When business is dull in this locality, the "merchants" resort to many artifices to fill their coffers. One of their manoeuvres is called a "forced sale." A man walking along the street, will be seized and dragged into a clothing shop. He may protest that he does not wish to buy anything, but the "merchant" and his clerks will insist that he does, and before he can well help himself, they will haul off his coat, clap one of the store coats on his back, and declare it a "perfect fit." The new coat will then be removed and replaced by the old one, and the victim will be allowed to leave the shop. As he passes out of the door, the new coat is thrust under his arm, and he is seized by the proprietor and his assistants, who shout "stop thief!" and charge him with stealing the coat. Their noise, and the dread of being arrested upon a charge of theft, will frequently so confuse and frighten the victim that he will comply with their demand, which is that he shall buy the coat. This done, he is suffered to depart. A refusal to yield would not injure him, for the scoundrels would seldom dare to call in the police, for fear of getting themselves into trouble, as their tricks are well known to the officers of the law. CHAPTER XL. THIEVES. Thieves are numerous in New York. As a general rule, they herd together in the worst quarters of the city--in the Five Points and along East River--where they can rapidly and easily communicate with each other, and where they can hide from the police without fear of discovery. There are many blunderers in the fraternity, but there are also many experienced hands, who do a great deal of damage, and give a world of trouble to the authorities. These are generally well known to the police. THE THIEF LANGUAGE. The thieves of the city have a language, or _argot_, peculiar to themselves. Those who have been raised to the business use this _argot_ to such an extent, that a stranger finds it as impossible to understand them as he would if they were speaking in a foreign tongue. _The Detectives' Manual_ gives a glossary of this language, from which we take the following specimens, to be found in that work, under the head of the letter B.: _Badger_.--A panel-thief. _Bagged_.--Imprisoned. _Bag of nails_.--All in confusion. _Balram_.--Money. _Bandog_.--A civil officer. _Barking irons_.--Pistols. _Bene_.--Good, first-rate. _Benjamin_.--A coat. _Bilk_.--To cheat. _Bill of sale_.--A widow's weeds. _Bingo_.--Liquor. _Bingo boy_.--A drunken man. _Bingo mort_.--A drunken woman. _Blue-billy_.--A strange handkerchief. _Blue ruin_.--Bad gin. _Boarding-school_.--The penitentiary. _Bone box_.--The mouth. _Bowsprit in parenthesis_.--A pulled nose. _Brother of the blade_.--A soldier. _Brother of the bolus_.--A doctor. _Brush_.--To flatter, to humbug. _Bug_.--A breast-pin. _Bugger_.--A pickpocket. _Bull_.--A locomotive.