The Washington herald., 1911-01-15

ed. and the bomb was detected before I,
| reached him.
One Of the cases contains an envelope
| in which is inclosed a lock Of Charles
Guiteaus hair. 1t was sent by the assas-
sin of President Garfield in a letter ad-
| dressed to young lady in Baltimore. In
| the letter Guiteau begged the young lady
! TO aid him in securing funds for his trial.
Al the time the letter was sent the lady
was travelling abroad. No address being
lett. it was returned to the Dead-letter
Office.
or the many unusual things to he seen
in this museum there are none more in
terestinG and pathetic than the story OF
| the little Scotch terrier. Owney, whose
remains are mounted and given a promi-
n mt place in the exhibit with his harness
and tags. The story of little Owney has
been told, retold. and written about
many times in years gone by. but 1t
should be told again for those not famil-
lar with it. and again as happy remind
e. to those that once read OF this dog s
interesting career.
In 1856. in the post-office of Albany, n.
y. a little Scotch terrier was found
Curled up, 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.
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. though his
patrons never knew where he had been.
The Much-traveledD Dog.
Thinking it would be interesting to
know where he went, the employees of the
office gave him a tag inscribed 'Owney.
Albany Post office. Albany. n. " at
taching a card thereto requesting the
postal clerks to affix tags to show where
he had been. His travels soon became SO
extensive. however. that the tags grew
burdensome. so when passing through
Washington on one Of his transcontinen-
tai tours Postmaster General Wanamak-
er presented him with a set of harness.
from which the tags Of all sorts and de-
scriptions were suspended. He travelled
from one place to another always fol-
lowing the mail For eleven years he
hepl up, ASIA
as well as travelling throughout the Unit
ed States and Canada. The Mikado Of
Japan presented him with a silver medal.
on one side OF which was the national
coat t-of-arms.
Owney met his fate at Toledo. Ohio.
when an attempt was made to have his
picture taken. He was chained in the
basement of the post office to await the
arrival of the photographer. At such an
iudignity Owney bristled up and barked
furiously. A clerk in the post-office en-
deavored to quiet him and received bite
in his hand. He spread the report that
Owney was mad. and the postma ster
summoned a policeman. who shot him.
thus ending the career Of the famous
little dog
As to Postal Savings Banks.
This is Mr.. Weed" said Mr. Suffer- as
the latter was ready to take his leave
after the pleasant talk about the Post
Office museum. Mr.. Weed is the chief
clerk Of the Post-office Department. but
what has brought him still more in the
public eye is the fact that he is the Sec
retary of the board Of trustees OF the
postal savings bank system. which re-
Gently has been established throughout
the United States
Mr.. Weed looks what he is. an excep-
tionally busy man. who, while most af-