Pep the Dog and the True Story Behind His Murderer’s Mugshot Will Actually Warm Your Heart

Construction of Pennsylvania’s Eastern State Penitentiary began in 1822 and opened in 1829, serving inmates up until 1971. Over the years, this literal textbook example of incarceration has housed many notorious and even famous inmates. Among those who called Eastern State Penitentiary their home are famous bank robber William Francis Sutton, infamous mobster Al Capone and the star of our story, Pep the Dog.

According to legend, a black labrador retriever named Pep was sentenced to life without parole on August 12, 1924. His crime? Pep allegedly killed then Governor Gifford Pinchot’s wife’s favorite cat. The governor used his executive powers to have Pep incarcerated for the murder and subjected to the same mugshot process as all the human inmates, even being given the prison number of C-2559.

It’s an awesome story, but as many such fantastic tales, isn’t exactly true. The truth is... Pep WAS a bad dog, but he wasn’t a cat murderer.

During Governor Pinchot’s first term as governor, he received Pep the puppy from the nephew of his wife, Cornelia Bryce Pinchot. The nephew was a breeder of labradors and for awhile, Pep was a cherished member of the family. But, like many of his breed, Pep had a nasty habit of chewing up furniture. No amount of punishment could stop Pep from chewing up the cushions on the governor’s outdoor sofa. Unable to deal with Pep’s bad behavior, the family decided that Pep had to go, but it seemed too cruel to euthanize him.

Luckily a trip to Maine inspired the Governor. According the the governor’s son, Pinchot observed therapy dogs used in prisons to boost the morale of the inmates. Upon returning home, Pinchot discussed the idea with his friend Herbert Smith, who happened to be the warden of Eastern State Penitentiary. Pep was then given to the prison as a gift and the famous mugshot was taken as either a publicity stunt, or a joke.

Pep lived at Eastern State for the rest of his life. By some accounts, he was “transferred” to Graterford Prison when it was built in 1929, but other sources believe that he simply accompanied the prison work crew back and forth during its construction and that he died in the early 1930s at ESP, where he was buried somewhere on the grounds.

So how did the story spread about Pep’s crimes? From papers archived at Grey Towers National Historic site, the governor’s former home, it is largely implied from the governor’s son that the stories were made up by a newspaper reporter with a sense of humor looking for an interesting story to boost readership. And where there’s one legend, there’s bound to be more.

Pep is featured in the Dec. 26, 1925 issue of the Boston Daily Globe. But Gov. Pinchot’s wife, Cornelia, later set the tall tale straight in an interview with The New York Times. (The Boston Evening Globe / Courtesy of Boston Public Library)

In the paranormal field, Eastern State Penitentiary is largely noted as being one of the most haunted locations in the United States. Many groups, including those from popular television series, have caught evidence and had personal experiences involving the former inmates of the prison. Since Pep is such an integral part of the prison’s history, some believe HIS spirit is still roaming the halls of the place where he was loved and cherished by guards and inmates alike. Visitors have claimed to have heard the jangling of dog tags and even the howl of a dog echoing through the metal cells.

(via Theresa's Haunted History of the Tri-State)

"Stone's Cottage": A Funny Camping Trip to Pennsylvania, ca. 1910

An amazing photo set from Beth Scupham that shows a funny camping trip to Pennsylvania around 1910.

“Friends of my grandfather and grandmother (then just getting acquainted) 'camping'. Location: Pennsylvania. This was a trip they took with friends before they were married. This may be friends from Syracuse (College).

There is a whole album of photos that belonged to my Grandfather called "Stone's Cottage." What was Stone's Cottage? I don't know. The pictures are charming snapshots of life for young professionals in the early 1900s. Most of the ladies were new schoolteachers. Most of the men were bankers and lawyers. My grandfather posed, lit, shot and developed the photographs.”

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The Johnstown Flood: 27 Rare Photographs of the Great Flood of 1889 Which Killed Over 2,000 People in Minutes

In a river valley in central Pennsylvania, heavy rain and a neglected dam lead to a catastrophe in which 2,209 people die and a prosperous city, Johnstown, is nearly wiped off the face of the earth.

Johnstown, located at the confluence of the Little Conemaugh River and Stony Creek, was 14 miles downstream from Lake Conemaugh, a reservoir turned recreational lake that was owned and maintained by the prestigious South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club. The sporting club, which catered to a wealthy clientele from nearby Pittsburgh, included Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick on its membership rolls. Lake Conemaugh was held back by the South Fork Dam, a large earth-fill dam that was completed by the club in 1881. By 1889, the dam was in dire need of repairs.

