Omaha daily bee., 1905-12-25
ODD IARG0N OF CROOKS
Mystic words in Use by various
Brands of Crooks, aud what
They signify. ...

trail station where were gathered the de-
tectives on night duty, being interpreted
mean that some one had had the misfortune
to have his umbrella stolen the thief maxi
ing his escape and that the rightful owner
was complaining OF his loss.
Assuming that you are a respectable
member of society and have spent your
days with wholesome people and know no
other English than that which is upheld by
your professor of literature it may not he
Nninteresting nor indeed Improbable to dip
a little into a vernacular that Is employed
on your right and left hand every day, but
which is unintelligible to you as the jargon
of the Igorrote.
The particular combination OF words and
phrases with which this article will have to
do IL that employed by the class of thrifty
gentry who engage in theft In all its var-
GUS branches. They literally have a Ian
guage OF their own and unless, one is
familiar with It he may as well endeavor
TO hold a running conversation with a ring
tailed ape as to talk to professional thief.
He will gather about much intelligence
from the ono as from the other.
II is no. TO be understood. however. that
the average thief is not intelligent. Your
full-fiedged and prosperous crook may fill a
Tuxedo gracefully as member of
clothes, on occasion, but It is while plying
his trade and conversing with his fellows
that he lapses into a professional jarson Of
his class.
A thief is known among his class as IA
gun" while that which is generally called a
gun is not that at all, but "gat" or a
"smoke wagon or crook" The last
term Is employed generally among western
thieves.
To the thief. and all criminals. for that
matter, police officers are bulls" and II
in uniform they are harness bulls" 4
detective is "fy cop or an elbow"
| The latter appelation is used more in the
east than on the western coast, and the
| entomology Of the term is not difficult to
| understand. as there is nothing quite so
much in the way as an elbow and the
word was suggested, no doubt, by some
| such experience.
When thief speaks Of "a shieve" he
means a knife, and billy club he calls "a
sap" because, perhaps it is calculated TO
| sap ones vitality The interesting. but
! sometimes annoying, pastime of pocket
picketing is given the title of dipping
| for expressveness a term that is not half
| bad. ..
II n thief were TO express a desire to
| pinch your block free translation
| would be that he had designs on. your
watch. and If he bore a similar attitude
| toward your diamond. which he probably
would IL you were fortunate enough to
have one. he would likely express II in
! the following: Gee. / would like to cop
| that guys rock"
In some mysterious manner the thieves
have hit upon most apt term by which
they designate woman. To them. be she
h;.rI, In,,-
! a 'molL." Tho word comes from the Latin
mollus, meaning soft or tender, or some
thing young. There is many thief that
knows his Latin and can read Virgil In the
original. Stealing from a woman is not
| regarded as quite the proper thing and.
therefore, a phrase implying the greatest
contempt has been coined for the man who
| tries to slyly appropriate a woman's loose
| change. He is ''moll-buzzer." ....
In the realm of thefdom there are
many modes and processes whereby one
is dispossessed of his money and each
| branch of the business has it's special
designation.
But the branch of this underworld in
dustry that is the most profitable is that
which is called bunko-steerlng. No
bungling hand can play at that game 1t
requires a keen quick discernment and
|
and for that reason none but the most
polished and experienced men In the BUSH
ness engage in II.
They are called by the world confidence
men. but among their own kind they are
known as hunks" Their victim is a
sucker" and the talk that is made to
him with the intention of leading him on
Is "a phony spiel" If the "phony SPIEL
works the sucker is conducted TO a room
where a card game is in progress. The
place is ''the big mitt Joint" where the
sucker is trimmed" The man who con-
ducts him there is steer and he is
equally dangerous whether he is from
Texas OF any other place.
The victim Is entced into the game
against an artfully simulated protest on
the part OF his dear friend the steer 90
That little play acting is called a stall ."
The betting in the card game is stlmulat ed
by the man who holds the "kiclcing hand
and the chap who has such remarkable
run OF luck as to draw most of the win
ming cards holds the silent" hand. After
the sucker is trimmed" 10 a stand
still" the steer" whose sympathy has
been almost fearful throughout the trim
ming process and is now vergIng on the
hysterioal. takes the victim out 10 lose
him. He buys him dinner or a glass Of
| peer ana then he must hurry home, usu-
ally on account of a sick wife.
If the sucker wakes up 10 the fact
that he has been robbed, and nearly always
he does, he goes to the police station aud
makes a beef" or a "holler," which in
formation is communicated 10 the gang by
the trailer" the man whose business IL
is to watch the movements Of the victim
after the steer has succeeded in shaking
! him of.
To be arrested and sent to prison Is 20
fall" but they are not spoken of as jails.
but "stirs," a word that wa probably
suggested by the activity which is induced
by certain small insects that inhabit the
, jail. A term OF Imprisonment is known as
bit" and a years sentence is a space"
or spot
The third conviction for a felony IN
wolves life term in the penitentiary. and
the doleful news Is passed among the
friends Of the prisoner with the words
that Charlie is a three-times loser
! Chicago Chronicle.
Terrible Disaster Averted.
The terrible di6aster of nervous hr.aL