Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-02-23

hibit are valuable from a historical stand
point For instance. there Is the old
stage coach which carried mail in Mon
tana. In 1877 it was captured by Indians.
only to be retaken. after fierce fight,
by Gen. Howard. The same year Gen.
Sherman used the coach while on his tour
OF inspection, between Fort Ellis and
Helena, covering a distance of los miles.
Gen. Garfield also made use of the old
conveyance before he became President,
as did his successor, President Arthur.
{ A model Of the first steam vessel to
carry. the United States mails across the
Atlantic is TO be seen here. The name of
the vessel was the Southerner. Before it
made it's initial voyage but one steamer
had made the trip across the Atlantic, the
Savannah, and, that vessel only used her
paddles part of the way, they We're
contrived SO they could be taken adeck
when desired.
An Internal Machine" Shown.
In the, dead letter collection is a gen.
uine internal machine" 1t was directed
to Capt -Eulate of the Spanish man-of-
war Vizcaya at the time that vessel was
lying outside of New York just before
war was declared with Spain, but never
reached him.. Fearing such an attack
the postal authorities advised Capt. Eu-
late not to. receive any mail until 1t had
first passed through the hands of an ex-
pert. The captain assented and the bomb
was detected before it reached him.
One of the cases contains an envelope
i'm which is Enclosed q lock of Charles
Guiteaus hair. 1t was sent by the as
sassin of President Garfield In letter ad-
dressed to a young lady in Baltimore. At
the time the letter was sent the lazy was
travelling abroad. AS she had left no adj
dress it was sent to the dead letter office.
Of the many unusual things to be seen
in this museum there are none more in
teresting than the little Scotch terrier.
xx-l,n me q
given a prominent place in the exhibit,
with his harness and tags. In 1886, it is
stated, in the post office at Albany. n.
Y. little Scotch terrier was found
curled up and fast asleep on top OF some
mail bags. where it had taken refuge
from the cold. The mail clerks took pity
on him and adopted him. feeding and
housing him from the weather. Quite
frequently they would pat his head and
say who is your owner?" and in this
way he derived his name.
Makes Trips With the Boys.
One day he followed the wagon to the
depot and boarded the cars with the
mail. He was unobserved until after the
train started, when some of the railway
postal clerks, discovering his presence.
took charge of him and sent him back
to Albany. Having learned the trick. he
made frequent trips with the mail. al
ways returning TO Albany, although his
patrons never hHcW just WutIc lie duu
been.
The employees of the Office finally gave
him a tag inscribed ''Owney. Albany
Post Office, Albany, y. " attaching
a card thereto. requesting the postal
clerks who ran across him in his travels
to affix tags to show where he had been.
His journeys soon became SO numerous,
however. that the tags grew burden
some. When he was in Washington on
one of his tours Postmaster General
Wanamaker presented him with set of
harness. from which the tags of all sorts
and descriptions were suspended. He
travelled from one place to another, al
ways following the mail.
owney Meets His Fate.
For eleven years he kept this up. visit
ing Europe, Asia. as well as travelling
throughout the United States and Cam
ada. The Mikado of Japan presented
him with a silver medal. on one side Of
which was the national coat of arms |
Owney met his fate at Toledo. Ohio He
was chained in the basement of the post |
Office to await the arrival of a photogra-
pher. who had obtained permission to |
obtain his picture. At such an indignity |
Owney bristled up and barked furiously |
4 clerk in the post office endeavored to |
quiet him and received a bite I'm his |
hand He spread the report that Owney |
was mad. and the postmaster summoned /
n poljcemau and had him shot