The following story of Old New York features a cat stuck in a tree on West 115th Street, two little boys named Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln, a Harlem police cat named Tom Findlay, a hefty police officer, two spiritual leaders named Father Divine and Sweet Daddy Grace, a Harlem cow pasture, the King Towers (NYCHA housing), a 600-pound fruit salad, a war on rats, and an annual baptism by fire hose.
Yep, this one is not your average cat story. And it’s all true.
Our story begins on Saturday, December 12, 1908. This is the day a well-known neighborhood stray cat called Haggerino the Tramp climbed to the top of a 60-foot tree in the back yard of 24 West 115th Street. I’m not sure what possessed the cat to climb so high, but once he reached the top, he was too scared to come back down…