“MRS. CAT” of No. 40 FIRST PL. (1925)
******************************************************************************************************************************** Brownstone Detectives investigates the history of our clients’ homes. The story you are about to read was composed from research conducted in the course of one of those investigations. Do you know the history of YOUR house? ******************************************************************************************************************************** (Ed.’s note: The following story comes from the Tues., 1 September 1925 issue of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle; it tells the all-to-familiar story of a woman removed from her home for keeping too many cats.) “The aftermath of the third successive raid by agents of the S. P. C. A. on an old brownstone house at 40 1st pl., occurred today, in the Fifth Avenue Court with the arraignment of George H. Ingraham, nephew of the eccentric Mrs. Gertrude Hale, who for a score of years had made the house a haven for homeless cats, on a charge of assault. A 7-year-old girl, who the police say was injured when Ingraham hurled a milk bottle at a battery of photographers in front of the house, made the complaint against Ingraham. “In last night’s raid on the house three agents from the society went through the building from top to bottom and nabbed 10 cats of all sizes and descriptions, which they removed in an ambulance to the society’s headquarters. This made a total of 27 cats captures in the home of the eccentric recluse, though the agents estimated that at least an equal number of cats had escaped from the premises. The other 17 cats were captured in raids made Friday […]
IT’S RAINING CATS! HALLELUJAH! (1887)
******************************************************************************************************************************** Brownstone Detectives investigates the history of our clients’ homes. The story you are about to read was composed from research conducted in the course of one of those investigations. Do you know the history of YOUR house? ******************************************************************************************************************************** It once rained cats on Grand Street. The felines were tossed and dropped rather dramatically from the rafters of a playhouse in Williamsburgh. When the Society For the Prevention of Cruelties to Animals got wind of the act, they decided to buy a ticket to the show, “Soap Bubble”… IT’S RAINING CATS…HALLELUJAH! In Williamsburg, in the late 1800s, there existed a show hall which sat in the middle of Grand Street between Bedford and Driggs avenues at No. 166. Known for a time as the Grand Street Museum, it had a run of only five years between 1885 and 1889. But the Museum made the papers in 1887, for a cruel cat storm that played out upon their boards… In the latter part of 1887, a show by the name of “Soap Bubble,” was making its debut in the district. Although it wasn’t creating much of a stir, it so happened that a letter about the show was received at the offices of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The letter made a serious accusation, referring to “cruelty to cats” that was being “exhibited nightly” during the play. The writer, who noted he’d spent an evening at the theatre, stated that during the first act a “large number […]
