The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1885-06-13
OLD NEWSPAPERS.
The Curious Business of a metropolitan
Negro.


The Curious Business of metropolitan
Negro.
Having occasion the other day to
search for some copies of daily news
papers of a certain date in 1875, was
not surprised to find that at the offices
of the newspapers l could buy no cop
les. Not one of the great dail'es could
furnish copy of the date which l
needed, but was referred in every case
to a man named Robert Budd, formerly
a bootblack, who makes a business of
dealing in back numbers of newspapers.
I found him, and in half an hour had
the papers.
Budd' history. or rather that of his
business, ispeculiar. Heis coal-black
negro, with an intelligent face and
remarkable faculty for estimating the
value of his wares. Although he has o
regular price list, his prices vary ac-
cording to what he thinks may be the
value of the paper to the would-be
buyer. Some months ago there was a
law case which required the present.
ment in court either of certain news
paper or of certified copy of an arti-
Gle covering several pages in small
type. Budd was the only man in the
CITY who could furnish the paper; he
t ssr.,a 800 for it, although it was not
b;T hin h~t ' two and had originally cost
paid for the certiffre,and the sum was
cost still more. "ouio n"'o
Five years ago Budd had a~pe..
backing stand en- Broadway, near Thir-
tieth street, and at the same t me sold
newspapers. He was struck with
the number of demands made upo-
him for copies of newspapers two
or three days, or a week, or even q
month old, and he had the idea of add
ing to his business that of old news
papers. That there is demand fol
old newspapers is amply shown by the
business he has built up. Atpresent he
occupies a large cellar, the walls o.
which are lined with newspapers tieo
up in bundles, each bundle containing
the copies of one month of each paper
There is a tag attached to each bundle
giving the months of the year.
AS he still keeps up his newspaper
stand he of course gets his papers a
cost price, and when person really
wants paper there is fine chance TO
profit. Every day Budd puts ava,
twenty copies of the The Herald, twent,
copies of The San, ten of the Wortd
Times, and Tribune each, and fiv
copies of each of the evening news
papers. His schedule of prices is sup
posed to be as follows: For paper
: three days old, double the price; for pa
pers week old, ten cents; for paper
a month old, twenty-five cents; for pa
pers year old, 81; for papers NOR
than a year old, 1925 add tional TO
!, every year. But, as / said before, thi
schedule is no guide in case Budd di;
covers that the paper is of great in
3 portance. Soon after he began bus
, ness, he bought up complete files {
, several newspapers running back j
some cases to 1850. That he finds tn
business a profitable one may be il
ferred from his ability to keep two a
: sistants at work.
7 The number of persons who wish
r buy back copies of newspapers is large
y than most people might suppose; in tt
r course of half an hour, during which
. searched through an old file, five pc
n sons came into Budd' splace and bougl
h papers varying in age from two days
}, six years.-N Y. Cor. NcW HdOt
a NeIDS.