Kid Blink, a teenage boy small for his age and blind in one eye, buttoned his shirt and brushed back his hair as he took the stage.
Five thousand newsboys inside and outside New Irving Hall in lower Manhattan roared in approval. Kid raised his hands, a signal for silence. He said, “You know me, boys!”
“You bet we do,” they responded.
“What we want is to stick together like glue. Am I right?”
“Yes, yes!” replied the crowd. He scratched his head and said, “Ain’t that
10 cents worth as much to us as it is to Hearst and Pulitzer, who are millionaires? If they can’t spare it, how can we?”
“Soak ’em, Kid!”
“Soak nothing. I’m trying to figure it out, how 10 cents on 100 papers can mean more to a millionaire than it does to newsboys, and I can’t see it.” Kid went on to ask for no violence even though he himself had toppled newspaper wagons the night before. He said the boys needed to stick together. They could do it, if they worked together.
The newly formed Newsboys’ Union had called for the rally, bringing together the striking “newsies” and organizations and local officials who supported them. Policemen stood outside, but they showed sympathy for the boys.
This story is from the July/August 2017 edition of Cobblestone American History Magazine for Kids.
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This story is from the July/August 2017 edition of Cobblestone American History Magazine for Kids.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Putting the Pieces Together
Americans needed to begin to put the past behind them, come together, and plan for the future in the spring of 1865. But Abraham Lincoln, the man best equipped to lead them and who had hoped to restore the country as smoothly and peacefully as possible, had been assassinated.
LAST SHOTS
The last Confederate forces in the Civil War didn’t surrender in the spring of 1865 or on a battlefield.
AND IN OTHER 1865 NEWS
A group of African Americans stop at the White House’s annual public reception on January 1, where they shake hands with President Abraham Lincoln.
A Plot to Kill President the
For several months, actor John Wilkes Booth’s band of conspirators had plotted to capture President Abraham Lincoln and hold him hostage in exchange for Confederate prisoners.
Let the Thing Be Pressed
In June 1864, Union Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant began a nearly 10-month campaign in Virginia.
HEALING THE NATION
President Abraham Lincoln took the oath of office for the second time on March 4, 1865.
A Helping Hand
The spring season is hard in any agricultural society. Plants and animals are too small to eat.
WAR SHERMAN-STYLE
As far as Union Major General William T. Sherman was concerned, the Civil War had gone on long enough.
PEACE TALKS
The fall of Fort Fisher made clear that the Confederacy’s days were numbered. Southerners were tired and hungry.
FORT FISHER'S FALL
Outnumbered Confederate soldiers inside Fort Fisher were unable to withstand the approach of Union troops by land and the constant Union naval bombardment from the sea.
