Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1906-01-02
THE OMNIpRESENT "YEGG. =
LOVE OF THE BoWERY LURES
HIM aAcK TO NEW YORK.


derworId Voluntarily Give Their Pa
role When They Arrive in Town.
A Memory of "Pekin Eddy"
In most business offices throughout
New York city there are signs, adj
vising beggars, solicitors, ETC., that ali
appeals for aid are referred to the
Charity Organization Society. These
serve to put a check upon a GER
tain harmless class OF vagrant, but
to maintain control over the more ad-
venturous ranks of beggardom-
called in thieves lingo "yeggmen"
requires much more elaborate effort.
New York is the natural centre and
metropolis of thieves On the continent,
and no matter how far away a ''yegg'
may travel, he is bound, sooner or
later, to return to this city. The town
exerts a sort of magnetism over them
all. They fully realize that the
chances of being apprehended are at
least twice as great here as elsewhere
and thst their field of reasonably safe
operations is diminished, but never
theless they come.
To keep sufficient espionage in this
class demands more work than the
ordinary police force can do, so the
Charity Organization Society main
tains detective bureau of its own
under the name of the Mendicancv
tina nt This dana Y-tT ant
cludes besides scores of secret agents,
moving III all classes of life on the
lower East and West Sides, a staff
of seven regular assistants, all OF
them thoroughly conversant with the
lives, habits, and family histories of
the numerous "yeggs" who visit the
city for purposes of business or pleas
ure Also, at the departments offices
in the United Charities building, there
are kept on file Bertilion portraits
and measurements of the shining
lights of the profession, male and
female. These measurements num-
Der some hundreds in all. In fact,
''yeggman" have come, during the last
few years, to have such a wholesome
respect for this department, that it
is now their custom to report at the
Offices on their arrival in town and
give their paroles that they will not
work" in New York.
Of course, that means they make
New York their headquarters, for
graft tours outside the city limits, in
Long Island, Westchester County, and
especially New Jersey.
Keeping tab on these petty thieves
is rendered easier by the fact that
they have their regular haunts in
Manhattan, so that if a man knows
the several places they frequent, ne
can always know just who is in town
and who is not, and, usually, what
the ones in town are doing, and the
particular game" they are working.
The "yeggman's" ways of earning
living-by that is meant sufficient
whiskey and some kind of roof over
his head-are varied. There is the
paralytic, the epileptic, the lame man,
the veteran, the old French dodge of
the blind man, the high heller" ana
many more tricks of the trade. The
best device is employed by women
who wears high heels that make them
limp and who thus appeal for sym
pathy. Hence their name. The blind
racket" is going out of fashion nova
days, as is the injured arm, bandaGed
with sp!iAt5 aad da4u5-d with lodc-
form. They have been retired in f&Scr
of the more modern and less easily
detected paralytic symptoms. Par
alysis is usually simulated in the arm
and is a much more convenient de-
vice, because there are no cumber-
some bandages to employ.
Another favorite plan is what is
known professionally as the dummy
racket" This consists of feigning to
70 deaf and dumb and is also favored
because it is much harder to detect
than the older gags"
Like all other orders of men, the
beggars are divided into different
groups, socially and professionally. AT
the head is the "Jonker," or master
beggar. He is the chief of a gang,
consisting of "high heelers," less &C
complished members of his own sex,
and kids" who distribute cards ap-
pealing for assistance, in street cars.
Next comes the ''yeggman," who is
an accomplished safe cracker, and
does not shrink from murder when
necessary. Then there is the less
daring type of petty thief, used as a
spy to discover the lay in towns
to be visited.
The thieves also have dialet of
their own composed partly of plain
American jargon and of some words
probably derived from gypsy sources
Members are always given nicknames
either playing upon some physical pc.
culiarity or geographically descriptive
of some former residence, as Shorty"
White, o. Texas jack Perhaps
the most peculiar characteristic of
this strange class is that it is i'm
possible for them to reform. No mat
ter how good or pleasant an environ
ment they may be placed in, they
ultimately yield to the charm of the
Odd way of living. Even their would
be reformers admit that this is true.
I'VE send them to the workhouse for
from six months to three years." they
say. But it is just to have them out
OF the way for so long. 1t never does
any good
The "yeggs" are very clannisA and
stick by each other in trouble, as was
instanced last year in the case of
''Pekin Eddy" ~oekin" is one of the
leaders in his profession, but about
a year ago he was arrested for some
offence and sentenced to a term in
Lhe city worl1hopse. This was in
August, and "Pekin's" friends made
every possible effort 10 get him out