125 years in the past in 1897
Taken instantly from the pages of The Youngstown Vindicator:
“Amongst police, a ‘gopher’ is named a secure robber, a ‘nuck’ is an all-round thief, a ‘dip’ picks pockets, and a ‘con’ could all the time play ‘heads I win, tails you lose.’
“At the moment, police are stored decidedly busy watching incoming trains for suspicious characters and it retains the patrolmen busy taking care of this and that stranger as he involves the town.
“‘It’s not the tough, powerful class we’re so afraid of,’ stated an outdated patrolman to the Vindicator, ‘nevertheless it’s the well-dressed, genteel-looking and smooth-tongued gent we worry, if any.
“‘The skilled males typically gown good. They’re exhausting for the unusual citizen to select, however a patrolman or detective has no bother in quickly deciding who the stranger is.’
“‘What enterprise are they typically at?’ was requested of Detective Moyer by a Vindicator consultant. Detective Moyer at current is a vigorous individual, one who has to maintain on the go virtually frequently and who, having 18 years of detective service, fairly totally is aware of all of the crooks.
“‘Effectively,’ replied the detective, ‘we have now names by which these rascals are identified. They, themselves, originate these titles partly, however a brand new title is all the time discovered for a peculiar type of thief.
“‘As an example, a person who cracks safes known as a “gopher,” a “pennyweighter” is a fellow who works diamond trays, a person who will go to jewellery shops and finger over treasured stones however who has not the braveness to rob a secure or a home for them. A “nuck” is an all-round thief, one is who proficient in something dangerous and can flip a job of most any description.
“‘A pickpocket is named a “dip,” and for a positive factor, we use the phrase “con man.” Movie flammers, three-card monte gamers, shell males and loaded cube gamers come beneath this title.
“‘All know fairly properly what a bunco steerer (swindler, con man) means. A drunken man is named a “stiff,” and by utilizing the pseudonym of “stick up” refers to a persons’’ toes, limbs, and physique being burned. In fact, all know what a hold-up signifies, and a “pull” is fairly simple, too. It refers back to the arrest of a disorderly home keeper and inmates.’
“‘The dragnet implies that outdated offenders are being searched and also you all can inform what a “water haul” (a failed theft) designates. We’ve had lots of them and the papers don’t hesitate to write down about such doings.’
“For the remainder of the current month, the pressure shall be stored on tiptoes and assistance from watchful residents will little question vastly help the great workings of the police.”
• Compiled from the Youngstown Vindicator by Traci Manning,
Mahoning Valley Historic Society
curator of training.
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