The Brutal Efficiency of the Newsboy's Union
When the newsboys couldn't keep order during their meeting on Yesler Wharf, the president and his officers resorted to canes to restore discipline.
The members of the Seattle Newsboy's Union held a meeting last evening in the Marine Fireman's hall on Yesler wharf. Some boys amused themselves by throwing spit balls at the president, 'Red' Gleason. Secretary Arthur Higgenbotham noted they couldn't do anything with them, so he, treasurer Henry Hoege, and Gleason got some canes and whacked them all over the head. Higgenbotham stated, 'It wasn't very nice, but we made 'em toe the mark. When the meeting was out nearly all the kids went down the stairs rubbing their heads and howling like the mischief.'
“It wasn't very nice, but we made 'em toe the mark.”
While child labor protections have long since rendered this form of 'union management' illegal, the image of these boys organized at Yesler Wharf reminds us of the gritty independence required of working-class youth in 1890s Seattle.
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