• Home
  • Newspaper Articles
    • The Brooklyn Eagle
      • July 20, 1899: “Newsboys Start A Strike.”
      • July 21, 1899: “The Newsboys’ Strike.”
      • July 24, 1899: “Messenger Boys Join the Army of Strikers.”
      • July 24, 1899: “The Newsboys’ Strike.”
      • July 30, 1899: “The Newsboys’ Strike.”
    • The Evening Post
      • July 20, 1899: “Newsboys on Strike.”
      • July 20, 1899: “Strike Days in Wall Street.”
      • July 21, 1899: “Newsboys Still on Strike.”
      • July 22, 1899: “Newsboys Aggressive.”
      • July 24, 1899: “Newsboys Want to Parade.”
      • July 25, 1899: “Newsboy Strikers Orderly.”
      • July 26, 1899: “Newsboy Leaders Quit.”
      • July 26, 1899: “Condition of the Newsboys.”
      • July 27, 1899: “Newsboys’ Strike Still Firm.”
      • July 29, 1899: “Newsboy Strike Leaders”
      • July 31, 1899: “Newsboys Form A Union”
    • The Evening Telegram
      • July 20, 1899: “Newsboys Strike Against Two Papers”
      • July 21, 1899: “Newsboys’ Strike Spreads to Harlem”
      • July 22, 1899: “Boy Strikers Sweep the City”
      • July 24, 1899: “Can’t Break Boys’ Tie-Up”
      • July 25, 1899: “Newsboy Strike Gains Ground”
      • July 26, 1899: “Newsboys Ready to Show Strength”
      • July 27, 1899: “Salvation Lassies Wouldn’t Sell Them”
      • July 28, 1899: “Newsboys See Victory Ahead”
      • July 31, 1899: “Union to Enforce Newsboys’ Strike”
    • The Morning Telegraph
      • July 21, 1899: “Newsboys Turn Out on Strike”
      • July 22, 1899: “Newsboys Strike A Great Success”
      • July 23, 1899: “Newsboys Still Out On Strike”
      • July 25, 1899: “Tim Sullivan Makes A Talk”
      • July 28, 1899: “Newsboys’ Strike Must End”
      • July 29, 1899: “Kid th’ Blink” No longer on Top”
    • The New York Herald
      • July 21, 1899: “Newsboys Strike for Better Terms”
      • July 22, 1899: “Spread of Strike Fever Among Lads”
      • July 23, 1899: “Newsboys’ Strike Promises Success”
      • July 25, 1899: “Newsboys Wage A Merry War”
      • July 26, 1899: “Newsboys’ Strike Becomes General”
      • July 27, 1899: “Newsdealers and the Boy Strikers”
      • July 28, 1899: “Dealers Boycott to Aid Newsboys”
      • July 29, 1899: “Newsboy Strikers Keep Up the Fight”
      • July 30, 1899: “Striking Newsboys Stand Firm”
      • July 31, 1899: “Newsboys Form An Organization.”
    • The New York Times
      • July 21, 1899: “Newsboys Go On Strike”
      • July 22, 1899: “The Strike of the Newsboys”
      • July 23, 1899: “Striking Newsboys Are Firm”
      • July 23, 1899: “Newsboys May Be Uniformed”
      • July 24, 1899: “Mass Meeting of Newsboys”
      • July 25, 1899: “Newsboys Act and Talk”
      • July 25, 1899: “Violent Scenes During Day”
      • July 26, 1899: “Newsboys Still Hold Out”
      • July 26, 1899: “Seek To Help the Newsboys”
      • July 27,1899: “Newsboys Are Weakening”
      • July 28, 1899: “Newsboys Still Hold Out”
      • July 31, 1899: “Newsboys Form A New Union”
      • August 1, 1899: “Newboys Up For Blackmail”
      • August 1, 1899: “Declare Newsboys’ Strike a Failure.”
    • The New York Tribune
      • July 21, 1899: “Newsboys Go On Strike”
      • July 22, 1899: “Newsboys’ Strike Goes On”
      • July 23, 1899: “Newsboys’ Word Stands”
      • July 24, 1899: “A Newsboys’ Meeting”
      • July 25, 1899: “Boys Forsee A Victory”
      • July 25, 1899: “Newsboys Riot in Mount Vernon”
      • July 25, 1899: “Trenton Newsboys Strike”
      • July 25, 1899: “Park Row Capulets and Monatgues”
      • July 26, 1899: “‘Newsies’ Standing Fast”
      • July 26, 1899: “Yonkers Boys Form A Union”
      • July 26, 1899: “New-Haven Newsboys Strike, Too”
      • July 26, 1899: “Newsboys Striking In Paterson”
      • July 26, 1899: “Strikers in Cincinnati”
      • July 26, 1899: “Strikers Ahead in Mount Vernon”
      • July 27, 1899: “Tried for High Treason”
      • July 27, 1899: “Boys Eloquent in Brooklyn”
      • July 28,1899: “‘Kid’ Blink Arrested”
      • July 28, 1899: “Yonkers Boys Win A Victory”
      • July 28, 1899: “Providence Boys Join the Strike”
      • July 29, 1899: “‘Kid’ Blink Fined”
      • July 30, 1899: “Fable Repeated In Fact”
      • July 30, 1899: “New-York Newsboys,” Illustrated Supplement
      • July 31, 1899: “Newsboys’ Strike On Again”
      • July 31, 1899: “Yonkers Boys to Parade”
      • August 1, 1899: “Newsboys Plan Another Meeting”
      • August 1, 1899: “A Big Parade in Yonkers”
      • August 1, 1899: “Newsboys’ Strike in Asbury Park”
      • August 2, 1899: “Newsboys’ Boycott Over”
    • The Sun
      • July 20, 1899: “Newsboys ‘Go Out'”
      • July 21, 1899: “The Only Tie-Up In Town”
      • July 22, 1899: “Strike That Is A Strike”
      • July 23, 1899: “Newsboys’ Strike Swells”
      • July 24, 1899: “Plan to Down Newsboys”
      • July 24, 1899: “Sociological Students in Court”
      • July 25, 1899: “Great Meet of Newsboys”
      • July 25, 1899: “Troy Newsboys In Fight”
      • July 26, 1899: “Newsboys Parade To-Night”
      • July 27, 1899: “Parade To-Night, Sure”
      • July 27, 1899: “Newsboys Gain A Point”
      • July 28, 1899: “Newsboys Get New Leaders”
      • July 28, 1899: “Stole Newspapers from Girls and Women”
      • July 29, 1899: “Newsboys’ New Leader”
      • July 29, 1899: “A Kindergarten for Strikers”
      • July 31, 1899: “Rochester Newsboys to Go On Strike”
      • July 31: “Striking Newsboys Elect Officers”
      • August 1, 1899: “‘World’ Jails Newsboys”
      • August 2, 1899: “Newsboys Strike Up the State”
      • August 2, 1899: “Three Newsboys Arrested for Assault”
    • The World
      • July 30, 1899: “Herald Employees Sued for $10,000”
      • August 1, 1899: “Blackmailers Try to Profit by Strike”
      • August 3, 1899: “Plain Statement of Facts for Public Consideration”
  • Newsworthy Blog
  • Resources
    • Bibliography: Newspaper Articles
    • Links
  • About
  • Sitemap

