[Ads-l] "run Goods" = "smuggled goods", mid-18th C.

[Robin Hamilton]

George writes, citing the OED:
______________________

Locker, noun,  *Criminals' slang*. A receiver of stolen goods. *Obs.* 
*rare*.

1753   *Discoveries J. Poulter* (ed.2) 39,   I am a locker, and Dudder..; I 
leave Goods at a House, and borrow Money on them, pretending they are Run 
Goods, Goods made in London.

[I confess I don't understand this.  Evidently he is pawning stuff 
"pretending they are Run Goods," whereas they are inferior "Goods made in 
London".]
______________________

The (initial) problem here is that the OED definition is simply wrong. 
Jonathan Green in _GDoS_ gives an alternative definition (or gloss of 
Poulter's words):

      "One who leaves goods at a house in the country or a small town and 
borrows money on them pretending they have been made in London, i.e. that 
they are valuable."

As the only other recorded example (see _GDoS_) of the term, in this sense, 
in 1786, is taken directly from John Poulter's _Discoveries_ of 1753, we're 
left with interpreting Poulter.

It helps to have the full quotation, as the OED misses-out some relevant 
bits:  (The original text has the cant in Roman and the SE version in 
Italic.)

     "I am a Locker, and Dudder, and Fencer of Slop; I leave Goods at a 
House, and borrow Money on them, pretending they are Run Goods, Goods made 
in London, and sell Tea."

After a bit (and it has to be said, he isn't god's gift to lucidity) it 
becomes apparent that Poulter is talking about three separate activities:

     LOCKER -- a person who goes into the country and pawns stolen goods 
pretending that they are simply contraband
     DUDDER -- a person who goes into the country and pawns (possibly 
stolen) goods, or clothes, pretending they were made in London
     FENCER OF SLOP -- a person who sells tea

At this point in time (mid-18thC), the term FENCE could mean [among other 
things] both BUYING STOLEN GOODS and (simply) SELLING GOODS.  Helpfully, 
Poulter shows us how he understood the term "fence" in his idiolect, as 
three lines before "I am a Locker," we find: "I fence Swaggs ; I sell 
Goods," and three lines after: "I'll fence you a Prad ; I'll sell you a 
Horse."  LOCK, in its various senses and inflections, was at this time more 
specifically associated with STOLEN goods than was FENCE.

So, back to a LOCKER.  This is [in this instance, at least] someone who goes 
off into the country and pawns stolen goods under the pretence that they are 
(nudge nudge, wink wink) undeclared contraband, or Run Goods.

Or to put it another way -- The downy cove piked off from the rumville and 
fenced his booty to a hick.

Robin Hamilton

[Oh, just to make life absolutely wonderful, Eric Partridge (various 
editions) defines a LOCKER as, "A thieves' middleman: C.18 c. C. Hitchin, 
1718. Ex LOCK, 2."  While LOCK occurs (in the sense of a house for receiving 
stolen goods, or a receiver of stolen goods) in Charles Hitchin's 
_Regulator_ and his _True Discovery_, both published in 1718, LOCKER as such 
*doesn't* appear in either version of the text, so this would seem to be a 
SWAG on Partridge's part.  RH.]

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-----Original Message----- 
From: George Thompson
Sent: Wednesday, February 03, 2016 10:16 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: "run Goods" = "smuggled goods", mid-18th C.

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Subject:      "run Goods" = "smuggled goods", mid-18th C.
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"Run Goods" in the sense of "smuggled goods" appears in a couple of
quotations in the OED, but does not have its own entry.  The paragraph
below also antedates both quotations.

1740:   Last Week an Exciseman, crossing the Thames upon the Ice, either
too venturous, or too curious, stepping out of the Path behind one of the
Booths, slipt into the River; upon which a merry Fellow stept to the Master
of the Booth, and told him If he had conceal'd any run Goods he was ruined,
for that an Exciseman was gone into his Cellar; but on Examination he was
unfortunately lost.

            New-York Weekly Journal,  May 12, 1740, p. 3, col. 1


Locker, noun, =E2=80=A09. *Criminals' slang*. A receiver of stolen goods. *=
Obs.*
*rare*.

1753   *Discoveries J. Poulter* <file://localhost/javascript/void(0)> (ed.
2) 39,   I am a locker, and Dudder..; I leave Goods at a House, and borrow
Money on them, pretending they are Run Goods, Goods made in London.

[I confess I don't understand this.  Evidently he is pawning stuff "pretend=
ing
they are Run Goods," whereas they are inferior "Goods made in London".]


Waiter, noun, 2 c. An officer in the employ of the Customs. *Obs.* exc.
*Hist.*

1818   Scott *Heart of Mid-Lothian* iv, in *Tales of my Landlord*
<file://localhost/javascript/void(0)> 2nd Ser. II. 84   Some tuilzies about
run goods wi' the gaugers and the waiters.

--=20
George A. Thompson
The Guy Who Still Looks Stuff Up in Books.
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
Univ. Pr., 1998..

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