Owney made an around-the-world trip, aboard trains and steamships. Starting from Tacoma, Washington, he traveled throughout Asia and across Europe, before returning to Albany.
Owney retired from the Railway Mail Service in 1897 due to poor eyesight and old age. However, as a world-traveled dog he was difficult to contain and slipped out of the Albany post office in June 1897.
The exact details of the incident which lead to his death are unclear, but according to the National Postal Museum website, "Owney was mistreated while being shown off to a newspaper reporter in Ohio and became so mad that he bit a postal worker."
Owney died in Toledo on July 11, 1897, from a gunshot wound.
[edit] Further reading
- Mona Kerby; Lynne Barasch (2008). Owney, the Mail Pouch Pooch. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 9780374356859.
- Lynn Hall (1977). Owney:The Traveling Dog. Olympic Marketing Corp. ISBN 9780811648608.
- Dirk Wales (2003). A Lucky Dog: Owney, U.S. Rail Mascot. Great Plains. ISBN 978-0963245908.
- Irene Kelly (2005). A Small Dog's Big Life: Around the World With Owney. Holiday House. ISBN 9780823418633.
- Carl L. Biemiller [1966] (2000). Any Friend of Owney's. Putnam Pub Group. ISBN 9780399600326.
