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 Criminal 
 Slang 
 
 Hellycr and Jackson 
 
Copyrighted, 1914 
 By LOUIS E. JACKSON 
 
A VOCABULARY OF 
 
 CRIMINAL SLANG 
 
 WITH 
 
 SOME EXAMPLES OF 
 COMMON USAGES 
 
 BY 
 Louis E. Jackson 
 
 ' , ,' jAS-is.ed uy 
 
 C. R. Hellyer, Ciiy Detective Department 
 PORTLAND, OREGON 
 
 Price, $1.50 
 
DEDICATED TO 
 
 C 4«. WLoxh 
 
 Sheriff of Multnomah County, Oregon 
 
 A Fearless 
 
 and Intelligent Administrator 
 
 of a Public Trust. 
 
 304190 
 
> 3 \> ^ 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 It is not with a view to sensationalism that this little work 
 is undertaken, but with a sense of helpfulness, of social obli- 
 gation. It is submitted for the perusal and study of all those 
 public officers and professional servants whose responsibilities 
 are such as to bring them into casual or constant contact with 
 the confirmed criminal classes. 
 
 It may fall into the hands of some unfit subjects and 
 thereby contribute to the propagation of its contents in undesir- 
 able quarters. On the other hand we may consider that pub- 
 licity is the speediest agent for the destruction of cankerous 
 moral growths. Perhaps the possession of such knowledge as 
 is here presented argues a sordidness; but Gordian knots can 
 be untied only by use of the sword; to have cherries in the 
 winter a can opener must be used, or to stand eggs on end you 
 must smash them. 
 
 By the very nature of crime its efficient vehicle of trans- 
 mission is ephemeral, very ephemeral. The vernacular of 
 twenty-five years ago is almost oblivion today. So with the 
 future; provided, of course, that the idiom of the underworld 
 surrender its meaning to the social layei's superimposed upon 
 it. This process can be made effective by investigation and 
 publicity. When bench and bar, the press, custodians of law 
 and order and private agencies devoted to the detection, re- 
 pression and correction of crime are made familiar with the 
 wiles and mode of communication of criminals, the latter are 
 rendered less powerful insofar as the evolved system of guile 
 and wrong-doing are concerned. 
 
It is noticeably true that our average law officer or advo- 
 cate is necessarily a specialist in one or perhaps a few, at 
 most, of the many recognized branches of professional crime. 
 The limitation is occasioned in part by prescribed capacity and 
 in part by inexperience or unfamiliarity with criminals of all 
 types and their methods. Efficiency in general correctional 
 labor may undoubtedly be promoted by a fuller understanding 
 of the linguistic acquirements of subjects to be dealt with in 
 every day practice. It is hoped that the publication of this 
 vocabulary of criminal terms will render material advantages 
 to the conscientious worl^ers in this large field. 
 
 We are conscious of many errors of omission in the work 
 and we request the co-operation of all who are interested in its 
 utility. Only the essential and most pertinent or purely crim- 
 inal vernacular usages have been selected from the mystical 
 parlance of professional violators and their accomplices, for 
 the reason that popular slang Is so extensively comprehended 
 as to make its publication of doubtful value as a new contri- 
 bution to our literature. 
 
 An analysis of the four hundred and thirty terms included 
 in the vocabulary reveals the interesting fact that criminal 
 idiom is largely an ingenious combination of epithet suggested 
 by similitude and a perverted construction of essential and 
 accidental attributes of things and powers to imply or express 
 the things and actions themselves. An occult jargon on its 
 face, yet systematic enough when the key is acquired. 
 
 Some of the terms seem to have been derived by simple 
 partition of legitimate English words, occasionally with the 
 addition of euphonious prefix or suffix. As a prime example 
 of the transposition of an attribute for the thing itself, con- 
 sider what is perhaps the most popular slang term in use 
 today in the unregenerate world — "dope," at present signifying 
 "news," "intelligence," or "meaning." Originally this word 
 was derived from opium by partition, with the disguising 
 
consonant "d" prefixed to the accented syllable. Amongst 
 narcotic habitues the most salient attribute of opium is stimulla- 
 tion of loquacity, or imaginativeness or of exaggeration. In 
 process of time any of these powers came to characterize 
 narcotic intoxication; thence information on any subject was 
 designated "dope." The "dope sheet," a "line of dope," are 
 natural offshoots of this tendency to transpose attribute into 
 a new substantive. To philologists this noteworthy observation 
 should infallibly point out the utter lack of scientific relation 
 between an artificial sound — or visual — symbol and the thing, 
 quality or quantity symbolized thereby. 
 
 Without previous instruction a person gifted with intuition 
 might divine the signification of the majority of these terms in 
 vogue by weighing the context of the sentences in which they 
 are included. Yet a practical working knowledge of them should 
 be made more available by frequent reference to a complete 
 list. The sole excuse for criminal slang is the protection 
 afforded by secrecy, which once destroyed the slang is forced 
 to die of neglect, though it will naturally be superseded by 
 evolutionary linguistic devices. 
 
 To fraternize with a secret order we must equip ourselves 
 with a knowledge of the ceremonies and aims as well as the 
 selective means of the secret fraternists. To combat criminals 
 successfully it is necessary to understand their complete ve- 
 hicles of intercommunication, else the investigator is unqualified 
 to fraternize with them so as to gain a fuller ins'ght both into 
 their actions and the living motives concealed behind them. 
 Unquestionably, every term in the vocabulary is known to some 
 officer of the law; unquestionably, too, every term contained 
 therein is understood by but very few individuals even amongst 
 criminals themselves. Therefore it would seem a distinct gain 
 to become familiar with them all. 
 
 Aided by a panoramic view of recorded crime in the last 
 generation we may roughly divide criminal offenses into the 
 
four great departments of crimes against self, or reflexive crimes 
 against personal character, which have their fountain head in 
 intemperance and gluttony; crimes against sex, vsrhich have 
 their basis in the emotions flowing out of lust; crimes against 
 property, fed by the sins of avarice or greed; and the crimes of 
 violence, growing out of anger. Of these four, reflexive crimes 
 and crimes of violence are distinctively psychological and must 
 be left to the individual for corrective solution. Crimes against 
 property and crimes of sexual depravity constitute the bulk of 
 costly and troublesome cases which choke the machinery of our 
 legal tribunals and necessitate a regrettable public tax for main- 
 tenance of penal and detentional institutions. The chronic de- 
 fectives who most seriously menace the social body are 
 comprised of prostitutes; gamblers; nondescriptively larcenous 
 tramps; yeggs; burglars; sneak thieves; confidence men; dis- 
 honest solicitors; promoters and agents; forgers; merchandise 
 thieves; pickpockets; highway robbers; and their accessories, 
 the unscrupulous pawnbroker, the unrestrained liquor dealer, and 
 the drug dispenser. It goes without saying that the volume and 
 value of business transacted by these latter three attest the 
 stupendous proportions of the direct losses sustained by the 
 commonwealth through the misdirected energies of the principal 
 professional criminal classes. 
 
 From an economical standpoint the traffic of professional 
 crime is stupendous. We are mulcted some four hundred mil- 
 lions of dollars annually by reason of the criminal element in 
 the nation. A conservative estimate of the number of active 
 professional criminals of high and low degree is probably 100,000. 
 We have one uniformed police officer for every thousand of 
 population, and about one auxiliary officer per thousand of 
 population in addition. Here are 200,000 more persons in the 
 non-productive class. Criminal lawyers and criminal court func- 
 tionaries contribute another ratio of one to the thousand of 
 
 10 
 
population, making a conservative total of 400,000 engaged in 
 preying upon and relieving the producers from distress oc- 
 casioned by crimes against person and property. 
 
 Admitting that the average income of the 300,000 police 
 officers, lawyers and court officials is about $1,200 per year, we 
 have a $360,000,000 over-head cost charged against production. 
 The loss sustained through the peculations of criminals and the 
 cost of detaining them is not less than another $88,000,000 per 
 year, on the estimated basis of $882 per year per criminal. A 
 grand total of $448,000,000! 
 
 Suppose the average age of the professional criminal to be 
 30 years. As the average financial investment in an individual 
 of that age in the U. S. is $12,600, his productive capacity 
 should be at least six per cent on the investment (if possessed 
 of industrial training), plus the cost of human upkeep; which 
 means a total of about $1,170 per year earning capacity for the 
 average individual. Or at six per cent interest alone on the 
 personality investment he represents an annual potential addi- 
 tion of $757 to the national wealth. Add to this the cost to the 
 state of detaining him, say an average of $125 per year, and we 
 have $882 per year per prisoner. The actual loss in interest 
 on criminal personality investments is about $75,000,000 per 
 100,000 prisoners per year; a waste that is perpetuated by the 
 present judicial and penal system. 
 
 Now, the average thief cannot steal $1,170 per year, nor 
 even $757, when account is taken of time lost in prison. The 
 crux of the situation seems to lie in the criminal's lack of train- 
 ing in the useful arts, together with moral delinquency. So far 
 we have experimented chiefly with two extremes in penology — 
 employment of convicts for their exploitation by selfish interests 
 on the one hand, and unemployment or else employment of such 
 nature as tends to lower the standard of efficiency of the in- 
 dividual on the other hand. The evolution of labor unions has 
 suppressed reform that makes for the criminal's economical 
 
 11 
 
independence; and yet the criminal element is recruited mainly 
 from the fourth estate. To date the history of penology shows 
 some development of apprehenders and keepers in the practical 
 side of the work, but at the prime expense of the apprehended. 
 The producers at large pay the interest on the debt, whilst the 
 principal is shouldered by the deficient themselves who are 
 passing it along to the future generations. 
 
 As to the moral asoect of the problem with which the pro- 
 fessional criminal confronts the nation, it must ultimately be 
 determined by psychology. Intemperance, greed, lust and anger; 
 these are the radical causes. Economical dependence is the 
 first outgrowth of these known qualities but unknown quantities. 
 
 How are we going to reduce the overshadowing difficulty? 
 By ostracism? By sterilization? By simple detaining repression 
 without corresponding elimination of root causes? As for 
 ostracism, folly flees a grave danger whilst moral courage 
 fortified by intelligence faces and overcomes it. Ostracism re- 
 vives and perpetuates caste divisions of society. Sterilization 
 is as wrong in a larger moral view as infanticide in a smaller; 
 the theory has emanated from higher intellectual, moral and 
 spiritual darkness. It solves the criminal problem like national 
 debt solves the economical problem — saddles a moral mortgage 
 upon posterity. Detention without conferring assimilable moral 
 uplift and increased economical efficiency is a parallel for the 
 fabled delusion of the ostrich. Imprisonment as it obtains today 
 costs much and produces little or nothing save waste. The 
 maintenance of delinquents in rotting idleness or at labor which 
 is subsequently unprofitable to the prisoner from the standpoint 
 of talent and character development is an unbusiness-like as 
 well as an inhumane make-shift which reacts upon society like 
 a boomerang. 
 
 But it was not the aim to air views on criminology and 
 penology in a preface, though it has seemed appropriate that 
 the intelligence of interested men and women should be ap- 
 
 12 
 
pealed to, as the widespread use of the following idioms has a 
 deep significance. If this work achieves no other result than 
 this it should be regarded as well worth while. 
 
 C. R. HELLYER 
 City Detective Dept., Portland, Ore. 
 and LOUIS E. JACKSON, 
 
 Portland, Oregon, October 3rd, 1914. 
 
 Should you find any terms missing from the following vo- 
 cabulary which in your opinion should be included in it you will 
 confer a favor by communicating same to the publisher. 
 
 W. H. THORNTON, 
 872 Brooklyn St., Portland, Ore. 
 
 18 
 
A Vocabulary of Criiiiiital Slan^ 
 
 Alphabetically Arranged 
 
 >^itli Practical Examples 
 
 of Commoii Usages 
 
 ADMAN, Noun 
 
 Current amongst literary confidence men. A fake adver- 
 tising solicitor. See "HUNDRED PER CENT." 
 
 ANGEL, Noun 
 
 General usage. A financial backer. Derived from "good 
 thing." 
 
 ARM MAN, Noun 
 
 Current amongst "heavyweights." A strong arm man; a 
 holdup; a highway robber. See "PUTEMUP." 
 
 ARTILLERY, Noun 
 
 In general currency. Firearms of any description. See 
 "ROD," "ROSCOE," "SMOKEWAGON." 
 
 B. A., Noun 
 
 Current amongst literary confidence men. A book agent 
 who commonly employs confidence methods for obtaining 
 subscriptions or orders. 
 
 16 
 
BADGE, Noun 
 
 Current amongst "hustlers" and the demi-monde. A 
 badger; a blackmailer; an extortioner. See "SHAKE- 
 DOWN." 
 
 BALLY HOO, Noun 
 
 Current amongst exhibition and "flat-joint" grafters. A 
 free entertainment used for a decoy to attract customers. 
 See "READER." 
 
 BANNER, Noun 
 
 General currency. Used in the colloquialism "carrying the 
 banner," meaning to walk the streets all night or other- 
 wise endure the hardship of loss of sleep. 
 
 BATCH, Noun 
 
 General currency. A number; a quantity: a lot; a great 
 many. 
 
 BELCH, Noun 
 
 In general usage with all grafters. A protest; a com- 
 plaint. See "SQUAWK," "ROAR," "HOLLER." Example: 
 "When he blowed his dough he put up an awful belch." 
 
 BELCH, Verb 
 
 Idem Supra. Example: "He cannot stand the gaff with- 
 out belching." Also used to denote the giving of informa- 
 tion. See "COME THROUGH." 
 
 BEN, Noun 
 
 General usage. An overcoat; derived from Benjamin, in 
 reference to the biblical coat of many colors. 
 
 16 
 
BENNY, Noun 
 
 General usage. A sack coat; derived from Benjamin, 
 some say the biblical character, while others say the 
 New York manufacturer of men's garments. 
 
 BENT, Adjective 
 
 General usage. Crooked; larcenous. See "TWISTED." 
 Example: "His kisser shows that he's bent." 
 
 BIG TOP, Noun 
 
 Current amongst circus grafters and "open-air men." The 
 large tent used by circuses; now evolved to include the 
 meeting of the maximum exhibit possible in any given 
 case. Example: "I'm flopping at the big top," i. e., "1 
 am rooming at the biggest hotel in town." 
 
 BIT, Noun 
 
 General usage. A portion; a division; a share or a part 
 of anything, as profits or proceeds of a transaction. Ex- 
 ample: "You're supposed to be in on anything that comes 
 off, so you're entitled to your bit." 
 
 BIT, Noun 
 
 General usage, particularly amongst grafters who operate 
 on the outside of the law. A prison sentence. Example: 
 "He did a bit in Joliet." Also a share. See "END." 
 Example: "If you don't take a chance you're entitled to 
 no bit." 
 
 BLOCK, Noun 
 
 General usage. A watch. See "SUPER," "TURNIP." 
 Example: "The wire rung six blocks in the breaks," i. e., 
 "The tool (pickpocket) detached six watches from their 
 rings in the crowded exit." As a noun it has another 
 meaning, i. e., a head. See "NOODLE." Example: "He 
 got his block sapped," i. e., struck. 
 
 17 
 
BLOOMER, Noun 
 
 Current with genteel grafters. An error; a failure. Ex- 
 ample: "We framed wrong and scored a bloomer." 
 
 BLOW, Verb 
 
 General usage. To cease; to get away; to lose; to miss 
 something absent. Examples: "Blow! here comes a bull." 
 "We bio wed some kale that night" (spent it). "Just as 
 the touch was scored the boob blowed his poke." "A 
 shilliber's work is to cop and blow," 1. e., to take and give 
 in a gambling, ostensibly winning and losing in good faith 
 from and to a confederate. 
 
 BLOW CARD, Noun 
 
 Current amongst gamblers and genteel grafters. Any use- 
 less thing or condition; financial embarrassment; the last 
 card; the final play or thing in any series. Examples: 
 "Don't connect with this wop, he is on the blow card," 
 i. e., broke. "Pull this one off and call it the blow card." 
 
 BOOB, Noun 
 
 In general usage amongst all sophisticated classes. An 
 inferior in any specific sense; a victim; an unitiated 
 person when used by a "gonif." Derived from booby. 
 
 BOOSTER, Noun 
 
 Used by confidential grafters. One who endorses a person, 
 thing or action of immoral nature either by complimentary 
 action or by moral support; a helper; a confederate. 
 
 BOOSTER, Noun 
 
 In general currency amongst "gonif s." A shoplifter; a 
 thief who operates in merchandise stores in daytime. A 
 "Boost" is an assistance; "The Boost" is the shoplifting 
 profession. 
 
