Old Whiskers (Harrison family goat)

The goat that turned a president into a sprinter. Old Whiskers pulled a cart for Benjamin Harrison's grandchildren, and one day, while Harrison waited at the North Portico for his carriage, the goat bolted through the White House gate with the children aboard. A newspaper reporter described the president running down Pennsylvania Avenue in pursuit. The goat was said to belong to Harrison's son Russell, and Frances Benjamin Johnston photographed him in harness on the lawn with the grandchildren, the picture shown here. It is one of the earliest White House pet stories you can see as well as read.