From the March 11, 1902 edition of The Sun:

Sammy Walked Sidewise.

Joke for the Youngsters in the Newsboys’ Home, but Not for Sammy.

Sixteen-year-old Sammy Broom, who lives at the newsboys’ lodging house in East Forty-fourth street, was taken to Bellevue Hospital last night suffering from a stiffened knee, the result of inflammation of the glands between the joints, caused by a fall. The boy’s right leg was drawn backward, so that he was compelled to hobble along sidewise, like a crab. The two newsboys who took him to the hospital dragged him into the office.

“Hello, Doc,” said one of them, “we brought around Broome, de human crab. He walked backward all de way to de hospital. Hey, Broome, give de doctor a exhibition.”

“‘Taint on no funny bone,” said Broome, “it’s on my kneecap, and dat’s no joke. De bunch up in de newsboys’ says if I don’t git it hammered straight I could die in er night.”

“All right,” said the doctor, “we’ll take care of you.”

He had to chase the other boys away. They wanted to see the “human crab” walk again, they said.