Category Archives: Newspaper Articles

“Newsboys Eat Their Fill”

14 Thursday Apr 2016

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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.

“She Fled Without Her Hair”

27 Sunday Mar 2016

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From the March 27, 1894 edition of the New York Tribune:

 

She Fled Without Her Hair

The Strange Disappearance of Girl Who Cut Off Her Tresses and Carefully Left Them on the Bed.

Jane Hanihan, twenty-one years old, who had been employed as a chambermaid at the Newsboys’ Lodging House, at Duane and New Chambers sts., for the last sixteen months, was reported missing yesterday at Police Headquarters by her mother, who lives at No. 12½ Washington-st.

The girl slept at the lodging-house with the cook. About 5:30 o’clock yesterday morning she arouse and, without giving any explanation, cut off her hair, which she left on the bed, wrapped in a paper. She then left the building, with a black sacque thrown over her head. No trace of her has since been obtained. She wore a black skirt and button shoes.

Jane’s mother was seen last night at No. 12½ Washington-st. She said her daughter was a girl of good habits, and, so far as she knew, Mrs. Hanihan feared that her daughter had met with foul play, as she had no reason to believe that she had made away with herself.

Mrs. Heig, the matron of the Newsboys’ Lodging House, said that she knew of no reason why Jennie should go away. It was learned from several of the employes [sic] of the Lodging House that on Sunday morning there had been some trouble about the quantity of milk put in the coffee when it was made. Jennie, by accident, put in much more than was necessary, and was called to account for this. Jennie was a sensitive girl, and she and another girl, named Ellen Prochen, sent out and bought milk enough to make up for the loss, paying for it with their own money. For several days past Jennie had been feeling down-hearted. On Sunday evening about 6 o’clock, she met one of the men employed about the building, and asked him if any of the drugstores were open. She said that she wanted to buy some paris green, but she did not go out at that time.

Some friends of the family declare their belief that the girl committed suicide.

“Sammy Walked Sidewise.”

11 Friday Mar 2016

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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.

“Redeeming Street Waifs”

03 Thursday Mar 2016

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From the March 3, 1895 edition of the Omaha Daily Bee:

Redeeming Street Waifs

Work Accomplished by the Children’s Aid Society of New York.

The Story of Patsy and Mickey

Street Arabs Taken from the City and Placed in Good Homes and Encouraged to Become Good Citizens.

Every six weeks a party of twenty boys is drafted from the ranks of the Newsboys’ lodging houses in New York City, are put in charge of an agent of the Children’s Aid society, and distributed through all parts of the west and south, from the prairie farms of Dakota to the orange groves of Florida.

The man who conducts a company of these sharp-witted, mercurial individuals over 1,000 miles of territory, necessarily leads a life untinged with monotony. Some of the experiences of Mr. B. W. Tice, one of these agents, for many years identified with the emigration department of the society, are better told in his own words.

“Several years ago,” said he, in conversation with the writer, “I started out for the far west with as lively a crowd of boys as it would be possible to find. Most of them were Irish and Canadian, the ones who are always getting into trouble, and who also make best use of their opportunities. Anyone of them would fight at the drop of a hat, and I assure you that it was a difficult undertaking to keep them from annihilating each other on the journey.

Patsy the Biffer.

“The star member of our troupe was an Irish boy, about 16 years old, known as Patsy Biffer, or simply ‘Biffer.’ In addition to this, he had several other names, finding them necessary to use in protecting them against the police, his practice being to give different pseudonyms upon his different contacts with these functionaries, with whom he had extensive acquaintance. Through much practice h had become a very clever boxer, was an Alexandre in his way, and only waited for more worlds to conquer.

“One cold day we arrived at a small town in southern Nebraska, where there was in session, as I remember, a teachers’ county institute. The town had assumed a gala appearance, and the boys, as was the custom, left the hotel in the afternoon, to meander about and see the sights.

“A long time that night we waited supper on the ‘Biffer’ and several of his friends, and fiinally, and about half through the meal, they entered. Patsy presented a sorry sight. His one eye was nearly closed, his hat was rimless and his clothes and tatters. Though unable to conceal his old defiant Bowery swagger, he, nevertheless, looked somewhat askance at me, so I turned to Mickey Morrell, his right-hand man, for the story. Mickey, who was glowing with suppressed excitement, related the events more graphically than lucid.

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“Newsboys Warn Senator to Stick to His Own Stoop”

23 Tuesday Feb 2016

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From the February 23, 1903 edition of the Washington Times:

Newsboys Warn Senator to Stick to His Own Stoop

Object to Law Limiting Age of Venders of Dailies.

NEW YORK, Feb. 23—At the Washington Birthday dinner given to the newsboys by Randolph M. Guggenheimer yesterday at the Newsboys’ Lodging House State Senator Henry W. hill, of Buffalo, was roundly censured by many a street youngster, and the bill he has introduced at Albany making it unlawful for children under twelve years of age to sell newspapers or shine shoes was doneunced [sic] by many tongues.

