Q. It was unfortunate that the Bronx deer granted clemency by the governor last year met such a sad end. But didn’t another animal make a bid for leniency decades ago in New York?

A. Tammany, a cat who roamed City Hall in the 1930s, not only received a reprieve, but also was said to have typed the letter seeking clemency himself. Tammany’s story ended more happily than that of the deer who was found stranded in a Harlem park in December, prompting a governmental back-and-forth on whether to euthanize him. Shortly after Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s “pardon,” the deer died before it could be released.

In 1930 or so, Mayor James J. Walker found Tammany, a grayish and white tabby, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and brought him inside to help catch rats, said Peggy Gavan, who runs The Hatching Cat website, a forum that explores unusual animal tales of old New York. The cat was named after Tammany Hall, the political machine that ruled City Hall.

Tammany was a particular favorite in Room No. 9, where the journalists were quartered.

“They would pose him for pictures there,” Ms. Gavan said. “And there were stories about how he didn’t love the publicity, but he got great press anyway. They adored him.”