counter jumper

[George Thompson]

This will be the last for today.

        Mr. Owl, -- A dapper counter jumper, in the Bowery, is requested to
keep    himself within decent bounds, and not insult the ears of sensible
ladies with his insufferable nonsense.  ***
        The Owl, July 10, 1830 (I:5) p. 2, col. 1

        The counter-jumping sons of tape cannot, if they would sir,
        Now with their master’s money ape the rich and gallant blood, sir;
        Ely’s Hawk & Buzzard, September 6, 1834 (ns III:31), p. 4, col. 2

        [A shoplifter, "a perfect fiend in her temper and deportment," when
arrested] became furious, called Mr. Pattison and his clerk a rascally
counter jumper, called them every variety of odious names, with horrid
oaths to each. . . ..
        New York Daily Advertiser, September 25, 1834, p. 2, col. 3

        David Wright, a young counter-jumper, was put to the bar. . . .
The Herald, March 26, 1836, p. 1, col. 4.

        Outrages in a Dry Goods Stores.  [headline]  . . . an impertinent
counter jumper. . . .
        The Herald, October 4, 1836, p. 2, col. 2

        On Monday evening two [thieves] were operating at the store No. 301
Grand street, when one of the counter jumpers secured them both.
        New York Herald, January 15, 1840, p. 2, col. 5

HDAS: 1849, from a US source; OED: 1829, from a British traveller to
Canada, 1841 & 1880, from English sources, &c.; DAE: 1829 as OED, 1855
from an American source; F&H: 1855; DARE: 1845

        A young gentleman, who belongs to the interesting fraternity of
“Counter Skippers,” and officiates at a shop in Canal-street [takes a
whore into his store after closing].  The girl deals out horizontal
refreshment to any one who will pay her price. . . .  The young
gentleman had all he had bargained for, and . . . snapped his fingers .
. . and told her in the most bland and polite terms to cut her lucky.
        NY Sporting Whip, February 4, 1843, p. 3, col. 2

OED has 1858 & 1859 for “Counter Skippers”

And since "to cut one's lucky" (to leave, or escape) has come up:

        We nodded to her sister, winked at the servant, and cut our lucky. . . .
        NY Sporting Whip, February 11, 1843 (III:3) p. 6, col. 4

HDAS (under “cut”) has *1834, 1877; and under “lucky”, as a supplement,
it has a1864, 1865

GAT

George A. Thompson
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org