Port Hazard (22 page)

During the nineteenth
century, the English language developed more rapidly than during the thousand years that preceded it; and most of that development took place in the gutters of London, New York City, Sydney, Australia, and San Francisco's Barbary Coast. The special vocabulary of the career criminal had its origins in the cockney rhyming slang of the East End (“twist and twirl”=girl; “whistle and flute”= suit) and spread throughout the Western Hemisphere when the police cracked down and those who spoke it fled by sail and steam to safer venues, bringing with them the tools of their unlawful trade.

While most dialects evolve by accident, the terms and phrases that baffled Page Murdock and Edward Anderson Beecher upon their arrival in San Francisco were coined deliberately, in order to avoid arrest. Employing this code, a pair of “tobbies” (street toughs) could plan to “stifle a stagger” (murder an informer) within a police officer's hearing without alerting that authority to the fact that a homicide was being discussed; assuming, that is, that the policeman was not a “fly cop”(an officer who knows the score). This subterfuge would be borrowed by killers for hire during our own gangster era, when U.S. racket busters scratched their heads over conversations on wiretap recordings about “putting out a contract for a hit.”

Thieves' cant has changed. Much of the terminology common to Spitalfields, Hell's Kitchen, Murder Point, and Sydney Harbor is as incomprehensible to us today as it was intended to be to the swells and squares outside Barbary. But much of it remains, sprinkling spice on the American vernacular, crossing all class barriers, and piercing even the walls of the White House. If the reader has doubts, perhaps he'll reconsider the next time he “fobs off a shady deal on some oaf.” It's also more than likely that just moments ago he replied to a question in the affirmative, using the once-trendily misspelled phrase “oll kerrect” although he probably referred to it by its initials.

For details about the fascinating hell that was shanty San Francisco, as well as his introduction to the idiom, this writer is indebted to Herbert Asbury's
The Barbary Coast
(New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1933), still the standard work on its subject after seventy years. However, a Rosetta Stone was required to unlock the secret of what in blazes half the characters were talking about, and this was found in two sources:
A Dictionary of the Underworld
(New York, Bonanza Books, 1961), first published by Eric Partridge in 1949 and updated in a new edition twelve years later; and
The Secret Language of Crime: The Rogue's Lexicon
(Springfield, Ill., Templegate Publishers, 1997), compiled in 1859 by George W. Matsell, a former chief of police of New York City. From “Abraham”(to pose or sham) to “Zulu”(a vehicle employed to transport an immigrant's personal effects), these invaluable references provide a history of the evolution of the crooks' code from 1560 through the Great Depression.

Unfortunately, the entries are not cross-referenced, and the process of writing dialogue, normally a breezy affair for this writer, slowed to tortoise pace while he searched for the proper crude term for “throat” and stumbled, at weary length, upon “gutter-lane.” Perhaps in later editions the editors will take pity on their readers and bring out the equivalent of an English-to-sewer-rat dictionary.

Although efforts were made to use this special slang in a rhythm and context that would guide understanding (except during the conversation between the two Hoodlums in chapter thirteen, which was presented as nearly impenetrable for demonstration and comic effect), some readers may still be at sea. (This is in no way a condescending remark; it means they are square citizens, who wouldn't be caught dead cracking a ken or munging a duce.) For them, the following terms and definitions may be of use.

 

ARTICLES
…Clothing

BARKING-IRONS
…Handguns

BEAK
…A judge or magistrate

BENISON
…Blessing

BLACK OINTMENT
…Raw meat

BLACK-SPY
…Satan

BLOW
…To inform upon someone

BLUNT
…Money

BOBMYPAL
…Ladyfriend (Gal)

BOOLY-DOGS
…Police officers

BREAK A LEG
…To bear a child out of wedlock

BUFE
…A dog

BULLY
…A lump of lead, handy for bludgeoning

CALFSKIN
…The Bible. (“Smack the calfskin”—Kiss the Bible and swear)

CALLAHAN
…A billyclub

CAP
…To join in

CHANT
…One's name

CLY
…A pocket; also, to pocket

COLE
…Money

CONIAKERS
…Counterfeiters

CONK
…One's nose

COVE
…A man

CRABS
…Feet

CRANKY
…Insane

CRIMP
…A recruiter for a sailors' boardinghouse

CRUSHER
…A policeman

CUES
…Points in a game of chance

CULL
…A man

CUT ONE'S EYES
…Become suspicious

DADDLES
…Hands

DANCE AT MY DEATH
…May I hang

DARBIES
…Manacles

DAWB
…A bribe; also, to bribe

DEAD GAME
…Certain

DONEGAN
…A privy; also, it can't be helped

DOSS
…A bed

DUFFER
…A man posing as a sailor

DUSTY
…Dangerous

EARTH-BATH
…Burial

EASE
…To rob or kill

EMPEROR
…A drunk

ETERNITY-BOX
…A coffin

FACER
…A glass filled so full that one must bring one's face to the glass instead of the other way around

FAMS
…Hands

FINIFF
…Five dollars

FISH
…A sailor

FLAPPERS
…Hands

FLASH
…Knowing; to speak knowingly (“Patter the flash”)

FLIMP
…To wrestle

FLUSH
…Rich

FLY
…Wise

FRIDAY FACE
…A glum visage, Friday being the traditional day of hanging

FUNK
…To frighten

GABS
…Talk

GAGE
…Money; a pot

GRIM
…Death

HANDLE
…One's nose

HEDGE
…To bet on both sides; to side with God and Satan at once

HICKSAM
…A fool

HOIST A HUFF
…To rob violently

JACK
…A small coin

JACK COVE
…A worthless, miserable fellow

JACK SPRAT
…A small man

JADE
…Hard time in prison

JOLLY
…One's head; also, a sham

JOSKIN
…A country bumpkin

KICK
…A pocket

KNOCK-ME-DOWN
…Strong drink

KNOLLY
…One's head (“Knowledge-box”)

LAMPS
…Eyes

LAY
…One's particular scheme; M.O.

LOPE
…Run away

LURCH
…Get rid of

MADAM RHAN
…A faithless or immoral woman

MAWLEYS
…Hands

MOLLISHER
…A woman, usually a harlot (“Molly” “Moll”)

MONAGER
…One's name or alias

MUMMER
…One's mouth

NEB
…One's face

NIP
…To rob

NODDLE
…A fool

NUB
…One's neck

NUG
…Dear one

OAK
…Strong; dependable

OFFICE
…A signal (“Tip the office”)

OLD SHOE
…Good luck

ON THE SHARP
…Smart and not easily cheated

PACKET
…A lie

PADDING KEN
…A rooming house

PAD THE HOOF
…Walk or run away

PANNAM
…Bread

PANTER
…One's heart

PEACH
…To inform

PECK
…Food

PEERY
…Suspicious

PEGO
…A sailor

PERSUADER
…A weapon; a spur

PHARSE
…The eighth part

PLUMMY
(or
PLUMBY
)…All right

POLISH IRON
…Go to prison (“Polish iron bars with one's eyebrows”)

PONCE
…A kept man

PONY
…Money; to post one's money

PRAD
…A horse

PRIM
…A handsome woman

PUPPY
…Blind

PUT
…A clownish fool

PUT UP TO ONE'S ARMPITS
…Cheat one of his possessions

QUEEN DICK
…Never (“The reign of Queen Dick” a nonperson)

QUEER
…Counterfeit money

RABBIT
…A rough, rowdy fellow

RAMMER
…One's arm

RED RAG
…One's tongue

RHINO FAT
…Rich as Midas

RUB
…Run

RUSTY
…Bad-tempered

SCOLD'S-CURE
…Death

SCRAG
…Hang

SCRUB
…A cruel man

SEA-CRAB
…A sailor

SCOT
…A young bull

SCOUR
…Run away

SCREAVES
…Bank notes

SERVE OUT
…To thrash someone

SHAPER
…A hat

SHINERAGS
…Nothing

SHOP
…Prison

SINK
…To cheat

SKEP
…A money cache

SKIPPER
…A barn

SKYCER
…A worthless parasite

SLAG
…A chain (also. “Slang”)

SLANG
…To chain something (also, a chain)

SLINGTAIL
…A chicken

SLUICE ONE'S GOB
…To drink (“Wet your whistle”)

SMICKET
…A woman's skirt

SMOKY
…Suspicious

SNAGGLE
…To wring the neck of a chicken or other fowl

SPEEL
…Run away

SPLIT OUT
…To end one's association

SPOONEY
…Gullible

SPUD
…Worthless coin

SQUAIL
…A drink

STAG
…To inform upon

STIFF
…A letter

STRETCH
…One year

STOW ONE'S WID
…Be silent

STUBBLE
…Hold (“Stubble your red rag”=“Hold your tongue”)

STUN ONE OUT OF HIS REGULARS
…To cheat one of his rights

SWABLER
…A filthy fellow

SWIG
…A drink

TAPPER
…A police officer

THIMBLE
…A watch

TICKRUM
…A license

TOBBING
…Waylaying by striking one on the head

TOMMY
…Bread

TOP
…To cheat

TOP-CHEAT
…A hat

TOPPER
…A blow on the head