Raney: Chattanooga’s prominent four-legged visitors

Chattanooga always has welcomed guests. Some come to promote a book, movie, idea or product. Some come to campaign for a political candidate. Most of Chattanooga’s visitors come on two legs. A few come on four or with a tail.

One of the first known animal celebrities to visit Chattanooga was Owney, a curly haired, gray Scottish terrier mutt missing one eye. This dog traveled only in railway cars and slept on mail bags. He associated primarily with mail clerks and acquired tags from every post office visited. Clerks affixed the tags to Owney’s collar, but as the number grew, that became too heavy. Postmaster General John Wannamaker gave Owney a harness on which to display his travel wares.

Owney’s career began in Albany, N.Y., in 1888, but his popularity earned him a ticket anywhere the trains went and even across the ocean. He went around the world in 1895 from Asia to Europe and back. In July 1894, Owney stopped in Chattanooga on his way to Mexico. After his early morning arrival from Indiana, Owney toured the new custom house and then had breakfast at Neddo’s restaurant at 832 Market St. Owney had his photo taken at a local gallery and then toured the city. He received his Chattanooga tag at the office of C.H. Cox, a seal engraver at 7 W. 8th St. It read “souvenir de Chattanooga.” Trains ridden by Owney never crashed, and so all of the rail lines enjoyed hosting him. In 1897, Owney died, and railway clerks raised money to have his body preserved. Owney now is at the National Postal Museum atrium greeting visitors while proudly wearing his harness with several of his tags.

In May 1923, another canine hero to visit Chattanooga was Wolf, a war dog. Wolf was a recipient of the French Croix de Guerre after his service in World War I. The French awarded several medals to deserving horses, dogs, goats and even pigeons. These animals carried messages, alerted battalions to dangerous gas attacks due to their sense of smell, found wounded soldiers, carried weapons and befriended those in camp. Wolf was in Chattanooga “doing his bit” for the American Legion in a feature connected with the film “The Man Without a Country.”