 18 
 
BREAKS, Noun 
 
 Current amongst pickpockets. Any place of exit where 
 throngs of people pour through en stream, as from a 
 theatre, from a convention or other popular gathering, or 
 from a street or railroad car or from a boat, all of which 
 afford facilities for the pickpocket to operate under cover 
 and in the press of unusual excitement. Example: "The 
 guns are rooting into the swell mob at the Grand Opera 
 breaks." 
 
 BREAK UP, Noun 
 
 Current amongst thieves who specialize in plunder or loot. 
 Melted silver or gold. See "MELT." 
 
 BREEZE, Noun 
 
 General usage. 
 
 Loquacity; guile; "hot air;" bull con." 
 
 BREEZE, Verb 
 
 General usage. To deceive; to beguile; to occupy one's 
 attention; to descant loquaciously. Example: "She 
 breezed everybody on the line." Also to move on, to 
 leave, to come in or go out. See "BLOW." 
 
 BREECH (britch), Noun 
 
 Current amongst pickpockets chiefly. The rear pants 
 pockets, designated right and left breech, in contra- 
 distinction to the front pants pockets, for which see 
 "KICK." Example: "Fan his right breech for a leather," 
 i. e., "Feel of his right hip pocket for a pocketbook." 
 
 BROAD, Noun 
 
 Current amongst genteel grafters chiefly. A female con- 
 federate; a female companion; a woman of loose morals. 
 See "DONY," "FLUZIE," "MUFF." Broad is derived 
 from the far-fetched metaphor of "meal ticket," signifying 
 a female provider for a pimp, from the fanciful corre- 
 spondence of a meal ticket to a railroad or other ticket, 
 which latter originally was exclusively used by "gonifs" 
 
 19 
 
to indicate "broad," or a conductor's hat check. Also a 
 playing card from the deck of fifty-two. A "three-card 
 monte man" is a "BROAD SPIELER"; "Tipping the 
 broads' is riding on a purchased transportation ticket; 
 "Beating the broads" is corrupting the conductor or other 
 collecting functionaire of a transportation line. 
 
 BUCK, Noun 
 
 Current generally. A dollar. Example: "They tax you 
 one buck for a room without a bath at the cheapest hotel 
 in the burg." 
 
 BUFFALO, Noun 
 
 General usage in the northern states. A negro. See 
 "DINGE." 
 
 BUFFALO, Verb 
 
 General usage. To bluff; to intimidate; to frighten. Ex- 
 ample: "The dick buffaloed him into tipping his plant." 
 
 BUG, Noun 
 
 Used by alms beggars. A fearful looking sore artificially 
 produced to simulate a burn or scald by the use of Span- 
 ish blister. 
 
 BULL, Noun 
 
 General usage. Misrepresentation; a lie; deception. 
 Probably derived from the financial term bull, which in 
 polite and legal circles signifies inflation, optimism. See 
 "BREEZE." Also used to indicate an officer of the law 
 whose function is to apprehend or arrest, whether a con- 
 stable, marshal, sheriff, detective or policeman. 
 
 BULL CON, Noun 
 Supra idem. 
 
 20 
 
BUMP, Verb 
 
 Current amongst heavyweights and desperate characters 
 chiefly, though understood by grafters generally. To kill; 
 reflectively it signifies suicide. Examples: "He bumped 
 himself off when he saw that the game was up." "He 
 copped a cuter and got bumped making a get-away." 
 
 BUNCO, Noun 
 
 General currency. Deceit. Derived from "BUNCOMBE." 
 
 BUNK, Noun 
 
 In general currency. Deceit; ostentation. Derived by 
 corruption of form while retaining the meaning of 
 "Bunco," a contraction of buncombe. Example: "If you 
 fall for this bunk you're a simp." 
 
 BUNK, Verb 
 
 General usage. To employ misrepresentation; to defraud; 
 to cheat; to establish confidential relations with intent to 
 abuse the influence so acquired. Example: "The frame- 
 up in the play was to bunk the sucker with protection 
 and scare team work." 
 
 BURNEYS, Noun 
 
 Current amongst "hop-heads," dope flends. A catarrh 
 powder containing an illicit proportion of cocaine, used 
 as a snulT, administered with a combination detachable 
 rubber and glass blowing tube. 
 
 BUZZARD, Noun 
 
 Current amongst pickpockets. A timid or amateur or low- 
 life "gun" who operates on "molls," women. Example: 
 "The moll buzzards tore into the jam at the market house 
 on Saturday night and glommed a batch of pokes." 
 
 21 
 
BUZZER, Noun 
 
 Current mainly in western circles. An officer's badge or 
 star, the insignia of authority. Example: "Who are you? 
 says he. For reply I flashed my buzzer." Derived, doubt- 
 less, from the metal disc toy with starlike points which 
 revolves by pulling crossed strings which pass through it. 
 
 CAN, Noun 
 
 General usage. A place of confinement; a prison; a cell. 
 A practical metaphor for a receptacle designed to confine 
 or bottle humans. Also a lavatory, toilet, urinal. Example: 
 "He rumbled and made the can." See "CANISTER." 
 
 CAN, Verb 
 
 General usage. To discharge; to eliminate. Derived from 
 the prankish cruelty of tieing a tin can to a dog's tail, 
 whose effectual purpose is to get rid of a useless or un- 
 desirable object. Example: "He made so many bad 
 breaks we had to can him." 
 
 CANISTER, Noun 
 
 Current chiefly amongst prison habitues. A prison. Also 
 in use amongst crooks who resort to the use of weapons, 
 denoting a firearm. Example: "He'll stick his hands up 
 if you flash the canister." 
 
 CANNON, Noun 
 
 General currency. A revolver. In pickpocket parlance it 
 signifles a pickpocket of indefinite order. See "GUN," 
 "GONIF." 
 
 CASES, Noun 
 
 General usage. Observation; scrutiny; survey. Example: 
 "Keep cases on his actions and you will learn his mo- 
 tive." Also an ultimate, a finality, the last of a series of 
 things or actions. Example: "He hasn't turned a trick 
 for so long that he is down to cases." The term is de- 
 
 22 
 
rived from gambler's parlance; in faro bank the recording 
 of cards turned out of the dealer's box is denominated 
 "keeping cases," whilst the last card to remain in the 
 box is called the "case card." "Down to cases" is used 
 to signify that the cards are all dealt and played; the 
 money or resources at an end. 
 
 CASE, Verb 
 
 General usage. To watch; to observe; to scrutinize. 
 
 CAT HOP, Noun 
 
 Current amongst gamblers. See "KITTY HOP." 
 
 CENTURY, Noun 
 
 General usage. A hundred; a hundred dollar bill. 
 
 CHIP, Noun 
 
 Current amongst burglars and store prowlers. A cash- 
 box; a till; a cash drawer without belling device. A cash 
 receptacle with belling device is called a "combination 
 chip," or a "damper," or a "dinger." Example: "He 
 copped a heel on the chip and glommed a century." 
 
 CHIV, Noun 
 
 In general use amongst yeggs and rough-neck criminals. 
 A knife; a sharp-edged tool or weapon. Derived from 
 the French word "chef," by reason of a cook's use of a 
 carving knife, though the French term for knife is "canif." 
 
 CHIV, Verb 
 
 Supra idem. To cut; to slash; used only in regard to an 
 attack upon a human. Example: "Beware of that geezer 
 that he does not chiv you." 
 
 CHOP, Verb 
 
 General usage. To quit; to cease. 
 
 23 
 
CHUMP, Noun 
 
 General usage. An unsophisticated individual; a victim; 
 an inferior; an "angel"; a "captain." See "JOHN." 
 
 CLATTER, Noun 
 
 General usage. A patrol wagon. 
 
 CLAW, Noun 
 
 Current amongst pickpockets. The "tool"; the "jerve"; 
 the "wire" ; or the expert operator in a "gun mob" who 
 lifts the money and valuable collateral from the victim's 
 person. Example: "Our mob is working under one of 
 the speediest claws in the country." 
 
 CLAW, Verb 
 
 General usage. To snatch; to appropriate; to annex. 
 
 CLEAN, Adjective 
 
 General usage. A state of financial embarrassment; ex- 
 hausted supply of a given property. Example: "He 
 wasn't very dirty when he got in town, but he is thor- 
 oughly clean now." 
 
 CLEAN, Verb 
 
 General usage. To take all one possesses of a given 
 commodity; to deplete one's assets. Example: "He 
 headed in wrong with that bunch and got cleaned." Also 
 used by exponents of the art of self-defense to indicate 
 the infliction of defeat upon an opponent. Example: "He 
 made a pass at me and I cleaned him in one, two, three." 
 
 CLOUT, Verb 
 
 Tn currency amongst the plunderbund. To purloin any 
 kind of valuables in any manner. 
 
 24 
 
COME-ON, Noun 
 
 General usage. A prospective victim; a "steered" pros- 
 pect. 
 
 COME THROUGH, Verb 
 
 General usage. To give up, to deliver, to surrender any 
 secret information or any material goods demanded. Ex- 
 ample: "After I showed him the situation was in our 
 hands he came through with the dope." In pickpocket 
 parlance "to come through" describes a function of one of 
 the "wire's" "stalls," consisting of a frontal attack or 
 sudden onslaught upon an intended victim with the pur- 
 pose of bewildering the latter in order that the "wire" 
 may operate upon the victim from the rear; or, the rela- 
 tive positions may be reversed, when the "stall" should 
 "come through" from the rear. Example: "Precede this 
 mark through the car door, wheel and come through just 
 as he descends the steps." 
 
 CON, Noun 
 
 General usage. A convict; a lie; a misrepresentation. 
 See "BUNK." 
 
 CON, Verb 
 
 General usage. To ingratiate; to establish confidential 
 relations. See "BUNK." 
 
 COP, Noun 
 
 General currency. A policeman. 
 
 COP, Verb 
 
 General usage. See "CLOUT." Cop is an old Cockney 
 flash-word and signifies capture; conquer. Example: 
 "Booze and the blowers (women) cops the lot." 
 
 COPPER, Noun 
 
 Current amongst prison habitues. The commutation or 
 good time allowed prisoners for good behavior. Example: 
 "You grab one month copper off the first year," 
 
 26 
 
COSE, Noun 
 
 General usage. A five-centpiece. "Cosan" is a ten-cent- 
 piece. 
 
 CRACK, Verb 
 
 General usage. To talk. For example see "EYE FULL." 
 
 CRAB, Noun 
 
 General usage. A grouchy, stingy person; of inferior 
 quality in intellectuality or habits. See "PIKER." 
 
 CRAB, Verb 
 
 General usage. To spoil or ruin or render impossible 
 any plan of action. Example: "This fink crabbed the 
 play and we went on the nut for a double saw-buck." 
 
 CRAP, Noun 
 
 General usage. Treachery. See "BUNK," "BULL." 
 "CON." 
 
 CREEP, Verb 
 
 Current amongst prowlers and panel-joint workers. To 
 use stealth; to crawl. 
 
 CREEP, Noun 
 
 Current amongst crooked pimps. A creeper, a crawler 
 who searches the clothes of a victim while the latter is 
 abed with the creep's paramour. 
 
 CROKE, Verb 
 
 General usage. Passively it means to die; actively it is 
 used as an elegant expression for murder. Examples: 
 "He croked himself with bichloride." "The copper got 
 croked in the jack-pot." 
 
 26 
 
CRIMPY, Adjective 
 
 Used by yeggs principally. Cold, applied to the weather. 
 
 CROKER, Noun 
 
 General usage. A physyician. 
 
 CROSSLOTS, Adverb 
 
 In use amongst yeggs, hobos and the meandering un- 
 employed. Cross-country; away from frequented routes 
 of traffic; by star route. Example: "In the get-away 
 they hammed twenty miles cross lots." 
 
 CROW, Adjective 
 
 Current amongst shoplifters and pennyweighters. Poor; 
 mean; trivial; insignificant; worthless. Example: "There's 
 a bale of slum in the joint, but it's all crow." 
 
 CROWNS, Noun 
 
 Used by drug fiends. Same as "BURNEYS." 
 
 CRUSH, Noun 
 
 General usage. A forcible entry or exit. Also as verb. 
 
 CUT TO THE BRAKES, Verb 
 
 Current amongst gamblers and ready-money grafters. Re- 
 ducing action to its lowest terms; displaying only the 
 essential. Example: "The mark stalled to the can, 
 gunned his soft and cut to the breaks," i. e., "The victim 
 retired to the lavatoiy, inspected his bank-roll and separ- 
 ated the amount required to finance the intended opera- 
 tion." 
 
 CUTER, Noun 
 
 Used by gamblers and western criminals. A surprise; a 
 fool; a josh; "a boob." For example of first-cited value 
 see "BUMP." 
 
 27 
 
DAMPER, Noun 
 
 Used by prowlers and daylight "heels." A combination 
 cash drawer or register. See "CHIP." 
 
 DANGLEE, Noun 
 
 Current amongst jewelry thieves and those who commit 
 larceny from the person. A watch fob; an earring; a 
 pendant; any article of jewelry which swings free at 
 one end. 
 
 DEAD ONE, Noun 
 
 General usage. One who is useless in any specific case; 
 out of funds. 
 
 DERRICK, Noun 
 
 Current amongst shoplifters chiefly. A "hoister"; a 
 "lifter"; a "booster"; an "elevator." Example: "The 
 boosters are making a plunge with a derrick ben." In 
 this sense it is used as an adjective, but can be trans- 
 posed for "boosters." 
 
 DICK, Noun 
 
 General usage. A detective. See "RICHARD." 
 
 DINGE, Noun 
 
 General usage. A negro. See "BUFFALO." 
 
 DIP, Noun 
 
 Current amongst pickpockets. See "CLAW"; "WIRE"; 
 "JERVE"; "TOOL"; "GUN"; "CANNON"; "GONIF." A 
 common term for a pickpocket of any degree. 
 
 DISE, Noun 
 
 Current amongst store burglars, shoplifters, and box-car 
 thieves or "RAT WORKERS" mainly. A contraction of 
 
merchandise. Loot; plunder; effects that can readily be 
 disposed of in the market as new goods. Example: 
 "There's a mob riding the rattlers between here and the 
 junction who have a dise plant stashed (cached) in the 
 jungles." 
 
 DONT, Noun 
 
 Current amongst pimps and free lovers chiefly. A female 
 member of the demi-monde. See "HOOKER"'; "JANE"; 
 "FILLY"; "MUFF." Derived from the Hebrew "yoni," 
 the female sex organ. 
 
 DOSS, Noun 
 
 General currency. A place to sleep; a bed. See "KIP"; 
 "FLOP." Example: "Stake me to two-bits to get a doss." 
 Apparently from the French "je dors," I sleep. 
 
 DOUBLE, Noun 
 
 General usage. A conspiracy to deceive or defraud a 
 victim; the "double-cross." Example: "He got the 
 double." 
 
 DUCAT. Noun 
 
 Current amongst genteel grafters. A ticket of admission 
 
 or transportation. See "BROAD." Example: "The ducat 
 
 box was crushed last night," i. e., "The ticket office was 
 burglarized." 
 
 DUCK, Verb 
 
 General currency. To retire; to leave; to flee; to dis- 
 appear. 
 
 DUKE, Noun 
 
 Used by gamblers and genteel grafters. A fist; a hand; 
 glad hand; a hand in a card game. "Reading the duke" 
 
 29 
 
is fortune-telling by palmistry"; "tipping your duke" is 
 betraying your intention"; "cropping his duke" is reading 
 an opponent's hand by trickery in a card game. 
 
 DUKIE, Noun 
 
 Used by yeggmen and hobos. A hand-out, or donation of 
 cold victuals to a beggar. See "LUMP." 
 
 DUMMY, Noun 
 
 Current amongst yeggmen, hobos and prison habitues. 
 Bread. See "PUNK." 
 
 DUMP, Noun 
 
 General usage. A rendezvous; an establishment of 
 kind; a hangout; a joint; a meeting place. 
 
 any 
 
 DRAG, Noun 
 
 General currency. An influence with one in authority; 
 a "pull"; a main thoroughfare in any community; the 
 main street. See "STEM." Examples: "The boys are 
 pivoting on the main drag/' i. e., begging on the street; 
 "The muffs are cruising on the drag tonight," i. e., solicit- 
 ing on the street. Amongst female impersonators on the 
 stage and men of dual sex instincts "drag" denotes female 
 attire donned by a male. Example: "All the fagots 
 (sissies) will be dressed in drag at the ball tonight." 
 Also an inhalation of smoke, tobacco or opium. 
 
 DROP, Noun 
 
 General currency. An apprehension in criminal action. 
 See "FALL"; "SNEEZE"; "RUMBLE"; "TUMBLE." Also 
 used as a verb to express the action corresponding to a 
 similar state. Example of the latter: "The tribe dropped 
 a man in the day's work," i. e., lost one by arrest. "We 
 had to drop a stall for missing too many meets," i. e., dis- 
 charged him. Command or control by reason of advantage 
 in an exigency when shooting may be expected. 
 
