Before the Brooklyn Bridge was built, there were tenements where the approaches are now. And in those tenement buildings–according to the Brooklyn Bridge watchman–were cats. Lots of cats. ( wonder if one of these cats was Ned of the Bridge, who christened the bridge in 1883?)
Speaking to a reporter from The Sun in 1895, the Brooklyn Bridge watchman explained that when the tenements came down, most of the cats roamed away. However, a few refused to leave, even when the buildings were reduced to ruins.
The Brooklyn Bridge workmen would sometimes feed the cats, but the felines had to become expert hunters in order to survive. “In time,” the Brooklyn Bridge watchman noted, “this activity made of them a superior race.”
The Brooklyn Bridge Watch Cat
On the day that The Sun reporter visited the Brooklyn Bridge watchman, he was using a long, straight stick to stroke his watch cat. The man explained that the grey cat with green eyes was better than a watch dog, and his abilities seemed unlimited. The cat could do everything but talk, but he was not entirely deficient in the vocal expression of ideas or facts.
“Let a stranger open the gate when I’m at the other end of the yard,” said the Brooklyn Bridge watchman, “and up will jump that cat with arched back and swelled tail, and he yeowls in a voice that causes the stranger to stop and gasp. By the time the stranger gets through gasping, I’m there asking him his business.”
The Brooklyn Bridge watchman continued, “He’s a thoroughbred, that cat is. No stranger can touch that cat.” The man then lifted the cat up by its tail to demonstrate that the watch cat completely trusted his master.
According to the Brooklyn Bridge watchman, the watch cat did not yeowl when a child entered the storage rooms on the Brooklyn side of the bridge. “He jumps up from his bed there in the dust beside the gate and makes for him with mouth and eyes wide open. Say! the kid don’t wait, he don’t He gits. I don’t know as the cat would hurt him or not. He ain’t never had a chance.”
The watch cat also never went after dogs. “If he did,” the watchman explained, “the dog ‘ud just open his mouth and swaller ‘im whole. He runs away from dogs like thunder.
“See that pile of lumber what’s no good? That’s where the cat goes to. He gits there ’bout three inches ahead of the dog, and while the dog’s closing up the gap ‘twixt ’em the cat turns around. When the dog starts coming for the gate the cat’s on his back a-clawing like slamnation, and holding on with his teeth.”
While the Brooklyn Bridge watchman talked about his cat, he began poking at piles of granite and stones. As the rats came out of the piles, the watch cat took a swipe at them, killing each one with his claws.
He then told the reporter a story about the cat and several dogs:
“Last week a gang of three dogs comes into the gate. They thought they had a snap, those dogs did. They walks in, slow like, Hully, thought the leader of the gans, here’s a puss. Yip! The other dogs joined in the chase after the cat.
Talk about yelping and barking. I heard it–couldn’t a helped it, and I got into sight just as the cat got up to that pile of lumber. I hollered. I was afraid they’d kill him. They didn’t look at me even.
Say! you won’t believe me when I tell it, but the cat rode two of them to the gate, and clawed the other one with a hind paw. I ain’t afraid he’ll get killed, ‘cept with shot, now. He’ll lick five dogs.”
The Brooklyn Bridge Cat Tribe
In addition to the watch cat, several other cats made their home on or near the Brooklyn Bridge. Some of these felines used the approaches to get onto the bridge, while others would climb upon it.
One cat, the Brooklyn Bridge watchman noted, even took a ride on one of the street cars that traveled over the bridge. He happened to be on the car when the cat curled up in a nearby seat and started to purr. The watchman petted the cat for a bit until the cat disembarked on the Brooklyn side.
Other cats would try to make friends with the Brooklyn Bridge policemen, who would sometimes share their lunch with the felines. Some of the men would try to pet the cats, but even those who got fed the most would not allow humans to get near them. There were, as the Brooklyn Bridge watchman explained, members of the bridge cat tribe.
