Molly of Myers of Keswick, Who Soared to International Fame in 2006, Meets with a Cruel and Unjust End in Obscurity Fifteen Years Later

Molly Lived at a Delicatessen for More Than Fourteen Years

"We take comfort in the long and happy years she lived at the store, where she made many friends. We cannot imagine a world without Molly but feel deeply grateful to have known her and hope you did too."

-- Jennifer Myers-Pulidore of Myers of Keswick

Tempus fugit, memento mori.

Life is awfully short but it is even briefer for a cat. Blink once and a beloved companion is gone forever.

Way back in April of 2006, a beautiful, eleven-month-old black female named Molly made headlines around the world when she became trapped inside the walls of an English-style delicatessen in Manhattan's Greenwich Village. Born in May of 2005, she had been adopted in January of 2006 from a shelter, presumably in New York City, by Peter Myers of Myers of Keswick at 634 Hudson Street in order to serve as his chief mouser and store mascot.

Given that shelters in the Big Apple are little more than thinly disguised feline extermination camps, that act of compassion on his part in all likelihood saved Molly's life. It did not take him long however in order to blot his copybook and he did so on March 31st by allowing her to mysteriously disappear through his inattentiveness.

He quickly compounded that initial error by falsely blaming someone else for her disappearance. "We missed her the first day but because she is such a pretty little cat I thought someone had stolen her," he admitted to The Times of London on April 13, 2006. (See "Bid to Save Molly the Mouser.")

It accordingly was not until three days later on April 2nd that he got around to notifying the authorities and that only occurred after he accidentally had overheard her meowing from inside the walls of the nineteenth-century, four-story structure that houses his delicatessen. The fire department and Animal Care and Control (ACC) did show up at his store but neither of them was willing to lift so much as a lousy finger in order to rescue Molly.

Cat therapists and psychics were called in and traps were baited with mackerel to no avail. Bricks were removed and holes drilled in the walls.

A video camera was lowered into darkened crevices. Recordings of whales and gulls were played in an attempt to entice Molly to come out. Kittens were even pressed into service so as to hopefully arouse her maternal instincts.

While all of that was going on inside the store, a three-ring circus comprised of the media, cat-lovers, and ailurophobes had set up shop outside on the sidewalk and in the street. Unfortunately, none of those tactics nor the racket churned up by those outside contributed anything positive toward locating and saving Molly.

A Caged Molly with Peter Myers and Kevin Clifford after Her Rescue

That herculean task was left to a pair of kindhearted individuals who had volunteered their services for free. The first one to step up to the plate was Alan Fierstein who employed sophisticated sound-detecting equipment in order to have located Molly trapped inside a tube behind a first-floor wall.

That discovery in turn allowed construction worker Kevin Clifford of Queens to pull Molly to safety by her tail at 10:13 p.m. on Friday, April 4th. By that time she had been forced to endure an agonizingly lengthy thirteen days of confinement without sustenance.

"I saw her eyes shining in the light. I was calling her, and she was meowing to me," he later told The New York Times on April 15, 2006. (See "The Fraidy-Cat of Hudson Street Is Yanked to Safety.") "She was scared."

Although he had been as slow as Christmas to have acted, Myers was overjoyed at the outcome. "It feels like I just won the lottery," he cooed to the New York Daily News on April 15th. (See "Ending Is the Cat's Meow.") "We're glad to have her back."

Although she was famished, thirsty, dusty, and frightened, Molly was amazingly otherwise unscathed. It is theorized that she survived her long and terrifying ordeal by subsisting on insects, rodents, and dripping water.

For his part, Myers wasted little time in remedying Molly's nutritional deprivations by treating her to a sumptuous meal that consisted of pork along with sardines in olive oil. While she was scarfing down her first real meal in two weeks, he and his young daughter, Jennifer, celebrated her return with champagne and English ale. Being a non-tippler herself, Molly made do with water.

On Monday, April 17th, Molly and Jennifer appeared with Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa on ABC Television's Good Day New York. It was the New York Mets baseball team, however, that best symbolized what Molly had come to mean to New Yorkers and, for that matter, the entire cat-loving world, when on the night of her deliverance it interrupted a game at the now demolished Shea Stadium in Flushing in order to announce to the crowd that she had been found safe and sound. (See Cat Defender post of April 20, 2006 entitled "Molly Is Finally Rescued After Spending Two Weeks Trapped Inside the Walls of an English Deli in Greenwich Village.")

