Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1908-06-09
To be Continued.
THE PICKPOcKET.
Back In the Days Of "Bungs" and
"Cuttles."

Back In the DAYS ct "6ungs' ana
"Cuttles."
Criminal slang is continually chang
ing. A few words survive through
succeeding generations-a ken" was
a house, to fence" was to receive sto-
len goods, and 'faker' was a forger,
for example. three hundred years ago
and sometimes words and phrases
continue in use with modified mean
ings or applications, but for the pur-
poses of a secret language criminal
slang, quite naturally, is continually
undergoing change. One verbal dis
guise succeeds another, and the inven-
ton of new tricks CASUALLY variations
Of old ones) and the development of
fresh forms Of rascality naturally call
into existence q new vocabulary. But
the changes have been made i'm meth
ods and names only.
The pickpocket, though he has had
many names, has always been prom
inent member of the criminal frater-
nifty. In the days of Queen Bess and
her Stuart successors purses were car
ried at the side hanging down from
the girdle, and, the connection being
easily cut, they formed tempting booty
for the ''cutpurses," as they were
commonly called. The skillful rascals
who did the trick were also known as
''foists" or "nips," while the purse was
"bung," and the knife with which 1t
was cut was called a "cuttle." Cutie
comes from a Latin word for knife,
from which same root is derived the
modern cutlass. The "nip's" knife
was short, strong and crooked, and on
his thumb the operator wore horn
thimble.
The pickpockets Of these times did
not lack for impudence Churches and
theatres seem to have been favorite
places for the operation of the frater-
nifty. A divine of Charles rs time
in the course Of a sermon took occa-
sion t. remark upon the impudence of
'.those thieves who burst cut purses In
prayer time in the kings chappell, his
majestic being present and under the
cloth of the state" The middle walk
of old st. Pauls Cathedral was anoth-
er favorite resort of pickpockets. UP
and down the splendid nave Of the fine
old church, which perlshed in the
great fire of London, passed constant
stream Of people. No regard whatever
was paid to the sacred character Of the
building At the theatres, where the
accOmm odatiOn was very rough and
the people stood or sat crowded to-
gether, the light fingered fraternity
again found favorable field for bus
mess. When one of these gentry was
caught in the act it was customary TO
tie him to a post on the stage pour en-
courager les outreS and so that all
might see nnd be familiar with his
face. In country towns pickpockets
and petty thieves detected in their viii
lainy were publicly whipped and then
driven out Of the place.
There was no lack of boldness on
they worked" in the streets Of Lon
don or infested the highways-"high
lawyers" these were called-in the
open country: but few Of these rascals
equalled in impudence a pickpocket
who was caught in the famous fair OF
st. Germain at Paris in 1893. This
gentleman, in all the bravery OF the
most fashionable attire, came into the
fair at night, attended by four lack
eys dressed in handsome liveries. But
Notwithstanding his sartorial splendor
the knave was detected in the practice
of pocketpicking: his "lackeys' drew
their swords in his defence, but In
vain, for this early member OF the
swell mob" was taken and delivered
into the hands of justice, which, says
the narrator rather grimly. us here
sudden and no jest"
In the time of Queen Anne and the
Georges the London pickpocket was
known as a diver" The hanging purse
had gone out of fashion ard could
therefore no longer be cut The pick
pocket had to resort to the more dell
cate operation Of searching the VIC
tins pOcket for the purse or other
possible plunder, and this was aptly
termed diving" A light fingered
character in the "Beggar's Opera was
called Jenny Diver. Gay describes
tho diving nrOceSS
Here dives the skulking thief, with
practis'd sleight,
And unfrlt fingers make thy pocket
light;
Where's now thy watch? with all its
trinkets, flown;
And thy late snuff box is no more thy
own.
But if the rascal were caught then
he was dragged to the pump ard well
soused. A favorite place of resort Tor
this ducking of detected pickpockets
was a horse pond which used to lie
behind the Kings News, buildings that
stood on the site now occupied by the
National Gallery.
The diver" in later days mas Deeii
known, with equal appropriateness, as
the dip" or clipper" Some forty
years or so ago the we'll known Vance
used to sing a once popular song called
THE Chickaleary Cove" and in this
the hero says:
Off to Paris | shall go to show thing
or two
To the dipping blokes wOt hangs about
the cafes.
Names change, but the pickpocket
remains and pursues his business with
skill and dexterity which, if directed
into more honorable channels, would
assuredly earn an adequate as well as
safe reward rd.-London Globe.