When several days of heavy rain struck the area in late May 1889, club officials struggled to reinforce the neglected dam, which was under tremendous pressure from the swollen waters of Lake Conemaugh. The dam began to disintegrate, and on May 31 the lake’s water level passed over the top of the dam. Realizing that the dam’s collapse was imminent, club officials sent riders down the valley to evacuate area residents. However, flooding was a familiar occurrence in the valley, and few Johnstown residents heeded the riders’ desperate warnings. Most just took the same simple precautions they did when Little Conemaugh River flooded: They moved their belongings to the second story of their homes and settled down to wait out the storm.

At 3:10 p.m., the South Fork Dam washed away, drowning several laborers who were struggling to maintain it. Club officials on high ground watched awe-struck as 20 million tons of water went roaring down the valley toward Johnstown. The deluge swept through the communities of South Fork, Mineral Point, Woodvale, and East Conemaugh, accumulating debris, including rocks, trees, houses, barns, railroad cars, animals, and people, both dead and alive. By the time it reached Johnstown, at 4:07 p.m., the flood appeared as a rolling hill of debris more than 30 feet high and nearly half a mile wide. In a terrible swoop, the northern half of the city was swept away, sending some 1,500 demolished Johnstown buildings tumbling down with the roaring torrent.

It took 10 minutes for the waters of Lake Conemaugh to pass through Johnstown, and 2,000 people were drowned or crushed in the torrent. A few survivors were washed up along with numerous corpses several miles down the valley. At the old Stone Bridge in Johnstown, debris piled 40 feet high caught fire, and some 80 huddled survivors of the flood perished in the flames. A total of 2,209 died as a result of the disaster.

Among the survivors of the calamity, there was a scarcely an individual who had not lost a friend or relative in the Johnstown Flood. Despite the great scale of the tragedy, reconstruction of the devastated community began almost immediately, and Clara Barton and the American Red Cross constructed shelters for homeless residents while well-wishers around the country sent tons of relief supplies. The South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club was widely criticized for its failure to maintain the South Fork Dam, but no successful lawsuits were ever brought against the organization.

A freight car lies near the damaged Cambria Iron Works warehouse.

Lower Johnstown three days after the flood.

A tree protrudes from a house tossed by the flood.

A souvenir stands sells flood memorabilia.

Johnstown's Main Street is choked with debris.

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52 Incredible Vintage Mugshots of New Castle, Pennsylvania's Criminal From Between the 1930s and 1940s

The details of the cases come from old newspapers of the New Castle News, which provides a remarkably detailed chronicle of everyday goings on during those troubled years.

Take a look at these vintage mugshots for more stories from New Castle's criminal from between the 1930s to 1940s.

Alice Steel, 25 years old, drunk and disorderly conduct, August 24, 1936

Alexander Aldan, 21 years old, malicious mischief by use of explosives, July 5, 1941

Andrew Masters, 47 years old, intoxicated driver, April 26, 1948

Anna Mae Craven, 22 years old, disorderly conduct, July 14, 1946

Anthony DeCaprio, 19 years old, murder, October 12, 1937

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28 Fantastic Vintage Photographs Capture Street Scenes of Philadelphia in the 1900s

Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the fifth-most populous in the United States.

In the Northeastern United States, at the confluence of the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers, Philadelphia is the economic and cultural anchor of the Delaware Valley. It is the eighth-largest combined statistical area in the United States.

The area's many universities and colleges make Philadelphia a top international study destination, as the city has evolved into an educational and economic hub.

Take a look at these vintage photos to see what an old Philadelphia in the 1900s looked like.

12th and Market St., 1909

Broad St. north from Locust, circa 1900

Broad St., north from Spruce St., 1905

Broad Street north from Locust with view of City Hall, 1907

Broad Street north from Walnut, 1909

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32 Vintage Snapshots of Daily Life in Harrisburg, PA during the 1940s

Harrisburg is the capital city of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Dauphin County. It is the tenth-largest city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It lies on the east bank of the Susquehanna River, 105 miles (169 km) west-northwest of Philadelphia and 204 miles (328 km) east of Pittsburgh.

Harrisburg played a notable role in American history during the Westward Migration, the American Civil War, and the Industrial Revolution. And considered the second best place in the U.S. to raise a family.