Much like life itself, fame also is fleeting and as a result Molly's star disappeared from the firmament almost as rapidly as it had ascended. Nothing further concerning her appeared in the press and with Manhattan being far too dangerous in order to visit and its denizens being too bigoted and obnoxious to willingly rub elbows with, she soon was all but forgotten.

It accordingly was not until nearly seventeen years later that it accidentally was learned what had become of her. As it turned out, she had gamely soldiered on at Myers' delicatessen until April of 2020 when it shut down for three weeks due to the pandemic.

Lewis Was Killed Off by His Ungrateful Owner

With Myers having sacked up his shekels in 2019 and returned home to Keswick, a small town of fewer than five-thousand residents located fifty-one kilometers southwest of Carlisle in Cumbria, Jennifer now married and known as Myers-Pulidore, ascended to the throne as top dog at the store and she wasted little time in availing herself of the opportunity afforded her by COVID-19 in order to have quickly gotten rid of Molly. She did so by exiling her to Jersey City in order to live with an unidentified employee of the store.

"When we reopened we thought Molly was better off living a life of luxury in Jersey City," is how that she dishonestly attempted to justify her totally unforgivable and heartless behavior to the New York Post on October 23, 2021. (See "Tributes Pour in for Archie, the Cat at Manhattan's Myers of Keswick.")

Finally, in an article entitled "Our Cat Molly" that is posted on Myers of Keswick's web site, it was learned that Molly had died in December of 2021 following a brief battle with cancer but even that admission hardly qualifies as the unvarnished truth. Au contraire, all feline deaths that occur in December are highly suspicious.

The usual routine calls for nominal Christians and others to keep their cats alive through Christmas Day only to turn around and have them whacked on either the following day or sometime before the arrival of the new year. For example, that was all but certain the cruel fate that befell a handsome, and apparently as healthy as a horse, eighteen-year-old orange tom named Lewis on Boxing Day of 2014.

He had worked for fifteen years at Downtown Home and Garden at 210 South Ashley Street in Ann Arbor but the store's seventy-one-year-old owner, Mark Hodesh, was determined to unload his business by the year's end and he wanted no further part in caring for him. Although he easily could have rewarded him for his long and faithful service by placing him in another home, he unconscionably had him killed off. (See Cat Defender post of January 15, 2015 entitled "Lewis, Ann Arbor's Much Celebrated Garden Shop Cat, Departs This World Under Highly Suspicious Circumstances.")

Since Myers-Pulidore, like Hodesh, has plenty of moola, she easily could have afforded to have had Molly's cancer treated and thus to have extended her life but she instead was too cheap and uncaring in order to have done even that much for her. Besides, considering the amount of business that Molly had brought in to her delicatessen she owed her at least that much in return.

No mention has been made concerning what was done with Molly's remains but more than likely they were either tossed out in the trash or burned. All that therefore remains of her is to be found in cyberspace, photographs, and the memories of those who knew her.

"We take comfort in the long and happy years she lived at the store, where she made many friends," Myers-Pulidore wrote in "Our Cat Molly." "We cannot imagine a world without Molly but feel deeply grateful to have known her and hope you did too."

That is not a bad eulogy but it stands in stark contrast to Myers-Pulidore's abandonment of her. In particular, it is highly doubtful that she even so much as once laid eyes on her again after she had exiled her from her place of business.

Barely Out of Kittenhood, Archie Was Killed by a Pair of Pit Bulls

Heartlessness apparently runs in the Myers clan. For instance, it was reported in April of 2006 that her father had balked at footing the bill for any damage that rescuers might have done to his precious little delicatessen. That was in spite of the fact that the landlord had given them permission to drill holes in the walls and an anonymous donor had generously agreed to pay for Molly's rescue.

Even Clifford was critical of Myers' stinginess. "If that (getting trapped in a wall) ever happened to me, I hope they (rescuers) would keep working that way," he told the New York Daily News on April 16, 2006. (See "Molly's Already Feline (sic) Just Fine.")

