In 1909 Man arrested after selling catnip due to crowd created by cats on New York street. 🐱🚔
In 1909, a man named Herman Gottlieb walked through Upper Manhattan selling wild catnip he had gathered himself. The strong smell did something unexpected... it pulled neighborhood cats from alleys, doorsteps, and stoops. As he moved along Fifth Avenue near East Harlem, cats kept joining behind him, step by step.
Within minutes, around 30 to 40 cats surrounded and followed him closely. People stopped to watch the strange parade, laughing and pointing as the furry crowd grew. A police sergeant noticed the gathering and decided it counted as a disturbance. Gottlieb was arrested for inciting a crowd... even though the crowd was made of cats.
At the station, officers debated the law and quickly realized there was no rule for animal crowds. Gottlieb was released soon after and driven away, but the cats stayed behind, lingering around the station house. The moment became a strange local legend, showing how city life has always been unpredictable... and sometimes very funny.
Smithsonian Magazine: When Catnip Caused a Cat Riot in New York
New York Public Library: Odd Police Records of Early 1900s Manhattan
Atlas Obscura: The Day Catnip Got a Man Arrested
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