"pepper game"; "play[ed] pepper"

[Victor Steinbok]

Yes, I came across several hits the clearly indicated someone throwing
hot pepper in a victim's face for some nefarious purpose--sort of an
early precursor of pepper-spray/mace. "Game" here is just MO. I very
much doubt there is any relation between this "pepper game" and the
baseball drill version. But this is really for baseball historians to
dig up.

My guess, on the other hand, is based on a different use of
"pepper"--liveliness, aggressiveness (in the game), enthusiasm, "spunk".
I'll explain in the next post.

     VS-)

On 4/11/2011 6:11 PM, Garson O'Toole wrote:
> Here is another example of the larcenous "pepper game" in 1868:
>
> Cite: 1868 January 29, Hartford Daily Courant, General News, Page 2,
> Hartford, Connecticut. (ProQuest)
>
> The "pepper game" was tried on the porter
> of A. H. Solomon&   Co., in Broad street, New
> York, Monday, while be was carrying a box con-
> taining valuables from the Safe Deposit compa-
> ny to the store or his employers. Although
> blinded by pepper and knocked down the porter
> kept firm held of the box. There were two as-
> sailants and both escaped.
>
> Garson
>
> On Mon, Apr 11, 2011 at 11:43 AM, Joel S. Berson<Berson at att.net>  wrote:
>> At 4/11/2011 10:32 AM, victor steinbok wrote:
>>> I've been trying to put together a long post on this, particularly on
>>> the 1914 bit. But it's taking more time than I expected.
>> Prompted by Victor, and since I was already within 19th Century U.S.
>> Newspapers on a quest for Jesse, I took a look for "pepper game".
>>
>> Here's something not on the baseball diamond -- and apparently not in
>> the OED3 either.
>>
>> 1a)  The editor assumes we know what it is --
>>
>> The Grab Thief. There is another charge of larceny against the thief
>> who played the pepper game in the recent robbery in Ordway's jewelry
>> store. Shortly after the robbery he was on the Massachusetts
>> corporation, and telling a young man that his hat had blown into the
>> canal, he was loaned one, which he promised to return in a half-hour.
>> Both hat and thief are still among the missing.
>>
>> Lowell Daily Citizen and News (Lowell, MA) Wednesday, March 01, 1871;
>> Issue 4549; col C.  [Actually, col. 4? And do I assume page 1 when no
>> page number is given?]  The above is the complete article.
>>
>> 1b)  In a later issue (ah, the good old days in Lowell) --
>>
>> A "Grab Game," and its Results. A rough-looking individual, giving
>> his name as George Brown, called at the fruit store of Moses D.
>> Barker, on Merrimack street last evening, evidently with the
>> intention to steal. [Tale of the fruit store incident, culminating
>> with an attempt by Brown to steall Barker's wallet.] When taken to
>> the police station ... [a] ligh cap was found in his pocket, which
>> the officers thought he had provided in case of an emergency, when it
>> might be used as a disguise as did the fellow who played his "pepper
>> game" at Ordway's jewelry store, recently.
>>
>> Lowell Daily Citizen and News (Lowell, MA) Saturday, May 27, 1871;
>> Issue 4623; col D col. 4].
>>
>> 2)  The explanation --
>>
>> The Pepper Game. / A Cashier is Almost Blinded and the Till
>> Robbed.  [head and subhead]
>> A daring robbery was committed yesterday afternoon in the office of
>> the Chicago Car-wheel Company ... two men entered the office, where
>> Walter Todd, the cashier, was making up the pay-envelopes of the
>> employees. The taller one of the strangers asked Mr. Todd if a man
>> named White was at work for the company, and, as the cashier looked,
>> the fellow threw a handful of red-pepper into his face, nearly
>> blinding him. The thieves then grappled with him, and pushed him into
>> a closet, where they locked the door upon him. They then took the
>> money on the desk and in the drawer .. and left the premises.
>>
>> The Daily Inter Ocean (Chicago, IL) Tuesday, February 07, 1882; pg.
>> 5; Issue 282; col F [col. 6].
>> ----------
>> I got no hits for "play[ed] pepper"; nor for "baseball" + "pepper".
>>
>> Joel

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