“Senator Hill lives in Buffalo, don’t he?” said Johnny Murray, known to his intimate friends as “The Chink.” “There’s two or three things about New York that he ain’t thoroughly intimate with. The best thing for him to do is stick to his own stoop; we don’t want no bills passed so kids can’t work—not in New York. I’ll see that the governor knows it, too.”

“‘Uxtry’ Pie for Newsboys.”

10 Wednesday Feb 2016

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From the February 10, 1905 edition of the Evening World:

 

“Uxtry” Pie for Newsboys.

Special Feast at Their Lodging-House on Lincoln’s Birthday.

Lincoln’s Birthday will be celebrated by the boys at the Newsboys’ Lodging House, No. 14 New Chambers street, on Saturday night by a special dinner given by F. Delano Weekes, one of the trustees of the Children’s Aid Society.

Several prominent bankers and brokers from the Wall street district have been invited. There will be an amateur orchestra of fourteen pieces, moving pictures, and 150 newsboys will sing popular and other songs to the accompaniment of the orchestra.

Jig and buck dancing, boxing, Indian club swinging and other features will be included in the entertainment.

Mr. Heig, the superintendent, has been very busy all the week buying turkeys, chickens and pie.

A New Year’s Gift

01 Friday Jan 2016

Posted by in Brooklyn Eagle, Site Update

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Happy New Year!

Newly added to the website today are articles from the Brooklyn Eagle. There aren’t very many—just five—but they offer a different perspective on the strike than the ones provided by Manhattan-based newspapers.

And since today is the day for resolutions, I resolve to post on the blog more frequently than last year. (Seventeen is the number to beat, and I already have three scheduled for later this year…) In the works are some book reviews, in addition to more song lyrics and random newspaper articles involving newsies. Is there anything else y’all would like to see on the blog in the future?

“Gives Newsboys Bank Accounts.”

26 Saturday Dec 2015

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From the December 26, 1908 edition of the New York Daily Tribune:

Gives Newsboys Bank Accounts.

 Paterson’s Park Commissioner Also Provides

Dinners for Newsies.

Paterson, Dec. 25 (Special).—More than three hundred newsboys partook of a Christmas dinner provided by I. A. Hall, Commissioner of Public Parks, this afternoon. Illness prevented his attendance to-day, but he sent greeting to the boys through the Rev. Dr. Stuart Hamilton, rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. Each boy received a card, which, when presented at a local bank, will be good for a bankbook containing the record of a deposit made in the bearer’s favor by Mr. Hall.

The Rev. Dr. Hamilton explained to the boys the advantage of saving their dimes instead of spending them in cheap shows. The clergyman announced that no boy would be admitted to the next Christmas dinner unless he could produce a bank book, and that three prizes would be awarded to the three boys having the largest amounts on deposit.

Mayor McBride was greeted with lusty cheers. Another feature of the Christmas here was the distribution at the home of Mrs. Emma Johnson on Hamburg avenue of one thousand gifts to poor children.

“Master Fred Fox, Newsboy and Banker”

13 Sunday Dec 2015

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From the December 13, 1888 edition of The Sun:

Master Fred Fox, Newsboy and Banker

Little Freddy Fox is a veritable banker newsboy. He lives at the Newsboys’ Lodging House, and piles up the shekels as the days go by. He is only 14 years old, but he can draw his check for $200, and the superintendent of the lodging house says that Freddy has about $50 in the bank here. Besides this, he carries wealth about with him. Freddy began business when he was younger by selling newspapers as a common vendor. Every cent he could keep he put away in the bank at the Newsboys’ Lodging House, and when he had enough he started in business as a newspaper merchant and commission broker. He buys up a lot of papers and distributes them among the boys that sell for him on commission. When a newsboy in the house goes “broke” Freddy usually advances him enough to tide him over, and he has never been beaten out of anything. He lives pretty cheaply at the house, paying about 20 cents a day for his board and lodging, and no week passes that does not see the bank account of the embryo Wiman swell perceptibly. Freddy dresses in style on Sunday, and he does not pinch himself in the matter of creature comforts.

“Helped Thousands of Girls”

17 Tuesday Nov 2015

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From the Boston Evening Transcript, November 17, 1909:

Helped Thousands of Girls
Mrs. Elizabeth S. Hurley, Superintendent of a New York Home, Taught People to Become Self-Supporting

 

Mrs. Elizabeth S. Hurley, superintendent of the Children’s Aid Society’s Elizabeth Home for Girls in New York City, has died of heart failure at the home. She has been in the service of the society for fifty-four years, and in spite of her nearly eighty years was active until within a week of her death. Mrs. Hurley began her work for the society in the East River Industrial School in New York in the shanty district then known as Dutch Hill. Her skill in training unruly girls was such that she was placed in charge of the Girls’ Lodging House in St. Mark’s place in 1870, and in 1892 of the Elizabeth Home, as the institution was renamed when it was housed int he present building, erected in memory of Miss Elizabeth Davenport Wheeler. Mrs. Hurley is said to have helped 12,000 women to lead useful lives. Mrs. Hurley was a widow. Her husband, an army surgeon, died in service in the Civil War.