From the April 14, 1902 edition of the New York Sun:
Newsboys Eat Their Fill.
Twelve Hundred of Them Dined by Randolph Guggenheimer.
Twelve hundred newsboys from this borough and Brooklyn had a dinner at the expense of the Hon. Randolph Guggenheimer in the Newsboys’ Lodging house last night. Mr. Guggenheimer’s Brooklyn guests to the number of 500 came over in five special trolley cars. There was a car from Greenpoint, one from East New York, one from Fifth avenue and two from Borough Hall in Brooklyn.
The cars all got together at the Borough Hall plaza and came over in line, their occupants relieving the monotony of the trip by catcalls and such suggestive songs as “All I Want is Dat Chicken.” According to those who gathered in the boys for the feast, some of them from the more remote sections of Brooklyn had not been over the Bridge before in their lives. Traffic at the loops was tied up for some minutes while the boys scrambled out of the cars and formed into twos to march to the lodging house.
When the visitors reached the lodging house they were taken upstairs to the library, where the Manhattan boys were waiting. A few dark glances were exchanged. The Brooklyn boys wore white silk badges supplied by a Brooklyn newspaper. The Manhattan boys didn’t have any badges. Some of them looked as though the Brooklyn boys wouldn’t have badges if they were outside.
The Brooklyn boys were kept in one end of the room and the Manhattan boys in another and between them was a detail of policemen so there was “nothin’ doin’.”
Mr. Guggenheimer made a speech before they were allowed to go into the feast. To avoid any chance of trouble, the Brooklyn boys ate first. The managers said it was because the special cars were waiting for them, but the Manhattan boys took the other explanation. The Manhattan boys had to remain in the library and listen to other speeches from Edward McKay Whiting and other friends of Mr. Guggenheimer until the Brooklyn boys were fed.
After the Brooklyn boys were through they were taken upstairs and thanked Mr. Guggenheimer, who made another little speech and invited them over the Bridge again next year, an invitation they received with a shout that made the roof rattle. Then they marched to the cars and went singing and yelling back to Brooklyn.
There was plenty to go around and the Manhattan boys had their fill as well. Manhattan and Brooklyn together ate up 700 pounds of turkey, four barrels of potatoes, four barrels of turnips, 300 loaves of bread and fifty quarts of ice cream.