on the gang

Sun Apr 22 09:26:38 UTC 2012

[Resending as text--my apologies for inadvertent HTML]

OED has one entry concerning "gang" as a reference to prisoners.

gang n.1 II.
> 9. b. A company of slaves or prisoners.
>
> 1790 E. Burke /Refl. Revol. in France/ 52 A gang of Maroon slaves,
> suddenly broke loose from the house of bondage.
> 1832 H. Martineau /Demerara/ i. 7 The second gang consisted of young
> boys and girls.
> 1883 'Ouida' /Wanda/ I. 13 Now and then a gang of such captives would
> go by on foot and chained.

However, this is the most general sense that simply means "group", even
if, in this case, it happens to be a group of prisoners.

On the other hand, consider the following example from new meat (n.,
under new adj. and n.):

> new meat n. /U.S./ /slang/ /(a) /newly arrived inmates, students,
> etc.; /(b) //Mil./ replacement troops; (also as a count noun) a new
> replacement.
>
> 1938 ‘Jelly Roll Morton’ in A. Lomax /Mister Jelly Roll/ (1950) 109
> When the inmates on the gang saw us, they hollered ‘New meat in the
> market!’ Then they jumped on us and took our money and cigarettes.

Normally, in discourse about, for example, members of a street gang, the
expression would have been "in the gang". Here, however, it is "on the
gang". Is it just a different form of expression? Or is this an example
of idiomatic use for prisoners in general?

I believe, it is the latter and it goes back quite some time (perhaps
HDAS will back me up). Consider the following from AHN:

The Macon Telegraph. February 5, 1902
Wife Wants Husband Pardoned from Gang. p. 2/3
> A petition is being circulated by Mrs. Pullen asking that her husband
> A. A. Pullen, be pardoned by the governor, or rather that his sentence
> be commuted after six months of service on the gang.

The expression seems to be more general than just describing inmates on
a chain-gang, although it is undoubtedly related to the condition.

Columbus [Ga.] Ledger. December 10, 1922
Number Pleas in Superior Court. Young West Virginian, Former Solder,
Given Twelve Months for Taking a U-Drive-It Car. p. 5/3
> J. W. Willis, a negro, was given six month on the gang for stabbing a
> negro woman, three months to serve and three months discharged on
> payment of $50.
> John T. Roberts was permitted to pay a fine of $25 for speeding; E. J.
> Thomas was permitted to pay a fine of $25 for haing a small of liquor
> and Michael O'Neal, for having liquor, was ordered to serve on the
> gang until Christmas eve or pay a fine of $25.
> Pleas were heard and penalties imposed late Friday afternoon in the
> following cases:
> H. M. Davis, drunk on public highway, $25; Johnnie Mingo, drunk, one
> month or $25; L. E. Brown, having liquor, 20 days in jail, suspended.
> Will Jackson alias John Greer, larceny after trust, three months on
> the chaingang; Henry Byrd, having liquor, one month or $40 sespended
> until February 1 and E. S. Pinchard, speeding, $25.

Note that both "on the gang" and "on the chaingang" are mentioned as
sentences.

Charlotte Daily Observer. December 13, 1903
Before the Recorder. Two Colored Hoboes Get 60 Days Each on the Gang --
Will Agers Bound Over for Larceny. p. 8/2
> In the city police court yesterday morning, Robert Williams and Joe
> McDaniels, the two negro hoboes from Columbus, Ga., and Columbia,
> S.C., who had been arrested the previous night in the stables at the
> Mecklenburg fair grounds, faced two charges--vagrancy and trespass.
> There was no difficulty in proving both of the charges, and Recorder
> Shannonhouse sentenced each of the defendants to a term of 30 days on
> the gang in either case, making a total of 60 days for each of the
> colored sons of rest.
> Will Agers, the negro who had been arrested for stealing whiskey
> bottles from Mr. D. M. Abernethy's saloon, on East Trade street, was
> found guilty and was bound over to the next criminal term of the
> Superior Court, being sent to jail, in default of a bond of $25.

What was that that we were debating earlier about hobos??

The State [SC]. December 4, 1900
Pardoned to Die. p. 4/6
> Governor McSweeney has granted a full pardon to Lorsey Hill, who was
> convicted in Edgefield county of larceny and sentenced to two years on
> the chain gang. The pardon was recommended by the solicitor and the
> county officials, who certify that the prisoner is in a dying
> condition. He has already served eight months on the gang. The pardon
> is granted simply that the prisoner may die "out of prison."

The Columbus [Ga.] Enquirer-Sun. February 24, 1889
The Mayor's Court. p. 3/3
> John Odom and Bob Herring were up on a drunk and disorderly charge.
> Odom was fined $2.50 and costs or ten days on the gang. The charge
> against Herring was dismissed.

Little Rock Daily Republican. March 18, 1873
Criminal Items. The "City of Roses" Assuming Metropolitan Airs -- A
Lively Day with the "Vags" and Petit Thieves. p. 4/6
> Yesterday morning seventeen motley-colored vagrants of all
> nationalities, ages and sizes were arraigned before "the terror,"
> Judge Triplett, and that accommodating official, with that suavity of
> manner for which he is noted, assigned each the usual twenty-five
> dollars or thirty days on the gang. They went to the gang.

There is no other meaning in the OED--nothing that corresponds to a
sentence (of labor on a chain gang). And there is no expression "on the
gang". Of all on-line dictionaries, only the upload of Webster's 1913
edition has "chain-gang" as one of the meanings for "gang".

Also note that all references above are from the South. The following is
an exception.

[San Francisco] [Daily] Evening Bulletin. May 17, 1869
A Gang of Desperadoes Arrested. p. 3/6
> Emmons has the reputation of being a very bad man, having been
> arrested many times in Placer and El Dorado counties, but always
> escaping conviction because Chinamen were not allowed to testify. He
> kept a house for a long time on the "Hill," at Folsom, which was
> frequented by the very worst class of men.
> It is to be hoped that the officers have the "dead wood" on the gang
> this time, and that they will not escape for the want of white
> evidence. Emmons will be returned here, if he does, to answer to the
> charge of carrying concealed weapons.

The following one sounds a bit different. There is no reference to
incarceration, but there is a mention of "on the gang system".

The Daily Picayune. September 2, 1873
"Sugar Planter"--"M" and "D". p. 2/5
> What does he mean by bringing immigrants to the State to supply the
> place of the present farm laborers ? Does he mean to bring white men
> to work by the months on plantations, in place of negroes ? This must
> be the meaning. That proposition is entirely untenable. White people
> will not work by the month on the gang system on sugar plantations.

Perhaps "the gang system" is simply a version of "shifts" (RHUD: gang,
n. 4. a group of persons working together; squad; shift: /a gang of
laborers./)

VS-)

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