It is difficult to speculate on what kind of existence Molly had at the deli other than to say that she at least had a home, food, heat, and some level of security. Since the store is open seven days a week except on holidays, she likely seldom was left alone for extended periods of time, which is a major concern with just about all working cats and mascots who quite often are abandoned to their own devices for days at a time.

Even so, she still was deprived of the fellowship of other cats and access to the wonders of nature. Considering that her new guardian worked days at the deli, Molly likely was forced into spending the majority of her last eighteen months on this earth locked up all alone in either an apartment or a house across the river in Jersey City.

C'est-à-dire, the lion's share of the benefits to have been derived from this relationship accrued to the deli and its bottom line rather than to Molly. Myers-Pulidore certainly had it well within her power to have done considerably better by Molly than she did but to expect a confirmed shekel-chaser to think of anything other than money is to have asked too much of her.

All of Molly's years of faithful service and companionship to the Myers family meant absolutely nothing to any of them. Her international acclaim likewise failed to have saved her. In the end, she was proven to have been nothing more to them than a poorly paid and expendable employee.

After Myers of Keswick had gotten rid of Molly it wasted little time in adopting a very young tuxedo kitten named Archie in May of 2020. He was given to the establishment by one of its kitchen workers and named in honor of Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan Markle.

That in itself confirms Myers-Pulidore to be an admirer of the filthy and parasitic royal family. She also apparently goes gaga every time celebrities, such as Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, Dave Gahan of Depeche Mode, and actress Sarah Jessica Parker of "Sex in the City" fame, condescend to stop by her grubby little deli.

She therefore is clearly a social climber with stars in her eyes and who identifies with the rich and the famous and that hardly qualifies her as a cat-lover. Contrary to what she and most individuals fervently believe, it is actually those at the bottom of society's perverted pecking order, such as the animals, Mother Earth, and the honest and decent poor, that have any intrinsic value and most assuredly not the flotsam and jetsam of the human race who have murdered, stolen, and lied their way to the top. Most importantly of all, there is a world of difference between appreciating and revering a cat as opposed to nakedly exploiting her for personal gain and then getting rid of her once she becomes expendable. 

Jennifer Myers-Pulidore (rear left) and Her Staffers Mourn Archie

Archie immediately proved himself to be a real financial asset for the store and that very well could have been the true reason why Myers-Pulidore gave Molly the bum's rush. That is to say, she wanted a younger and more energetic mascot.

"He took to the store immediately and immediately stole the hearts of everyone," she declared to the New York Post in the October 23, 2021 article cited supra. "In such a dreary time (the pandemic), Archie warmed the hearts of so many. You wanted to go visit him at the store."

One can almost hear the cash register humming in the back of Myers-Pulidore's desiccated gourd as she tallied up her greenbacks. Not only did Archie more than pay for his upkeep but he also was a big hit with her employees.

"Archie wasn't just a store cat," she continued to the New York Post. "He belonged to all the employees who worked here."

Tragically, Archie's financial value to the store did not magically transform Myers-Pulidore and her staffers into responsible guardians of him. As any true aficionado of the species knows only too well, joint custody of a cat is a prescription for, at best, neglect and, at worst, disaster.

"He wandered to other businesses on the block," she acknowledged to the New York Post. "He had such a personality. Actually, I think he was a little full of himself, which made him more endearing."

With New York City being as clogged as it is with motorists and pedestrians, no one who cared so much as a whit about a cat would ever let him roam. As things soon turned out, Archie was not even safe sitting by the front door of the deli.

Consequently, on October 20, 2021 he was mauled to death by a pair of pit bulls. "It's awful...He literally sat right by our door, minding his own business," Myers-Pulidore informed the New York Post. "They just went at him and the owner couldn't hold them back."

Ironically, it had been a kindhearted dog-lover, Kevin Clifford, who had saved Molly's life all those years ago but in this instance it was an irresponsible and callous one that cost Archie his young life. Weighing only a measly eight pounds and barely out of kittenhood at seventeen months of age, he never would have stood a chance against even one pit bull, let alone two.

