SailorTwain336

by Mark on January 25, 2012 at 12:01 am
Posted In: 2. New York, 1887, Sailor Twain

Here’s a cameo I’ve waited for a long time to draw: Mary Beth! In a painted board, granted, so to be fair, Mary Beth, you’ll get another appearance in a few weeks, too… But I like this one, and Steven gets hats off for his excellent home brew.

And now, thanks to the excellent Salty Aire, another guest blog entry with some gems of New York history…

Newsies

by Jerry Mikorenda

 

As we have learned throughout the Sailor Twain saga, newspapers played a vital role in 19th Century life. Nowhere was this more apparent than the Empire City, the epicenter of the newspaper world.

 

In 1725, the New York Gazette became the first newspaper published in New York. By 1828, 20 other newspapers dotted the streets of Manhattan attracting the technocrats of the day. As a teenager, Walt Whitman worked as an apprentice for the Long Island Patriot. About the same time, William Rockwell, who presided over Lizzie Jennings’s trial, was an editor at the paper.

 

In 1827, African Americans found their own voice in Freedom’s Journal the first newspaper published for the black community. Lizzie’s father and brothers Thomas and William were activate promoters of the black press serving as agents (salesmen) for various newspapers such as the Colored American and Weekly Advocate.

 

Newspaper Row at its peak

Because of its proximity to City Hall, Chatham Street (renamed Park Row) was known as Newspaper Row. The New York World, The New York Tribune, The New York Times, the New York Sun, the New York Journal American and the New York Mirror as well as a host of others had offices there. Little did these journalists realize that Lizzie Jennings’s brave stand against segregation took place near their newsrooms.

 

With waves of immigrants hitting Manhattan’s streets, the need for news continued to grow. In 1865, 54 newspapers were printed in New York City. Within five years, that number grew to 90 papers printing 118 editions.

 

Getting all those editions into the hands of willing readers was the task of an unlikely lot – the Newsies. They were boys (and a few girls) as young as five or six years of age hawking papers on street corners. With nicknames such as Racetrack Higgins, Crutch Morris, Barney Peanuts, and Crazy Arborn, newsboys were highly romanticized. Making 30 cents a day, they were the poor and homeless children of the city. They often slept under stairs and suffered all sorts of abuses from adults.

 

King of the Newsies was Kid Blink. Blind in one eye, reporters were fond of quoting him using his dem’s and de’s dialect. In July of 1899, he led strike against Joseph Pulitzer’s World and Randolph Hearst’s Journal. Several rallies drew more that 5,000 newsboys. Eventually, the publishers agreed to buy back unsold papers. The kids won.

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