 80 
 
EIGHT DIE CASE, Noun 
 
 Current amongst open-air or "sure-thing" grafters. See 
 "FLAT JOINT." A glass showcase containing numbered 
 prizes, as jewelry or gewgaws, for which eight dice are 
 thrown by players, the totality of spots on the eight dice 
 corresponding with the numbers on the prizes. The 
 secret of this graft consists in the dealer's fraudulent 
 counting of the spots arbitrarily and disarranging them 
 before the victim can finish the count. 
 
 ELBOW, Noun 
 
 General usage in cosmopolitan centers. A detective. See 
 "RICHARD" : "DICK." 
 
 ELEVATOR, Noun 
 
 In shoplifter's and holdup men's parlance. A lifter; a 
 booster; a bolster; a "stick-up" man. See "PUT-EM-UP." 
 
 END, Noun 
 
 General currency. A share; a portion; a division. See 
 'BIT. 
 
 <*'DT'n »» 
 
 EYE (The), Noun 
 
 General currency amongst long-odds criminals. The 
 Pinkerton Detective Agency; an operative of the Pinker- 
 ton Agency. Example: "Blow this joint; it's protected 
 by the Eye." 
 
 EYE FULL, Noun 
 
 General usage. The object of scrutiny or of attentive 
 observation. See "STRETCHING." Example: "Nix 
 Crackin'! The mark on your left is getting an eye full." 
 
 81 
 
FALL, Noun 
 
 General currency. An arrest. See "RUMBLE"; "DROP." 
 Example: "He was soused when he attempted to pull 
 off the stunt and got a fall." Used as a verb, "to fall for" 
 is to be deceived by; to be taken in; to be influenced. 
 
 FALL DOUGH, Noun 
 
 Current amongst criminals who operate under clique or 
 fraternal organization. A fund kept in reserve for pro- 
 tection, to be expended in procuring legal representation, 
 bail, or bribery of officers or court functionaries. Ex- 
 ample: "No one can join out unless he puts up five 
 centuries for fall dough." 
 
 FALL GUY, Noun 
 
 General currency. A scapegoat; a victim. See "FALL." 
 
 FAN, Verb 
 
 In pickpocket parlance. To surreptitiously feel a victim's 
 pockets, or inadvertently brush the person for the purpose 
 of locating an object sought, as pocketbook, watch or 
 weapon. Example: "Fan the pratt for a poke." 
 
 FIEND, Noun 
 
 Used by narcotic habitues chiefly. One addicted to the 
 use of drugs, as a "hop fiend," a "dope fiend." 
 
 FILL, Verb 
 
 General currency amongst gang criminals. To join a mob, 
 as of guns, or of confidence men, and thus fill a vacancy 
 in the organization. Example: "If you know a good 
 man who can make a fill steer him in." 
 
 FILLY, Noun 
 
 General usage. A young woman of questionable morals, 
 not necessarily criminal bv choice but potentially so. See 
 "SKIRT"; "JANE"; "MUFF." 
 
FINGER, Noun 
 
 Current amongst criminals who localize more or less ex- 
 tensively. See "STOOL." An informer; an investigator 
 for officers. Example: "He got the push sneezed by 
 mixing with a finger." 
 
 FINGER PRINT, Noun 
 
 Current amongst confidence crooks who specialize in paper 
 securities or signed orders for merchandise or service. A 
 signature; an endorsement. Example: "Put your finger 
 print on this line." See "JOHN HANCOCK." 
 
 FINK, Noun 
 
 Current chiefiy in eastern criminal circles. An unreliable 
 confederate or incompetent sympathizer. See "CRAB"; 
 "LOB." Example: "We staked him to a day's work for 
 a try-out, but he proved to be a fink." 
 
 FISH EYE, Noun 
 
 General currency. A diamond. See "PROP." 
 
 FIX, Noun 
 
 Used in general criminal parlance. A condition of se- 
 curity where grafters may operate with impunity. Ex- 
 ample: "Don't pay any attention to the bulls; it's a fix." 
 
 FIXER, Noun 
 
 General currency. One who acts as go-between for thieves 
 and bribe takers. Example: "If you get a rumble, send 
 for Jones, the mouthpiece; he's a sure-shot fixer and can 
 square anything short of murder." 
 
 FLAGGINGS, Noun 
 
 Used by yeggs and hobos. Meat of any description, 
 usually applied to cold victuals. Example: "If you 
 are not a vegetarian, stay away from that man's burg, 
 for flaggings is scarce." 
 
 33 
 
FLAP, Noun 
 
 Current amongst pimps and criminals who are contemptu- 
 ous of female values. An opprobrious epithet for loose 
 women. Also employed to designate the female sex organ. 
 
 FLASH, Verb 
 
 General currency. To show; to exhibit; to submit an 
 object for inspection. 
 
 FLAT JOINT, Noun 
 
 Current amongst open-air sure-thing men who operate at 
 circus gatherings, fairs, carnivals, any gaming establish- 
 ment where fortune is presumed to wait upon skill com- 
 bined with risk. The "TIVOLI"; the "SWINGING BALL"; 
 the "SPINDLE"; the "PINCH WHEEL"; the "PAD- 
 DLES"; the "SHELLS"; "THREE CARD MONTE"; the 
 "EIGHT DIE CASE"; the "FISH POND"; the "DISCS" 
 are all grafting flat joints. The term is derived from 
 the essentiality in all of these crooked devices of a 
 counter or other flat area across or upon which the 
 swindle may be conducted. 
 
 FLIM, Noun 
 
 Current in polite criminal circles. A swindle; a fraud. 
 See "BUNK"; "TWIST." Derived from "flim-flam." 
 
 FLIM, VerlD 
 
 Supra idem. To swindle; to defraud. Used especially by 
 short-change experts. See "LAYING"; "FLOPPER." 
 
 FLOATER, Noun 
 
 General currency in police circles. A suspended sentence; 
 a mandatory order to quit a community or locality. Ex- 
 ample: "The rap wasn't strong enough, so they took a 
 floater." 
 
 84 
 
FLOP, Noun 
 
 Current amongst yeggs, dope fiends, prison habitues and 
 to some extent in general use by initiates in the mysteries 
 of informal annexation. A bed; a place to sit, recline or 
 lie down. Also used by short changers as a synonym of 
 "Aim." 
 
 FLOP, Verb 
 
 Same as above. To sit or lie down. Example: "Let's 
 flop here on the grass and pound our ear." Also used by 
 money changers to signify fraud by confusion. Example: 
 "There's a muff in that candy store that can be flopped 
 because she can't count change." 
 
 FLOPPER, Noun 
 
 In general use by money changers, switchers ( substi- 
 tute rs) ; fiim-flammers. See "LAYING." Example: "He 
 calls himself a star flopper, but he's crabbing a string of 
 good lays by hyping with a deuce where a saw buck 
 could be changed just as readily." See "HYPER." 
 
 FRAME, Noun 
 
 General currency. A prearranged plan of action; a secret 
 implying sinister intention; a "frame-up." The contrac- 
 tion is used for greater secretiveness, as is the case with 
 all terms which have become the common property of 
 both criminals and their enemies. Example: "What's 
 the frame for putting this one over? The lemon." 
 
 FRISK, Noun 
 
 General usage. A search; a "shake-down"; an examina- 
 tion of the contents of one's pockets, of a room, of re- 
 ceptacles or of a community. Example: "Give him a 
 frisk and see if he has a rod." 
 
 86 
 
FRISK, Verb 
 
 Supra idem. Example: "Frisk everybody that enters the 
 hall." 
 
 FRONT, Noun 
 
 Some general currency, but used mainly by crooks whose 
 operations require a shield or distraction. An auxiliary 
 defense; a "stall"; a secondary who interposes his person 
 or contributes overtly to a surreptitious action. Example: 
 "Give me a front here till I nick this leather." 
 
 FRONT, Verb 
 
 See above. To hide; to conceal a principal in open 
 criminal action. See "STALL." Example: "Front me 
 out of this joint and don't lose my left wing." 
 
 FLUZIE, Noun 
 
 Current in the cosmopolitan demi-monde. A woman; a 
 questionable female character. See "DONY"; "HOOKER." 
 
 GAFF, Noun 
 
 In general currency. An offensive action, thing or condi- 
 tion, of vague, complex or undetermined meaning. It is 
 variously employed or construed to mean defeat, punish- 
 ment, failure, or the instruments of these. Example: 
 "There'll be no hop-heads joining out with this mob, for 
 they can't stand the gaff." 
 
 GANDER, Noun 
 
 General currency. An inquisitorial glance; a searching 
 look; an impertinent gazing or staring. Also the simple 
 act of looking or seeing. See "RUBBER"; "EYE FULL." 
 Example: "Take a gander at this dump as we pass, and 
 don't get the eye of the guinea inside." 
 
 36 
 
GAP, Noun 
 
 Supra idem. General currency. Used also as a verb. 
 
 GASH, Noun 
 
 General currency. An invidious term for woman; sy- 
 nonymous with flap, which see. 
 
 GAT, Noun 
 
 General usage. A gun; a pistol; a firearm. See "ROD"; 
 "ROSCOE." Derived from "Gatling." 
 
 GAZABO, Noun 
 
 In general use, but originating in the East. A man; any 
 man without regard to qualities. 
 
 GAZUNY, Noun 
 
 Supra idem. Current in ultra slangy circles. A man. 
 
 GEEZER, Noun 
 
 General circulation. A drink of liquor; a man (contemptu- 
 ously). 
 
 GINK, Noun 
 
 General currency. Synonymous with "gazabo," "gazuny," 
 "gink." 
 
 GLIM, Noun 
 
 General usage. A light; a lamp; a match. Also used as 
 a verb, signifying illuminated. Example: "Go and take 
 a pike (peek) at the dump and see if it's glimmed." 
 
 GLIMS, Noun 
 
 General currency. A pair of spectacles or nose glasses. 
 See "SCENERIES": "RINGERS." 
 
 37 
 
GLOM, Verb 
 
 General currency. To grab; to snatch; to take; implying 
 violence. Example: "Glom this short and drop off two 
 blocks below." 
 
 GOBBLED, Verb, Past Part. 
 
 General currency. Arrested. See "NAILED." 
 
 GONGER, Noun 
 
 Current amongst opium smokers and drug fiends. An 
 opium pipe. Also used in the diminutive form of "GON- 
 GERINE." 
 
 GONIF, Noun 
 
 General currency. A thief of any class; a pickpocket. 
 The term is taken intact from the Hebrew and is used 
 mostly by pickpockets. See "GUN"; "CANNON"; "BUZ- 
 ZARD." Also a verb, to rob. 
 
 GOOSEBERRY, Noun 
 
 Current amongst yeggs, hobos and meanderers. A clothes- 
 line; laundry hung up to dry. Example: "He prowled a 
 gooseberry for a skin." 
 
 GOPHER, Noun 
 
 Current amongst yeggs chiefly. A safe; a strong box. 
 See "PETE." 
 
 GRAB, Verb 
 
 General currency. Passively it signifies arrested; actively 
 it signifies the imperfect past action of arresting or seiz- 
 ing. Example: "Steer clear of the tip: It's made and 
 you are liable to get grabbed." See "GLOMMED"; 
 "SNEEZEZD." 
 
 S8 
 
GRIFT, Noun 
 
 General usage. Graft; an opportunity for plying criminal 
 talents. Example: "How's grift on the shorts in the 
 winter? Crow. Too many togs." 
 
 GROUCH BAG, Noun 
 
 Current amongst yeggs and western thieves. A place, as 
 a pocket or receptacle, for concealing money or valuables; 
 a reserve fund held in secret to the exclusion of fratern- 
 ists. Example: "He's under cover with a grouch bag." 
 
 GUFF, Noun 
 
 Current amongst yeggs, sailors, and old-timers. Palaver; 
 conversation; a contumelious synonym for egotism. See 
 "BREEZE." 
 
 GUINEA, Noun 
 
 General usage. In the sense of a man it is synonymous 
 with "gazabo," "gink," "mark"; it also means an Italian, 
 as well as Europeans generally. 
 
 GUMP, Noun 
 
 Current amongst yeggs, hobos and peripatetics generally. 
 A chicken; a fowl. Examples: "We're going down in the 
 jungles and have a gump stew." 
 
 GUM SHOE, Noun 
 
 General currency. A detective; a silent trailer. See 
 "PUSSY FOOT." 
 
 GUN, Noun 
 
 Current amongst pickpockets chiefly, though enjoying 
 familiar usage in general circles. A pickpocket. See 
 "CANNON"; "GONIF." 
 
 89 
 
GUN, Verb 
 
 General usage. To watch; to scrutinize. See "GAN- 
 DER"; "GAP." Used both as verb and noun to express 
 action or thing. Examples: "Nix! There's a dick on 
 the corner gunning us." "He's giving us a gun." 
 
 GUN MAN, Noun 
 
 General currency. A gun fighter. 
 
 GUNNELS, Noun 
 
 Used by all classes of criminals who beat their way on 
 trains. The curved trusses extending from end to end 
 underneath both freight and passenger cars. Example: 
 "The only way you can ride this rattler tonight is to 
 make the gunnels or the rods." 
 
 GUNSHEL, Noun 
 
 Current amongst yeggs chiefly. A boy; a youth; a 
 neophyte of trampdom. Example: "The tribe's got a 
 gunshel pivoting on the stem with a bug," i. e., "The 
 gang of tramps have sent a boy up on the main street 
 to beg under pretense of having a wounded or disabled 
 arm or limb." The term "bug" is derived from railroad 
 parlance, denoting a signal attached to the front of the 
 engine as an indication of the train's nature, attracting 
 attention. 
 
 GUTS, Noun 
 
 General currency. Nerve; "sand"; ability to withstand 
 the most powerful emotions. A metaphor derived from 
 the common experience of depressing sensation con- 
 comitant with an inrush of the violent emotions of fear, 
 horror or other moral obstructions. To have "guts" is to 
 be unencumbered with conscientious scruples relative to 
 the object contemplated. Amongst yeggs and others fa- 
 
 40 
 
miliar with clandestine railroading the "guts" signifies the 
 various construtcive parts underneath a car, or the hidden 
 essentials of rolling stock. Example: "We'll ride the 
 guts tonight over this division," i. e., the gunnels, rods, 
 brake-beams, trucks. 
 
 GUY, Noun 
 
 Eastern currency mainly. A man. "TO GUY" is to 
 ridicule. 
 
 GYP, Noun 
 
 Current in polite circles. The act of short-changing; a 
 duplicity; a defrauding by substitution; an action that 
 belies a professed sincerity. Example: "Look out for 
 this guy, he's a clever agent to slip you a gyp." Derived 
 from the popular experience with thieving Gypsies. 
 
 GYP, Verb 
 
 Some general currency, but especially significant amongst 
 short changers. To flim-flam; to cheat by means of guile 
 and manual dexterity. See "HYPE"; "FLOP"; "LAY- 
 ING." Example: "Gyp this boob with a deuce." Also 
 used by "fiat-joint" grafters, comprehending the general 
 meaning of face-to-face criminal transactions. 
 
 HABIT, Noun 
 
 Current amongst dope fiends. Necessity for opiates; a 
 craving; the condition produced by habitual indulgence in 
 drugs. See "YEN-YEN." Example: "I must drop into 
 the hotel donegan (lavatory) and fire (take a hypodermic 
 injection), for I feel my habit coming on." 
 
 HACK, Noun 
 
 Current amongst yeggmen and prowlers, in general. A 
 night watchman; a night policeman or marshal. Most 
 usually it signifies the watchman of a building. Used as 
 
 41 
 
a verb in the past participle it describes the accomplished 
 function of a night watchman. Example: "The joint's 
 hacked but not kipped," i. e., watched but not occupied 
 by a sleeper. 
 
 HAM, Verb 
 
 General usage. To walk. Example: "If we get a tumble, 
 it's a case of ham." 
 
 HANDLES, Nonn 
 
 Limited usage, chiefly by criminals who understand more 
 or less about physiognomical description and disguises. 
 Side-whiskers; "mutton chops." 
 
 HANKY PANK, Noun 
 
 Current in polite slangy circles. Insincere or trifling 
 small talk; flattery; garrulousness. See "BREEZE"; 
 "BULL." 
 
 HARDWARE, Noun 
 
 Current chiefly amongst merchandise thieves. Weapons; 
 knives; razors; tools and paraphernalia used by safe- 
 crackers and forcible entry prowlers. Used by holdup 
 men to signify a weapon. Example: "Fan him for hard- 
 ware." 
 