City Hall Park 1899

~ History of the Newsboys Strike of 1899, through actual newspaper articles from the time.

City Hall Park 1899

Tag Archives: single parent

“Where is Lillie Slitzka?”

12 Monday Sep 2016

Posted by cityhallpark1899 in Newspaper Articles

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

disappearance, Lillie Slitzka, mystery, newsgirls, single parent

From the Evening World on September 12, 1890:

Where is Lillie Slitzka?

Strange Disappearance of the Equitable’s Sweet-Faced Newsgirl.

Lillie Slitzka, the rosy-cheeked, brown-haired, demure little creature who has served to the habitues of the Equitable Building their afternoon papers ever since she was but little more than a baby, is missing from her accustomed place in the mellow-tinted rotunda of that big business palace.

Lillie is fifteen years old, but she is small, and still seems to be as much a child as she was when, nine years ago, she first took her stand with her papers under her arm in the old building which stood where the Equitable Building is now.

The child was one of three bairns left to her mother’s care at the death of her father. The Widow Slitzka’s little figure and brisk, business-like ways are familiar to thousands of downtown business me, who have bought their evening papers of her at the corner of Broadway and Cedar street these many years.

The boys, two manly little fellows, have been at work for themselves for some years, and Lillie was also inducted into the work of newspaper selling by her mother. The family were close together in their work, and always went home together at night. They lived in a comfortable little flat at 162 Webster avenue, Jersey City Heights, and between them had laid up a sung little store ‘gainst a rainy day, in a savings’ bank.

Lillie attended the public school up to two years ago, coming over to “business” after school hours. Since then she has [unknown] typewriting and stenography [unknown] Mrs. Vermilye, 816 Broadway.

Two weeks ago the sweet-faced, shy little woman disappeared, and all the efforts of the police of three cities—New York, Brooklyn, and Jersey City—have failed to discover her whereabouts.

“Some time ago she became acquainted with Annie and Mary McGee, who live on the Heights at 241 Central avenue alone,” says the distracted mother.

“One day one of them brought a letter to Lillie, and after reading it she wanted to go to a picnic. I let her go, and that was the last I ever saw of her. I went to the McGee’s next day, but they kept me in the hall while Lillie went out by a back door. She staid with a Mrs. Richards, a good woman, in Park avenue that night.

“I had Mary and Annie McGee before Judge Wanser, but they told him they knew nothing about my little girl.”

Ex-Alderman Tom Cleary, janitor of the Equitable, spoke with much feeling this morning.

“It is all a mystery to me,” he said. “Lillie was a modest, shy little one, not like most girls. I always kept an eye out for her, and no one ever molested her or offered any advances to her except once, and I warned that man, a stranger, out of the building. That was a year ago.

