1901: Richard II and Richard III, the Swimming and Vegetarian Cats of the U.S. Barge Office at NYC’s Battery Park

Posted: 10th March 2019 by The Hatching Cat in Cat Mascots, Cat Stories
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How far would your cats be willing to go to catch a rat? Would they be willing to jump in a river like this barge office cat Old New York once did?

I can safely bet that Boo and Misha would never go swimming to catch a rat.

My two cats live indoors, and I’ve yet to see any type of rodent in my house, but I’d make a pretty high wager that neither Boo nor Misha would jump into a lake or river to catch a rat. In fact, I can easily picture them putting on the jelly-bean brakes at the edge of the water and watching the rodent swim away.

Richard II the Barge Office cat was an extraordinary exception to the feline rules. According to his owner, policeman Richard “Dick” Ganley, Richard II would do anything to catch a rat—he’d even jump into the Upper Bay and swim toward Governors Island or the Statue of Liberty in hot pursuit. Richard II could swim better than any duck, and it never took him long to catch up with the swimming rodents. According to Dick, his namesake always came out the winner, whether hunting rats by land or by sea.

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1905: The Elephants That Escaped the Ruhe Wild Animal Farm in Woodside, Queens

Posted: 1st March 2019 by The Hatching Cat in Animal Stories, Elephant Tales
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Woodside has been uncomfortable ever since the wild animal farm, as it is known locally, was opened about a year ago. Every woman in the place has predicted that the animals would escape some dark, cold night and wipe out the town, devouring buildings and inhabitants. These predictions came near becoming true on Monday night… Every one trembled as word was passed from house to house, ‘The Ruhe wild animal farm has broken loose and we shall all be eaten alive.’–Brooklyn Daily Eagle, August 23, 1905

It wasn’t a cold night, the entire population of the animal farm did not escape, and the town wasn’t devoured. But it was probably dark when 10 elephants from the Ruhe Wild Animal Farm at 50-15 47th Avenue in Woodside, Queens, broke lose from their wooden enclosures and went trampling and trumpeting through the thick woods surrounding the farm buildings. As news of their escape spread, young boys gathered around 47th Avenue, Queens Boulevard, and 50th Street to watch as the animals’ caretakers rode around on horseback carrying elephant hooks, spears, ropes, and other tools.

Ruhe Wild Animal Farm resident veterinarian Gustave Vestermann with Zinna, a four-year-old baby elephant.
Ruhe Wild Animal Farm resident veterinarian Gustave Vestermann with Zinna, a four-year-old baby elephant, in 1928.

Eventually all the elephants were rounded up and placed back in their enclosures. But it was a long time before sleep returned to Woodside (word is, there was a lot of activity at the local saloons that night).

Yes, this was Woodside Queens, adjacent to the Calvary Cemetery on Queens Boulevard, where a giant PC Richards electronics store and parking lot now stand. Amazing what 110 years can do to a place.

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1842: The Pig That Dug Up a Pot of Gold in Sunnyside, Queens

Posted: 19th February 2019 by The Hatching Cat in Animal Stories
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…But for the investigating nose of the old sow it would have remained there this day…Brooklyn Daily Eagle, September 16, 1888

How many more pots of gold are buried around the same old premises the tourist does not really know, finding pots of gold not being his vocation.–Newtown Register, August 19, 1886

Vintage pig in barn
Were it not for Mr. Conklin’s pig, a large pot of gold could have been buried in Sunnyside forever.

In my last post about the feline mascot of TWA pilots at La Guardia Airport, I wrote about all the items that were buried to create landfill when the airport was constructed in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Some of the items included a colonial-era graveyard, some amusement park rides, a few hundred old safes, and several thousand automobiles.

While I was doing research for that story, I dug up an obscure tale about a pig that dug up a pot of gold on the old Teunis Brinckerhoff farm. The farm had been located on a hillside near the Dutch Kills Creek, in the neighborhood we now call Sunnyside, Queens.

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1940: Strato Lizzie, the Mascot Cat of the TWA Pilots at NYC’s LaGuardia Airport

Posted: 12th February 2019 by The Hatching Cat in Cat Mascots, Cat Stories
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Strato Lizzie, mascot cat of TWA pilots at LaGuardia Airport
Strato Lizzie, pictured here with the trophy and ribbon that she won in a Minneapolis cat show, was the feline mascot for the TWA pilots at the brand-new LaGuardia Field airport. The Queens, New York airport has an interesting history–and some fascinating things buried underneath its tarmacs and runways.

Once upon a time–around 1638–a farmer named Hendrick Harmensen took his cows from New Amsterdam and re-settled on a point of land along the Bowery Bay, where the East River and Flushing Bay meet on the northern tip of what we now call East Elmhurst, Queens. For several years, Harmensen–also known as Henrick the Boor or Henry the Farmer–was the only farmer on the north side of Long Island.

Hendrick Harmensen was reportedly killed by Native Americans during an uprising in 1643. Over the next 200 years, the land was occupied by numerous Dutch settlers and their descendants, including members of the Fish, Jackson, Luyster, Rapelye, Riker Cornell, Brinckerhoff, Schenck, Noorstrandt, Coggins, Purdy, Klock, Berrien, and Kouwenhoven families.

Many of these settlers were buried in a small family cemetery on a bluff overlooking the Bowery Bay. The cemetery has been buried under LaGuardia Airport for 80 years.

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1912: Captain, the New York City Feline Mascot of the RMS Carpathia

Posted: 3rd February 2019 by The Hatching Cat in Cat Mascots, Cat Stories
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On April 11, 1912, the RMS Carpathia departed from Chelsea Piers in New York City for Fiume (present-day Rijeka, Croatia), carrying about 740 passengers. The ship never reached its destination on this particular departure.

The Carpathia at Pier 54, Chelsea Piers
The Carpathia at Pier 54, Chelsea Piers

Just after midnight on April 15, 1912, Carpathia‘s wireless operator, Harold Cottam, received some messages from Cape Cod stating they had private traffic for the Titanic.

Cottam relayed the message to the Titanic. In response, he received a distress signal stating the ship had struck ice and was in need of immediate assistance.

After failing to get a response from some officers on the bridge, Cottam ran to the captain’s cabin to awake Captain Arthur Henry Rostron.

The captain immediately sprang into action and ordered the ship to turn around and travel full speed toward the troubled Titanic. Rostron later testified that the Titanic was 67 miles away and that it took the Carpathia—reaching maximum speeds up to 17.5 knots —three and a half hours to reach her.

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