 HARNESS, Noun 
 
 General currency. A uniform; a shoplifter's equipment 
 for concealing merchandise. A "harness bull" is the 
 commonest form of the term's use, signifying a uniformed 
 policeman in contradistinction to a plain clothes officer or 
 detective. 
 
 42 
 
HARP, Noun 
 
 General currency. An Irishman; used principally to desig- 
 nate the raw type. 
 
 HARPOON, Noun 
 
 General currency. A metaphor for lampoon; used as a 
 verb it signifies to "give a person the worst of it." See 
 "GAFF." 
 
 HATCH, Noun 
 
 General usage. A calaboose; a prison; police station; a 
 jail. Derived from the nautical term "booby-hatch." See 
 "CAN"'; "WICKY." Example: "The only way he can be 
 sprung is to crush the hatch." 
 
 HEAVY WEIGHT, Noun 
 
 Current amongst long-odds crooks. A desperate thief; a 
 husky capable of delivering a dangerous attack in the 
 event of personal encounter; a yegg; a burglar; a "stick- 
 up man." 
 
 HEEL, Noun 
 
 General currency. An incompetent; an undesirable; an 
 inefficient or pusillanimous pretender to sterling criminal 
 qualifications. See "FINK"; "DEAD ONE"; "CRAB"; 
 "LOB." Used also in the sense of "sneak" as noun and 
 verb, to stalk. 
 
 HEP, Noun 
 
 General circulation. Sapiency; understanding; "next"; 
 "on." Derived from the name of a fabulous detective who 
 operated in Cincinnati, the legend has it, who knew so 
 much about criminality and criminals that his patronymic 
 became a byword for the last thing in wisdom of illicit 
 possibilities. Example: "Chop the skirmish; he's hep." 
 
 43 
 
HICKS, Noun 
 
 Current amongst "sure-thing" grafters. The walnut 
 husks used in the three shell and pea game. Example: 
 "This proposition is as sure as fate and as strong as the 
 hicks." 
 
 HIP, Noun 
 
 General currency. A burden; an attachment; a responsi- 
 bility; an incubus. Examples: "I can't see you tonight; 
 I've got a Jane on my hip." "What's the use of taking 
 more on your hip?" Also used to denote being shadowed 
 or followed. Example: "Don't round, we've got some- 
 body on our hip." Always used colloquially. Also current 
 amongst opium smokers, designating the act of lying on 
 the side to smoke the "pipe." 
 
 HIRAM, Noun 
 
 Current chiefly amongst yeggmen. A metaphor taken 
 from masonry to signify initiation into the secrets of the 
 yegg profession. A synonym for yegg, adopted when the 
 latter term acquired too much notoriety. Example: "By 
 way of the Hiram!" An exclamatory challenge or pass- 
 word used for a "feeler" to probe the state of mind of 
 the encountered one. 
 
 HOBO, Noun 
 
 General usage. A tramp, not necessarily of criminal 
 tendencies. 
 
 HOIST, Noun 
 
 Current amongst shoplifters mainly. The profession of 
 shoplifting. See "BOOST"; "DERRICK"." Example: 
 "What's his grift? He's on the hoist." 
 
 44 
 
HOOKS, Noun 
 
 Current amongst shoplifters. A set of steel hooks shaped 
 like the letter "U," fastened through the cloth of a heavy 
 "boosting ben" under the armpits; concealed from the 
 outside view by a pad of cloth similar in pattern to the 
 cloth of the coat and having the inner arm of the hook 
 filed to a needle-like sharpness; upon the hook merchan- 
 dise may be hung, or slung around the operator's back 
 and suspended from both hooks. When not in use the 
 hooks' sharp points are sheathed in cork to prevent injury 
 to the person. They are instantaneously detachable and 
 may be "sloughed" by an expert without detection. 
 "Hooks" also signifies the worst of a bargain. "HOOK' 
 means a thief; "HOOKY" is larcenous. 
 
 HOOKER, Noun 
 
 General currency. A prostitute. See "DONY"'; "FLUZY." 
 
 HOLLER, Noun 
 
 General currency. A protest; a vehement refutation. See 
 "BELCH"; "WOLF"; "SQUAWK." Example: "Did the 
 sucker make a holler? Sure he rumbled the touch before 
 we blowed the joint and made a roar." 
 
 HOMBRE, Noun 
 
 Western usage. A man. From the Spanish for man. 
 
 HOPSCOTCH, Verl) 
 
 General usage. To jump or travel about from place to 
 place. 
 
 45 
 
HOOP, Noun 
 
 General currency, though used most frequently by "short- 
 odds" grafters who practice merchandising by unlicensed 
 solicitation. A finger ring. A "phony hoop" is a gold- 
 plated ring. Grafters of mediocre intellectuality seek pro- 
 tection from apprehension for vagrancy by carrying a 
 stock of "hoops," "glims" and "supers," or "blocks" 
 (watches). Not to be confounded with the jovial ex- 
 clamation, "Whoops! my dear," of fairies and theatrical 
 characters. 
 
 HOP MERCHANT, Noun 
 
 Current amongst drug habitues. A dispenser of opium 
 and opiates. Usually applied to drug peddlers who have 
 no established headquarters, but are itinerant. 
 
 HUCKS, Noun 
 
 Current amongst "sure-thing" grafters. The walnut shells 
 used in the three shell game. See "HICKS"; "NUTS." 
 Example: "We'll make the ball game on Sunday and 
 play the bucks." 
 
 HUMP, Noun 
 
 Current amongst prison habitues. The middle of a term; 
 the half-way point in a prison sentence. Example: "How 
 long have you got yet on your bit? I'm just over the 
 hump." 
 
 HUNCH, Noun 
 
 General usage. An inspiration; an intuition; an "office." 
 
 HUNDRED PER CENT, Noun 
 
 Used by sure-thing admen, by confidence grafters who 
 maintain the plausible appearance of giving value for 
 moneys received, but who in reality give nothing. Fake 
 advertising is the principal hundred per cent graft. 
 
 46 
 
HUNKIE, Noun 
 
 Current in localities where North European laborers 
 abound. A corruption of Hungarian, but employed to 
 signify a Continental European who is unwashed and un- 
 naturalized. 
 
 HUSTLER, Noun 
 
 General currency. A grafter; a pimp who steals betimes. 
 The genteel thief is designated a "hustler." 
 
 HYPER, Noun 
 
 Current amongst money-changers. A flim-flammer; a 
 layer of currency, that is, one who makes a purchase and 
 tenders a bank note and after receiving proper change 
 pretends to discover the exact amount of change required 
 to pay for the goods purchased and thereupon declares 
 his preference for the bank note rather than for the 
 change. In the exchange he strives to confuse the oblig- 
 ing changemaker for the purpose of obtaining an excess 
 of his proper due. Or, the "hyper" requests a bank note 
 for subsidiary coin and upon being accommodated osten- 
 tatiously seals the bank note in an addressed envelope. 
 The merchant discovers that the subsidiary coin is less 
 than the stated amount and demands his bank note, where- 
 upon a substitute envelope is tendered by the "hyper" 
 with a request that he hold it until the "hyper" returns 
 to his home and secures the additional small change. 
 There are other systems of the "hyper" in vogue, but the 
 principle is the same in all. 
 
 IN DUTCH, Adverb 
 
 General usage. Mistaken; in trouble. See "JACK POT." 
 
 47 
 
JAB, Noun 
 
 Current amongst morphine and cocaine fiends. A hypo- 
 dermic injection. 
 
 JACKPOT, Noun 
 
 General currency. A dilemma; a difficult strait; a retribu- 
 tion; trouble; an arrest. See "JINX"; "IN DUTCH." 
 Example: "Where's Joe? He pulled a raw-jaw stunt and 
 made a jackpot." 
 
 JAKE, Noun 
 
 General currency amongst cosmopolitan crooks. The state 
 of knowing; familiarity with a secret or a scheme or 
 meaning. See "HEP"; "JOE." Example: "You're mak- 
 ing a boob out of yourself; he's Jake to the whole works." 
 As an adjective "jake" means good; satisfactory; ac- 
 ceptable; all-right. 
 
 JAMB, Noun 
 
 Current chiefly amongst yeggs and prowlers. The state 
 of being closed, as a store or house; locked up; inaccess- 
 ible. See "Sloughed," not in the sense of "sluffed" as the 
 same word is sometimes used, though with the latter pro- 
 nunciation while retaining the former spelling. Example: 
 "The front's in the jamb; try the rear." Also used to 
 signify trouble in the sense of "JACK POT." 
 
 JANE, Noun 
 
 General currency. A woman, though not in any opprobri- 
 ous sense; the sexual complement of the term "JOHN," a 
 man. 
 
 48 
 
JERVE, Noun 
 
 Current amongst pickpockets. A vest pocket; the "tool"; 
 the "wire"; the "claw" in a gun mob. Examples: "Go 
 after the left jerve for a bundle of scratch." "The Jerve 
 was nailed bang to rights coming through the tip." 
 
 JESSIE, NoTin 
 
 General currency. A bluff; a threat. Example: "He 
 rang in a Jessie and got away with it." 
 
 JIG, Noun 
 
 General currency. An affair; a misfortune; a mistake. 
 Example: "He used bad judgment and got into a jig." 
 
 JIGGER, Noun 
 
 Current amongst yeggs and tramps. A fake wound, burn, 
 scald, or other crippled condition. See "BUG"; "P.P." 
 Example: "They're all jigger bums." 
 
 JIGGER, Verb 
 
 Supra idem. An exclamation of warning; an Injunction 
 to cease; to mar; to spoil; to deface or derange. Ex- 
 amples: "Jigger! The bull's coming." "You've jiggered 
 the lock." 
 
 JIM, Noun 
 
 General currency. A cheap, inferior or worthless thing. 
 Contraction of "JIM CROW." See "CROW." 
 
 JIM, Verb 
 
 General currency. A synonym for "JIGGER." Example: 
 "Lay off! You'll jim the whole works." 
 
 49 
 
JIMMY, Noun 
 
 Used mainly by yeggs and prowlers. A burglar's tool. 
 A short, powerful chisel or lever used by thieves for 
 prying doors and v/indows open. 
 
 JIMMY, Verb 
 
 Supra idem. To pry or wrench loose with any instru- 
 ment. 
 
 JINKS, JINX, Noun 
 
 General usage. In difficult straits. See "IN DUTCH." 
 
 JITNEY, Noun 
 
 General currency. A nickel; a dime; a small coin; a 
 picayune. Used variously to signify an extremity in 
 finance. Example: "Break away; he hasn't got a jitney." 
 
 JOE, Noun 
 
 General currency in polite criminal circles. Wise; sophis- 
 ticated. See "Hep," of which "JOE" and "JAKE" are 
 subdivisions or contractions or substitutions. 
 
 JOHN, Noun 
 
 General currency amongst the demi-monde. A "captain"; 
 a "sucker" -, an amorous fool with money and free love 
 proclivities. Also a man in a contemptuous sense. Ex- 
 amples: "She's got a John keeping her." "Ask this John 
 what time the train starts." 
 
 JOHN HANCOCK, Noun 
 
 Current amongst confidence men and paper grafters gen- 
 erally. A signature. Derived from the common observa- 
 tion that John Hancock, of Revolutionary fame, wrote a 
 massive, extremely legible hand. See "FINGER PRINT." 
 
 50 
 
JOINT, Noun 
 
 General currency. A business establishment; a hangout. 
 Sometimes used as a synonym of "DUMP," though it does 
 not necessarily imply meanness or disrepute. Example: 
 "Let's drop in this joint and buy a suit of clothes." 
 
 JOLT, Noun 
 
 General usage. A prison sentence; a penalization; a 
 blow; a physical or moral jar. Example: "He did a jolt 
 nncfi hftfnrp in .Tnliet." 
 
 JOHN O'BRIEN, Noun 
 
 Current generally. A freight train, used in contradistinc- 
 tion to a "RATTLER," a passenger train. Example: 
 "You can see by his clothes that he has been riding John 
 O's." Amongst "yeggs" it signifies also a moneyless safe. 
 
 JUG, Noun 
 
 General currency. A prison; a bank; a secret receptacle 
 for money or compact valuables. Example: "Tail this 
 mark to the jug and case what he draws," i. e., "observe 
 what money he draws." 
 
 JUNGLE, Noun 
 
 Current amongst yeggs. A loafing place or hang out be- 
 yond a city's limits, whether in the woods or not. An 
 isolated or little frequented spot. 
 
 JUNK, Noun 
 
 General currency. Inferior goods; any property of rela- 
 tive worthlessness. Example: "Everything in his keister 
 is junk." 
 
 51 
 
KALE, Noun 
 
 General currency. Bank notes; money of any kind. 
 Evolved from the term "GREEN GOODS," the latter 
 metaphor for money being derived from the greenish 
 aspect of currency. Example: "He's got a bundle of 
 kale that would choke a cow." 
 
 KEISTER, Nonn 
 
 General < 
 Example: 
 keisters." 
 
 General currency. A satchel; a handbag; a small grip. 
 Example: "What's his grift? He prowls the depots for 
 keisters." 
 
 KICK, Noun 
 
 Some general currency, but employed most effectively by 
 pickpockets. In common usage it signifies a pocket, any 
 pocket; amongst "guns" it is used exclusively to signify a 
 front pants pocket. Also a protest, a "squawk." 
 
 KINK, Noun 
 
 General circulation. A crook; a larcenous criminal. 
 See "HOOK"; "HUSTLER." Example: "Are there any 
 kinks in the joint?" Also used by yeggs to designate a 
 non-criminal tramp, or one who is not initiated into the 
 particular craft of the speaker. In this latter sense the 
 term is derived from the epithet "gay-cat," meaning a 
 "working plug." Example: "Cut him out; he's got 
 forty-seven kinks in his tail." 
 
 KIP, Noun 
 
 General usage. A bed; a place to sleep. See "PAD"; 
 "DOSS"; "FLOP." Used also as a verb, to sleep, to go 
 to bed, etc. 
 
KISSER, Noun 
 
 General circulation. The countenance. See "MOOSH"; 
 "MUG." Example: "You'll recognize him by his hatchet 
 kisser." 
 
 KITTY HOP, Noun 
 
 Current chiefly amongst gamblers. A heads-I-win-tails- 
 you-lose situation or proposition; a "double-cross"; a 
 "frame-up," in which "both ends may be played against 
 the middle." Also used to indicate a practical joke. 
 Example: "We got the skirt to frame a kitty hop for 
 him and he fell for it." 
 
 LACE, Verb 
 
 General currency. To slam; to punch; to beat unmerci- 
 fully. Example: "The three dicks laced him like a foot- 
 ball and then squared it by throwing an order of ham and 
 eggs under his belt." 
 
 LAG, Noun 
 
 Current amongst statutory criminals. A prison sentence 
 of one year; sometimes used to signify an indefinite term 
 of years in prison. The "STRETCH" better expresses the 
 latter sentence of penal servitude. Example: "He's do- 
 ing a lag in the little can." Also used as a verb as the 
 equivalent of "RAILROADING" a criminal to prison. 
 
 LAM, Noun 
 
 General currency. A hasty get-away; a running escape. 
 Example: "He heeled to the door and made a lam." 
 
 LAM, Verb 
 
 General usage. To run; to flee. Most frequently em- 
 ployed in the imperative mood. 
 
 53 
 
LAMISTER, Noun 
 
 Supra idem. A corruption of "LAM." Also a fugitive 
 from justice. Example: "He's a lamister out of Chicago." 
 
 LAMOS, Adjective 
 
 General currencj'. Gold-plated; flimsy; unsubstantial. De- 
 rived from the name of a firm of Chicago jewelers who 
 supplied the cheap jewelry trade with "PHONIES," or 
 fake jewelry. Example: "You can't hock it for two- 
 bits: it's lamos." Also used to signify inferior personal 
 qualities. 
 
 LAYING OUT, Verb, Present Part. 
 
 Current amongst prowlers and sneak thieves. To watch 
 from ambush; to spy upon a person or establishment. 
 Example: "To get this dump right we'll have to lay out 
 on it every night for a week and make the doings." 
 
 LAYING (NOTES), Verb, Present Part. 
 
 Current amongst flim-flammers. To make fraudulent 
 change; to cheat by the ruse of substitution. The latter 
 craft is denominated "LAYING THE ENVELOPE." 
 
 LEATHER, Noun 
 
 Some general currency, but used chiefly by pickpockets. 
 A pocketbook; a wallet; a billhook. See "POKE." Ex- 
 ample: "He has an inside leather." 
 
 LEARY, Adjective 
 
 General usage. Afraid; anxious; anticipatory. 
 
