William Tobias 80 Grattan St., Brooklyn -12 yrs old. Boy was starting for the subway to sell papers on "trains until 6 A.M. "Cause termorrer dey haint no school and I kin sleep all day and sell again at night." "All de barkeepers is me customers." Asked him how he could sell at night. "I just keep out'n de way of de cops." Weighs 60 pounds. Tall for age. Location: Brooklyn, New York, February 1909, Lewis Hine.

Laws of New York

An act to amend the labor law relating to children working in streets and public places in cities of the first class. Became a law, April 8, 1903, with the approval of the Governor passed, three-fifths being present.

§ 174. Prohibited employment of children in street trades. No male child under ten, and no girl under sixteen years of age shall in any city of the first class sell or expose or offer for sale newspapers in any street or public place.

§ 175. Permit and badge for newsboys, how issued. No male child actually or apparently under fourteen years of age shall sell or expose or offer for sale said articles unless a permit or badge as hereinafter provided shall have been issued to him by the district superintendent of the board of education of the city and school district where said child resides, or by such other officer thereof as may be officially designated by such board for that purpose, on the application of the parent, guardian or other person having the custody of the child desiring such permit and badge, or in case said child has no parent, guardian or custodian, then on the application of his next friend, being an adult. Such permit and badge shall not be issued until the officer issuing the same shall have received, examined, approved and placed on file, in his office, satisfactory proof that such male child is of the age of ten years or upwards. No permit or badge provided for herein shall be valid for any purpose except during the period in which such proof shall remain on file, nor shall such permit or badge be authority beyond the period fixed therein for its duration. After having received, examined, approved and placed on file such proof, the officer shall issue to the child a permit and badge.

§ 176. Contents of permit and badge. Such permit shall state the date and place of birth of the child, the name and address of its parent, guardian, custodian or next friend, as the case may be, and describe the color of hair and eyes, the height and weight, and any distinguishing facial mark of such child, and shall further state that the proof required by the preceding section has been duly examined, approved and filed; and that the child named in such permit has appeared before the officer issuing the permit. The badge furnished by the officer issuing the permit shall bear on its face a number corresponding to the number of the permit, and the name of the child. Every such permit and every such badge, on its reverse side, shall be signed in the presence of the officer issuing the same by the child in whose name it is issued.

§ 177. Regulations concerning badge and permit. The badge provided for herein shall be worn conspicuously at all times by such child while so working; and such permit and badge shall expire at the end of one year from the date of their issue. No child to whom such permit and badge are issued, shall transfer the same to any other person nor be engaged in any city of the first class as a newsboy, or shall sell or expose or offer for sale newspapers in any street or public place without having upon his person such badge, and he shall exhibit the same upon demand at any time to any police, or attendance officer.

§ J78. Badge and permit to be surrendered. The parent, guardian, custodian or next friend, as the case may be, of every child to whom such permit and badge shall be issued, shall surrender the same to the authority by which said permit and badge are issued, at the expiration of the period provided therefor.

§ 179. Limit of hours. No child, to whom a permit and badge are issued as provided for in the preceding sections, shall sell or expose or offer for sale, any newspapers after ten o'clock in the evening.

§ 179a. Violation of this article, how punished. Any child who shall work in any city of the first class in any street or public place as a newsboy or shall sell or expose or offer for sale newspapers under circumstances forbidden by the provisions of this article, must be arrested and brought before a court or magistrate having jurisdiction to commit a child to an incorporated charitable reformatory or other institution, and be dealt with according to law; and if any such child is committed to an institution, it shall, when practicable, be committed to an institution governed by persons of the same religious faith as the parents of such child.

§ 2. Nothing in this act contained shall be deemed or construed to repeal, amend, modify, impair or in any manner affect any provision of the penal code or the code of criminal procedure.

I emailed William's great-granddaughter, Victoria Cardona, after seeing family history information she had posted on Ancestry.com. I also sent her the picture. She replied, "My aunt told me that he did sell newspapers as a child in Brooklyn." She referred me to William's granddaughter, Debra Gundogdu. Neither had seen the photograph before.

William John Tobias was born in New York City on December 19, 1898, the oldest of five children born to Charles Tobias and Margaret (Tiefenwerth) Tobias, who were married in 1897. Charles, who had been married once before and had one child, was born in Connecticut in 1870, to German-immigrant parents. Margaret was also born in Germany. In the 1900 census, the family was living in Brooklyn, where Charles worked as a fruit peddler. In the 1920 census, his occupation was listed as proprietor of a used furniture store. Son William was working as a "commercial chauffeur," most likely a truck driver. Charles apparently died before 1930, because his wife was living with just two sons in the 1930 census. She died in 1954.

William Tobias served in the Marine Corps in the 1920s, and married Agnes Walling, but there are no records that show when that occurred. They had three children. Agnes died in 1978. William died in Queens, New York, on April 11, 1991, at the age of 92. He is buried in Long Island National Cemetery, in Farmingdale.