#david simons

Plague Marine

That is a very interesting question, and one I have wondered about many times myself! Unfortunately there’s no way to know for certain, but circumstances are suspicious. Let’s start with evidence and then discuss what might have happened.

Several newspapers reported on Kid Blink and David Simons selling the boycotted papers, which makes the idea that the Times or Sun or whatever other paper just made the story up unlikely. However, the details of events are different from paper to paper. Some say the two had accepted a bribe to break the strike. Some say it was a power move to be seen as a strong leader who ended the strike. Some say they thought the strike was over. And then what happened after their alleged betrayal also differs. Some sources say their papers were torn up by the other strikers. Some say they were searched and found to have no bribe money on them. Some say they were called to trial with the other strike leaders, including one in which they defend themselves in almost Shakespearean prose followed by a full multi-verse poem supposedly spontaneously composed by Kid Blink. I am inclined to believe that the latter at least was written by somebody who was not actually in the room, but whose poem I dearly wish had been turned into a song for the musical if only for the beautiful repeated line of “Strike! Strike! Strike! Strike! Strike ‘em on the head.”

The complication in believing anything these papers report is that the very people reporting on events are the people whose business is most directly affected by the strike. The World and Journal desperately wanted to make the strikers look bad to end the strike as quickly as possible, and they used their influence to try to stop the other papers encouraging it too. The other papers, by contrast, wanted the strike to continue as long as possible. With their competition boycotted they stood to make a lot of money as long as the strike was on.

So possible explanations:

Kid Blink and David Simons scabbed. They saw people were upset and came back to the cause. The papers reported exactly the truth.

Kid Blink and David Simons scabbed and were not forgiven. The rival papers tried to lighten the damage they knew this would do to strikers’ morale by pretending there was a trial and the two were found innocent.

The Times/Sun/Tribune made up the story for a good headline. I think this is unlikely as it would be against their interests, but it’s possible.

Unfounded rumours spread as they tend to among children, and by the time the rumours were proven false the damage had already been done.

Kid Blink and David Simons were victims of a whisper campaign by the World and Journal who deliberately planted misinformation among the kids to sabotage their cause.

Plague Marines

Great question!

Your guess for the lower limit is about right. It would not have been unusual to encounter newsboys who were 6-7 years old, but those boys were considered young.

As for the upper limit, it varied quite a bit. Union president David Simons was one of the older strikers at 21 years old. The oldest strikers we have record of were 23. But there were plenty of fully-grown adults who sold papers who mostly didn’t join the strike, including older women who would sometimes sell with their daughters.

If you’re interested in learning more about newsboy culture, I highly recommend this article. It’s an interview with union president David Simons about the job and the culture surrounding it. It includes several photographs.