The case of the police against us was not as absolute as they and we thought. A few weeks after our arrest the fence from whom the information came, becoming alarmed by rumors that friends of ours were out to “get” (kill or injure) him, skipped the State and left the prosecuting attorney in a quandary. Without the evidence of the fence a successful prosecution against us was impossible. The evidence in other cases soon proved to be the testimony of the fence against ours. After lying in jail for eight months, with the consent of the railroads, and on our promise to return certain goods in our possession, they agreed to free us. We consented and once again walked the street as free men. After passing through this experience, we decided that any future work in this line would be extra hazardous and the gang dispersed. CHAPTER XV PECULIARITIES OF “YEGGS” One night as a group of us lolled about a camp fire I was asked to join a gang of yeggs then about to start out on a trip. I accepted the invitation, and the following two years saw me risking life and liberty in the most dangerous of all the underworld pursuits. The life of a yegg is a life of stirring adventures. In the majority of cases each crime means a fight for a getaway. The yegg keeps to his class and is a strict observer of caste. He hates work as he hates the police, and carries his hatred further to those who do work. The yegg is a rough worker and dresses in the jungles (outside the city) to suit his calling. His greatest passion is drink; he will “slop up” (get drunk) whenever the opportunity is offered, except, of course, in the immediate pursuit of some easy money. Unlike the dip (pickpocket) who has a “skirt” (woman) always near him, the yegg seldom bothers about them. His recreation is gotten from the state of mind which alcohol produces. He lives in the present and cares not a cent what the morrow may bring forth. Yeggs, as a class, have certain characteristics differentiating them from the rest of the underworld. Loyalty to one another is preeminent in their make-up. Though the yegg has been known to kill in making his getaway, he never degenerates to the cruelty of the stick-up man. He never tortures, nor do I know of any guilty of crimes against womanhood. On the other hand, if a life should stand between him and liberty, he would unhesitatingly take that life. I know of no instance where a life has been taken simply because that life stood between the yegg and money. To cite an instance of the loyalty of the yegg, I will recount an incident that I know of intimately.