San Quentin slang (1936)

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      My San Quentin Years
       James B Holohay.       Los Angeles Times (1886-Current File).       Los Angeles, Calif.: May 6, 1936.                   p. 7 (1 page):
   The bright boys who get out The San Quentin Bulletin, a convict-edited and prison-published magazine that would do credit to any publishing house, have compiled a dictionary of prison slang.
(...)
   I append here a glossary of the most interesting of the prison words as compiled by The Bulletin staff:
ALKY, alcohol.
ANGLE, to scheme.
BEAK, judge.
BEND, to steal.
BLOT OUT, to kill.
BREEZE, to leave.
BUG, burglar alarm.
BUM BEEF, punishment without reason.
BURIED, to be held incommunicado by police.
BROOM, disappear hastily.
BONARUE, good, excellent.
BOX, a safe, a phonograph.
BINDLE, a paper of narcotics.
BANK, a dope, a shot.
BACK DOOR PAROLE, to die in prison.
BLOW YOUR COPPER, to lose good time prison credits.
BUCK, a Catholic priest.
CASE DOUGH, a limited amount of money.
CAUGHT IN A SNOWSTORM, drugged iwth cocaine.
CRAZY ALLEY, a fenced-in section at San Quentin where slightly daffy prisoners are kept.\
COPPER-HEARTED, by nature a police informer.
CREEP-JOINT, a gambling house that moves to a different apartment each night.
CRIB, a safe.
CROW McGEE, no good, not the real stuff.
CECIL, cocaine.  (Must be "the straight dope"--ed.)
CROAKER, a doctor.
COPPER, good prison records.
COP A HEEL, assault someone from behind.
DINAH, nitroglycerine.
DRILL, to shoot.
DROPPER, a paid killer.
DUMMY UP, shut up.
DINGALINGS, goofy prisoners, or those called "stir simple" after long years in prison.
DUFFER, bread.
EYE, detective.
FINGER-MAN, person who obtains detailed information.
FOG, to shoot.
FALL GUY, one who takes the "beef."
FALL MONEY, bail and legal fees.
FENCE, one who buys stolen goods.
FINK, a squealer, a rat an informer.
FIN, a five-doller bill.
FIN UP, five-years-to-life.
GOY, a gentile.
GREASE, money paid for protection.
GLOM, grab, steal.
GRAND, $1000.
GANDER, look, walk.
GREEN GOODS, counterfeit money.
GOW, morphine.
GARBAGE, food.
GUM HEEL, police officer.
HEAT, trouble.
HERDER, guard in prison.
HIDE-OUT, a place of refuge.
HIJACK, to steal or extort personal belongings from fellow cons.
HIST, to hold-up, to hijack.
HEELED, armed with gun or plenty of money.
HYPE, narcotic addict, to short change.
HOLE, the convict name for San Quentin's dungeon.
HOOD, hoodlum.
HOT, a stolen object.
HEBE, a Jew.
HINCTY, suspicious.
JINNY, a blind pig.
JUNK, dope.
KICK BACK, to return to victim that of which he has been robbed.
KICK OVER, to rob.
KOSHER, not guilty, clean.
KIP, a bed.
LIFEBOAT, a pardon, a commutation of sentence.
LIP, a lawyer.
McCOY, genuine.
MESHUGA, crazy.
MUSCLE IN, to secure a share by force.
MUG, photo.
NOSE, a police spy.
ON THE ERIE, shut up, someone is listening.
OFFICE, a signal, a cue.
ON THE MUSCLE, angry, quarrelsome.
OUT, an alibi.
PATSY, all right.
PAY-OFF MAN, cashier of a mob.
PUT THE CROSS ON, to mark for death.
QUEENS, effeminate convicts.
ROSCOE, a hand-gun.
SHAG, worthless.
TRIGGER MAN, boydguard.
SLAM OFF, to die.
SWAMP, to arrest.
SLIM, a police spy.
TOMMY, a machine gun.
SNEEZE, to kidnap.
TOMMY GEE, a machine-gunner.
SPEAR, to arrest.
TORPEDO, an assassin.
SHIN, a knife or other contraband, dagger, stiletto.
SQUEEZE, to graft.
SIBERIA, solitary confinement cells.
   In connection with the word "fink," which, I understand, became widely used during the strike troubles in San Francisco in 1934, I might say that "fink" is the most hated man in prison.  "Squealing" is rare.  I have seen men dying from a knife wound suffered during a quarrel in the yard.  But they wouldn't tell who did it.  And you couldn't have beaten the information out of any witnesses with a baseball bat.