I’m making sloooow progress in my search for Racetrack Higgins, but in doin my research, I did learn that there were two other racetracks in extremely close proximity to the Sheepshead Bay Race Track, and one was at Brighton Beach, where Race was noted to be from.
And on another note, I think I mentioned that one article about Race said that he told a story about working for or meeting William C. Whitney. Color me surprised to find out that the mansion that Mr. Whitney owned in Brooklyn was walking distance from the Sheepshead Bay Race Track! This gives a little more credibility to Race’s story.
Ok, so looking at this bit of an article (archived at City Park Hall), it notes that Race tells a story about William C. Whitney, and how he used to ride horses for him. (At least I think it means, that Race was saying he used to ride horses for him- or that Race worked for the man).
So I looked William Whitney up.
William C. Whitney is a member of the Whitney Family, and William is partly responsible for the family becoming so rich. He was not only a buisnessman, but a politician. The family has a wikipedia page, so that alone tells you that they were a family of social prominence. It seems he was a friendly and generous fellow, too. His own company was merged with John D. Rockefeller’s (Standard Oil Company). Originally from Massachusetts, Whitney moved to NYC. He owned a house in the Upper East Side in 1897 (it no longer stands). He was married twice (his first wife died in 1893, his second in 1899 in a horse riding incident in South Carolina).
The other thing to note about William C. Whitney was his love of thoroughbred racing. One of his many residences was a house in Sheepeshead Bay, on which property he had a private race track. Given his loving of horse racing, it wouldn’t be hard to imagine that, just like our dear Racetrack Higgins, he spent some time at the Sheepshead Bay Race Track (which, evidently, was near a mill in the area that sat on property belonging to Whitney). His son was said to have trained horses on the grounds.
We have no way of knowing if Race was telling tall tales when he talked about Whitney, but he certainly would have known who the man was (especially if Whitney spent enough time in the area). We like to think of Race as a betting man, but maybe Race just liked horses. In any case, this might be a clue in to the kind of work Race did concurrently as a newsboy, or even after.
I did a broader search for Ed Higgins, looking beyond the 1900 Census, and came up with several other listings. I searched for approximate birthdates between 1877-1883. (also, Ed Higgins is a fairly common name, so there’s a lot to parse through, but I’m going to try to focus on records that show a residency of Brooklyn, or anything that sticks out as interesting, though I wouldn’t rule out that he could have been born in Manhattan– there are just so many named Ed Higgins).
It is entirely possible that this grave belongs to Race Track Higgins, but unfortunately there is no way to definitively confirm this one way or the other. If it were him, he would have been 16 at the time of the strike, which would have made him young for a strike leader, but not ridiculously young. (Kid Blink was probably either 16 or 18)
The military records you mention are probably linked to the man in the grave, whether or not he is Race Track Higgins.
Well spotted, and if you find any definitive evidence confirming or denying that this is indeed our Ed Higgins, please do send it.
Alright I did some digging. It seems as though it is Race Track’s grave. I went down to the members graves and saw it had parents, and it had the same name, for the father. I checked the father’s death, and he died in 1928. Then I went to the father’s parents. All I saw was the mother of the father, who died, I forget when, but no one knew when she was born.
Then I went to the first grave that was in the link, and saw there were siblings. And a wife. So there’s a big possibility that it is Race Track. I’ll do some more digging though.
I’ve been doing some digging as well! I found another grave, also in Brooklyn, for another Edward Higgins, but he died younger, in the 1920s (I think?), and is buried at Holy Cross Cemetary. I’ve got a separate post about other things I’ve found, as I’m trying to comb through a bunch of records.
I’m on mobile right now, but I’ll try to get that post up tomorrow? I’ve found several people from Brooklyn with the name Edward Higgins, but no way of confirming if they were involved in the strike.
I’ve don’t a bit of digging of my own and here’s what I found:
According to 1900 census data, Edward Elmer Higgins had a brother who was six at the time. This fits with the article from the strike era that said he had a brother about four or five years old.
However, I also discovered that in 1900 Edward Elmer Higgins lived in Haven, New Jersey, and we know Race Track lived in Brooklyn in 1899. It’s possible the family moved sometime between 1899 and 1900, but that’s not a hopeful sign.
It is entirely possible that this grave belongs to Race Track Higgins, but unfortunately there is no way to definitively confirm this one way or the other. If it were him, he would have been 16 at the time of the strike, which would have made him young for a strike leader, but not ridiculously young. (Kid Blink was probably either 16 or 18)
The military records you mention are probably linked to the man in the grave, whether or not he is Race Track Higgins.
Well spotted, and if you find any definitive evidence confirming or denying that this is indeed our Ed Higgins, please do send it.
But it was when Higgins spoke that every word was worth listening to. He seems to be a born leader of boys, and may yet be of men. A characteristic feature are his eyes. They are dark and handsome, but there is in them a curious combination of defiance and tenderness… Very likely behind that care there is a bit of life history that an occasional sad look in Higgins’s eyes suggests, but in no way reveals.
One on-looker describing Racetrack in ways you usually only find in fanfiction.
From Brooklyn Life, July 29, 1899. Read the full article here!
The Newsies fandom likes to ship the characters of Spot Conlon and Race Track Higgins. This is amusing from a historical perspective, because it is entirely possible that they were the same kid. Let me explain.
To start with, most of the newsboys in 1899 had many nicknames that had nothing to do with their real names. Strike leader Louis Balletti, for example, also went by Kid Blink, Blind Diamond and Muggsy McGee. So the fact that the names “Spot Conlon” and “Race Track Higgins” are nothing alike doesn’t mean as much as people generally assume.
Spot Conlon is only mentioned in two articles, on
consecutive days, both in the Tribune, right at the beginning of the
strike. In the first article, he crosses into Manhattan, asks to speak to Blind
Diamond (Kid Blink), tells him he’s Spot Conlon the Grand Master Workboy of Brooklyn,
promises to send over two thousand guys to help with the strike the next day,
then leaves, all while wearing pink suspenders. The second article just briefly
says he sent a guy over to say sorry that he couldn’t send the boys, they’re
needed for other strike business in Brooklyn.
After those two articles, Spot disappears. He is never mentioned again in any articles from any paper. And a
few days later, Race Track Higgins is leading a parade of 2000 boys across the
bridge to attend the rally and declaring that he is the leader of the Brooklyn union. From then on, any time a leader of Brooklyn was mentioned,
it was always Race Track Higgins.
There are three possibilities here:
The newspapers said Spot Conlon was the leader of Brooklyn when he
wasn’t. As I’ve mentioned before, newspapers at this time weren’t very good at fact checking.
Spot Conlon was the leader of Brooklyn at the time this article was written, but then he stepped down and
Race Track Higgins took over.
Spot Conlon and Race Track Higgins were two different
nicknames for the same kid.
So were Spot Conlon and Race Track Higgins the same boy? It may not be likely. But it’s also certainly not impossible. In any case, they held the same role during the strike, and Disney’s version of the character of Spot Conlon is much closer in importance and role to the historical Race Track Higgins than the historical Spot Conlon. And that alone is enough to make me find the fact that they’re often shipped together amusing.
Newsboys of 1899 