Pursuits : Elizabeth Thomsen

Owney was a stray puppy who wandered into the Albany Post Office in 1888 and fell asleep on a pile of mailbags. He followed the mailbags onto a Railway Mail Service train, beginning a life of riding the rails. He traveled around the country as the unofficial mascot of the Railway Mail Service. According to the National Postal Museum’s website, “Railway mail clerks considered the dog a good luck charm. At a time when train wrecks were all too common, no train Owney rode was ever in a wreck. The Railway mail clerks adopted Owney as their unofficial mascot, marking his travels by placing medals and tags on his collar. Each time Owney returned home to Albany, the clerks there saved the tags.”

Owney became a celebrity, as we’d say now, Owney was famous for being famous. Newspapers around the country chronicled his adventures. In 1895, Owney went on his longest journey, a trip around the world on trains and steamships, with stops in Canada, Mexico, China, Japan, Suez, Algiers, Europe, and the Azores, New York, and then back to Tacoma, Washington, where the trip began, to be greeted by cheering crowds. But his proudest moment was probably his appearance at the convention of the National Association of Railway Clerks in San Francisco, where, according to the National Postal Museum, the clerks who had taken care of him on his journeys gave him a rousing fifteen minute ovation, and “cheered, clapped, and whistled for their faithful four-legged friend.”

The little dog’s story has a sad ending. When he reached a certain age, he retired from his travels, but he took one last trip, hopping a train to Toledo, Ohio. The story isn’t really clear, but apparently he was being shown to a reporter, there was some sort of incident, Owney bit a postal clerk, and was shot and killed, a terrible and sad ending to the life of a dog who had led such a life of adventure and friendship.

Books about Owney

Owney, the Mail-Pouch Pooch Written by Mona Kerby, illustrated by Lynne Barasch. New York: Frances Foster Books / Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2008.
“In 1888, a straggly dog wandered into the U.S. Post Office in Albany, New York. Owney liked the smell of the workers and the mail pouches. He started guarding the mail. Before long, he was traveling on mail trains all around the country. He even took a trip around the world.”

Owney, the Mail-Pouch Pooch — Mona Kerby maintains this blog to provide students and teachers a place to explore and exchange ideas and activities related Owney’s story.

Owney, the Mail-Pouch Pooch — Mona Kerby made this lively video collage of old photographs and movie clips to show what Owney might have seen on his travels.

The thing that really attracted me to this story was those photographs of Owney, who reminds me of my own dog, Nina. She’s a friendly girl who likes to travel and meet new people, so I think she might be a long-lost relative of Owney’s. Wonder if he ever got down to Puerto Rico, Nina’s birthplace?