Thursday, October 30, 2014

On This Date in Minnesota History: October 30

October 30, 1904 – Daisy, the St. Paul Union Depot cat, is dead. The little life that helped make the lives of others brighter was crushed out by the cruel wheels of a passenger engine this evening.

Daisy was of the common everyday cat variety. She wandered into the depot sheds one day last spring, and with a plaintive call announced that she was hungry. A kind-hearted brakeman was eating his lunch and the newcomer fared on the remains of cold chicken. The place looked good to her and she immediately took possession of everything that is near and dear to the cat heart.

Day after day she made her headquarters in the freight shed, and night after night she slept in the express warehouse. Daisy became a familiar figure to the workmen, and her bright and sunny ways, her fondness of a caress and uncomplaining acceptance of the occasional kick delivered by a stranger, caused her to be a part of the depot life.

One day she went missing and for several days afterwards the men wondered what had become of their pet. Daisy herself solved the mystery by turning up with a little family by her side, and with motherly pride showed her kittens to her old friends.

Unfortunately, those in authority deemed the presence of more than one cat a menace to the welfare of the depot, and it was decreed that Daisy must part with her brood. One morning they were gone, and Daisy walked up and down the platform, searching for the little ones who were never to return.

She never recovered from the loss. Day after day she showed that her thoughts were still on her kittens. Her sorrowful meows echoed and re-echoed throughout the sheds and caused those within hearing distance to think of their own little ones at home, for everyone knew Daisy’s story.

This evening a giant engine from the Great Northern road was slowly making its way to its terminal in the depot. The bright gleam of the headlights showed a forlorn mother cat standing hopelessly on the rails—then it was all over. Daisy had joined her kittens.

The Saint Paul Globe; “Joins Her Kittens. Union Railway Station Cat Run Down By Engine”; Oct. 31, 1904; p. 2.




Built in 1881. Photo of first St. Paul Union Depot in 1890.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Paul_Union_Depot


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