_Badger_.--A panel-thief.

_Bagged_.--Imprisoned.

_Bag of nails_.--All in confusion.

_Balram_--Money.

_Bandog_.--A civil officer.

_Barking irons_.--Pistols.

_Bene_.--Good, first-rate.

_Benjamin_.--A coat.

_Bilk_.--To cheat.

_Bill of sale_.--A widow's weeds.

_Bingo_.--Liquor.

_Bingo boy_.--A drunken man.

_Bingo mort_.--A drunken woman.

_Blue-billy_.--A strange handkerchief.

_Blue ruin_.--Bad gin.

_Boarding-school_.--The penitentiary.

_Bone box_.--The mouth.

_Bowsprit in parenthesis_.--A pulled nose.

_Brother of the blade_.--A soldier.

_Brother of the bolus_.--A doctor.

_Brush_.--To flatter, to humbug.

_Bug_.--A breast-pin.

_Bugger_.--A pickpocket.

_Bull_.--A locomotive.

_Bull-traps_.--Rogues who personate officials to extort money.

As a rule, the professional thief of every grade is a very respectable
looking individual outwardly. He dresses well, but flashily, and is
generally plentifully supplied with money. In a "crib," or rendezvous,
which he once visited in company with a detective, the writer could not
select a single individual whose outward appearance indicated his
calling. The New York thief generally has money, which he squanders with
great recklessness. It comes to him easily, and it goes in the same way.
There are many instances on record which go to show that the "members of
the profession" are frequently most generous to each other in money
matters. The thief is usually a man of steady habits. He rarely drinks
to excess, for that would unfit him for his work, and he is not usually
given to licentiousness, for a similar reason. If he be found living
with a woman, she is generally a thief also, and plies her trade with
equal activity.

[Picture: THE OCCASIONAL FATE OF NEW YORK THIEVES.]

Altogether, there are about three thousand thieves of various kinds,
known to the officers of justice in New York, who live by the practice of
their trade. They are divided into various classes, each known by a
distinctive title, and to each of which its respective members cling
tenaciously. These are known as Burglars, Bank Sneaks, Damper Sneaks,
Safe-blowers, Safe-bursters, Safe-breakers, and Sneak Thieves. The last
constitute the most numerous class.

The Burglar is the aristocrat of crime, and you cannot offend him more
than by calling him a thief. He scorns the small game of the sneak
thief, and conducts his operations on a large scal