Pep the Puppy: Framed as a Cat Killer

A Hero Dog Story

Does this look the face of a murderer to you?

No? Then you have good judgement, because Pep was framed by the media and spent the rest of his life in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Pep was a good boy. He never killed that cat. He did murder some couch cushions though.

In 1923 Gifford Pinchot was the newly elected governor of Pennsylvania. His wife’s nephew gifted them a Labrador puppy to congratulate the Pinchots on the victory. But Pep was a chewer, and he massacred the family sofa. Rather than train Pep to not do that, an elected official conspired to have the poor pupper spend the rest of his life behind bars. A corrupt politician sending an innocent to jail? Never heard of that happening before.

Well, it’s kinda crappy that he decided to unload the dog, but that’s not exactly how it went down. Pinchot was close friends with the new warden at Eastern State Penitentiary, Colonel John Groome. The prison, which had been in operation for almost a century, was terribly overcrowded, and prisoner morale suffered. I mean, it suffered more than you would expect for having a bunch of people locked inside it.

Anyway, Pinchot read about how the governor of Maine had donated a dog to the Maine State Prison to help boost prisoner morale, and thought that a grand idea. In July of 1924 he offered Pep to his friend Warden Groome.

As a joke, upon gifting Pep to the prison as a companion for those serving time there, they took the dog’s mugshot with his identification as inmate #C2559, paw printed him, and wrote in the intake log that he was sentenced to “Life” for “Murder.” His known alias was “A Dog”.

Then some local reporter decided to take a buttload of artistic license with a story about Pep’s “incarceration,” saying that Pep had murdered the governor’s wife’s cherished cat, and that was why he was taken from his dog house and sent off to the big house for the rest of his life.

And people believed it.

And then they freaked out.

Several other papers jumped on the story and began to publish missives about how Pep was being unjustly treated, writing, “All dog lovers will protest this sentence as an outrageous miscarriage of justice.” Hundreds of protests took place as far away as the Philippines, demanding Pep’s release. The governor also received thousands of letters protesting the harsh sentence handed down.

The Pinchots spoke to the press several times saying it was all a joke, no cats were harmed, Pep is a good boy and he was donated to the prison for humanitarian reasons. The governor said Pep “goes as a missionary to show what a good dog can do in the redemption” of prisoners, explaining that the reason he sent Pep to prison was “with the hope that the lot of prisoners would be lightened and their progress advanced by having a dog for company.” The governor’s wife, Cornelia Bryce-Pinchot, who was a noted conservationist and women’s rights activist, finally laid the rumors to rest in 1926 telling the New York Times that Pep “never killed a cat or anything else … It is all a slanderous and unjustified attack on his reputation.”

Pep may have been behind the main gate, but he wasn’t behind bars. The good boy had the run of the prison and was well-loved by inmates and guards. He lived there for five years, and for a time was the second most famous inmate at the institution. Al Capone served his first prison sentence in 1929 at Eastern State Penitentiary, spending seven months behind bars for possession of a concealed and unlicensed .38 caliber pistol.

That same year Pep was “transferred” to the newly constructed State Correctional Institution—Graterford, where he lived the rest of his days as a loving companion to those incarcerated there. After a long life, Pep was buried on the prison grounds “with a tender reverence in a favorite flower bed.”

Eastern State Penitentiary closed in 1971 and then reopened in 1988 as a tourist destination. Many go there to see Capone’s old cell, lavishly decorated because while he may have been serving time, he was a wealthy “celebrity criminal” that normal rules didn’t apply to. But the story of Pep, with his mugshot hanging on the decaying prison walls, is another main attraction of the ancient institution.

Pep’s legacy helped spawn a variety of programs that involve bringing pets into prisons for rehabilitative purposes, and it’s not just the prisoners who benefit. One program called “New Leash on Life” provides training to inmates on how to properly care for and socialize shelter dogs to help them become more adoptable. The inmates learn “practical life and social-emotional skills” as part of the program to assist with re-entering society, and the dogs are helped in finding their forever homes.

The dogs and the inmates rescue each other.

This piece is the latest in a new weekly series of mine about hero dogs from history. The rest are for paying subscribers. Links to other hero dog stories are below. Click the green button to subscribe:

A Yorkie Doodle Dandy – The story of a Yorkshire Terrier found in a foxhole during World War II who became the first ever therapy dog and also undertook an act of bravery that saved the lives of many American soldiers.

Barry the St. Bernard – The story of a brave St. Bernard from the early 19th century who saved dozens of lost travelers in the alps.

Peritas: The First of the Hero Dogs – Peritas was Alexander the Great’s favorite dog, and is credited with saving the conqueror’s life in battle not once, but twice.

Her Name Was Pronounced “Brit-nee” — The tale of the last surviving search and rescue dog from 9/11.

Kabang Saves and is Saved — The tale of a dog in the Philippines who almost loses her life saving two young children but is saved by the generosity of others.