A 1926 Glossary of Criminal Argot

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The American Dialect Society

A 1926 Glossary of Criminal ArgotAuthor(s): E. R. HagemannReviewed work(s):Source: American Speech, Vol. 57, No. 4 (Winter, 1982), pp. 260-263Published by: Duke University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/454627.

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2/5

A

1926

GLOSSARY

OF CRIMINAL

ARGOT

E. R. HAGEMANN

Universityof

Louisville

N

THE

NOVEMBER 1926

issue of

Clues,

A

Magazine of

Detective

tories

(1:158-62),

there

appeared

an article and

glossary

of

222 words

entitled

The

Underworld

and

Its

Vernacular,

by

No.

27026,

a

pris-

oner

in

the Missouri

Penitentiary

at

Jefferson

City,

and until now un-

known.

A

pulp

journal

that was

more

sedate

than its fierce

competition,

Clues was published monthly in New York City by W. M. Clayton, who

owned a stable of similar

magazines.

It

was

long

on

quantity

but short on

quality.

No.

27026

was

in

fact

George

Wright,

a man of some

education,

who

used a

string

of

aliases.'

Born

in

1888 in

California,

he

was a

forger

and

a

hapless

one at that.

His

first known

incarceration

(for

forgery)

was

in

the Nevada

Penitentiary

at Carson

City

where

as

Fred

Ford,

No.

1971,

alias

E.

J.

Brooks

and

Don M.

Smith,

he

served

twenty-six

months of

a

one-to-fourteen

sentence,

12

April

1917 to 7

June

1919,

and

then

was

paroled.

Within

a

few

months he was

again

in

the

clutch

of

John

Law-on 17

December

1919

he was arrested as a

fugitive

from

justice,

rapped

with

having

escaped

from the

county jail

at Klamath

Falls,

Oregon. Why

he

got

in

that stir and how he crashed out are

unknown.

However,

some-

how he

extricated himself

from the

jam

and worked his

way

east. Soon

enough

he

was

collared once

again

for

forgery;

as

George Wright,

No.

6159,

alias

C.

J.

Ford,

E.

J.

Ford,

W. D.

French,

and Frank

King,

he did

his time, 21 September 1920 to 23 January 1924, in the New Jersey State

Pen at Trenton. Then he was

paroled

again.

A loser

in

the

West,

a loser in the

East,

he decided

to

paperhang

in

the

Midwest and worked in and around

St.

Joseph,

Missouri. Another

fall

for

forgery,

fourth

degree,

put

him in

another

prison. George

Wright,

No.

27026,

alias

E.

J.

Brooks,

John

L.

Clark,

C.

J.

Ford,

E.

J.

Ford,

Fred

Ford,

W.

D.

French,

Frank

King,

E. W.

LeGrand,

George McCoy,

and

Don M.

Smith,

lingered

twenty-eight

months,

28

July

1924

to

4

Novem-

ber

1926,

of

a

four-year

stretch.

Maybe

his

literary pursuits helped bring

about his

early

release.

Forgery,

second

degree,

was his next

quick

conviction,

and

away

he

went to the Minnesota

big

house

for

a

ten-year

bit,

commencing

11

260


3/5

A

1926

GLOSSARY

261

February

1927.

At

Stillwater,

he was

just

plain George

Wright,

No.

8836.

When

he

hit

the bricks

again

is not

in

the files.

He was last heard of in Jackson, Michigan, where he was picked up on

an

assault

and

battery

charge,

and

given

ten

days

or

ten dollars on

16

August

1937.

It was a

tough

year.

He didn't have

a ten

spot

on

him,

so he

did

the

ten

days

as No.

9755.

He was once

again

Fred Ford and

by

then

forty-nine years

old.

Wright's

glossary,

the

lengthiest

of

its

kind

at

the time of

publication,

is

undoubtedly

genuine

and

not,

as

might

be first

thought,

the brainchild

of

a

Clues

staffer;

more

than

seventy

percent

of the words

therein

appear

also

in the

glossaries

of the works cited under

REFERENCES

elow. How-

ever,

sixty-five

words are

either

new,

differently

defined,

or

vary

in

form,

and

they

are listed

here.

Wright

concentrated

chiefly

on

the

argot

of

pickpockets

and

safe-crackers,

not

forgers.

The definitions are his

and

appear

below with

only very

minor editorial

changes.

For

some

words,

e.g.,

touch,

Wright

offers several

definitions;

only

those not

pre-

viously

published

are

given

here.

bennyworker

Pickpocket

who works

under

cover of a

light

coat

block-dealer Watch-dealer;eweler

bloomer

1:

Mistaken

miscue

2:

Criminal

effort that

yields

no loot

bonnet

Detonator

cap

used

to

explode

nitroglycerin

n

blowing

a safe

broncho

Spy

sent

out

by

safe-blowers

o

locate

ajob

bum's rush

1:

Unexpected

advance

2:

Put

over

a fast

one

[sic]

cat'skid

BRONCHO

cold

poke

Empty

or worthless

pocketbook

cold

prowl

Ransacking

house while

the

occupants

are

away

comb Combination

of a

safe

come-along

Small,

case-hardened device

with a

V-shaped opening

near

its

center,which s slippedover the combinationof a safe, then tightenedup with

set

screws

o

pull

the

COMB

crack

Tight place

darb

Good

one

deadline

Line

beyond

which a

known crook

must not

pass

doin's

Gathering,

uch as

a

fair, carnival,

etc.

