July 18, 1899
First reported strike actions take place in Long Island City. Newsies tip over wagon of Journal deliveryman who had been cheating them, run off with his papers, and run him out of town. Decide to demand a price rollback to 50 cents per hundred, as before the Spanish-American War.
July 19, 1899
"A young fellow named Morris Cohen, who sells about three hundred Worlds a day in City Hall Park got a hold of the boys and got them to strike." (memo to Pulitzer, July 27) After 3:00 in the afternoon, newsboys meet in City Hall Park and organize their union, announcing that they will strike the next day unless Pulitzer and Hearst change the prices. Officers elected, strategy discussed, and ambassadors sent out to newsies at Fifty-ninth Street and in Harlem, Long Island City, Jersey, and Brooklyn. Executive commitee formed, consisting of Jim Galty, Young Monix, Morris Cohen, David Simons, Barney Peanuts, Crutchy Morris, Crazy Arborn, Scabutch, and Blind Diamond. Boots McAleenan, aged eleven: "We're doin' it now because de cops is all busy, an' we can do any scab newsboy dat shows his face widout police interference. We're here fer our rights an' we will die defendin' 'em. At de rates dey give us now we can't make on'y four cents on ten pape's, an' dat ain't enough to pay for swipes." --New York Times, 1899
July 20, 1899
Strike begins. "Cries of 'scab! scab!' followed by the few who dared to handle the forbidden papers, and before long few of them were to be found on the streets." --New York Times, 1899 "Fully a hundred boys were gathered in Park Row at the hour when the first editions of the 'yellows' usually come out, and as soon as the wagons started there was a great howl and a shower of missiles which made the drivers' jobs uncomfortable. The police came on the run and the boys scattered hastily, for an order [from the Committee on Discipline which was running the strike] had gone out, it is said, that the police are not to be injured. All the boys were armed with clubs and most of them wore in their headgear placards denouncing the scab extras and calling on the public to boycott them." --The New York Sun, 1899
July 20, 1899
Joseph Pulitzer receives memo from Don Seitz headed "On the Newsboys Strike." Memo states that the strike would "probably be sporadic for some days" but promises Pulitzer that "we have the situation well in hand." Spot Conlon, District Master Workboy of the Brooklyn Union, walks across the Brooklyn Bridge with "greetings an' promises of support...'We have tied up de scab sheets so tight dat y' can't buy one fer a dollar in de street. Hold out, my gallant kids, an' to-morrer I meself, at de head of t'ree tousand noble hearts from Brooklyn will be over here t' help youse win yer noble scrap fer freedom an' fair play.'" (Newsboys of New York, Harry Schulman)
July 21, 1899
Pulitzer receives memo stating: "The newsboys strike has grown into a menacing affair...It is proving a serious problem. Practically all the boys in New York and adjacent towns have quit selling." Crowd of four to five hundred newsies gather at Fifty-ninth Street to await arrival of paper deliverers: "They had decorated the newsstands and lampposts with banners inscribed, 'Please Don't Buy the World or Journal,' 'Help the Newsboys,' 'Our Cause is Just,' 'We Will Fight for Our Rights,' and other pregnant statements. As soon as the wagons came up the boys pressed forward and began to hoot and howl...Though pushed back [by the policemen], they did not scatter. They formed a circle, and as fast as any man got his bundle of papers and tried to get away with them they sweeped down upon him with yells of 'Kill the scab!' mauled him until he dropped his papers and ran, then tore the sheets into small bits and trampled them in the mud." --New York Times, 1899
July 24, 1899
Pulitzer recieves memo stating: "The advertisers have abandoned the papers and the sale has been cut down fully 2/5...It is really a very extraordinary demonstration." Seitz reports to Pulitzer: "The people seem to be against us; they are encouraging the boys and tipping them and where they are not doing this, they are refraining from buying the papers for fear of having them snatched from their hands." Strike closes down distribution of papers in Manhattan and spreads uptown within days to Fifty-ninth Street and Harlem, Long Island City, Brooklyn, Newark, and Jersey City. Newsies in Mount Vernon, Staten Island, Yonkers, Troy, and Rochester, New York; Plainfield, Trenton, Elizabeth, Paterson, and Asbury Park, New Jersey; New Haven, Connecticut; Fall River, Massachusetts; and Providence, Rhode Island join in the strike. Seitz reports to Pulitzer: "I have been up to the [police] headquarters, arranging to break up certain strike points, with the help of the police, to-morrow."
July 24, 1899--evening
Some 5,000 boys gather at New Irving Hall on Broome Street. 2,000 cram inside while the remaining 3,000 stand outside. Ceremonies are led by Racetrack Higgins, and representatives of the Newsdealer's Association and several local politicians attend to express their support. The first speaker, Bob the Indian, promises the boys that they will win their struggle, but pleads with them to reduce the violence: "Now I'm to tell yer that yer not to soak the drivers any more...No you're not to soak 'em. We're a goin' to try to square this thing without violence; so keep cool. I think we'll win in a walk--on the level I do." Kid Blink, a strike organizer, urges the newsies to stick like "glue" and a moment later like "plaster.": "Ain't that ten cents worth as much to us as it is to Hearst and Pulitzer who are millionaires? Well, I guess it is. If they can't spare it, how can we?...I'm trying to figure how ten cents on a hundred papers can mean more to a millionaire than it does to newsboys, an' I can't see it." Crazy Arborn tells how the circulation managers tried to bribe him; Newspaper Annie (one of the women who sold papers by the Brooklyn Bridge) shouts her encouragement; David Simons, president of the union, present the assembly with a set of resolutions to vote on; Warhorse Brennan, the oldest newsie, and Jack from Park Row saluted the boys. Racetrack Higgins reports that the Brooklyn newsies had hired a band to lead them across the Brooklyn Bridge, but were prevented by the police commissioner. He also tells the story of a newsie offered $2 to sell papers, but the boy refused because it wouldn't cover the hospital expenses he'd face if he crossed the lines. Last presenter of the evening was "Hungry Joe Kernan, the newsboy mascot [who] sang a pathetic song about a one-legged newsboy." A competition had been held during the rally and was won by Kid Blink, who was awarded with a flowered horseshoe.
July 27, 1899
Kid Blink and David Simons are accused of taking $400 from the newspaper managers as a bribe to end the strike. They are found innocent, but David resigns as president of the Newsboys Union and is replaced by Morris Cohen. July 31, 1899
Newsboys Union reorganizes to the following positions:
James G. Neill...........president
Racetrack Higgins.......vice president
Abe Cutler.................secretary
Dave Ruben...............treasurer
Yellow Simon Levy......Sgt at Arms
John Masin................Head Captain
Another speech competition is held and won by George J. Fabian.
August 2, 1899
Publishers concede defeat in the second week of the strike and offer a compromise: the price will remain where it is, but the World and Journal will take backk all unsold papers at 100% refund. The newsies agree to the terms and return to the streets. *"Frank Luther Mott claims that the 'strike...was eventually successful' in forcing the papers to rescind their price increase." David Nasaw has not found any evidence to support this claim.
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