PECULIARITIES OF “YEGGS”
One night as a group of us lolled about a camp fire I was asked to
join a gang of yeggs then about to start out on a trip. I accepted the
invitation, and the following two years saw me risking life and liberty
in the most dangerous of all the underworld pursuits. The life of a
yegg is a life of stirring adventures. In the majority of cases each
crime means a fight for a getaway. The yegg keeps to his class and
is a strict observer of caste. He hates work as he hates the police,
and carries his hatred further to those who do work. The yegg is a
rough worker and dresses in the jungles (outside the city) to suit
his calling. His greatest passion is drink; he will “slop up” (get
drunk) whenever the opportunity is offered, except, of course, in the
immediate pursuit of some easy money. Unlike the dip (pickpocket) who
has a “skirt” (woman) always near him, the yegg seldom bothers about
them. His recreation is gotten from the state of mind which alcohol
produces. He lives in the present and cares not a cent what the morrow
may bring forth.
Yeggs, as a class, have certain characteristics differentiating them
from the rest of the underworld. Loyalty to one another is preeminent
in their make-up. Though the yegg has been known to kill in making
his getaway, he never degenerates to the cruelty of the stick-up man.
He never tortures, nor do I know of any guilty of crimes against
womanhood. On the other hand, if a life should stand between him and
liberty, he would unhesitatingly take that life. I know of no instance
where a life has been taken simply because that life stood between the
yegg and money.
To cite an instance of the loyalty of the yegg, I will recount an
incident that I know of intimately.
In a small village of one of the Eastern States was a store owned by
one of the prominent men of the town. In connection with the store,
and in the same building, was the only bank in the town. Over the bank
one of the employees always slept. One night in the late winter a
gang of yeggs descended upon the village and attacked the bank. They
found little difficulty in forcing an entrance and inserting enough
“soup” (nitro glycerine) to throw open the door at the first “shot”
(explosion). There was an inner door, however, and they went back into
the building to insert another charge. In the meantime the employee of
the bank, sleeping overhead, was awakened by the first explosion. With
more nerve than sense, he grabbed a shotgun, inserted two shells, and
noiselessly slipped down the stairs to investigate. At about this time
the yeggs were returning for the second shot and they met the employee
just at the threshold. The employee shot at the foremost of the yeggs,
both barrels throwing their load of lead through the yegg’s right arm,
just beneath the shoulder. The arm was nearly severed and the yegg lay
stunned on the floor. The rest of the gang took the recumbent form of
their pal in their arms and after stopping at a safe distance to give
what succor they could, carried him in the face of pursuit for fourteen
miles. Twice they were caught up with by the following posses and as
many times they eluded them. They eventually escaped altogether. The
wounded yegg lost his arm, but not his liberty. There are many such
instances of loyalty to clan in the history of the yegg life.