Tramping with Tramps Part 25

OFFICE: to "give the office" is to give a signal to a confederate.

It is usually done by raising the hat.

ON THE HOG: on the tramp; also, "busted," "dead broke."

P. A.: Pennsylvania.

PAPER: stocks and bonds.

PEN: a penitentiary

PENNSYLVANIA SALVE: apple-b.u.t.ter.

PENNYWEIGHTERS: jewelry thieves.

PETER: a safe thief. "Knock-out drops" are also "peter."

PHILLIE: Philadelphia.

PLUG: a fellow; synonymous with "bloke" and "stiff."

POKE-OUT: a lunch; synonymous with "hand-out."

POUND THE EAR: to sleep.

PRUSHUN: a tramp boy. An "ex-prushun" is one who has served his apprentices.h.i.+p as a "kid" and is "looking for revenge," _i. e._, for a lad that he can "snare" and "jocker," as he himself was "snared" and "jockered."

PUNK AND PLASTER: bread and b.u.t.ter.

PUSH: a gang.

Q.: the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, popularly known as the C. B. & Q.

QUEER, THE: counterfeit money.

REPEATER, or REVOLVER: an old-timer; a professional criminal and a "blowed-in-the-gla.s.s" tramp.

RINGER: a bell.

RUBE: a "hoosier," or "farmer."

SAPS: a clubbing with weapons made from saplings; synonymous with "timber." (See below.)

SCOFF: _noun_, food, "nourishment"; _verb_, to "feed," to "gorge."

Sc.r.a.pPER: a victim of either tramps or criminals who "puts up a fight."

SCREW: a prison turnkey.

SET-DOWN: a square meal.

SETTLED: in prison.

SHACK: a brakeman.

SHATIN' ON ME UPPERS: to be "shatin'" on one's "uppers" is to be "dead broke."

SHOVE: a gang.

SHOVER: a man who pa.s.ses counterfeit money.

SIDE-DOOR PULLMAN: a box-car.

SINKER: a dollar; synonymous with "ball."

SLOPE: to run away.

SLOPPING-UP: a big drunk.

SNARE: to entice a boy into tramp life.

SNEAKS: flat or house thieves. A bank sneak is a bank thief.

SNIPE: cigar-b.u.t.ts--the favorite tobacco among hoboes.

SONG AND DANCE: a begging story or trick.

SPARK: a diamond.

SPIEL: something to peddle. Hoboes often carry needles, pins, court-plaster, and the like. On meeting one another, they ask: "What's your spiel?" ("What are you hawking?") (See "graft.")

SPIKED: upset, chagrined, disappointed, disgusted.

SQUEALER: one who gives away the gang.

STAKE-MAN: a fellow who holds a position only long enough to get a "stake"--enough money to keep him in "booze" and tobacco while he is on the road. The tramps call him a "gay-cat."

STALL: the pickpocket's companion.

STIFF: a fellow; synonymous with "bloke" and "plug."

SUCKER: a victim of both tramps and criminals.

THROW THE FEET: to beg, "hustle," or do anything that involves much action.

TIMBER: a clubbing at the hands of the toughs of a town unfriendly to tramps. (See "Saps.")

TOMATO-CAN VAG: the outcast of Hoboland; a tramp of the lowest order, who drains the dregs of a beer-barrel into an empty tomato-can and drinks them; he generally lives on the refuse that he finds in scavenger barrels.