 54 
 
LEMON, Noun 
 
 Current chiefly amongst bunco men. A confidence game 
 in which skill at pool is the bait, though its successful 
 negotiation is based upon the dishonesty or avarice of the 
 victim. See "WIRE"; "SPUD." A lemon joint is a 
 crooked pool and billiard room. Lately evolved to com- 
 prehend the general meaning of a disappointment, a com- 
 mercial illusion. In this regard "lemon" is used in the 
 deprecating sense conveyed by the term "gold mine." 
 Example: "Lemons are selling in the open market for 
 thirty cents a dozen, but this one cost me a hundred iron 
 men." 
 
 LIVE ONE, Noun 
 
 General currency. An informed individual; a prospectively 
 profitable victim; an ambitious or keenly alert person. 
 Example: "If we put this live one through the sprouts 
 we throw our feet under the mahogany at the big top all 
 the rest of the winter." 
 
 LOB, Noun 
 
 General currency amongst better informed crooks. An 
 awkward craftsman; a delinquent; an opprobrious char- 
 atcer amongst thieves. Contracted from "LOBSTER," 
 which in turn is a metaphor derived by suggestion from 
 "CRAB," the latter symbolizing backward action or the 
 propensity for reluctant participation. "LOBBY GOW" 
 is another form of the same term, used principally by 
 confidence and "flat-joint" grafters to signify a minor 
 confederate, or "booster." 
 
 LOADING, Verb, Present Part. 
 
 Current amongst pickpockets. The act of following, es- 
 corting or forcibly jamming passengers aboard a street or 
 passenger car or up any flight of steps, as the entrance 
 to an elevated railroad station; the purpose of "LOAD- 
 
 55 
 
ING" is to take advantage of unsuspecting eagerness on 
 the part of passengers so that violent extraction of valu- 
 ables from pockets shall scarcely be heeded. Example: 
 "We were loading 'em on for two hours steady in the 
 Sunday excursion pushes," 
 
 LOCO, Adverb 
 
 Current chiefly in western circles, though not used ex- 
 clusively by criminals. Slightly erratic in mental pro- 
 cesses. The Spanish value of the term is "crazy," but by 
 American criminal adoption it has been modified to com- 
 prehend just less than that. See "NUTS." 
 
 LOSER, Noun 
 
 Current amongst prison habitues. An ex-convict. See 
 "Con." Examples: "Three time losers cop life in some 
 states." 
 
 LUMP, Noun 
 
 Current chiefly amongst yeggs, hobos and the indigent. 
 A donation of victuals intended for consumption outside 
 the house. But alas! lumps are sometimes impaled on the 
 fence pickets by fastidious beggars who become offended 
 at the failure of well meaning but non-intuitive philan- 
 thropists to invite them in to eat at the table. This lat- 
 ter operation is gratefully termed a "sit-down." 
 
 MAC, Noun 
 
 General currency. A pimp; a lover of a lewd woman. A 
 man who lives upon the earnings of a prostitute. De- 
 rived from the French term "Macquereau." 
 
 MAIN STEM, Noun 
 
 General currency. The main thoroughfare of a com- 
 munity. See "DRAG." 
 
 66 
 
MAKE, Verb 
 
 General currency. To recognize; to discern; to solve; to 
 acquire in an intellectual sense. See "RAP." Example: 
 "You had better ring up (disguise) so he won't make you." 
 
 MARK, Noun 
 
 General circulation. A man; a prospective victim. 
 
 MATCH, Noun 
 
 Current amongst confidence men. A bunco game similar 
 in nature to the "LEMON," but in which coins are 
 matched; the fraud consisting in treachery on the part 
 of the confidence man who steers the victim with the 
 professed intention of betraying his de facto confederate. 
 
 MEAL TICKET, Noun 
 
 General currency. A female of the open market who sup- 
 ports a lover; any gratituous source of subsistence. Ex- 
 ample: "The stiff won't put up his back so long as he's 
 got a meal ticket." 
 
 MEIG, Noun 
 
 General currency amongst cosmopolitans. A nickel; a 
 five-cent piece. See "JITNEY." Sometimes used to indi- 
 cate the minimum basis of exchange medium, the cent, 
 as a hundred meigs, fifty meigs, etc. Example: "What's 
 the tax for the scof fin's? Twenty-five meigs." 
 
 MELT, Noun 
 
 Current amongst loothunters, but pennyweighters and 
 other jewelry thieves particularly. Precious metals that 
 may be melted in a crucible to make identity difficult or 
 impossible. See "BREAK UP." Example: "The swag 
 netted a melt of a thousand dollars." 
 
 67 
 
M'GIMP, MEGIMP, Noun 
 
 Current in western circles. A pimp; a lover in the 
 vicious meaning. See "MAC." 
 
 MICHAEL, Noun 
 
 Current amongst bottle drinkers. A flask of liquor. Ex- 
 ample: "Have you got a michael on your hip?" 
 
 MICHIGAN, Noun 
 
 General currency. A spectacular ruse; a deceptive ap- 
 pearance, as a fake bank roll; a hoax staged with sinister 
 intent. Example: "They started a michigan scrap and 
 trimmed the sucker in the mix-up." 
 
 MICKY, Noun 
 
 Current amongst bottle drinkers. A corruption of 
 "MICHAEL." 
 
 MILL, Verb 
 
 General currency, but of western origin. To amble around 
 aimlessly; to exercise by walking. Example: "We milled 
 around town all day without turning a trick." 
 
 MITT, Noun 
 
 Current chiefly amongst gamblers when the sense is a 
 hand of cards. The "MITT" is a confidence game of the 
 same nature as the "LEMON" or the "MATCH," involving 
 a double cross. Also a card hand in any square game. 
 In general currency it means both the human hand and 
 any scheme, system or personal character. See "DUKE." 
 Amongst prison habitues the "MITTS" signify handcuffs. 
 
 58 
 
Example: "If he spiels long enough he'll tip his mitt.'" 
 "They framed a strong mitt for him and beat him for half 
 a century." A "MITT JOINT" is a gambling house where 
 victims are "steered" for fleecing by means of deceptively 
 "sure thing" hands. 
 
 MOB, Noun 
 
 General currency. Two or more confederates joined to- 
 gether for nefarious practices. Used most frequently to 
 designate a gang of pickpockets, a "GUN MOB." 
 
 MOCHA, Noun 
 
 Current amongst shoplifters. Cloth; a suit pattern. Ex- 
 ample: "I know a derrick who'll peddle a mocha for a 
 finif." 
 
 MOLL, Noun 
 
 General currency. A woman, regardless of character. 
 See "JANE." 
 
 MONACRE, MONACKER, Noun 
 
 Current amongst yeggs and registering itinerants. A nick- 
 name; a professional cognomen. A corruption of the 
 term "monogram," devised to meet the contingencies aris- 
 ing out of the oft requested information: "What's your 
 handle?" Example: "You'll have to look in the cook book 
 to find a fancy monacker, for all the ready ones are ap- 
 propriated, judging by the register on this tank." 
 
 MONKEY, Noun 
 
 General currency. A man, used in the mildly indifferent 
 sense of a stranger. See "GEEZER," "GAZABO," etc. 
 Sometimes used to signify a "BOOB." 
 
 69 
 
MOOCH, Noun 
 
 Current amongst beggars. A mendicant; an alms solicitor. 
 
 MOOCH, Verb 
 
 General currency. To stroll; to move about See "MILL." 
 Example: "Mooch around the block and come back in ten 
 minutes." Also, to beg. 
 
 MOOSH, MOUSH, Noun 
 
 General circulation. The human face; the physiog. See 
 "KISSER." Also the mouth. Probably from French 
 bouche (mouth). Probably derived from the French 
 "mouchoir," a handkerchief, suggested by its utilization 
 as a face mop. Example: "He's got a harp moosh," i. e., 
 Irish. 
 
 M, or MORPH, Noun 
 
 Used by morphine fiends. Sulphate of morphia. 
 
 MOPE, Verb 
 
 General currency. To walk away; to remove one's pres- 
 ence to another locality or spot. See "BLOW." "MOOCH," 
 "DUCK." 
 
 MOUSER, Noun 
 
 Current in cosmopolitan circles. A "fairy;" a character 
 obsessed by lewd passions. 
 
 60 
 
MOUTHPIECE, Noun 
 
 General currency. A lawyer; an advocate; a spokesman; 
 a representative. Example: "The fall dough is to be 
 used exclusively for a mouthpiece and nothing else." 
 
 MUD FENCE, Noun 
 
 Current amongst yeggs, safecrackers. A soap lip, a 
 trench of soap or other plastic substance constructed to 
 hold nitroglycerin in funnel formation until it seeps 
 throuh a joint in a safe. 
 
 MUSH, Noun 
 
 General usage. An umbrella. Example: "When you can't 
 do anything else you can heel the hotels and depots for 
 mushes and turkeys." 
 
 NAILED, Verb, Past Part. 
 
 General currency. Apprehended. See "GRABBED," 
 "GLOMMED." 
 
 NECKING, Noun 
 
 General circulation. A scrutiny; an impertinent staring. 
 See "GANDER," "RUBBER." Example: "The guinea on 
 the end is giving you a necking through the glass." 
 Also used as a verb, to "neck," to peer, to watch. 
 
 NEXT, Adverb 
 
 General usage. Conventionally wise. A synonym for 
 "JAKE," "JOE," "HEP." Example: "You can't spring 
 anything he isn't next to." 
 
 61 
 
NICK, Verb 
 
 Current mainly amongst pickpockets. To surreptitiously 
 extract something from the person; to "touch" in the crim- 
 inal sense; to purloin by stealth in personal presence of 
 a victim. Example: "This lob couldn't nick a handful 
 of air out of a flour barrel without scratching his mitt." 
 
 NINES, Noun 
 
 Current amongst roues and cosmopolitans. The limit 
 possible; the maximum extent. Example: "He's soused 
 to the nines;" "That dony is made up to the nines," i. e., 
 artificially beautified. 
 
 NOODLE, Noun 
 
 General currency. The human head; brains; savoir faire; 
 mentality. Example: "He's got a noodle like a Santa 
 Claus," 1. e., intuition, perspicacity. 
 
 NUT, Noun 
 
 Commonly current in all circles when the meaning is 
 "LOCO." Used by grafters v/hose operations involve an 
 investment to signify an expense incurred in connection 
 with a venture. Example: "The grift was punk; we were 
 framed five strong and never got the nut off." "We 
 went on the nut for two fifty." 
 
 NUTS, Noun 
 
 Current amongst "flat joint" grafters, though compre- 
 hended in general. The three shells. See "HICKS." Ex- 
 ample: "If we can't beat the crap game we will play the 
 nuts for the winners." As an adjective and adverb it 
 sign.fies daft, mentally deranged. 
 
 62 
 
OFFICE, Noun 
 
 General currency. A signal; a sign; a warning conveyed 
 by facial expression, by physical motion, by sound or 
 other nonchalant prompting. Example: "When I give you 
 the office, blow." Used also as a verb in the same sense. 
 
 ON, Adverb 
 
 General currency. Wise. A synonym for "NEXT." 
 "JAKE." Also used to indicate an acceptance, as of a 
 proposition. Example: "You're on for five hundred." 
 
 OPEN AIR, Noun 
 
 Current amongst "flat joint" men and circus grafters gen- 
 erally. Used both as adjective and noun. County fair, 
 street carnival, popular sport gathering and other out-of- 
 door grafting. 
 
 OVER ISSUE, Noun 
 
 Current amongst confidence men of the "green goods" 
 type. A bunco scheme involving the use of crisp, new 
 legitimate bank notes which are purported to have been 
 clandestinely issued by employees of the Bureau of En- 
 graving and Printing. One or two of the notes are given 
 the victim who is then steered to a confederate who 
 poses as a detective. The latter professes to recognize 
 the principal in the bunco as an ex-convict and counter- 
 feiter. The upshot of the scheme is the "shaking down" 
 of the victim for all he possesses and is successfully car- 
 ried out through the victim's fear induced by conscious- 
 ness of criminal complicity. 
 
 68 
 
PAD, Noun 
 
 General circulation. A bed; a place to sleep. See "KIP;" 
 "DOSS." 
 
 PADDED, Verb, Past Part. 
 
 Current amongst shoplifters. To have swag concealed 
 about the person in a neat, compact order so as to enable 
 the thief to pass inspection. Example: "He moped out of 
 the joint padded to the nines." 
 
 PAN, Verb 
 
 General currency. To scandalize; to defame. Example: 
 "They panned everybody to a whisper." "ON THE PAN" 
 signifies a subject on the carpet for discussion. 
 
 PAPER HANGER, Noun 
 
 Current principally amongst forgers and utterers of false 
 paper. Example: "There's a bunch of paper hangers 
 plastering the town from A to Izzard." 
 
 PETE, PETER, Noun 
 
 Current amongst yeggs. A safe; a strong box; a 
 "GOPHER." Example: "The pete in the pig is a single 
 H. H. with a drop," i. e., "The safe in the hardware store 
 is a single door, Herring-Hall with a drop handle." 
 Amongst gamblers and badgers a "peter" is a sleeping 
 potion, a "knockout," such as hydrate of chloral. 
 
 PIG, Noun 
 
 Current amongst yeggs and prowlers. A hardware store; 
 the merchandise sold by hardware stores, preferably the 
 more valuable assortments. Deduced: "Hardware": steel 
 
 64 
 
tools, steel, iron, pig iron. Example; 
 drop a swag of pig." 
 
 'He's gone out to 
 
 PINCH, Noun 
 
 Current amongst "flat joint" grafters. A wheel of fortune 
 or a roulette wheel that can be stopped at any point de- 
 sired by operating a secret trigger or spring. As a noun 
 its use is also general in the sense of an arrest; the same 
 with the verb, to pinch. 
 
 PIPE, Noun 
 
 General currency. A certainty; a cinch. Example: "It's 
 a pipe that he can't get away with it." Derived from the 
 term "lead pipe," used by highwaymen, because its effec- 
 tual employment involves a moral certainty that the 
 robber will relieve the victim of his valuables. 
 
 PIPE, Verb 
 
 General currency, 
 tion; to observe, 
 with the rocks." 
 
 To look; to concentrate the atten- 
 See "GUN." Example: "Pipe the moll 
 
 PITCH, Noun 
 
 General currency. An effort; an essay; an attempt. See 
 "PLUNGE." A "HIGH PITCH" is the term used by street 
 fakirs to describe the operation of beguiling the public 
 from a soap box, a platform, a carriage or automobile; 
 selling merchandise from an eminence like an auctioneer. 
 
 65 
 
PIVOT, Verb 
 
 Current amongst yeggs and street beggars. To solicit 
 alms on the thoroughfares. Used also by "HUSTLERS" 
 to indicate the operations of a woman of the town who 
 solicits on the streets. 
 
 PLUNGE, Noun 
 
 Super idem. To sally out on the streets with a specific 
 aim, as in begging, soliciting or in other reprehensible 
 conduct. Example: "The whole tribe made a five buck 
 plunge to spring Jimmy from the canister." Amongst non- 
 criminal classes of the demi-monde the term is used to 
 indicate a strenuous endeavor. 
 
 POKE, Noun 
 
 General currency. A pocketbook. (Poke a sack or bag. 
 "A pig in a poke.") See "LEATHER." 
 
 P. P., Noun 
 
 Current amongst yeggs and money-begging tramps. A 
 plaster of paris cast used on arm or limb to simulate 
 fracture. See "BUG;" "JIGGER." 
 
 PRATT, Noun 
 
 General usage. The human rear; the buttocks; a hip 
 pocket. 
 
 PROP, Noun 
 
 General circulation amongst pickpockets and looters. A 
 diamond stud originally, now comprehending diamonds in 
 
 66 
 
any sense. See "FISH EYE." Example: "Any heel gun 
 can get a breech poke, but it takes an Al claw to grab a 
 prop." 
 
 PROWL, Noun 
 
 General currency. An expeditionary investigation; a sur- 
 vey in transit; a search of the person or of a place in 
 the sense of "FRISK;" a burglary; a sneak; a saunter. 
 Also used as a verb in the same senses. 
 
 PUFF, Notm 
 
 Current amongst yeggs. Powder used to blow a safe; 
 the explosion of "SOUP" in a safe. Example: "The dump 
 was kipped, but we muffled the puff." 
 
 PUNCHING GUN, Verb, Present Part. 
 
 General currency. The use of criminal slang; ostenta- 
 tious display of sophistication. Example: "He can punch 
 gun till the cows come home, but he can't get a can of 
 water out of a water tank." 
 
 PUNK, Noun 
 
 General currency. Bread. As an adjective the term is 
 synonymous with "CROW," "LAMOS." Example: "The 
 whole layout is punk." Also a sodomite youth — a yegg 
 term. 
 
 PUSH: Noun 
 
 General currency. Crowd; gang; clique; mob. 
 
