I see everything.
You'd never know I see everything. I was the best spy in the Union army, 386th Infantry. Ah, but you didn't need to know that. I was put on patrol on this corner…oh, I don't know how long ago. A long time, lemme tell you. No one tells me anything. No one talks to me. So I talked to myself. Then people looked at me strange. One man mentioned in passing to his lady friend about a need for an asylum for the crazy on the corner. So I shut up after that.
Been a long time since someone talked to me, lemme tell you. Used to have a friend to come by every few days er so. Strange name. Street name, as I recall. No one called 'im anyone else. No one 'cept his mother and maybe his girl. He had a few over the years. One he met a few times in this very square! Ah, don't ask me about them. I don't remember. So many people pass through these days, its hard to remember all the faces.
I remember there was a few wedding proposals in front of this very statue. Why they'd pick here I don't know. Very strange, if'n you ask me. That old statue's seen a lot. Lot more'n me. Good ol' Greely. I talk to 'im sometimes. He's a good listener. But then, so are you, eh?
Kids don't got any respect for 'im anymore, lemme tell you. Used to be the best-respected newspaperman in the country! Now all he be to 'em is another place to sleep at night in the summer. Not in winter, though—metal freezes to the skin. I remember that cold. That biting cold that never stopped. We marched through bitter cold down 'round good ol' Richmond. Made some o' us crazy. I was one of few who kept my head. They gave me a medal! But it got nabbed by some crazy pickpocketin' thieves a while ago.
Long time ago, lemme tell you. But I seen 'im around again. I see everything. Was here a while ago with a few of his friends. Yelling some drizzle about striking. Strangest stuff, lemme tell you. And they thought I was crazy!
Few days—or weeks, I don't remember—them kids show up again, with a whole army of 'em behind them. 'Twas an uproar that echoed in the streets and alleys for days afterwards. Gave me the biggest headache, lemme tell you. Ah, but small kids, big dreams, eh?
You ever had dreams? I had dreams once. Get married, have a family, settle down in the Vermont hills with my sweetheart Suzanne. But I got home, and my brother had taken her. They all thought I'd died. Die? Me, die? Can you believe that? Ah, but such is life. Roll with the punches. I came back to my base. They put me here. I been patrolling ever since. I see everything and everyone that comes through this square, but no one tells me nothing. Is the war even over? I guess it is. Heard something about it by a passin' street newspape seller. Ah, can't do nothing about it now. They still pay me, the army, that is. I live down the street at Elly's Boarding House. But every day, come here and patrol the streets. They think I'm crazy. Do you think I'm crazy? Lots o' people do, lemme tell you.
I see everything, everyone. Know everyone's business.
But you wouldn't know that, would you?
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Forgot it the first time: I dont own Newsies. BTW, for confuzzled ppls, this is about that guy in the civil war outfit always hanging around. Remember, you see him in the beginning by the statue? Anyway. RnR cuz i need the help!