“She was not well developed for her age, and offered no inducement to familiarity or attraction to any villain. I have interested every one I could in tracing her, but I fear some one has taken advantage of her innocence and lured her away.”

Lillie’s place in the rotunda is kept open for her return.

Song Lyrics: “The Poor Little Newsboy”

03 Tuesday Sep 2013

Posted by cityhallpark1899 in Song Lyrics

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

death, newsboys, pop culture, sentimental, single parent, song lyrics

“The Poor Little Newsboy,” written four years later, shares many similarities to “The Poor Little Newsgirl”: dead fathers, ill mothers, selling papers in bad weather to support them as best they can, an ending full of pathos.

“The Poor Little Newsboy”
1886, by T. B. Harms & Co.

‘Twas a wee little boy trudging on thro’ the night,
He ne’er stopped his work, tho’ the tears dimmed his sight;
He sobbed out aloud as onward he went:
I’ve not sold a paper, I have not a cent!
His father was dead, his mother was ill,
And this little child was at work with a will;
To keep her from starving, and lest she should die,
He choked back his sobs and again came the cry:

Chorus
Chronicle, Telegram, Star, or News,
The latest edition of each if you choose;
Some for a penney, and some for two,
So buy one, I’ll thank you so much if you do.

So crying the news thro’ the cold and the sleet,
He hears not the team dashing wild down the street;
A crash and a moan, and the little boy brave
Lies dying while striving his mother to save.
They carry him back midst darkness and gloom,
To his mother alone in the bare attic room,
And all thro’ the night in his anguish and pain,
Rings out the clear voice still again and again:

Chorus

Song Lyrics: “She’s Been a Mother to Me”

22 Thursday Aug 2013

Posted by cityhallpark1899 in Song Lyrics

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

newsgirls, pop culture, single parent, song lyrics

“She’s Been A Mother To Me”
 
1896
Words by Walter H. Ford
Music by John W. Bratton
 
A poor little maiden, with newspapers laden
Was trying her best not to cry
She counted each penny, she didn’t have many
Then called a policeman near by,
My mother’s in jail, sir, will you take this bail, sir
And tell them she didn’t do wrong.
It’s all a mistake, sir,
And her heart will break, sir,
If I am away from her long.
 
Chorus
She’s been a mother to me,
Good and true,
Kind as no other could be,
All I know,
We’ve one another, you see,
Just we two,
That’s why I love her, I do,
For she’s been a mother to me.
 
 
She isn’t my mother, but there I’ve not other
She found me one day at her door,
She did all she could, sirm to bring me up good, sir
She couldn’t do wrong I am sure,
The judge heard her story, her face shone with glory,
Your mother, may go, my dear child.
And as he dismissed them,
She ran up and kissed him,
Then turned to the court room and smiled.
 
Chorus

Song Lyrics: “They All Love Maggie Grady”

25 Monday Feb 2013

Posted by cityhallpark1899 in Song Lyrics

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Maggie Grady, newsgirls, pop culture, single parent, song lyrics

We know that female newsies existed, thanks to the photography of Alice Austin & Lewis Hines and the newspaper reporters who mentioned the various newswomen who sold during the strike (including the perennial favorite, “Annie of the Sun” Keeler). But how about the general public of the day? Well, just like many other aspects of newsboys & street urchins in pop culture, then as now, newsgirls were romanticized.

The following waltz was written in 1896, and performed by the Newboys’ Quintet. (The Newsboys Quintet, an act formed in 1896 by vaudeville agent James Hyde, boasted Gus Edwards—who discovered the Marx Brothers; was a founding member of ASCAP; and wrote popular songs & Broadway musicals—as a member.) Doesn’t it read just like a piece of “Newsies” fan fiction?

They all love Maggie Grady / w... Digital ID: 1166094. New York Public Library

“They All Love Maggie Grady”
Lyrics by Ed Gardenier & Music by Willim Slafer
1896

Just down there by the ferry, ‘mongst news boys gay and merry,
You’ll often meet a maiden fair and bright.
Who helps support her mother and little baby brother
By selling daily papers morn and night.
So happy once were they, ’till dear dad passed away
Then at the ferry Maggie took her stand.
The boys her story know it, their sympathy they show it,
By giving little Mag a helping hand.

Chorus
For they all love Maggie Grady,
She’s a perfect little lady
They feel entranced to catch a glance from little Maggie’s eye.
Yes all the lads respect her, they honor and protect her
So tip your hats like ‘ristocrats when Maggie passes by.

When she’s stuck on her papers, the lads all stop their capers,
They know she must be home at nine o’clock.
Then soon you’ll hear them yelling her papers quickly selling
They soon get rid of Maggie’s over stock.
Just to see her home at night, two rivals often fight,
The little maid to stop the jealous brawl
Talks to them like a mother, their anger tries to smother,
Saying lads you ought to know I love you all.

Blog at WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • City Hall Park 1899
    • Join 54 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • City Hall Park 1899
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar