Yeagdom
You must have {Begin deleted text}often read{End deleted text} {Begin inserted text}{Begin handwritten}read often{End handwritten}{End inserted text} that the caste line {Begin inserted text}{Begin handwritten}/{End handwritten}{End inserted text} of the underworld are as rigid as those of Marblehead, Mass; that a self respecting confidence man, for example, {Begin deleted text}can't{End deleted text} {Begin inserted text}{Begin handwritten}must not{End handwritten}{End inserted text} be seen talking to a porch climber and that a safe cracker would jump off the Brooklyn Bridge before he would pick pockets. {Begin inserted text}{Begin handwritten}/{End handwritten}{End inserted text}. Henry did not invent that romance but he might have.
The pickpocket, or "dip" was supposed to be the untouchable of the crime world. Well, three of the big shots of the Underworld today, men whose names would read familiarly to you, were pickpockets some years back.
There is just one {Begin deleted text}criminals{End deleted text} class {Begin inserted text}{Begin handwritten}[?] criminals [?]{End handwritten}{End inserted text} {Begin deleted text}which{End deleted text} gave the others a {Begin deleted text}[?]{End deleted text} wide berth-the "yeag." You are accustomed to seeing it spelled "yegg", and so the dictionaries {Begin inserted text}{Begin handwritten},{End handwritten}{End inserted text} unaware of its derivation {Begin deleted text}.{End deleted text} {Begin inserted text}{Begin handwritten},{End handwritten}{End inserted text} give it. The {Begin deleted text}words{End deleted text} {Begin inserted text}{Begin handwritten}word{End handwritten}{End inserted text} is an abbreviation of the German " {Begin deleted text}[?]{End deleted text} {Begin inserted text}{Begin handwritten}Jager{End handwritten}{End inserted text} ", meaning hunter. {Begin deleted text}T e{End deleted text} {Begin inserted text}{Begin handwritten}The{End handwritten}{End inserted text} German j is pronounced {Begin inserted text}{Begin handwritten}like{End handwritten}{End inserted text} {Begin deleted text}[?]{End deleted text} {Begin inserted text}{Begin handwritten}t{End handwritten}{End inserted text} and the {Begin deleted text}[?]{End deleted text} {Begin inserted text}{Begin handwritten}Umlaut{End handwritten}{End inserted text} a has an ea sound, hence yeager or yeag.
The yeag was a tramp in all his ways {Begin deleted text}[?]{End deleted text} {Begin inserted text}except{End inserted text} that he scorned begging and petty stealing. He had a punk to whine for him {Begin inserted text}{Begin handwritten},{End handwritten}{End inserted text} if need be. The punk was the boy {Begin deleted text}[?]{End deleted text} {Begin inserted text}apprentice{End inserted text} and each yeag had one. A boy served six {Begin deleted text}[?]{End deleted text} or seven years apprenticeship as earnestly as if bound out to an honest trade and when his "jocker", or master, pronounced him graduated the boy was a certified criminal and craftsman.
The punk begged the town. Incidentally he kept the pot boiling in the jungle, but his begging was a cover to size up the lay. His sharp eyes took in at a glance whether a safe was a front-locker or a back-locker; and all other pertinent information.
The writer spent twenty odd years of his young, {Begin deleted text}wild,Irish{End deleted text} life among the yeags. During those memorable years [I?] {Begin inserted text}{Begin handwritten}he{End handwritten}{End inserted text} "mixed" and rambled with all the prominent members of the "Johnson family {Begin inserted text}{Begin handwritten}"{End handwritten}{End inserted text}, as the yeags called themselves. [I?] {Begin inserted text}{Begin handwritten}He{End handwritten}{End inserted text} know all the poets and songwriters and prize fighters and safe {Begin page}crackers and bank burglars of yeagdom intimately. [I have?] {Begin inserted text}{Begin handwritten}He has{End handwritten}{End inserted text} bellowed the songs of yeagdom in jungle camps and at conventions throughout the United States.
Moreover, [I?] {Begin inserted text}{Begin handwritten}he{End handwritten}{End inserted text} knew "Old Nevada Mike" and "Texas Dutch," a German born burglar who organized yeagdom. Recently [I have?] {Begin inserted text}{Begin handwritten}he has{End handwritten}{End inserted text} contacted some of [my?] {Begin inserted text}{Begin handwritten}his{End handwritten}{End inserted text} old comrades to refresh [my?] {Begin inserted text}{Begin handwritten}his{End handwritten}{End inserted text} memory of yeag songs and poems. They reflect the bug-house, easy-come, easy-go life of the {Begin deleted text}[the?]{End deleted text} "Johnson family." {Begin handwritten}J. E. O'Jonnell [?] [?] [?]{End handwritten}