 67 
 
PUSH and SLIDE, Noun 
 
 Current amongst short changers and confidence men who 
 employ the ruse of substitution. A short changing opera- 
 tion whereby money, currency, counted in the hand of the 
 crook is afterward held out by palming, and depends for 
 immunity from detection by a forcible pushing of the 
 residue of the sum counted into the hand of the victim, 
 accompanied by a suggestion or urge to pocket the money 
 without recounting. 
 
 PUSSY FOOT, Noun 
 
 General currency. A detective. See "RICHARD;" 
 "DICK." 
 
 PUT-EM-UP, Noun 
 
 Current amongst heavyweights mainly. A highway rob- 
 ber; a desperate criminal who is prepared to hold up any 
 interloper to prevent interference. 
 
 RAG, Noun 
 
 General currency. A woman. See "SKIRT;" "JANE;" 
 "MOLL." 
 
 RAP, Noun and Verb 
 
 General usage. An identification; a charge of guilt. 
 
 RAT, Noun 
 
 General currency. Passenger train; street car. A con- 
 traction of "RATTLER." Also an ignominious term, used 
 in the sense of "CRAB." 
 
RAT CRUSHER, Noun 
 
 Current amongst heavyweights, yeggs and "dise" men. 
 A box-car burglar. The terms "rattler" and "John 
 O'Brien" are used interchangeably by some criminals, but 
 their original significations are those given. 
 
 RATTLER, Noun 
 
 General currency. A passenger train; a passenger or 
 street car. Example: "The two of us stalled the rattler 
 can on one ducat." Also a "RAT WORKER." 
 
 READER, Noun 
 
 Current amongst "flat joint" men and peddlers. A formal 
 license; a certificate; a written permit. Example: "You 
 can't open the ballyhoo in this burg without a reader." 
 
 READERS, Noun 
 
 Current amongst crooked gamblers. A pack of marked 
 cards, therefore readable from the obverse side. Exam- 
 ple: "How are they working, with the mitt? No, with 
 the readers." 
 
 REDUCTION, Noun 
 
 Current amongst dope fiends. The reduction cure for a 
 "HABIT." Example: "The only sensible way of getting 
 off is on the reduction." 
 
 REEF, Verb 
 
 Current amongst pickpockets. To lift a pocket lining or 
 an obstacle in the form of wearing apparel by methodical 
 manner to expedite the operations of the "WIRE" or 
 
"TOOL" in a gun mob. Generally used in the imperative 
 mood. Example: "Reef the right kick for a tweezer." 
 By this function a pocket may be slowly turned inside 
 out without detection; it is done in cases where the 
 pocket is too deep, too tight or where extraordinary cau- 
 tion is expedient in pocket picking. 
 
 RICHARD, Noun 
 
 General currency. A detective. Derived from the process 
 of nicknaming, but in reverse of the usual custom. Thus 
 from the term "DETECTIVE," "DICK" was suggested and 
 hence "RICHARD" was derived. Or, following the corrup- 
 tion of the English "Robert" to "Bob" and "Bobby," the 
 American parallel was suggested. 
 
 RIGHT, Adjective 
 
 General currency. Sympathetic in a criminal sense; 
 fixed; squared; noncondemnatory. Also a synonym for 
 "SQUARE-SHOOTER." Example: "He's as right as a 
 golden guinea. Slip him a piece of soft." Also used as a 
 verb, to fix; to bribe. 
 
 RINGER, Noun 
 
 General currency. A similarity; a double; a disguise; a 
 pair of spectacles. Used in the latter sense because of 
 the wonderful change produced in one's aspect by the ad- 
 dition of a pair of nose glasses or spectacles to the per- 
 sonal adornment. Used also as a verb. Example: "They'll 
 hardly make him because he's rung up." 
 
 70 
 
RISER, Noun 
 
 General circulation. An "eye opener;" a scare; a fright; 
 any mental or physical agent that moves to action. Ex> 
 ample: "He got an awful riser with that dick at his 
 pratt." 
 
 ROAR, Noun 
 
 General currency. A protest. See "SQUAWK;" "BELCH. ' 
 Example: "If this gink blows the touch he'll make an 
 awful roar." 
 
 ROCKS, Noun 
 
 General usage. Diamonds. In popular slang it means 
 money. 
 
 ROD, Noun 
 
 General currency. A revolver. See "SMOKE WAGON;' 
 "ROSCOE." Also used as verb, to hold up at the point 
 of a pistol. Example: "Rod this guy right off the jump." 
 (Here as verb.) 
 
 RODS, Noun 
 
 In general circulation amongst "hop scotchers." The 
 iron truck braces under a passenger coach, running at 
 right angles to the length of the car. A "ROD DUCAT" 
 - is a small board used as a seat by truck riders. 
 
 ROLL, Verb 
 
 General usage. To search the pockets of a sleeping per- 
 son or of an intoxicated one. Example: "He rolled a 
 stiff for a bundle of scratch." Used as a noun "ROLL" 
 signifies a wad of money, as a "BANK ROLL." 
 
 71 
 
EOSCOE, Nonn 
 
 Current amongst arms-carrying criminals. A revolver. 
 See "CANNON;" "GAT." Example: "Stash your roscoe 
 before you come back to the kip." 
 
 ROUND, Noun 
 
 General currency. A turning of the head to take a 
 backward glance; surveying the rear trail to ascertain 
 whether or not one is being followed, or to determine the 
 identity of a person or object passed. Example: "Stall 
 something to the ground and take a round at this coat- 
 maker;" (trailer or taller, corrupted to tailor and thence 
 coatmaker) . 
 
 ROUST, Verb 
 
 Current amongst pickpockets. To jam against a victim 
 in a violent manner; to squeeze a victim between two 
 pickpocket assistants in a way to distract his attention 
 from the principal in the encounter who consectaneously 
 extracts the victim's valuables from a given pocket. In 
 the present tense the term is used in the imperative 
 mood, being a command and an instruction of itself. Ex- 
 ample: "Roust!!" "Jostle the victim rudely, but in a 
 seemingly unconscious manner." 
 
 ROUTE, Verb 
 
 Current amongst pickpockets principally. To look up and 
 make memoranda of dates of large popular gatherings, 
 such as conventions, etc. This is known as "Routing the 
 grift." To route is usually the function of the best mind 
 in a "gun mob." 
 
 72 
 
RUM, Noun 
 
 General currency. An ignoramus; an inefficient. Derived 
 from tlie experience ttiat "booze" incapacitates tlie mind 
 of a croolt, who to be successful requires a quiclc wit and 
 a vigilant grasp of situations. A synonym for "RUM 
 DUM," that is, dumb, of slow wit, from the use of rum. 
 
 RUMBLE, Noun 
 
 General currency. A botch that precipitates discovery; a 
 faux pas; an awkward situation brought about by fum- 
 bling. See "BLOOMER;" "TUMBLE;" "FALL." Ex- 
 ample: "If you walk on the main stem with him you'll 
 get a rumble." In this sense the term implies an identi- 
 fication. Also used as a verb, to arouse suspicion; to 
 be discovered. 
 
 SANTA CLAUS, Noun 
 
 General currency. An ingenious mind; an original thinker. 
 
 SAPS, Noun 
 
 General currency. Crutches; clubs or sticks as weapons 
 of offense. Derived from "sapling." The latter meaning 
 may also be employed in the form of the verb, to sap, 
 to beat. Any bludgeon is a sap. 
 
 SCAT, Noun 
 
 General circulation. Whiskey. Derived by suggestion 
 from "skey" (skee), the termination of "whiskey." 
 
 SCOFF, Verb 
 
 General usage. To eat. Example: "When do we scoff 
 in this dump?" Also used as a noun; a "scoff" is a 
 meal, a feed. 
 
 73 
 
SCORE, Verb 
 
 Current amongst pickpockets and criminals who are 
 necessitated to make frequent repetitions of procedure to 
 acquire means. To successfully negotiate; to "make a 
 touch;" to "put one over. Example: "We scored seven 
 times in the same joint by ringing up," i. e., disguising. 
 Also used as a noun in the same sense. 
 
 SCRATCH, Noun 
 
 General currency amongst literate criminals. Paper cur- 
 rency; a letter; a signature; a writing. Examples: "He's 
 got a bundle of scratch," (Bank roll) ; "The only way you 
 can get a knock-down (introduction) is with a scratch." 
 "The difficult thing is to get his scratch." See "JOHN 
 HANCOCK;" "STIFF." 
 
 SCREW, Noun 
 
 General currency amongst prison habitues and prowlers. 
 A key; a turnkey or jailor; a prison guard. Example: 
 "That bunch of screws you're carrying is a knock." "You 
 can get a letter in through the screw; he's a P. O." 
 
 SCENERIES, Noun 
 
 General currency. A pair of spectacles or nose glasses. 
 See "GLIMS;" "RINGERS." Example: "He's peddling 
 sceneries and hoops." 
 
 SEND IN, Noun 
 
 General circulation. An indorsement; a recommendation. 
 Example: "With the proper send in I can twist this 
 boob. Rib it up." Also used as a verb, to laud, to praise, 
 with an ulterior motive. 
 
 74 
 
SETTLED, Verb, Past Part. 
 
 General currency amongst outlaw criminals. Convicted of 
 misdemeanor or statutory offense. Example: "He's set- 
 tled for a two spot." See "LAGGED;" "LOSER." 
 
 SHAGGED, Verb, Past Part. 
 
 General currency. Identified; recognized; discovered; ex- 
 posed. See "RAPPED." Example: "He was shagged 
 on the first go." 
 
 SHAKE DOWN, Noun 
 
 General currency. A personal search; a deprivation of 
 one's personal belongings. Used also as a verb. Ex- 
 ample: "If this dick nails you you'll have to stand a 
 shake down." 
 
 SHILLIVER, SHILLIBER, Noun 
 
 Current amongst criminals who employ "Stalls," "boost- 
 ers," or aides. A supernumerary; a secondary; an epi- 
 thet applied to apprentice crooks. To "SHILL" is to act 
 in the capacity of a hired criminal. 
 
 SHONIKER, Noun 
 
 Current amongst cosmopolitan thieves, especially Jews. A 
 neophyte or inexperienced hand at the game. A synonym 
 for "SHILLIBER." 
 
 SHOOT, Verb 
 
 Current amongst hypodermic habitues. To inject mor- 
 phine or other drug with a syringe. Example; "How 
 many times do you shoot a day?" 
 
 75 
 
SHOW, Verb 
 
 General currency. To keep an appointment; to present 
 oneself at a meeting place. Example: "This party can 
 never be depended upon to show. He'll stick you nine 
 times in ten." 
 
 SHORT, Noun 
 
 Current chiefly amongst pickpockets, though used by all 
 polished criminals to some extent. A street car. Derived 
 from the limited extent of a street car ride compared with 
 the distances negotiable by railroad transportation. Ex- 
 ample: "After catching the breaks we'll make the shorts 
 for a half hour." 
 
 SKIRT, Noun 
 
 General currency. A woman. See "JANE;" "MUFF;" 
 "MOLL." 
 
 SKIN, Noun 
 
 General circulation, A shirt. Example: "Let's go down 
 to the jungles and boil our skins." 
 
 SLAM, Noun 
 
 General currency. An Insult; a rebuke; an insinuation. 
 Also used in the same sense as a verb as well as with the 
 meaning of violence, to deliver a vigorous blow. 
 
 SLANG, Noun 
 
 General currency. A watch chain. A watch fob, as well 
 as an ear-ring, is called a "DANGLER." 
 
 76 
 
SLOUGH, Verb 
 
 General currency. To dispose of; to abandon; to throw 
 away; to eliminate; to conceal without delay or fore- 
 thought. Example: "There isn't a mark of identification 
 on his clothes; he's sloughed everything." In this sense 
 the term is pronounced "sluffed." In the sense of hiding 
 or getting rid of an object instantly the same word is 
 pronounced "slou," with the sound of "o" as in cow. To 
 "SLOUGH" also means to close, to shut, as a door. 
 
 SLOUGHER, Nonn 
 
 Current amongst plunderbunders. A fence; a pawnbroker; 
 a middle man in the disposition of contraband. 
 
 SLUM, Noun 
 
 General currency. Jewelry of any description, but lately 
 reduced in scope of meaning to include only the less valu- 
 able kinds of jewelry; a synonym for "CROW;" "PUNK." 
 Example: "He's got a bale of slum for sloughings." 
 
 SMOKE WAGON, Noun 
 
 General currency. A firearm; a revolver. See "ROD;" 
 "CANNON." 
 
 SNEEZE, Verb 
 
 General usage. To be apprehended; detained. See 
 "GLOMMED;" "CRABBED." Example: "He wouldn't 
 have been sneezed if he had kept away from that fluzie." 
 
 77 
 
SNOW, Noun 
 
 Current chiefly amongst cocaine fiends. Derived from the 
 extremely flocculent nature of cocaine when pulverized, in 
 which state cocaine is used as a snuff. A "SNOW BIRD" 
 is the customary designation of the cocaine habitue. 
 
 SOFT, Noun 
 
 Current amongst currency thieves and grafters who han- 
 dle considerable sums of money. Paper money. See 
 "SCRATCH." Example: "I fanned a gob of soft in the 
 right jerve." As an adjective "soft" means easy, facile, 
 felicitous, comfortable. 
 
 SOUP, Noun 
 
 Current amongst yeggs. Nitroglycerine. Example: "If 
 you drop that bottle of soup you'll grease the scenery," 
 1. e., be blown up. 
 
 SOUTH, Adverb 
 
 General circulation. Stored away; concealed, as valuables. 
 See "UNDER COVER." As a verb the term is employed 
 with the same meaning. Example: "Keep tabs and see 
 that he don't go south with the dough." 
 
 SPLIT, Noun 
 
 General currency. A division, as of spoils. See "END;" 
 "BIT." Used as a verb it indicates to divide, as money; 
 or to separate, as in the sense of "SPLIT OUT," or 
 "SPLIT AWAY." Example: "The make was split three 
 ways and then we split out." 
 
 78 
 
SPUD, Noun 
 
 Current amongst confidence men chiefly. The "green 
 goods" bunco; a substitution ruse, devised originally on 
 the basis of counterfeit currency, hence the name "SPUD," 
 derived by attribution, as in the case of "KALE." Any 
 confidence game in which currency plays a prominent 
 part as a lure is aptly designated a variation of the 
 "SPUD." Also commonly used as a synonym for the 
 Irish potato. 
 
 SQUAB, Noun 
 
 Current amongst libertines mainly, A young female; an 
 unsophisticated girl. 
 
 SQUARE PLUG, Noun 
 
 General currency. A timorous person who is in moral 
 sympathy with the criminal element, but lacking the 
 courage or inclination to actually participate; a harmless 
 individual in the view of crooks. Example: "Don't be 
 leery of him; he's a square plug." 
 
 SQUARE-SHOOTER, Noun 
 
 General currency. A dependable person; a reliable, com- 
 pact-keeping person; though not necessarily a moral, vir- 
 tuous, impeccable one; for it is politic for even a crook to 
 be a "square-shooter" provided it be also expedient. 
 
 SQUAWK, Noun 
 
 General currency. A protest; a vociferous demonstration, 
 as an indignant repudiation of an injustice. Also used as 
 a verb in the same sense. Example: "If you don't put 
 up a squawk they'll trim you." 
 
 79 
 
SQUEEZE, Noun 
 
 General circulation. The principal or manager of an in- 
 stitution, an establishment or of any undertaking. A 
 contraction of the popular "MAIN SQUEEZE," meaning 
 the same as here given. 
 
 STAB, Noun 
 
 General currency. An essay to accomplish a project; an 
 effort. See "PLUNGE." Also used as a verb. Example: 
 "I don't know how it will come out, but I'm going to 
 make a stab at it." Also used by dope fiends for "JAB." 
 
 STALL, Noun 
 
 General currency. A pretense; an equivocation; a con- 
 federate who distracts the attention of a victim or mis- 
 leads him to regrettable action. See "BOOSTER." Used 
 as a verb in the same sense, to prevaricate, to misrepre- 
 sent with sinister intent. The colloquial vernacular, "He's 
 got more stalls than a livery stable," signifies that the 
 person under discussion is a shifty agent, a colossal liar. 
 
 STASH, Verb 
 
 General currency. To hide; to conceal; to cease talking; 
 to "plant." Also used as a noun in the sense of some- 
 thing cached. Example: "Stash the gun crackin; there's 
 a knocker in the push." 
 
 STIFF, Noun 
 
 Current amongst literate criminals chiefly. A piece of 
 paper; a letter; a ticket; a license; a permit. See 
 "READER." Derived from the unpliable attribute of 
 
 so 
 
paper in general. Example: "I haven't had a stiff from 
 home for two months." Also used to designate a mean, 
 contemptible person; sometimes it is employed as a syno- 
 nym for man. See "GUY;" "MARK." 
 