dripper

Eye dropper

used

by drug

addicts

duffer

Bread

duster-door

Second

or

inner

door of a safe

elevator

Holdup

man

fake Term used when the trueobjector name is best not mentioned

finder

Member

of a

safe-blowing

gang

who blows

the

safe

fish New

prisoner;

recent

arrival

front-breech Front

pantspocket

gaycat

Thief who

steals

only

when

necessity

compels

him to raise

money


4/5

262 AMERICAN SPEECH 57.4

(1982)

go high

Put one's hands

up

going

to bat

Going

to

trial

gopher

Small safe

gut-box

Box on

a safe

containing

the

COMB

echanism

heavy-man

Safe-blower;

denotes

the more violent

[type]

irons

Oregon

boot

[According

to

Kane

(1927,

p.

457),

the

Oregon

boot

is a

boot of iron

straps

or

wicker

work

covering

the foot and

leg

of

a

prisoner

to

prevent

his

escape. ]

jam-shot

Method

of

safe-blowing

in

which the

explosive

is

poured

into

the

top

crack after all the other cracks have been

thoroughly

soaped

except

for

the

place

where

the

soup [explosive]

is

poured

in.

jerryhouse

Railroad section house

from which

tools are stolen

lamster Member

of

pickpocket gang

that leaves with the loot

Libs

Liberty

Bonds

lug

Beg

lugger

Beggar

matinee-prowl

Ransacking

a home while

the

owners

are

away

in the afternoon

metallic-ear

1:

Unwelcome listener

2:

Dictograph

mino Confirmed drinker

[possibly misprint

of

wino]

mud

Opium

oil

Nitroglycerin

old

man

Long-handled

tool

used

to

secure

leverage

in

safecracking

op Private detective agency operator [early use of word Dashiell Hammett

made

famous]

paperhanger

Counterfeiter

pete-brother

Safe-blower

peterman

Dynamiter

pratt

One

who

bumps

into the victim while a

pickpocket

makes the

touch

putter-down

Party

who

passes forged

checks

for the real

forger

rib Frame

up

ringer

One

who

butts

in

on

another's racket

route

Source

of

supply

sanding a clang Pouring sand in the bell of a burglar alarm to prevent its

sounding

score

Obtain

single-duke

Hold

out

on

the

proceeds

of

a

crime

slag

Watch chain

[possibly misprint

or

misspelling

of

slang]

sleeper

Something

of

value

that has been

overlooked

snidebox Safe that can be

opened

with

little effort

tab

Telegram

tamped

Badly

beaten

tossed

Deserted,

as

by

a woman

or a

partner

touch Beg

Yaled-up

Padlocked

X,

ex

Ex-convict


5/5

A

1926 GLOSSARY

263

NOTE

1. I discovered George Wright during the summer of 1981 in the Special

Collections of

the

University

Research

Library

at the

University

of

California,

Los

Angeles,

which has

probably

the

best

pulp-magazine

collection in the

United

States.

My

thanks

go

to the

staff

at UCLA

for their

help

in

this

project.

My

thanks

go

also

to

Warden Donald

W.

Wyrick

and Records Officer

H. F.

Lauf,

Missouri State

Penitentiary,

for

furnishing

me

with

Wright's

prison

record and

his

Bertillon identification.

REFERENCES

Goldin,

Hyman

E.;

O'Leary,

Frank;

and

Lipsius,

Morris;

eds.

1950.

Dictionary

of

American

Underworld

Lingo.

New

York:

Twayne.

Kane,

Elisha K.

1927.

The

Jargon

of

the Underworld.

Dialect Notes 5:

433-67.

Maurer,

David

W. 1931.

The

Argot

of the Underworld. American

Speech

7:

99-118.

McLellan,

Howard.

1925.

It's Greek

to

You-But

the

Crooks

'Get'

It.

Collier's

76: 30.

Sullivan,

Joseph

M. 1910.

Criminal

Slang.

New

England Magazine,

n.s.

42:

585-88.

Repr.

in

The American

Law

Review

52

(1918):

885-94.

Wentworth, Harold,

and

Flexner,

Stuart

Berg,

eds. 1960.

Dictionary

of

American

Slang.

New

York:

Crowell.

Yenne,

Herbert.

1927.

Prison

Lingo.

American

Speech

2: 280-82.

FLOODGATE

Concerning

-gate

words

( Among

the

New

Words,

American

Speech,

56

[1982]:

280-82),

the

coinage

Floodgate,

referring

to

Pennsylvania

Representative

Daniel

J.

Flood's own

'Watergate'

a

few

years

back,

may

best

explain

the

popularity

of

-gate among

gateniks;

that

is,

the

public

felt

inundated

by political

scandal

in the

late

1970s,

and the

press-the

majority

of

the

gateniks-took

it

upon

themselves to

close the

gates

on

scandalous

politicos

and flood American

politics

clean.

RICHARD

TRACEY

Cerritos

College

A 1926 Glossary of Criminal Argot

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