Miss Pearl Was Savagely Killed by a Dog at the Annapolis Maritime Museum

"We rushed him to the vet but despite their (sic) heroic efforts, his wee heart did not hold up," Myers-Pulidore summed up to the New York Post.

That possibly could be true but, on the other hand, it also is conceivable that she simply was too cheap in order to have footed the bill for his treatment and convalescence. His remains were cremated and reportedly buried outside the delicatessen which likely was more of a sendoff than Molly ever received.

"We are all devastated and would appreciate that you respect our privacy as we grieve for our beautiful wee Archie. He was so full of life, an adventurer at heart," is how that Myers-Pulidore chose to eulogize him on Instagram. "He will be missed not only by us but by so many of our customer base, who were so kind to him with their love and generosity regarding attention, toys and treats. We hold you all in our thoughts and hearts."

She would have sounded considerably more sincere if she could have refrained from repeatedly patronizing him with the diminutive "wee." Actually, his heart was considerably bigger and fuller than hers.

It is not known if the killer dogs and their owner ever were identified and brought to justice but that seems unlikely. Although it is open season everywhere on cats, it is difficult to think of a single case whereby any killer dog and its owner has been held accountable.

In fact, all across the globe dogs surely must kill hundreds of thousands of cats and kittens each year and the culprits are by no means limited to pit bulls. For example, like the officers of the law that they serve, police dogs also attack and kill cats. (See Cat Defender post of July 2, 2015 entitled "After Allowing One of Their Dogs to Maul McGuire to Within an Inch of His Life, the Toronto Police Do Not Have Even the Common Decency to Summon Veterinary Help for Him.")

It likewise is common practice for canine owners to purposefully release their charges from their leashes and to sic then on cats. Every bit as revolting, such barbarism delights these sociopaths no end. (See Cat Defender posts of July 18, 2015, March 17, 2017, September 27, 2019, and March 20, 2023 entitled, respectively, "A Blackpudlian Thrill Seeker Who Sicced Her Pit Bull on Regi and Then Laughed Off Her Fat Ass as He Tore Him Apart Receives a Customary Clean Bill of Health from the Courts," "Already Sans an Appendage, Simon Loses a Second One to a Killer Dog but His Devoted Owners Elect to Allow Him to Live and He Rewards Them Handsomely by Making a Remarkable Adjustment," "Sparkle Is Killed on the Front Stoop of Her House by an Unleashed Dog in the Latest of Centuries-Old Deadly Attacks That Bear the Unmistakable Imprimatur of the House of Commons," and "Mauled to Within an Inch of His Life by Either a Dog or a Coyote and Afterwards Cruelly Left to Suffer in the Bitter Cold and Deep Snow for More Than a Month by the Lewis County Humane Society, Warden Not Only Perseveres but Now Has Hope for a Better Life.")

Failed American cities such as Memphis deliberately allow large and vicious dogs to roam freely and, as a consequence, to maul and kill cats with impunity. (See Cat Defender post of April 30, 2023 entitled "The City of Memphis Is Refusing to Remove a Pair of Dogs from the Street No Matter How Many Cats That They Kill.")

Some derelict owners even allow dogs to maul cats that live under the same roofs with them. (See Cat Defender post of August 14, 2021 entitled "Amazing Little Juicebox Overcomes Not Only a Near Fatal Mauling at the Hands of His Owners' Dog but also Penury and Being Cruelly Abandoned to Shift for Himself Inside the Snake Pit World of Veterinary Medicine.") 

Gracie with Store Employee Irene Donnelly

In the elder Myers' home country of Angleterre, cats and their owners are routinely preyed upon by foxhounds. (See Cat Defender post of July 1, 2021 entitled "Fourteen-Year-Old Mini Is Ripped to Shreds by a Pack of Vicious Hounds but Those Responsible Never Will Be Punished Because the Limeys Value the 'Unspeakable in Full Pursuit of the Uneatable' More Than They Do Her Right to Live.")