 STIR, Noun 
 
 General currency amongst prison habitues. Penitentiary; 
 a synonym for "BIG HOUSE," the latter being employed 
 in contradistinction to county jails, workhouses and police 
 stations when prison is discussed. Example: "He's back 
 in stir again." 
 
 STEM, Nonn 
 
 Current amongst yeggs. A steel drill. Amongst opium 
 smokers the term signifies an opium pipe. See "GON- 
 GER," It also is a snonym for "DRAG." 
 
 STRETCH, Noun 
 
 Current amongst prison habitues. A prison sentence. See 
 "LAG;" "BIT." In general circles the term signifies a 
 look, a glance, used as a verb as well as a noun. See 
 "GANDER;" "NECK;" "ROUND." 
 
 STIX, Noun 
 
 General currency. A pair of crutches. See "SAPS." 
 
 STRIDES, Noun 
 
 General usage. A pair of trousers. Example: "This 
 
 dump is an easy boost for the strides." 
 
 81 
 
STRING, Noun 
 
 Current amongst yeggs. A fuse. Example: "He's got 
 five yards of string around the midriff," i. e., wrapped 
 around the waist under the shirt. 
 
 SUEY POW, Noun 
 
 Current amongst opium smolters. A sponge or rag used 
 to cool and cleanse the face of an opium bowl. Also used 
 by the demi monde as an equivalent of the term 
 "GRANNY." 
 
 ' SURE THING, Noua 
 
 Current amongst confidence men and "flat joint" grafters 
 principally. A something-for-nothing proposition. See 
 "HUNDRED PER CENT." Used as an adjective it speci- 
 fies an unmitigated robbery. 
 
 SWEETEN, Verb 
 
 General currency. To augment; to "press" in the gam- 
 bler's sense, as a jackpot. Amongst the plunderbund the 
 term signifies the procuring of an additional loan on col- 
 lateral. Also used as a synonym for "BRIBE." 
 
 SWINGING BALL, Noun 
 
 Current amongst "flat joint" grafters. A ball suspended 
 from a gibbet by a chain or string and which is skillfully 
 swung at a wooden cone posited in the center of the 
 ball's swinging area, the purpose being to avoid the cone 
 on the forward movement, and to strike it upon the re- 
 bound. Incidentally the aim is to relieve the inexpert of 
 ready cash. 
 
 82 
 
''SWITCH, Verb 
 
 General currency. To substitute; to exchange; to vary. 
 Example: "The only way you can score with the weight 
 in that joint is with the switch, as he has everything 
 cased." Used as a noun to signify a substitute. 
 
 TAIL, Verb 
 
 General circulation. To trail; to follow. Used as a noun 
 in the same sense. Example: "Be careful not to bring 
 anything home on your tail," i. e., a shadower. 
 
 TENT, Noun 
 
 Current amongst prison habitues. A cell. Example: 
 "He's doing penance in a tent." 
 
 V THERE, Adverb 
 
 General currency. Informed; wise; trained; artful. Ex- 
 ample: "He's there forty ways from Revelation." 
 
 THIMBLE, Noun 
 
 General currency. A watch. See "BLOCK;" "TURNIP." 
 Formerly the term in the plural had the signification of 
 "NUTS;" "HICKS;" "SHELLS;" as these are in use 
 today. 
 
 TIN EAR, Verb 
 
 General usage. To eavesdrop; to listen impertinently. 
 Also used as a noun. Example: "Chop the wheeze, we've 
 got a tin-ear on our hip." 
 
 83 
 
TIP, Noun 
 
 Pickpockets. A ticket office. The place where obliga- 
 tions are paid to a cashier. 
 
 TOG, Noun 
 
 Current amongst pickpockets. An overcoat used for a 
 shield. From Latin "Toga," a cloak. 
 
 TOMMY, Noun 
 
 General currency amongst the licentious. A prostitute. 
 See "DONY." 
 
 TOOL, Noun 
 
 Current amongst pickpockets. A pickpocket proper; the 
 member of a "gun mob" who does the "dipping." Also 
 used as a verb in the same sense. 
 
 TOP, Verb 
 
 General currency. To execute by hanging. See "BUMP 
 OFF." Example: "Carrying a rod is an invitation to 
 get topped." 
 
 TOUCH, Noun 
 
 Current mainly amongst pickpockets, though used in a 
 milder sense in general circles. See "SCORE." Example: 
 "Any fink that tears into that tip without making a touch 
 ought to be canned." "He tried to put the B. on me for 
 the third touch this week." 
 
 84 
 
TRIBE, Noun 
 
 Used principally by yeggs and begging bums, though cur- 
 rent, too, amongst grafters who operate in cliques. A 
 gang; a class. Example: "You'll find the tribe at the 
 joint when you get there." 
 
 TRIM, Verb 
 
 General currency. To fleece; to cheat; to rob in any 
 manner. Example: "If you make a flash you're due to 
 get trimmed." 
 
 TUMBLE, Noun 
 
 General currency. A discovery; an exposure. See "RUM- 
 BLE." Example: "It's a bad idea to work without fall 
 dough, for it's a ten-to-one jig on the first tumble." Used 
 as a verb in the same sense, as well as to signify acquir- 
 ing understanding suddenly. 
 
 TURKEY, Noun 
 
 General usage. A suit case; a large traveling bag. De- 
 rived by suggestion from the popular custom of stuffing 
 a trunk full of personal belongings into a suit case. In 
 noncriminal circles, as well as in criminal, the term has 
 a vague meaning of facileness, something easily or readily 
 accomplished. 
 
 TURNIP, Noun 
 
 General currency. A pocket time piece; a watch. See 
 "BLOCK." 
 
 86 
 
TWEEZER, Noun 
 
 Current amongst pickpockets. A small pocket-book with 
 knob clasps. 
 
 TWISTED, Verb, Past Part. 
 
 Current amongst confidence men. To be buncoed; to be 
 deluded by a confidential snare. Derived by suggestion 
 from the confusion created in the understanding of a 
 victim in the usual confidence game. See "TRIM." Ex- 
 ample: "Out of six plays we twisted five ripe ones." 
 
 UNDER COVER, Adverb 
 
 General currency. Protected financially by a reserve held 
 in secret; selfish; miserly; illiberal with wealth. See 
 "SOUTH." Example: "Anybody in this mob that's under 
 cover is running chances of being prowled." 
 
 UNDERNEATH, Adverb 
 
 Current amongst shoplifters. A term used to describe the 
 most common method employed by female shoplifters of 
 concealing stolen goods; i. e., carried between the limbs. 
 Example: "Se can go underneath with a bigger bunch 
 of junk than any other moll I know." 
 
 UNLOADING, Verb, Present Part. 
 
 Current amongst pickpockets. Picking pockets in a crowd 
 as passengers alight from street or railroad cars. Ex- 
 ample: "We scored more pokes in unloading them than 
 we did in the breaks." 
 
WEAVE, Verb 
 
 Current amongst pickpockets. To sway a victim rudely 
 from right to left between two "stalls" so that the "claw" 
 may operate without detection of finger contact. Ex- 
 ample: "Weave! I've got a tight breech," i. e., "jostle 
 the victim, I have got my hand on a pocket book that is 
 wedged too firmly in the pocket to be pulled out without 
 the aid of distraction." 
 
 WEIGHT, Noun 
 
 Used by store jewelry thieves. Penny weigh ting; the "pwt." 
 
 WELCH, Verb 
 
 Current in all circles. To betray a professional confi- 
 dence; to peach; to protest. See "ROAR." Example: 
 "Unless you're nailed bang to rights don't welch, for the 
 first principle of self-defense in law is to make the other 
 fellow find out what he wants to know through some 
 one else." 
 
 WHITE, Noun 
 
 Current amongst morphine habitues. Morphine. Example: 
 "How many times a day are you shooting the white?" 
 
 WEED, Verb 
 
 Current chiefly amongst pickpockets, though used to some 
 extent by those who are familiar with currency. To ex- 
 tract any fraction from a roll of bills; to withdraw a par- 
 tial sum from the principal; to take the essential and 
 leave the nonessential, as the money from a pocketbook 
 of miscellaneous valuables; to steal a sum which will 
 hardly be missed because of its proportion to the whole 
 amount involved. Examples: "Weed the poke and put 
 it back." "He weeded a sawbuck to me under the table." 
 
 ST 
 
WHITE LINE, WHITE LIME, Noun 
 
 Current amongst yeggs and hoboes. Alcohol. Example: 
 "You'll have to go to the croker and get a stiff for the 
 white line." 
 
 WICKY, Noun 
 
 General circulation. Calaboose; place of detention in 
 small towns and villages. Contraction from "WICKY 
 UP," an old term for a small tent, used by the Indians. 
 
 WIPE, Noun 
 
 General currency. A handkerchief. 
 
 WIRE, Noun 
 
 Current amongst pickpockets. The principal craftsman in 
 a "gun mob." See "CLAW;" "JERVE;" "TOOL." 
 
 WOLF, Verb 
 
 General currency. To vehemently protest. See "SQUAWK." 
 
 ^ WOP, Noun 
 
 Used principally in the east. An ignorant person; a for- 
 eigner; an impossible character. See "BOOB." Example: 
 "You couldn't find a jitney with a search warrant in this 
 bunch of wops." 
 
 WORM, Noun 
 
 Current amongst shoplifters. Silk; a bolt of silk. Ex- 
 ample: "Can you swing under with a worm?" 
 
YEGG, Noun 
 
 General currency. A desperate criminal of the least gre- 
 garious and social type; a thieving tramp. 
 
 YEN HOCK, Noun 
 
 Current amongst opium smokers and other dope fiends. 
 The slender steel needle used for preparing opium pills 
 over a lamp flame. Used also as a metaphorical ad- 
 jective to describe any slender object, as a lean person. 
 Example: "Ask the yen hock guinea to stake you to a 
 glim." 
 
 YEN SHE, Noun 
 
 Current amongst opium smokers. The residue of smoked 
 opium, a black cindery substance which clings to the in- 
 terior of an opium bowl after the opium has been melted 
 by heat on the face of the bowl. 
 
 YEN YEN, Noun 
 
 Current amongst opium smokers. The recurrent relaxa- 
 tion from super exhilaration occasioned by habitual indul- 
 gence in any opiate; these three latter terms are pure 
 Chinese, and were imported into criminal circles with the 
 advent of addiction to the opium-smoking habit in the 
 United States in the early seventies. 
 
 89 
 
Suggestions for the Reduction 
 of Preventable Crimes 
 
 It must be apparent, to all who have given more than a 
 passing thought to the relation between the criminal classes 
 and the law and order departments of our government, that 
 the peace officers to whom the public looks for protection can 
 do but little more than apprehend criminals after they have 
 committed crimes. For, although the modern system of iden- 
 tification, including the arts of photography, physical measure- 
 ments and record of finger prints together with a biographical 
 sketch of the suspect or convict, enables the police to locate a 
 known criminal and to frequently determine the probable 
 identity of an unknown who committed a crime from the more 
 or less faithful description furnished by the victim, it is under- 
 stood only too well that personal knowledge in possession of 
 the peace officers concerning the criminal propensities of a 
 given individual is not sufficient warrant before a trial court 
 to justify the imprisonment of the criminal; and, furthermore, 
 the readiness of venal counsel to plead the cause of guilty 
 persons for a consideration is another insurmountable obstacle 
 to the safeguarding of society against the depredations of the 
 vicious classes who entertain such high respect for their free- 
 dom of choice in moral matters that they decline to sell it 
 for bread. 
 
 In short, the point sought to be brought out forcibly is 
 that property holders are depending entirely too much upon 
 the police for protection and too little upon themselves. If the 
 prevention of crime be possible then it rests as much with the 
 
 91 
 
prospective victims to prevent it as it does with the guardians 
 of peace, seeing the latter number scarcely more than one to 
 the thousand of our population and cannot be everywhere 
 at the same moment of time. 
 
 There is one practical method for successfully combatting 
 stealth and deceit, and its keynote is awareness. The local 
 department of safety has no bureau of publicity through whose 
 functions the whole public may be educated in the latest 
 schemes for obtaining money and valuables by false pretense, 
 stealth and force, as well as apprised of the presence in the 
 community of this, that or the other well-known confidence 
 crook, sneak or robber. Just as the fire department is but 
 partially efficient in preventing fires and is necessarily de- 
 voted to their suppression after they have come into existence, 
 so the police must often await the call for help from the thief's 
 victim before they may take action. This is not always the 
 case, of course, as in critical times of crime epidemic, or upon 
 the threatened approach of criminal action, or in cases of ex- 
 posed conspiracy, all the potential as well as actual criminals 
 in the community may be rounded up and detained by opera- 
 tion of the vagrancy act. However, even in times of ordinary 
 or seeming quietude the total amount of losses suffered by the 
 public and which are never accounted for satisfactorily makes 
 a staggering sum. All losses are not discovered at once; of 
 those that are all are not reported to the police; whilst of the 
 reported losses only a fraction are ever recovered. 
 
 Many victims of the criminal classes prefer for one reason 
 or another not to let their losses come to light. One reason 
 is lack of confidence in the capability of the police to appre- 
 hend the criminal or recover the loss, and this feeling Is often 
 held unjustly, arising out of the failure of the victim to recog- 
 nize the fact that police are no more omniscient or omnipotent 
 than other men, but labor under quite as rigid limitations as 
 do the victims of the criminals. 
 
 »2 
 
It devolves, therefore, upon the public at large to co- 
 operate as far as possible with the peace officers in preventing 
 crime by the adoption of self-protective measures, not measures 
 of violence, but of self-education in the methods of crime and 
 of elimination of such glaring opportunities as constitute a 
 standing invitation to the morally weak and irresponsible to 
 help themselves to whatever is not nailed down, sewed up in 
 a bag, or too hot or of too high speed. The average citizen 
 disdains to inquire into the modes of the criminal element; it 
 is so sordid! Besides, he hires the policeman to do this dirty 
 work for him. It is the policeman's business to rake in the 
 muck and to get himself slaughtered, if need be, in return for 
 the ninety dollars per month which the citizen pays him. 
 Again, Mr. Citizen is asleep at the switch regarding self- 
 protection until he suffers a loss, or he may have to suffer a 
 great many losses before he awakens to the realization that he 
 as well as the policeman has a certain part to play in the main- 
 tenance of public security. 
 
 The United States Supreme Court has held that it devolves 
 upon a plaintiff to secure himself against fraud through altered 
 bank checks by the personal use of the most approved devices 
 which insure protection. Suppose this same principle were 
 applied to every merchant in the protection of his goods against 
 theft; to every automobile owner; to every individual who 
 carries money on his person; to every householder who care- 
 lessly leaves vulnerable points to the watchfulness of Provi- 
 dence; to the credulous people who fall easy victims to the 
 wiles of confidence men of a hundred schemes? Of course, 
 there is no danger that the principle will be applied except by 
 the Supreme Court of your personal conscience after you have 
 looked the issue squarely in the face. Then you may come to 
 the reduction of preventable crimes, whose solution rests upon 
 a due recognition of carelessnsess and ignorance as the chief 
 factors. Non-preventable crimes occur by reason of public 
 impotence, both physical and mental. When your pocket is 
 
 93 
 
picked it is because of your ignorance; or if you were pre- 
 viously aware of the pickpockets' methods then your loss Is to 
 be ascribed to carelessness. You wouldn't dare put your hand 
 into a lion's mouth because you are afraid he will bite it. You 
 know a pickpocket will put his hand in your pocket and yet 
 you are foolhardy enough to carry valuables in accessible 
 
 depositories. 
 
 The grand combination of popular attractions staged in all 
 the cities of the Pacific Coast for the year 1915 will act as a 
 powerful magnet to draw thither numerous criminals of almost 
 every profession for the purpose of thriving upon the ignorant, 
 the careless and the unprotected. They will operate upon the 
 visitors and the natives with equal avidity and daring. Their 
 ranks will be made up mainly of the cleverest members of their 
 crafts; and as it will cost them a considerable outlay to come 
 it is a foregone conclusion that they will come with a keener 
 view to business than to pleasure. A few of them will in- 
 evitably fall into the clutches of the law; more, however, will 
 probably be fortunate enough to get back to their native habitat 
 laden with the spoils of adventure, whilst a percentage of the 
 whole number may be expected, and reasonably, to fall by 
 the wayside and thenceforth for an indefinite season be com- 
 pelled to cast in their lot with the home talent and ply their 
 trades in the principal coast cities. Every cosmopolitan law 
 and order bureau will delegate representatives to the big cele- 
 brations to co-operate with local officials in identifying and 
 apprehending pedigreed malefactors; still, a liberal estimate 
 of the ratio of arrests to crimes will probably be one in every 
 ten. Whilst the virtuous hold lawful carnival during the com- 
 ing year the vicious will prosper. 
 
