Sentence:  In consequence of the great improvement in the make of travelling carriages, there are now few opportunities for the <WSD>dragsman</WSD> to exercise his calling in cutting off trunks fastened behind those vehicles, so that the thieves who have a preference for this mode of plunder, are now constrained to prowl about the streets, following the numerous carts which are daily employed in the delivering of goods in this large city and who may be termed "cart sneaks." 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A thief who cuts the luggage from carriages.