Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1913-07-02

the rural districts. Recently, how
ever, the more daring and mercenary
of the clan operating in the East
have concluded that New York city Is
abort as ripe field as they could
fipI.
New York city is over-run with
yeIgmen al the present. Yeggs who
have been content to lurk in the
lanes and by-ways of quiet rural sec
tions by day, stealing forth at night
to make a raid on post Office or bank
safes, and then as quietly disappear
ing into some other hiding place
equally as remote, now parade the
streets and openly go from saloon to
saloon where yeggmen are wont to
gather. Apparently there is no fear
on their part, for the majority OF
them are plentifully supplied with
funds, and, abandoning the rough
garb Of the country yegg, they now
wear clothes of fashionable cut and
fine texture and indulge in the pleas
ures and pastimes Of the more pros
porous of those who go to make up
the underworld of every big city.
Retreat for Tcggmcn.
A few years ago nearly every yegg-
man who visited New York city made
straight for the Bowery. There he
knew several establishments whose
proprietors were ever ready to bar
ter with them for the stolen stick
erS' or stamps they had pilfered from
the post Offices whose safes we're
blown. The deal was quickly made
and the yeggs left the city as unob-
trusively as they entered. They at
that time seemingly entertained a
wholesome dread Of the ""ity bull"
or detective. They regarded it as al
most suicidal to attempt to pull off
trick" in the big town, preferring
to make tracks for some easy
country town. But New York afford
ed a splendid market for their loot,
and then, too, those with whom they
did business here were always eager
to advance them funds when times
were hard. These "shylocks" well
knew that the loan would be repaid
with ample interest when the next
job was done.
While scores of yeggmen are still
loyal to traditions of the past and
, hunt out their Bowery retreats when
they arrive in New York, yet there
are hundreds who have found fresh
haunts, and now there is no one par
ticular section Of the city that they
hide in. The upper West Side and
the upper East Side house numbers
of them, although 1t is generally OBJ
served that these marauders keep
clear of the Tenderloin, unless it is
to blow a safe and then decamp.
Where bands exist there may be
found yeggmen, for many Of them
have gone to New York to stay, and,
enrolling themselves as members Of
this or that band or gang" they
have endeared themselves to their
leaders by their acquisitive talents.
A man VIII. can go forth and sue
CeSSfully engineer a safe Job tO-night
and return 10 the bands faVorite sa-
loon in the morning with pockets
bulging with coin Of the realm is al
ways welcome and honored mem
ber to the fold.
A Notorious Resort.
There is one saloon on the Bowery
whose owner is we'll known to the
public and post Office inspectors. This
man was once burglar, served his
time in the West and then went to
New York and opened his resort
From the first he prospered, and ma
turally those with whom he consort-
ed when he himself was yegg fol-
lowed him. While post Office inspec-
tors know full we'll that this man
conducts a fence" yet SO far they
have never been able to "get the
goods on him." He has been haled
to the Federal building time and
again and put through every degree
from the first to the thirty-third, but
his interrogators were forced to ad-
init at the conclusion of the griffin <
that should they arrest him they
wouldn't have a leg to stand on.
When he made his now celebrated
"squeal" in the Vermont peniten-
tiary, West Philadelphia johnny
had no hesitancy in saying that this |
man had redeemed the bulk OF the |
stamps he, Portland Ned, Irish jim
my and others Of their band had
stolen.
In the back room of this mans
Bowery place a group OF hard-featur-
ed, low-browed and roughly dressed
men are wont to congregate day and
night They sit about table with
heads close together, converse in un-
dertones and generally in a vernacu-
lar unintelligible to the average per-
son. They have either Just arrived
in the city after looting some bank
or post Office in the country or else
they are about to start forth on
raid.
"Inside" Of Stamp Deals.
Those on the inside" say the
stamp negotiations are conducted
along these lines: The "stickers" are
wrapped in a neat parcel and as the
yeggman enters the saloon he ap-
proaches the bar-keeper and after
inquirng for some person of fictitious
name who in reality does not exist
they casually remark, "Well, here's
a package for him. Give it to him
when he comes in.'
The bar-keeper takes the package
and places it in a conspicuous place
near the cash register and the new
conner Is invited to have a drink. If