Dogfighters in the United Kingdom also still use cats as bait in order to train their killers. (See Cat Defender posts of October 22, 2021 and October 31, 2021 entitled, respectively, "Condemned to Die as Dog Bait, Courageous Buzz Perseveres Just Long Enough Until He Is Somehow Able to Not Only Regain His Freedom but Also to Find His Pot of Gold at the Rainbow's End" and "The Arrest of a Dogfighter in Ayr Provides a Rare Glimpse into the Utterly Despicable Abuse That Bait Cats Are Subjected to but the Scottish SPCA Still Stubbornly Persists in Treating Them as Expendable Nonentities.")

Archie's killing additionally refocuses attention on the abysmal failure of both retail and governmental entities to safeguard the lives of the cats that they keep as companions, mascots, and mousers. Most reprehensibly of all in that respect, on December 9, 2020 staffers at the Annapolis Maritime Museum (AMM) unconscionably allowed an unleashed dog to stroll unmolested onto its docks and savagely kill its truly beautiful Miss Pearl.

They cared so little about her that they not only permitted her to roam the neighborhood unescorted but they additionally refused to even put her up at night and it was precisely that latter gross dereliction of duty that facilitated her brutal killing. (See Cat Defender post of April 30, 2022 entitled "Relegated to the Dustbin of History and All but Forgotten by the Grossly Negligent Annapolis Maritime Museum, Miss Pearl's Beautiful Soul Continues to Cry Out from the Grave for Justice.")   

After shedding a crocodile tear or two over Miss Pearl's violent demise, the museum wasted little time before setting about securing a replacement for her and by February of 2021 it had procured another victim for its machinations named Big Mac. Despite being grossly overweight at eighteen and one-half pounds, he astonishingly is still alive today and being put through his paces by his overlords.

"Big Mac, our very own museum working cat, has officially taken the helm as captain of the Wilma Lee's New Cat Lovers' Cruise!" the AMM proudly announced April 1st on both its web site as well as Facebook. 

Powerless to do anything else, the outside world can only sit back and hope that staffers at the AMM do not negligently allow him to fall overboard and drown in Chesapeake Bay. As far as shelters that fob off cats like him and Miss Pearl on the public are concerned, they care so little about them that they do not even conduct follow-up wellness checks; they simply want rid of them and therefore could care less what ultimately becomes of them.

Vicious and unsocialized dogs that their owners refuse to control are not only a threat to cats but also to smaller dogs. For instance, there recently has been a spate of such attacks in both Manhattan and the Bronx. (See the New York Post, May 8, 2025 articles entitled, respectively, "Killer History. Recalling How Pits Mauled Her Pups" and "Another Vicious Attack in (the) Bronx.")

Such dogs sometimes even kill humans. For example, on January 2, 2001 a Presa Canario named Bane bit thirty-four-year-old Diane Alexis Whipple seventy-seven times in San Francisco. The dog's handler, attorney Marjorie Knoller, remains to this very day behind bars at the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla. (See the San Francisco Chronicle, February 27, 2023, " 'Dog of Death': The Horrific Killing of Diane Whipple in San Francisco.")

Whereas the attack on Archie was so sudden and unexpected that there likely was not anything that Myers-Pulidore and her staffers could have done in order to have saved him, it does highlight the urgent need for all those with shop cats to not only keep them inside but also to place both the insides and outsides of their businesses off limits to all dogs and their owners.

Antonio Was Stolen from Outside the Queens Deli That He Called Home

They also should perhaps consider arming themselves with either tear gas or pepper spray. Neither the politicians nor the worthless cops are, quite obviously, going to lift so much as lousy finger in order to protect cats, small dogs, and the general public from vicious dogs.

Nor can anything positive be expected from humane groups in spite of the fact that the stubborn refusal of the sociopaths who own these dogs to properly socialize them is in itself an act of animal cruelty. That is because dogs that kill, such as Bane, are often condemned to die in turn themselves by the courts.

Other than pausing briefly in December of 2021 in order to have whacked Molly, Myers of Keswick scarcely missed a beat before acquiring a new replacement for Archie. The store therefore adopted in January of 2022 a brown and white female named Gracie.

"She has been a wonderful addition to the store. She's playful and she loves to meet people," Myers-Pulidore wrote in "Our Cat Molly." "She has some big 'paws' to fill but we are confident she will do a great job! As long a she stays away from small places between buildings, we should be okay."

