[Ads-l] fall guy (1895)

[Ben Zimmer]

On Thu, Aug 27, 2015 at 5:37 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>
> On Thu, Aug 27, 2015 at 2:00 PM, Ben Zimmer wrote:
>
> > ---
> > Denver Post, Dec. 4, 1898, p. 14, col. 6
> > It's a lucky ting fer Plunk dat he is up nort' or dat elbow mob 'd be
> > makin' him de fall guy fer everyt'ing w'at's come off.
> > ---
>
> An "elbow" was usu. a detective. Is that the case here as well?

Yes, as far as I can tell. The speaker (Spike Dempsey, a grifter from
the East) is talking about Denver's hapless police force. Elsewhere
he's quoted as saying: "Say, dey ain't got no elbow down at de joint
on Fourteent' street dat knows a transom climber from a dip or a
strong-arm bloke from a gopher artist."

--bgz

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