Q & A
Did newsies really eat their unsold papers?
Yes. Newsies who didn't sell all of their papers by the end of the day typically didn't have enough money for both shelter and food - some newsies would save their papers and use them as blankets, others would eat their papers so they could spend what little money they had left on a bed in the lodging house for the evening.
Could all newsies read?
Most, but not all. Thanks to the enforced classes at the lodging houses, a fair amount of newsies had basic reading and some writing skills. However, for those who did not have reading skills, they heavily depended on those who could read to hear the headline everyday.
How many papers did the average newsie sell per day?
While some spectacular newsies (such as Newsie Union Leader Morris Cohen) could sell around 300 papers per day, other newsies struggled to sell 100. The average amount is hard to calculate due to an incredible amount of variables - weather, location, newsie's age, race, gender, etc. Most newsies sold between 75-150 papers per day, by guesstimate.
How far was the Manhattan Lodging House to the Brooklyn Lodging House?
The two lodging houses were about 1.5 miles apart, separated by the Brooklyn Bridge. It would take about a half hour to walk from one to the other, depending on weather, traffic, and the speed of the newsie.
Did newsies have specific funeral rituals?
According to an article by Vincent DiGirolamo, newsies often skipped their meals for the day to collect money for flowers to lay on the cheap coffins. Sometimes they would collect even more money for a more proper funeral, or to have the newsie's name inscribed on the coffin.