Los Angeles herald., 1907-11-29
FIVE HUNDRED, NEwsRoYs EAT
TURKEY DINNER
RED RULER PERKINS is KING OF
OCCASION
MarshaIs His Forces Like General
and Keeps Good order-Aged
Poor Ask Aid and Are
Given Their Fill

rood naturedly waited in line yesterday
for the chance to eat square meal
good naturedly "joshing' each other, the
scops" and every passer-by while waiting
for the free feed for us'ns wot wants
IL. and fer all de kids. OATS wots de
star attraction in dis show, youse
betch'r life"
Really and truly roasted ttrkeys-tur-
KEYS, that had gobbled and gobbled Just
for this day-was an attraction yester-
day that made the eyes of the newsooys
omen wide with anticipation and kept
them in good humor all during the long
hours that they waited before the open
ing of the doors at the Volunteers OF
America at 12S East First street where
the bountiful Thanksgiving dinner was
served to all the boys, regardless OF col
or. Every oy that asked admission was
given all he could eat and sent away hap
py and contented.
On the good American feast oay, dc-
cording to the good old American custom
of first come, first served, each OF the
bows seemed to want to get in on the
ground floor and get the first chance at
the big piles of food and before o'clock
the street in front of the hall was tilled
with a wild crowd of boys in every state
of condition This crowd was kept in
good nature by two big cops and kept in
line. The line, however. several times
threatened } stop the cars.
Red Ruler Reigns
More potent than the big cops and the
prospect of a big dinner was one OF
their numbers, the king of the news
boys Red Perkins, who rules with the
sovereignty of a boss or a steel mag
nate. RED" is well known among the
newsies and as well liked and yesterday
he came forth in all his glory to keep
''de boys in line and help de gents and
loidies what's doing all dis fine bizness
for us guys"
RED" was in all his glory and de-
spite his lameness and the fact that
many of the boys were larger in stat
ure, no general could keep better deport-
ment than Red in his army of new
sizes. for his least word is law to them and
bow unto law they do in their own way.
Red knows each boy his past history
and most important of all, his nickname
Many of these seem fearfully and Won
derfully made to the uninitiated, but they
stick to the respective owners and in
some instances the real names are almost
forgotten in the pertinent cognomens
that have been bestowed upon them by
their associates.
-"Oh, come off n yeur perch, youse guys
wot ride on de cars. Youse won't get no
better feed dan we'uns and weuns don't
have ter fooa the bills, see? No scrip fer
us, not on yer loife, we'uns deals in
straight goods, dat's wot we does, don't
we. kids? Hi there. no monkeying around
off 0oT1Hy
dis mornin' purpose to get in line here.
and no monkeyin' and gittin' ahead of
yours truly"
Josh ode Cop"
"Oh WELL don't be skeered; see that
pile of toikeys? Say. we won't do a
ting to them, will we? Betch'r life we
gets full up to de limit dis meal. Say,
Mr. Cop, does youse thinks youse will get
some of that laere stuffin fer keeping us
fellers in line? Wes a pretty fine sort,
now. amt we? You bet!"
"Say Swipes, there'll be a hot time in
the old town about de time we gets in
there Did youse look in ther winder?
Well, you amt onter your job if you
they have got flowers in the middle;
wonder what them's fer anyway?
well. Mugsy, yer might know yer
wernt never in high society before. Thems
fer looks. What's looks fer? Oh dun
no. but its mighty swell jest the samee.
All de swells have 'em, dat's why we do.
Say dis looks like the 400 all right
you bet. Don't worry, watch us
grow
Toward noon the crowd increased and
the tired early birds kept their places
near the door.
Five Hundred Appetites Satisfied
Big and little, black and white, all
were there, 500 souls with but single
thought. So near and yet so far. hunger
on the outside and 600 pounds of turkey
just inside the window, while through
that same window the men and women of
the Volunteers could be plainly seen pre-
pairing for the monster feast.
ABOUT the time for the opening of the
doors-and the doors of Paradise would
not have been watched more intently-
-Red' marshaled his forces and gave
them a concise treatise on table manners
and good behavior in general that would
have done credit to a book on Manners
for All Occasions"
When the glad word was finally given
out a wild rush was made for the en-
trance, which kept the officers and men
of the Volunteers at close attention for
some time quelling the miniature mob.
1ne DOyS CIOWueQ III single lie through
the hall and into where the tables
are spread IN lines. piled high with good
things to eat. Red" headed the pro-
cession to the door and there took his
position, a la reviewing general Leading
to the tables the littlest of the lot, lit
tie Spanish youngster whose head hard
ly reached the table as he walked along,
the boys went to their reward-a big tlrr-
key dinner Each looked around with an
anxious expression IN entering and up
on seeing me piles of good things to
each, settled down with a contented
look. But they were not allowed to take
their seats Immediately, for Red" was
bound that his army should do the thing
properly and called his miniature SOL
diers to their feet and told them to take
of their h is, keep quiet and then
eat.
Cheer for Volunteers
"Red" acted as toastmaster and the two
famous "Bobs' of Los Angeles-McIn-
tyre and Burdette-could not have held
their listeners with better attention than
the newsies gave to Red yesterday. In
his own way he spoke of Thanksgiving,
and the favor; that were shown them
each year b. ''the gents and the loidles''
of the Volunteers, saying: