Early American Crime

baggage smasher – a man who hangs around a railway station looking for luggage to steal. Image by mattbuck4950 via Flickr Sources Partridge, Eric. A Dictionary of the Underworld. New York: Bonanza Books, 1961. Note: See “Cant: The Language of the Underworld” to learn more about the background of the American Malefactor’s Dictionary.

backer – the person who supplies the genuine dollar bills that are shown to a prospective victim in a greengoods con-game. The greengoods con-game entails the sale of a large quantity of counterfeit money at a steep discount from its face value. In a show of demonstrating the high quality of the counterfeit bills to […]

assay – to commence; to try it. Possibly derived from the phrase “to take the assay or essay,” i.e., to taste wine to prove that it is not poisoned. It may have been brought into use by counterfeit coiners. Image by Greg_e via Flickr Sources Barrère, Albert and Charles G. Leland. A Dictionary of Slang, […]