COLD PIG. A person that has been robbed of his clothes.
COLLAR. To seize or take.
COLLARED. Taken; arrested.
COLLEGE. A State prison.
COLLEGE CHUM. A fellow-prisoner.
COLTMAN. One who lets horses and vehicles to burglars.
COMMISSION. A shirt or shift.
COMMISTER. A parson.
COMMIT. To inform.
CONFIDENCE MAN. A fellow that by means of extraordinary powers of
persuasion gains the confidence of his victims to the extent of drawing
upon their treasury, almost to an unlimited extent. To every knave born
into the world it has been said that there is a due proportion of fools.
Of all the rogue tribe, the Confidence man is, perhaps, the most
liberally supplied with subjects; for every man has his soft spot, and
nine times out of ten the soft spot is softened by an idiotic desire to
overreach the man that is about to overreach us. This is just the spot
on which the Confidence man works. He knows his subject is only a knave
wrongside out, and accordingly he offers him a pretended gold watch at
the price of a brass one; he calls at the front door with presents from
no where, as none could be expected; he writes letters in the most
generous spirit, announcing large legacies to persons who have no kin on
the face of the earth who cares a copper for them. The Confidence man is
perfectly aware that he has to deal with a man who expects a result
without having worked for it, who gapes, and stands ready to grasp at
magnificent returns. The consequence is, that the victim--the confiding
man--is always _done_. The one plays a sure game; his sagacity has
taught him that the great study of the mass of mankind is to get
something and give nothing; but as this is bad doctrine, he wakes up out
of his "brown study," and finds himself, in lieu of his fine
expectations, in possession of a turnip for a watch, a cigar-box in
place of a casket. The Confidence man always carries the trump card; and
whoever wishes to be victimized can secure his object by making a flat
of himself in a small way, while attempting to victimize somebody else.
CONK. The nose.
CONSOLATION. Assassination. To kill a man, is to give him consolation.
CONVENIENT. A mistress.
COOK. Melt; dissolve.
COPBUSY. The act of handing over stolen property by a thief to one of
his pals for the purpose of preventing its being found on him if
arrested.
COPPED. Arrested. "The knuck was copped to rights, a skin full of honey
was found in his kick's poke by the copper when he frisked him," the
pickpocket was arrested, and when searched by the officer, a purse was
found in his pantaloons pocket full of money.
COPPED TO RIGHTS. Arrested on undoubted evidence of guilt.
CORINTH. A bad house.
CORINTHIANS. Bad women who move in respectable society.
CORN-THRASHERS. Farmers.
COUPLE. To live with.
COVE or COVEY. A man.
COVER. The follow that covers the pickpocket while he is operating.
COVING. Palming; stealing jewelry before the face and eyes of the owner,
or person that is selling it.
COW. A dilapidated prostitute.
COW JUICE. Milk.
COW'S GREASE. Butter.
COWS AND KISSES. Miss, or the ladies.
CRAB-SHELLS. Shoes.
CRABS. Feet.
CRACK. To force; to burst open.
CRACKSMAN. A burglar who uses force instead of picklocks or false keys.
CRAMMER. A falsehood.
CRAMP WORDS. Sentence of death.
CRAMP-RINGS. Shackles or handcuffs.
CRAMPED. Killed; murdered; hanged.
CRAMPING CULL. Executioner; hangman.
CRANKY. Mad; insane.
CRANKY-HUTCH. An insane asylum.
CRASH. To kill. "Crash that cull," kill that fellow.
CREAMY. Secretly.
CREATURE. Liquor.
CREEME. To slip money into the hands of another.
CRIB. A house.
CROAKE. To murder; to die.
CROAKED. Dead.
CROAKERS. Newspapers.
CROKUS. A doctor. "The cove sold a stiff un to a crokus for twenty
cases," the rogue sold a corpse to a doctor for twenty dollars.
CROSLEITE. To cheat a friend.
CROSS. Dishonest.
CROSS-COVE. A thief; any person that lives in a dishonest way is said to
be "on the cross," from the fact that highwaymen were in the habit of
waiting for their victims on the cross-roads.
CROSS-DRUM. A drinking-place where thieves resort.
CROSS-FANNING. Picking a pocket with the arms folded across the chest. A
knuck in the front rank of a crowd desiring to steal a watch from the
pocket of a gentleman standing on either side of him, first folds his
arms across his breast; and pretending to be intensely looking at some
object before him, stretches out the arm next his victim, and by rapid
movements of his fingers and hands excites his attention, and, while in
this attitude, with the hand which is stretched across his own breast,
he twists the watch from the other's pocket.
CROSSED. To meet another and pass him. "The swell moved as he crossed
me," the gentleman bowed as he passed me.
CROW. The crow is the fellow that watches outside when his accomplices
are inside, and gives them warning of the approach of danger.
CRUMEY. Fat; pockets full; plenty.
CRUMP. One who procures false witnesses.
CRUSHER. A policeman.
CUES. The points.
CUFFIN QUEERS. Magistrates.
CUFFIR. A man.
CULING. Snatching reticules and purses from ladies.
CULL. A man; sometimes a partner.
CUPBOARD LOVE. He or she loves only for what they can get.
CUPSHOT. Drunk.
CURBINGLAW. Stealing goods out of windows.
CURLERS. Fellows who sweat gold coins by putting them in a bag, and
after violently shaking, gather the dust.
CURTISONS. Broken-down lawyers; Tombs skinners.
CUSSINE. A male.
CUT. To abandon; to renounce acquaintance; drunk; "Half cut," half
drunk.
CUT BENE. Pleasant words; to speak kind.
CUT UP. "The jug cut up very fat, and the gonniffs all got their
regulars; there was no sinking in that mob," the bank was very rich, and
the thieves all received their share; there was no cheating in that
gang.
CUTTER. A peculiar instrument that first-class screwsmen (burglars) use
for cutting through iron chests, doors, etc.
CUTTING HIS EYES. Beginning to see; learning; suspicious.
CUTTY-EYED. To look out of the corner of the eyes; to look suspicious;
to leer; to look askance. "The copper cutty-eyed us," the officer looked
suspicious at us.
CYMBAL. A watch.
D