The Birmingham age-herald., 1902-10-06

A A " ton, the great detective. What
 K2 is the matter with Chicago?" from the standpoint of his profession, he repIied
 Really I do not pay much attention to local affairs here, as my duties call me largely away from Chicago. Our busi- ness now extends from ocean to ocean, and from the far north to the far south and 1t takes a whole lot of work and time to get over 1t, but do not think Chicago is in any worse condition today than any of the other large cities, so far as criminals are concerned. It is great big railroad center, with people fiocking in from all directions and 25,oOO or more a day passing through the city.
 "The disturbances in labor affairs have brought about new class of criminals, who are widely different from the crim- inal of the olden days-the expert, as we used to call him. The desperado of to6ay is what we call the yeggman'- I think it is a gypsy term-in other words the hobo They come largely from the people who have got out of employment, either through strikes or laziness, who don't care to work The 'hold-up,' which is new thing in the past few years, is due to this class of criminals. It is not peculiar to Chicago, but Is all over the country. Stopping a man on the highway and demanding his purse at the point of pistol, entering a store and demand ing the contents of the till were un- heard of a few years ago, but have grown common today. I do not hear of such frequent cases of this kind as the regular police, who have a great many to deal with.
 'The 'yeggmen' come from the fac tories, and even from the farms. The cheap lodging houses are their homes. and as long as the cheap lodging house is tolerated in its present condition 1t is going to draw them. Some years ago they got hold of the secret of the use of nitro-glycerin, and it has spread until today the trouble all over the country in regard to bank burglaries and house robberies is not due to the skilled safe blower of the old days but is confined to the hobo or the 'yeggman,
 You go along the street here and meet some deaf 'cadger Ca beggar). In a rough way he asks for a nickel You derstand the language of these people ask: Are yau John Yegg? He will reply that he Is either 'Yegg, or a cat, or a 'gay-cat, or a shovel holder, or pan hardler' or something of that kind"
 What does all that mean?"
 "A 'yeg5 is a man who will take a chance to get money in any kind of a way. A cat is a cross between a thief and 'cadger 'cadger is a beggar. A 'gay-cat is q fellow who is too coward ly to steal, but will hang around and II he sees man with a pocket full of money will follow and locate him. and go and tell a John Iegg or a cat who will attend to the business; but the gay cat don't take any further part in it at all, except to get a small share of the proceeds for his notification.
 "A shovel holder is fellow who will go out at night and take you by the neck, while working on a railroad in the day. time. 'panhandler' is a sort of fellow that hangs around and cooks for the yeggs.
 They make their headquarters in Chi cago. They live in the cheap lodging houses in Clark street and on the North and West sides-the 1O 15 and 20 cent lodging houses. Very little or nothing is known about them. The last two train hold-ups in this vicinity, and the dead man that was found killed up on tho road a few weeks ago, were the wor, 'yeggs' or hoboes."
 Do they have an organization?
 Yes. among themselves, and they are loyal to one another. They are the hardest class of people we have to deal with. because we cannot get detectives to go among them. A man who has any pride or respect cannot live with them; they are so low down. so filthy and de- prayed. Some years ago I got hold of felolw who had a good insight into their workings and kept him constantly with them From time to time I obtained information that was of great service to us. One Christmas day we went down to a lodging house in South Water street near State, and arrested five men, Not one of them had enough clothes on to wad shotgun with, but they had two big tubs of bottled beer in cracked ice, four roasted turkeys. celery and loads