One day after Tige, the police cat of the NYPD headquarters building, gave birth to four kittens, a detective recorded their paw prints on official NYPD fingerprint sheets.
Posts Tagged ‘Cats of Old New York’
1936: Tige, the NYPD Cat Who Gave Birth in the Fingerprint Room
Posted: 19th March 2022 by The Hatching Cat in Cats in the Mews, Feline MascotsTags: 240 Centre Street, Cats of Old New York, John A. Lyons, NYPD history, police cats
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1897: The Cobble Hill Cat That Caused a Commotion in St. Paul’s Church
Posted: 12th March 2022 by The Hatching Cat in Cat Stories, Cats in the MewsTags: Brooklyn History, Cats of Old New York, Cobble Hill, Cornelius Heeney, Father William J. Hill, St. Paul's Church
A gaunt tabby cat, a tiny poodle, and a few hysterical children walk into a church… No, this is not the start of a bad bar joke, but it was the start of a comedy of errors that took place at St. Paul’s Roman Catholic Church in the Cobble Hill section of Brooklyn on May 2, 1897. According to The New York Times, “never before had such a commotion been raised in this church.”
1925: Dunder, the Carnegie Hill Cat Who Survived a Suicide and Inherited a Fortune
Posted: 27th February 2022 by The Hatching Cat in Cat Stories, Cats in the MewsTags: 172 East 85th Street, Andrew Carnegie, Carnegie Hill, Cats of Old New York, Elizabeth Berhm, Eugene Berhm, New York City History
Mrs. Elizabeth W. Berhm, a kindly widow of about 61 years old, had always devoted herself to animals. She was known in her Carnegie Hill neighborhood as the “cat woman” because her home was always open to stray cats. In her small, two-room apartment at the rear of 172 East 85th Street, milk and kindness were always waiting for any cat that needed it.
No doubt, then, the neighbors must have been shocked to learn that Elizabeth had almost taken the life of her own pet cat, Dunder, while she committed suicide.
1904-1932: Bertha, Patches, Minnie, and Other Holiday-Time Hero Cats of Old New York
Posted: 18th December 2021 by The Hatching Cat in Cat Stories, Cats in the MewsTags: Cat Heroes, Cats in the Mews, Cats of Old New York, Daniel De Lena, Jacob Braunstein, Joseph Gerlich, New York City History
It’s time to celebrate some holiday-time hero cats who saved the lives of their humans and kittens in emergency situations.
Here are just a few stories of hero cats from Brooklyn and New York newspapers published from 1904 to 1932.
1901: Tom, the Deaf Cat of New York’s Post Office Feline Police Force
Posted: 30th October 2021 by The Hatching Cat in Cat Men, Cat Stories, Cats in the MewsTags: Cats of Old New York, Gustave Fersenheim, New York City History, New York General Post Office, post office cats, Thomas Gallaudet
A librarian recently asked me what makes an old news story worthy of further research and posting on my website. I told her that not only does it need to be a great animal tale, but it must also be a good people story or have ties to interesting historical buildings or events. The following story about a deaf New York Post Office cat and the deaf postal worker who loved him meets all my criteria for a fabulous animal story of Old New York. Sit back and enjoy.
