jaboney

[G S C]

Don't know if the following is on the right track or not.  Please excuse
if it is a waste of bandwidth, and you already have the info at hand.

In A THESAURUS OF SLANG, Compiled and Arranged by Howard N. Rose (NY:
Macmillan, 1934) are at least two entries that refer to jaboney:

p.31, under the category of Detective Slang, Prison:  "Greenhorn (n): a
jaboney."
p.32, under same category:  "New Arrival at Prison (n): a fish; jaboney;
fresh-one"

Don't see a direct relationship, but on p35, there is:  "Skin Injection
of Drugs (n): a jaboff."

Certain difficulties in using this reference, since a reader has to know
the non-slang term/phrase, in order to determine the slang equivalent.
Also, the material is categorized by group, such as:  Aviation; College;
Detective.

According to the 'acknowledgment' section, much of the detective slang
is drawn from material by D. W. Maurer in AMERICAN SPEECH, December 1931
(Underworld Argot).

George S. Cole   gscole at ark.ship.edu
Shippensburg University