meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
The Bowery Boys: New York City History

#105 The Newsboys Strike of 1899

The Bowery Boys: New York City History

Tom Meyers

Society & Culture, History, Documentary, Places & Travel

4.83.6K Ratings

🗓️ 11 June 2010

⏱️ 40 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Extra! Extra! Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst vs. the newsboys! Pandemonium in the streets! One hot summer in July 1899, thousands of corner newsboys went on strike against the New York Journal and the New York World. Throngs filled the streets of downtown Manhattan for two weeks and prevented the two largest papers in the country from getting distributed.In this episode, we look at the development of the sensationalist New York press -- the birth of yellow journalism -- from its very earliest days, and how sensationalism's two famous purveyors were held at ransom by the poorest, scrappiest residents of the city. The conflict put a light to the child labor crisis and became a dramatic example of the need for reform.Crazy Arborn, Kid Blink, Racetrack Higgins and Barney Peanuts invite you to the listen in to this tale of their finest moment, straight from the street corners of Gilded Age New York. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/boweryboys

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Episode 105 of The Bowery Boys.

0:03.0

Extra, extra.

0:04.0

The news boys strike of 1899.

0:06.0

Hey, it's The Bowery Boys.

0:08.0

Hey.

0:09.0

The Bowery Boys is brought to you by eurochipo.com.

0:13.0

Eurochipo editors personally visit and review the best budget hotels in Europe.

0:18.0

Now with hotels in New York City, on the web at eurochipo.com.

0:22.0

Hi there, welcome to The Bowery Boys.

0:24.0

This is Greg Young.

0:25.0

And this is Tom Myers.

0:27.0

It's a extra special episode this week.

0:31.0

We're looking at a forgotten event in New York City history.

0:34.0

It happened 111 years ago this July.

0:37.0

In that hot summer of 1899.

0:39.0

Now imagine the city paralyzed the press, unable to get their newspapers out.

0:45.0

And the streets filled with hundreds of boys.

0:48.0

Sometimes thousands.

0:49.0

Thousands of boys and young men, newsies, people who delivered the newspapers, going on strike.

0:56.0

This would be the news boys strike of 1899.

0:59.0

To tell their story, of course, we also have to dip back and tell the story of journalism

1:04.0

and the press in New York in the 19th century.

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Tom Meyers, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Tom Meyers and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.