1908: Haggerino the Harlem Tramp Cat of West 115th Street

The story of Old New York featuring 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, and the remarkable spiritual history of the neighborhood.

Picture this: It’s 1908 in Harlem. For two straight days, a blood-curdling howl echoes from the backyard of a brownstone on West 115th Street. Neighbors think it’s a burglar, a rabid raccoon, or even a murder in progress. But when they finally look up, they see the culprit: a large white cat, perched 60 feet up in a tree, too terrified to come down.

This isn't just any cat-in-a-tree story. This is the tale of Haggerino the Tramp, a neighborhood stray whose rescue mission involved two heroic kids, a police cat from the local precinct, and one very large cop. Yes, you read that right. A police cat.

Haggerino the Tramp, a well-known local stray, started his bizarre adventure by climbing a 60-foot tree.

It all began on Saturday, December 12, 1908, when Haggerino decided the view from the top of a tree behind 24 West 115th Street was worth the climb. It wasn’t. For two days and nights, his panicked cries rattled the entire block. Harris Fine, who lived in the handsome brownstone at 24, and his neighbor, Dr. Isaac Davidson, were baffled by the noise.

While some neighbors resorted to throwing old shoes and tomato cans to "help" the cat down, Dr. Davidson had a better idea: call the police. Soon, Officer Coogan from the 104th Street station arrived. The press noted that Coogan "was not a squad, although he did weigh about 300 pounds." He took one look at the sixty-foot climb, said "nope," and told the residents to call the SPCA instead.

By Monday morning, the situation was getting desperate. Enter our heroes: a 12-year-old boy named Rollo Kennedy and his friend, Abraham Lincoln Selig. As official badge-holders for the Junior League of the SPCA, they felt it was their sworn duty to save Haggerino.

The drama unfolded in the backyard of 24 West 115th Street, a classic Harlem brownstone.

Rollo devised a brilliant, if unorthodox, plan. They would go to the Harlem police station and request backup—feline backup. They asked to borrow Tom Findlay, the station’s official police cat, convinced he could coax Haggerino down. The officers, probably amused, agreed. The boys placed Tom in a basket and carried him to the scene of the crime.

At the base of the tree, Tom Findlay looked up and saw Haggerino. He immediately let out a series of supportive meows, like a furry hostage negotiator. It worked! Haggerino, encouraged by the sight of a fellow feline, began his descent.

But just as Haggerino was a few feet from the ground, the rescue took a wild turn. Tom Findlay suddenly switched from rescuer to arresting officer, leaping up with a furious hiss. Haggerino, clearly resisting arrest for public nuisance, fought back. The two cats tumbled into a furry, screeching ball of claws, then jumped a wall and vanished down the street together.

Rollo and Abraham were heartbroken. They had not only failed to secure the stray, but they had also lost Tom Findlay, the pride of the Harlem police force. We may never know if Tom ever found his way back to the station, but his bravery (or perhaps, territorial aggression) went down in history.

A Block With a Wild History

The story of Haggerino the Tramp is wild enough on its own, but the block where it all happened has a history that’s just as strange and fascinating. The brownstone at 24 West 115th Street and its neighbors saw some of New York’s most eccentric characters.

Just 25 years after the cat incident, the building next door at number 20 became the headquarters for a charismatic spiritual leader named Father Divine. A former handyman who claimed to be God, he turned the building into "Heaven No. 1," the center of his International Peace Mission movement. His followers, called "Angels," lived in communal dormitories, and the headquarters soon expanded to include numbers 22 and 24—the very site of Haggerino's tree!

By 1939, this block had become the headquarters for Father Divine's "Heaven No. 1," with No. 24 serving as an "extension heaven."

But Father Divine had a rival: another flamboyant preacher who called himself Sweet Daddy Grace. In 1938, Daddy Grace cheekily bought "Heaven No. 1" right out from under Father Divine, establishing his own United House of Prayer for All People. The spiritual showdown on West 115th was the talk of the town.

The block’s weird streak didn’t end there. By the late 1940s, the city slated the area for a massive new housing project. Before demolishing the old tenements, the Housing Authority launched a "war on rats" by scattering a 600-pound poisonous "fruit salad" of apples and carrots through the buildings' cellars. You can’t make this stuff up.

The Legacy of West 115th Street

Today, the brownstones where Haggerino, Father Divine, and Sweet Daddy Grace made their mark are gone. In their place stand the King Towers public housing complex, named for Martin Luther King Jr.

Today, the King Towers stand where 24 West 115th Street once was. The block's quirky spiritual history continues with an annual baptism by fire hose.

But the spirit of the old neighborhood lives on. Every year, the United House of Prayer, started by Daddy Grace, holds a spectacular baptism ceremony where congregants are sprayed with a fire hose right on the street—a tradition that brings a piece of the block's wild past into the present.

So, next time you’re in Harlem, take a walk down West 115th Street. As you look at the trees around the King Towers, you can wonder if any of them are old enough to remember Haggerino the Tramp, the cat who caused a commotion so big it required another cat to solve it.