 There's an old saying, "Three meals missed makes a pos- 
 sible thief and six meals missed makes a possible murderer." 
 More to the point, though, is the saying, "Eternal vigilance is 
 the pr'ce of security." Very little stealing occurs in well- 
 regulated banks, jewelry stores and corporation counting 
 
 84 
 
houses, with the unavoidable exceptions of crimes by superior 
 force or internal disloyalty, for the simple but signal reason 
 that methods of awareness are in vogue there. This was not 
 always so; for they had to learn awareness in the school of 
 cold, hard facts, having been "bumped" and "twisted" and 
 "turned" and "flimmed" and "gyped" times innumerable be- 
 fore they learned the value of precaution, self-defense. 
 
 There are two places from which a thief will not steal: 
 where there is nothing attainable and where the possessors 
 of the attainable are as wise and ready in self-defense as the 
 thief himself. The eternal struggle to attain goods is not more 
 strenuous than the battle to hold them. For, whilst possession 
 is nine points of the law, dispossession is such an easy achieve- 
 ment with one professional despoiler in every thousand of our 
 population that it behooves everyone in whose education this 
 fundamental element of self-protection has been too sadly 
 neglected to polish up his wit now and then by taking stock 
 of what the bold criminal may do in the way of seizing oppor- 
 tunities. The self-reliant may not be frightened, yet it is not 
 the purpose to frighten even the timid; it is, nevertheless, the 
 duty of every citizen to pay heed to timely warning on the 
 subject of preventable crime not alone that he may protect 
 himself but likewise contribute to the protection of the weaker 
 by removing as much of temptation from the path of the 
 criminally inclined as is found to be practical and consistent 
 with general commerce and the open enjoyment of honestly 
 acquired wealth. 
 
 In this regard consider that twenty years and less ago 
 jewelers all over this land, with very rare exceptions, were as 
 easy prey to the pennyweighters, or diamond and jewelry 
 thieves, as the burial mounds or "huacas" of the Incas with 
 their fabulous treasure in gold ornaments and bullion were to 
 Pizzaro and his free hooters. Such was the lack of self- 
 protection in the system of display employed by the jewelers 
 in the recent past that anyone with the desire and temerity 
 
 95 
 
could help himself out of trays in which gold ornamented with 
 diamonds and other precious stones was heaped indiscriminately 
 in such wise as to render detection of loss out of the question 
 on the instant. Through the organized efforts of the jewelers 
 and opticians, by means of their trade review, all this loose 
 carelessness was wiped out, precision and order in display and 
 necessary changes in fixtures were adopted; a system of sur- 
 veillance and nation-wide reports on criminal developments 
 were carried out methodically, until today it is a very infre- 
 quent occurrence for a capably managed jewelry store to suffer 
 loss except by robbery through violence or by disloyalty of 
 employees. And jewelers themselves are not the sole bene- 
 ficiaries of this new order of self protection; they have almost 
 totally denied to the sneak thief the opportunity, or temptation, 
 of replenishing a depleted subsistence fund. 
 
 What they have done for jewelers the banks, aided by the 
 Inventive genius of the Todds and the Burns Detective Agency, 
 are doing for savings fund and commercial bank depositors. 
 The fraudulent issuance and alteration of bank paper has as- 
 sumed enormous proportions in recent years, but by the opera- 
 tion of protective measures this resource of the lawless will 
 soon be entirely cut off. 
 
 The evolution of the small merchandising business into 
 great department stores has proved another fruitful source for 
 both the early schooling and continued support of petty and 
 grand sneak thieves by the irrepressible display of unprotected 
 5?oods. The eagerness to sell lays the managers open not only 
 to personal loss, which must eventually be charged off to ad- 
 vertising or some other item of overhead costs, but also to 
 widespread community loss by the activities of the successful 
 thieves outside the department store. In proportionate measure 
 nearly every storekeeper who openly displays small or compact 
 and valuable merchandise is contributing to the temptation of 
 first-timers and to the required opportunities of the professional 
 thief and the kleptomaniac. When confronted with this truth 
 
 96 
 
storekeepers shrug their shoulders as though they are between 
 the horns of a dilemma and say, "We set our goods out for 
 people to buy, not to steal," unmindful of the fact that or 
 thieves in general some are born so, some become so by sur- 
 rounding circumstances, whilst every son of Adam is a poten- 
 tial thief. You may deny this with as much vehemence as you 
 care to expend in protest against the aspersion of perfectly 
 honest people, but if you know the hidden workings of the 
 human mind you must pause when you reflect that hope, the 
 well spring of ambition, is a variable in every personality at 
 different times, and when It, hope, reaches the maximum in- 
 tensity it becomes avarice. And with avarice goes the power 
 of lying, mendacity in word or action or both. Hence the 
 above truth. For, a liar will deceive, and larceny is but a 
 degree of deceit. And once capable of lying the particular 
 manifestation of larceny is but a question of congenital talent 
 or combination of talents. But to get back to the subject of 
 preventable crimes. 
 
 Admitting that only a small proportion of crimes against 
 property are preventable (and in these suggestions for the 
 reduction of preventable crime only the crimes against property 
 are being given consideration), when we come to deal in ag- 
 gregate losses, say annual ones, whatever proportion may be 
 prevented, by the timely dissemination of helpful information 
 upon this subject, should be recognized as a definite gain. 
 During this unusually active year the total losses to be in- 
 flicted upon the fixed and floating population will undoubtedly 
 run into five and maybe six figures. 
 
 Of the dozen unorganized guilds of professional criminals 
 enumerated in the introduction to the Vocabulary the most 
 to be feared and guarded against are burglars, sneak thieves, 
 merchandise thieves, forgers, utterers of false paper, confidence 
 men, pickpockets and thieves who threaten violence. Of these 
 the burglar and the robber who uses weapons as an aide are 
 the most difficult to deal with. Their suppression is almost 
 
 97 
 
impossible, yet their partial defeat may be confidently hoped 
 for by the increased watchfulness of the peace officers, aided 
 by the greater prudence of householders and prospective vic- 
 tims in general. 
 
 What was said about banks, jewelry and specialty mer- 
 chandise dealers applies with equal pertinence to householders 
 and others who offer promising occasions for the application 
 of the burglar's skill. Ordinary locks offer little protection 
 against the burglar's master keys, jimmy and other tools of 
 forcible or surreptitious entry; yet the greater secretion of 
 valuables may prove an effective remedy against casual loss. 
 Still, the best advice available for protection against this sort 
 of loss may be laughed to scorn by the clandestine act of a 
 desperate or determined criminal. 
 
 But of sneak stealing in stores much relief may be had by 
 a sane regard for safety in display. Valuables should not be 
 placed within reach of every ostensible patron, neither on top 
 of counters and show-cases nor in end show-cases nor in un- 
 protected windows. If show-cases are so narrow as to admit 
 of access from the outside, in front, by reaching across, they 
 should be kept locked. The same with all end show-cases, 
 where free passage to their rears may be had. The merchant 
 who violates these modern canons of commercial prudence not 
 only assumes personal risk but he abets the thief and is a 
 source of danger to others. 
 
 In department store prudence these same observations hold 
 good, and what is more important every clerk should be trained 
 as thoroughly in the protection of the goods submitted to his 
 care as he is in the execution of common exchange formalities. 
 No goods should be shown any customer without mental in- 
 ventory of the number of separate displays, so that accurate 
 account may be constantly kept of them, and when the fancy 
 or demands of the customer are not satisfied with an accumu- 
 lation of goods which is assuming proportions too difficult to 
 inventory in a spontaneous summary they, or at least a part 
 
 98 
 
of them, should be removed. Goods should not be left upon 
 display while the clerk withdraws his presence in search of 
 other samples. The secret of the successful store thief con- 
 sists in his ability to obtain a confusion of displays and then 
 send the clerk for an article which lies at some distance. The 
 over-polite clerk or shop-keeper may at first object that he 
 cannot afford to be discourteous, disrespectful, suspicious, ging- 
 erly or risk wounding the susceptibilities of a patron. This 
 objection would have greater weight in a drawing room or at 
 some function where politeness is on trial; in business it counts 
 for far less than safety. 
 
 Observe the presence of mind of your jeweler when he 
 finds it necessary to go in search of other displays. He knows 
 it might prove fatal once in a hundred times to leave a stranger 
 in undisputed possession of a tray of valuables, for even though 
 he has them so arranged in geometrical formation as to detect 
 an abstraction he is aware that a substitution might be made 
 in the flash of an eye and thus wipe out the profits accruing 
 from the previous ninety-nine customers who inspected his 
 goods. No, he feels that business can dispense with the urbane 
 conventions, and he avoids possible loss from this source of 
 ever-present danger, as the veriest tyro of either sex and any 
 age possessed of inordinate desire could easily help him or 
 herself whilst the clerk's back is turned. 
 
 When store sneaks operate in pairs or threes one, or in 
 the latter case perhaps two, of the number assumes the at- 
 titude of purchaser whilst the seemingly indifferent companion 
 or companions plot to secrete goods. It is generally considered 
 the duty of a floor or department manager to keep a lookout 
 for such seemingly unoccupied companions of purchasers, yet 
 it would be a profitable investment of time and pains to in- 
 struct each and every clerk in the simple rules of protection. 
 An incentive, such as a bonus or promotion, should be held 
 out as an extra inducement to clerks to prevent thefts. Loss 
 sustained through internal peculations is, of course, a constant 
 
 99 
 
annoyance, not so much on account of actualities as on account 
 of possibilities. In well-regulated establishments where no 
 employee may enter the display rooms with hat, package, um- 
 brella, coat or wrap, and can therefore carry none away, the 
 chief losses by dishonest employees are those of such small 
 articles as may be hidden on the person. There still remains 
 the avenue of secret transfer of the store's property to friends 
 of the clerks who may carry the same away in bags, suit cases 
 or In packages wrapped in paper imported into the store by 
 the clerk's confederate. However, such cases do not come up 
 frequently and are very difficult of avoidance except by means 
 of daily or weekly inventories and an exhaustive knowledge of 
 the employee's previous character and associates, which is an 
 almost superhuman problem. 
 
 Clerks in all stores should be warned to scrutinize, not 
 Impertinently, all strangers carrying packages of bulk, boxes, 
 traveling bags, umbrellas unfurled and loose or heavy wraps, 
 whether worn or carried on the arm, as these all afford means 
 for secreting goods. Yet if the few previous suggestions are 
 observed no goods may be extracted from a special display, 
 though the fixed and open displays do afford opportunities for 
 the use of these sneak thief aides. Dangerous or professional 
 store thieves thrive not on trifling articles, but upon the more 
 valuable lines of merchandise, such as silks in bolts, articles 
 of silk manufacture, furs, leather goods, art works, jewelry, 
 wearing apparel, millinery and dress trimmings. Such goods 
 should be removed as far as possible from exits. 
 
 In smaller establishments these same rules for secruity 
 should be carefully carried out. 
 
 The stupendous losses suffered by business men of every 
 class from the operations of forgers and utterers of false paper 
 could be materially lessened if not wholly stamped out were 
 obliging business men to adopt the commonest measure in 
 vogue in the telegraph offices, express offices, postoffices and 
 banks throughout the country — that of absolutely refusing to 
 
 100 
 
cash paper of any variety for unidentified strangers. The 
 strict enforcement of this principle might sacrifice trade for a 
 time but it would save loss and eventually when all reputable 
 business houses by mutual agreement honor the observance the 
 obtaining of money by false pretenses with paper as collateral 
 would be impossible. Whoever writes a check or draft or signs 
 a note or other negotiable instrument unrecorded without pro- 
 tecting the same by the most modern methods is foolishly 
 laying himself liable as well as contributing to the loss of 
 other individuals. Whoever thoughtlessly leaves his check 
 book in accessible places incurs the jeopardy of community and 
 personal loss, seeing that "paper hangers" are vigilant in the 
 search for these. A locked desk drawer is not sufficient pro- 
 tection as a "jimmy" will pry open any furniture lock. 
 
 As for confidence men, that satirical old saying "There's a 
 new sucker born every minute" is so true that the task of 
 educating them all to the folly of entertaining get-rich-schemes 
 is quite beyond the power of even a wise man. The shortest 
 and safest rule for self protection against misrepresentation is 
 "Don't do it in a hurry." Take your time; if the proposition 
 is good it will keep for a day or so; besides it will bear full 
 investigation. If you are considering the investment of any 
 sum of money in somebody's else scheme don't be too proud 
 or stubborn to seek the advice of a man of large affairs and 
 unquestioned integrity — your banker, for instance, or your legal 
 adviser. If you have no relations with either of these pro- 
 fessions consult your friend. Anyway, take it easy, take it easy 
 and don't swallow the hook at one gulp. This will be especially 
 difficult to avoid if your cupidity be aroused, provided, of 
 course, you be burdened with such excess emotional baggage. 
 If you make wagers with strangers or casual acquaintances you 
 are a candidate for the mourner's bench, and sometimes all 
 your regrets and the best efforts of the police are of no avail 
 to bring back a single dollar of your loss. You simply pay so 
 much money for so little experience, which may be likened to 
 a mule's kick, not being worth anything when acquired. 
 
 101 
 
As for pickpockets know these things: If you must carry 
 money on your person carry it in an inside vest pocket, or 
 nearer In yet if possible. And don't keep your hand on it, 
 nor feel of it every once in a while to see If it Is stUi there, 
 lest a pickpocket observe your concern Is solicitous and shortly 
 cause you to learn that it Is not there but elsewhere; just 
 where no man may be able to inform you. 
 
 Avoid crowds if you carry money on your person and do 
 aot be too eager in the press when boarding or alighting from 
 street cars, when leaving a theatre or other public gathering, 
 or when seeking a vantage point at a fire or other unusual 
 spectacle. For it Is In these places that they do it. It may be 
 your house rent, or your entire savings, or your employer's or 
 your friend's money that you are carrying, but If you must 
 carry money don't exhibit it nor get In a jamb. If you observe 
 these suggestions the only opportunity the pickpocket will find 
 to relieve you of valuables will be when you are intoxicated or 
 hypnotized. Women who carry money In a hand purse or bag 
 on the street, especially at night or In crowded places, run an 
 even greater risk of loss than do men, for there are ten ama- 
 teur pickpockets, maybe a score, to every one who by practice 
 has acquired the skill necessary to extract valuables from the 
 person, and the amateurs operate on women chiefly, finding 
 little difficulty In opening a hand bag and extracting a purse 
 therefrom in a jamb. The fairs and carnivals on the Pacific 
 Coast in 1915 will call many of these gentry from the East. 
 Greater familiarity with the ways of criminals could be 
 acquired If the department of public safety were provided 
 with the means for organizing and maintaining a publicity bu- 
 reau whose operatives should be charged with the duties of 
 developing measures for preventing crime by circulating all 
 the Information available upon the subject. Against this pro- 
 posal will be offered the objection that too many are already 
 familiar with criminal methods. On the contrary, though, the 
 fact of the matter is that too few are prepared by foreknowl- 
 
 102 
 
edge of the proper means for defeating the propagation of 
 criminal actions. 
 
 The present system maintained by each community leans 
 more toward a cleansing of the locality of criminals by "float- 
 ing" them off to another locality than it does toward either 
 prevention or permanent suppression of criminals. These de- 
 linquent ones are as much the nation's wards as are the hun- 
 dred-odd thousand dependent Indians or the insane. While a 
 great step in advance of old customs has been taken by the 
 adoption of the indeterminate sentence law, so long as the 
 individual who has repeatedly demonstrated his propensities 
 for moral obliquity is merely restrained and not improved both 
 physically and intellectually just that long will he continue to 
 be a thorn in the side of law-abiding society. And he will not 
 be improved until you demand that he shall. When a man's 
 principles and actions square with each other you are impotent 
 to convince him of his wrongness and your rightness; and if 
 punishment, the punishment of confinement, cannot awaken a 
 higher feeling of responsibility in the convict how can you 
 hope to eradicate his evil by hiding it from your sight, by 
 consigning him to a living limbo? This accusation against 
 society's present methods could not be made without fear of 
 refutation if it could be shown that the ratio of criminals to 
 population has diminished in the past fifty years. But it has 
 increased rather than diminished, which points out the fact 
 that there is a palpable flaw in the system of apprehending, 
 convicting and imprisoning criminals at such tremendous ex- 
 pense. A sincerer effort must be made to lift up the delin- 
 quent if lasting good is to come from our peace measures 
 within the house. 
 
 103 
 
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