Here is a collection of 32 vintage photos taken by American photographer E.L.Ward that shows daily life of Harrisburg in the 1940s.

Cameron Street at the Farm Show Building, Harrisburg PA, ca. early 1940s

Capital City Airport, Harrisburg, PA

Capitol Building from Soldiers & Sailors Grove, Harrisburg, PA

Capitol Dome from Walnut Street at the Forum Building in Harrisburg, ca. early 1940s

Frozen Wildwood Lake, looking north, Harrisburg, ca. early 1940s

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Vintage Photographs of Streets of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the 1900s

Wood Street, c.1905

Wood Street, ca. between 1900 and 1910

Wood Street from Liberty Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, ca. 1900-1910

Wood Street, looking east, ca. 1900-1910

Fifth Avenue, looking north, c.1908

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23 Striking and Surreptitious Photographs That Capture Street Scenes of Pennsylvania in the 1970s

Mark Cohen is an American photographer best known for his innovative close-up street photography. For years, on the streets of his home city, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and surrounding working-class towns, Cohen shot quickly and assertively. He held his flash in one hand and his camera in the other and shot extremely close to his subjects, frequently focusing on a single body part or article of clothing. He never looked through his viewfinder to compose the frame.

“If you’re very close to people and someone takes a swing at you, you don’t want to have your head behind a viewfinder because you can’t be aware of the situation,” he said.

People on Porch, 65, 63, 1977

Three Boys Posing, 1975

Girl with Bat and Ball, 1977

Woman with Red Lips Smoking, 1975

Woman by Steps with Bag, 1974

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Pupils at Carlisle Indian School, Pennsylvania, c.1900

Beginning in 1869 and for the century that followed, hundreds of thousands of Native American children were placed in boarding schools. Removed from their homes and families, these children were forced to assimilate to American culture, with severe punishment for speaking their native languages or engaging in any activity or behavior reflective of their native culture.

Indian boarding schools were a tactic of colonization. Their effects can still be felt today. Their purpose was to strip children of their native culture by prohibiting native language, clothing and spiritual beliefs.

Currently, Native Americans make up a little more than 1% in Minnesota’s population but represent almost 10% of the prison population in the state of Minnesota. A long history of colonization, such as the establishment of boarding schools and racist policies, were intentionally created to assimilate and displace Native Americans. Mass incarceration and the criminal justice system are the continuation of colonial powers meant to control and remove the original people of this land.

Today in public schools, Native students do not receive the support that they need in light of this violent history and because of it are at a higher risk of being fed into the criminal justice system.

A Goodyear Six-Wheeled Bus From the 1920s

The bus was built under license from Goodyear by The Six-Wheel Co. Earlier Ellis W. Templin developed and filed a patent for the design of the Six-Wheel Truck for the Goodyear Tire Company on June 30, 1921.

Earlier Ellis W. Templin developed and filed a patent for the design of the Six-Wheel Truck for the Goodyear Tire Company on June 30, 1921.

Templin left Goodyear after the truck was developed and for a time went to Wisconsin and worked with others on the design. Later in a three-page article in the July 10, 1924 Automotive Industries covering the new low-slung Six-Wheel Bus, Templin was listed as the Chassis Engineer and Chester M. McCreery the Vice-President for the new Six-Wheel Co. The article also credited both with developing the concept for Goodyear.

The Company was a subsidiary of the The Six-Wheel Company, and both were located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The bus was on a 255-inch w.b. chassis that was the longest made in the US at the time. The new offering not only featured twin rear axles, but also a quickly-detachable Timken front axle and spring assembly. The engine was a rubber and spring-mounted 331 c.i. 70 h.p. Continental Six backed up by a Brown-Lipe gearset.

The Six-Wheel Co. Bus production line in Philadelphia, PA.

The body of the 27-passenger coach was of all steel construction with the exception of the roof, and made of manufactured panels that could be changed quickly after being damaged. This coach and its long wheelbase were intended for interurban service and a 31-inch shorter unit with a taller roofline was available for use in cities.

Very little other information was found covering the attractive, low and unique creation or how the enterprise fared. The top two photos are courtesy of hyperv6 whose great uncle worked for the Company. Look for an article covering the modern Edmond & Jones Model 20 Bullet-Shaped Headlamps that the bus is wearing tomorrow.

1. Continental Six – 2. Heavy bracing – 3. The longest chassis in the U.S.

1. Replaceable panels. 2. Window regulators 3. The finished interior with gray leather seats.

(This original article was published on The Old Motor)