Stumped by "a common stumper", 1736

[Jonathan Lighter]

Not a misprint but a genuine folk-etymological form?  New to me.

  JL

"Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET> wrote:
  ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: "Joel S. Berson"
Subject: Stumped by "a common stumper", 1736
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Is "stumper" familiar? A newspaper writes of a woman felon being
transported from Newgate to Maryland in 1736, she "had receiv'd
sentence of death for theft, and was reputed a common stumper in
Dublin and always of ill repute, and [im]personated Mr. Buckler's
widow, in order to [steal his ship and possessions] and defraud [his]
real widow of his estate."

In another newspaper, she is described as "a common whore in Dublin,
and always of a very ill repute in her country."

I hope this is something more interesting than a misprint for
"strumpet". OED2 has no plausible sense for this "stumper".

Joel

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