January 25, 1909
On this day in history, the Alexander Avenue police station (former 37th Precinct) in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx acquired a new mascot. It was a “half-starved, black and white kitten not more than four or five inches long.” According to the Evening World, if Policeman Bill O’Malley hadn’t been a sailor in his previous life, the kitten “would have met a terrible fate, instead of lapping up cream from a saucer.”
The feline saga began when Mrs. Solomon Erickson of 576 East 135th Street came into the police station to report some wicked boys abusing a cat near her home. In between sobs, she told Captain Joe Post that she could see the boys through her kitchen window. Her window overlooked what was then Southern Boulevard, between Brook and St. Ann’s Avenue.
“It was a shame, Captain, an outrage” she said. “You must send your men right away and have it stopped.” Her tears reportedly flowed so heavily that the captain could barely make sense of her words.
“Calm yourself, madam, and speak slowly, and I will help you,” he told her. Mrs. Erickson told him about the little kitten on top of a telephone pole, where it had perched since the day before.
“Wicked boys are throwing pieces of ice and sticks at it,” she said in between sobs. “If you don’t send your men right away to stop them I will climb the pole myself and bring down that kitten if it breaks my neck.”
Captain Post called for Policeman O’Malley, knowing he had once been a sailor. “You’re always bragging how you used to be a sailorman and loved to lay aloft in a howling gale,” the captain said. “Now, here’s your chance. If you can climb like you say you can, go with this lady and shin up that pole and save that kitten.”
“Aye, aye, sir,” O’Malley said, while leading Mrs. Erickson out the door.
When O’Malley and Mrs. Erickson reached the pole, a large group of boys scattered in all directions. Without removing his coat or cap, the stout policeman (the newspaper used this word, noting that he had put on weight since his sailing days) shinned up the pole with hardly any effort.
In two minutes, he reached the top and came face-to-face with the kitten. She arched her back, swelled her tail, and spat at him.
“Don’t mind that, she can’t hurt you,” Mrs. Erickson reassured him from the street below.
O’Malley seized the clawing and scratching kitten, tucked her under his arm, and slowly made his way down the pole in three minutes time. When he reached the ground, the crowd gathered around the pole began to cheer.
Mrs. Erickson asked the policeman if he wanted to keep the kitten. “You saved her and you deserve her.” O’Malley replied, “Lord bless you, I’ve got two cats of my own and no room for any more. But I’ll take her to the station and we’ll make a mascot of her.”
When the kitten and her cat-man hero returned to the station, Captain Post immediately adopted her as station mascot.
If you enjoyed this story, you may enjoy reading this cat story from 1901, about the cats that took over a Bronx tenement–which, incidentally, was just around the corner from Mrs. Erickson’s house.
