Archive for February, 2015

One of Brian’s biggest jokes involved a stray cat that he purchased for a dime in 1895 from a young bootblack on Hester Street who was just about to drown it. According to one news report, Brian bought the cat because he was attracted to the cat’s six toes.

Mike was no ordinary fire dog. In fact, he was no ordinary Dalmatian. As the son of Oakie and Bess, two of the most famous mascot dogs in the history of the Fire Department of New York, he was destined for greatness as the fire dog of Engine Company 8.

Help! Murder! Murder! The loud cries for help pierced the early morning stillness in Madison Square Park, nearly startling Policeman Betts out of his shoes as he walked his beat near the Hoffman House Hotel on Broadway and 25th Street.

In 1878, the first documented Siamese cat to reach the United States moved into the White House. In 1904, the crew of the steamship Satsuma brought a very sacred Siamese cat and her kittens to Red Hook, Brooklyn.

Part II of the Fire Horse Heroes and the City Farm “These old hero-horses, as I think they should be called, deserve a better fate than city pavements until they die of exhaustion. On the city farm in Warwick we have 800 acres of wonderful rolling country. We have a lake over a mile long. […]