Race Track Higgins’ speech at the rally

The following is a transcript of the speech given by Race Track Higgins at the strikers’ rally on July 24, 1899, as pieced together from articles in the New York Times, New York Tribune, and New York Sun.

There’s 2,000 of us here from Brooklyn tonight, but I think most of the gang got shut out¹. Never mind, though: we’re with the New York boys and we’re going to stick with them to the end.

Say, we’ve been carrying overweight long enough, and it’s just about time we was getting some of the odds in the betting. There was a 75 to 1 shot that we was going to win this here fight. And we can do it hands down and no whipping if we keep our eyes skinned, and when the newsboys comes in first under the wire some of them guys sitting in the grandstand with shiny kicks and electric lights on their fronts will wish they had gone to the trouble to do a little arbitrating.

But I want to tell you about that Chief Devery. We took up a collection last night and got enough money to hire a band to lead us over here. I went up to Chief Devery today to get a permit, and I says, just as polite as I knows how: “Mr. Devery, I wants to get a permit, please, to have a brass band lead my Brooklyn men to the meeting tonight.” And what do you think he said? He says: “Get out, you slobs.” and I says, “Mr. Devery, don’t call me a slob. I’m trying to make my living. I ain’t so high in office as you, but some day I may be higher.” But he wouldn’t give up the permit, so we had to leave the band home.

I can only say to you, boys, to stand firm, and I bet we’ll win before Dewey comes home.

[No direct transcript exists of this portion of the speech, but he says that the Journal offered to pay a boy $2 a day to sell their papers, but] the kid wouldn’t take it because the Journal refused to contract to pay hospital expenses.

Say, we struck six of those $2-a-day World and Journal fellows in front of Dennett’s in Brooklyn this afternoon—you know Sinker Dennett’s place—and we shamed them into giving up their jobs. They took their Journals back to Barber Clark and said they wasn’t going to help any paper do up a lot of boys. Now, wasn’t that square?

(Applause.)

I think we’ll win this fight all right. I ain’t made 20 cents this week, but I can stand a heap of that and so can all the Brooklyn boys. Don’t you touch Worlds or Journals until they give us a decent deal. We’re putting them out of business fast and they know it.

¹ The theatre was too full for all the boys to get in. A few thousand of them had to stand outside on the street.

Nov. 17 2017
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    I love Racetrack Higgins so, so much. And while I love Max Casella’s Racetrack, I can’t get enough of Ed Racetrack...
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