When a young man enters upon the business of life, he may have some
indefinite idea of what he intends to follow out to the close thereof;
but he soon finds himself surrounded by circumstances which control his
actions and business pursuits, and lead him into channels of thought and
industry that had not previously entered into his philosophy. At least I
have found it to be so, and I have no doubt others have had a similar
experience. To become a lexicographer, certainly never entered into my
calculation, or even found a place in the castle-building of my younger
days; and if a kind friend had suggested to me that I was destined to
fill such a position in life, I would simply have regarded him as a fit
subject for the care of the authorities. This improbable event has now
taken place; and I present myself to the world as the compiler of a
language used in all parts of the world, and yet understood connectedly
but by few persons.
The rogue fraternity have a language peculiarly their own, which is
understood and spoken by them no matter what their dialect, or the
nation where they were reared. Many of their words and phrases, owing to
their comprehensive meaning, have come into general use, so that a
Vocabulum or Rogue's Lexicon, has become a necessity to the general
reader, but more especially to those who read police intelligence.
Occupying the position of a Special Justice, and Chief of the Police of
the great Metropolis of New-York, where thieves and others of a like
character from all parts of the world congregate, and realizing the
necessity of possessing a positive knowledge of every thing connected
with the class of individuals with whom it was my duty to deal, I was
naturally led to study their peculiar language, believing that it would
enable me to converse with them more at ease, and thus acquire a
knowledge of their character, besides obtaining from them information
that would assist me in the position I occupied, and consequently be of
great service to the public. To accomplish this task was no mean
undertaking, as I found that it required years of diligent labor to hunt
up the various authorities, and these when found proved only partially
available, as much of the language in present use was unwritten, and
could only be obtained by personal study among first-class thieves who
had been taught it in their youth. The difficulties surrounding it, did
not deter me from following out my resolution, and by closely pursuing
it, I had opened up to me a fountain of knowledge that I could not have
obtained if I had not possessed a clear understanding of this peculiar
dialect. Experience has since demonstrated to me that any man engaged in
police business can not excel without understanding the rogues'
language, in the study of which they will find this Lexicon of
invaluable service.
It is not, however, to policemen alone that this book will be of
service, as these cant words and phrases are being interwoven with our
language and many of them are becoming recognized Anglicisms. It is not
unusual to see them in the messages of presidents and governors--to hear
them enunciated at the bar and from the pulpit, and thus they have come
to be acknowledged as appropriately expressive of particular ideas; so
that while they are in common use among the footpads that infest the
land, the _élite_ of the Fifth Avenue pay homage to their worth, by
frequently using them to express thoughts, that could not, otherwise,
find a fitting representative. The vocabulary of the rogue is not of
recent date; although it is mainly made up of arbitrary or technical
words and phrases, while others are of a purely classical origin. It is
a language of great antiquity, and may be dated back to the earliest
days of the roving gipsy bands, that infested Europe, from whom the
greater portion of it has been derived. It might more properly be termed
the Romany or Gipsy language, adapted to the use of modern rogues in all
parts of the world, and in which the etymologist will find words drawn
from every known language. Some of these words are peculiarly national,
but as a general thing the language of the rogue in New-York is the
language of the rogue the world over.
Among policemen, not only in this city but in different parts of the
United States, the cant language of thieves is attempted to be used; but
there being no standard they are unable to do so understandingly, and
each one gives to the words the corrupted sense in which he received it;
thus speaking as it were, a miserable "_patois_," to the exclusion of
the true "Parisian French." This departure from the true meaning of the
words used is mischievous in its tendency, as it is calculated to
mislead and bewilder, so that rogues might still converse in the
presence of an officer, and he be ignorant of what they said. This I
have endeavored to correct, and although I may not claim infallibility
in these matters, yet I believe that I have arrived at as high a degree
of perfection as is now attainable.
To the readers of the _National Police Gazette_, the oldest and most
reliable criminal journal published in the United States, this work will
prove invaluable, as it will enable them to understand and fully
comprehend language that the editors and correspondents are frequently
compelled to use in order to convey the idea as understood by rogues in
general.