Whet the hell is this?, pts. I & II

[George Thompson]

I: [a stage coach is robbed near Patchogue, L. I.]
We have heard of moon-rakers about Rockaway Beach, but no land pirates in the interior of the island since the revolutionary war.  Evening Star, April 13, 1838, p. 2, col. 3
The on-line OED says it has never heard of "moon-raker", but I really thought that the print OED I looked at when I found this gave as meanings 1) one of the higher sails on a sailing ship (cf. sky-scraper) and 2) a confederate of smugglers who digs up contraband buried in the sand.  (These were in some dictionary, at least.  Neither helps much, unless we suppose a link of "smuggler's confederate" > "smuggler" > "pirate".)

II: [a story from a slave-state newspaper: a free black man, having lost all his money gambling, wagers himself, and loses; the NY editor comments:]
This is a "persimmon above any huckleberry" we have heard of in the annals of gambling.  Evening Star, June 1, 1838, p. 2, col. 3
I have no idea.

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.

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