Capitol cat
In 1921, a once-wild cat cozied up to politicians and state leaders at the state Capitol.
The Archivist has shared several articles about cats, including one in 2011 about a pair of cats that joined the state payroll to control rats and mice in the surplus commodities warehouse in 1951.
The state capitol building was only four years old when this article appeared in The Oklahoman on Nov. 25, 1921:
Until recently the state capitol had its “cat who walks by herself,” fabled in legends of Indians, but the cat which was wild has become domesticated, and now instead of a daily hunt for mice and rats in the grasses surrounding the state house, she has a warm home and is a friend to all state officials, from governor to clerk.
The cat was a stray, with all the appearances of a stray when she was found by a cafeteria official, hunting as did her ancestors, for her very existence. In the midst of the tall grasses she made her home. But she was enticed forth by the call of domesticity, “kitty, kitty” and lured to the capitol by a pan of cream.
Now she promenades daily down the long corridors of the first floor hall, strutting from wing to wing. And at dinner time after lapping up the milk given her by the cafeteria, she comes into the dining room and favors governor and clerk alike with her purring.
Unable to discover how long the capitol kitty presided over her domain, we do known that the governor she favored with her attention, J.B.A Robertson, was the fourth governor of Oklahoma and the first to be inaugurated in the new state capitol, serving from 1919 to 1923. If you would like to contact Mary Phillips about The Archivist, email her at gapnmary@gmail.com