Mark Twain's Political Cat

When he was living in Manhattan in 1907, Twain adopted a stray cat whom he called Tammany. A tough little feline with a habit of staying out late, Tammany became one of Twain's favorite pets. The name was a sly reference to the symbol for the New York political machine, the Tammany Tiger. Like some of the roguish characters associated with Tammany Hall's Boss Tweed, Twain's cat liked getting into fights.

Shortly after Twain moved to his new mansion at Redding, Connecticut, in 1908, Tammany met her match in the woods surrounding the house. "Tammany is dead," Twain lamented. "I am very sorry. She was the most beautiful cat on this western bulge of the globe, and perhaps the most gifted. She leaves behind her, inconsolable, two children by her first marriage--Billiards and Babylon; and three grandchildren by her second--Amanda, Annanci, and Sindbad. She met her death by violence, at the hands of a dog."

The first appearance of the Tammany Tiger was in the above cartoon by Twain's friend, Thomas Nast, who was also responsible for popularizing the elephant symbol for the Republicans and the donkey for the Democrats.