Given that she has persevered for three and one-half years, Myers-Pulidore and her staff surely must be either doing something right or they have been extremely lucky. Nevertheless grave concerns about her safety remain unaddressed, at least publicly.

For instance, unless she is willing to confine Gracie to the rear portion of her store during business hours, she would be well advised to equip her with a collar that not only would sound an alarm whenever she ventures to within ten feet of the front door but which also would automatically lock it.

Catnappers are another concern. For example, at around 8:30 p.m. on August 2nd of last year an eighteen-year-old black and brown male named Antonio was stolen outside the K'Glen Deli and Sari Sari store at 39-16 Sixty-Fifth Street in Woodside, Queens. Worst of all, Antonio is in need of unspecified daily medication and the thief had no way of knowing that.

Even though a perfectly clear photo of the culprit was captured on a surveillance camera, apparently nothing further has been either seen or heard about Antonio. Moreover, there can be little doubt that his abduction was intentional.

"He really meant to take the cat because if he thought that he might be a stray, our door was open," Antonio's heartbroken owner, Glen Alagasi, told the Sunnyside Post on August 8, 2024. (See "Search Underway for Stolen Woodside Bodega Cat Beloved by Local Community.") "He could have just asked if the cat was a stray or not."

A Very Young Molly in 2006 With Her Entire Life Ahead of Her

It is cruel but the long and the short of the matter is that New York City is simply too dangerous of an environment for a footloose feline. If Myers of Keswick perhaps has a fenced-in garden out back Gracie possibly could be allowed to avail herself of it but even then someone should be watching over her.

Since its opening in 1985 , Myers of Keswick has had at least one other resident feline. Her name was Fluffy Fleabag and she preceded Molly but other than that absolutely nothing else is known about her.

The elder Myers could not possibly have thought much of her otherwise he never would have saddled her with such a pejorative moniker. (See Cat Defender post of February 20, 2007 entitled "A Stray Cat Ignominiously Named Stinky Is Rescued from a Rooftop by Good Samaritans After the Fire Department Refuses to Help.")

On its web site, the delicatessen mentions only Molly and Gracie while treating Archie and Fluffy as if they never existed. Those glaring omissions in turn raise the prospect that during it forty years in existence it possibly could have had several additional cats and that some of them could have, perhaps, met with untimely demises.

Since the store is unlikely to ever come clean, no one from the outside world will ever know the full story. It can only be sincerely hoped that Molly at the very least experienced a few moments of happiness during her life even if it ultimately ended tragically wrong for her.

Untold numbers of people from near and far held their breaths and hoped for her deliverance in 2006 when she was trapped inside a wall at the deli but when she was killed off in 2021 she was all alone and without anyone in her corner in order to have advocated for her right to veterinary care and, above all, to go on living. That was not right and none of Myers-Pulidore's insincere, self-serving palaver will ever make it so.

It is highly doubtful that Molly therefore is either missed or mourned very much by the shekel-counters at Myers of Keswick. Perhaps other individuals from outside the store will not only remember her but also keep her memory alive by dedicating their lives to advocating for justice for all working cats and mascots and, above all, their right to live.

Should such an undertaking ever be attempted, it is imperative that it, like TNR, be one-hundred per cent privately funded and staffed. The politicians, bureaucrats, and cops can never be trusted to do the right thing by any cat. (See Cat Defender post of December 22, 2011 entitled "A Rogue TNR Practitioner and Three Unscrupulous Veterinarians Kill at Least Sixty-Two Cats with the Complicity of the Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals.")

Molly was a great cat and a tremendous ambassador for her species but, sadly, she is long gone. So, as Anglo-American writer Oliver Herford reminds one and all:

"Gather kittens while you may,

Time brings only sorrow;

And the kittens of today;

Will be old cats tomorrow."

Photos: Myers of Keswick (Molly), Dima Gavrysch of the Associated Press (Molly with Peter Myers and Kevin Clifford) , Facebook (Lewis), Helayne Seidman of the New York Post (Archie by himself and Jennifer Myers-Pulidore and her staff mourning Archie), Mark Brady (Miss Pearl), James Barron of The New York Times (Gracie with Irene Donnelly), Glen Alagasi (Antonio), and ABC-TV of New York (Molly in 2006).