In early December 1887, the Times, the first newspaper in Temple, happily announced that the Santa Fe Railway changed its policy: âNews butchers are again on the Santa Fe.â
That was a momentous development for the fledgling railroad town, the newspaper business as well as an economic boost for street urchins â most of them boys ages 10 to 14 working to support their families and themselves.
âNews butchersâ were essential partners to railroads and publishers in the 19th century.
As trains crisscrossed the country, butchers boarded waiting trains, peddling everything from reading materials to snacks.
Sometimes many children rushed onto the train with an armload of newspapers â each elbowing his way through the passengers for a nickel sale. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, newspapers were peddled by various vendors. Adults who sold newspapers from fixed newsstands were called newsdealers. The hawkers sold only one newspaper, which usually appe