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

Tue Apr 12 16:45:20 UTC 2011

This practice dates from the late 18th C, at least, and is in Grose's Classical Dictionary under the head-word "amuse".  Powdered snuff may also be used.

GAT

George A. Thompson
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.  Working on a new edition, though.

----- Original Message -----
From: Garson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>
Date: Monday, April 11, 2011 6:13 pm
Subject: Re: "pepper game"; "play[ed] pepper"
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU

> 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:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> > Subject:      Re: "pepper game"; "play[ed] pepper"
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > 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
> >
> >
> >>VS-)
> >>
> >>On Mon, Apr 11, 2011 at 10:17 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> >> >
> >> > Well, the OED3 has a definition -- but I wonder if it's ... um, a
> >> > little off base (too specific):
> >> > 7. Baseball. A training exercise or warm-up in which a batter
> hits a
> >> > ball pitched at close range by one of a number of other players,
> one
> >> > of whom fields the ball and quickly pitches again to the batter.
> >> > Orig. and chiefly attrib., esp. in pepper game.
> >> >
> >> > The earliest quotation is 1914, which refers to "the *old* pepper
> >> > game" (emphasis added).
> >> >
> >> > Variation?  The fielders throw to a receiver standing next to the
> >> > hitter, who relays the ball to the batter, who tosses it up and
> hits it.
> >> >
> >> > And if John Thorn's recently published (and reviewed in he NYT Book
> >> > Review) has a good index, we can check the definition and the date.
> >> >
> >> > Joel
> >>
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> >
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> >
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