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Second Thief, Best Thief – An Old Jersey City Saying
The Jersey City Waterfront once was covered with warehouses and piers. Adjacent to these were miles of railroad yards dotted with innumerable sheds and small buildings for use as storage and as workshops for mechanics, machinists, and welders.
During the depression, children from impoverished families would climb onto the roofs of the outlying structures, both to hide and to gain a view of the surrounding area. From up there, they'd watch for workers stealing from the docks, the trains, or the warehouses. The initial crooks would sneak off into the weeds to hide the swag with the idea of retrieving it at the end of the shift. Seeing opportunity made available, the kids would wait a bit for the situation to cool. Then, they'd climb down, grab the goods, and make a getaway through the vacant lots.
Practitioners coined the saying "second thief, best thief" to describe this method of survival.
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Category Archives: The Tunnel Bar
Hal’s concern for the public morals — of juveniles in particular.
I, Claudius was very popular in the Tunnel Bar. One evening a little crowd of regulars were watching as Claudius was summoned before Caligula. Next thing on the screen is the walk on the wild side emperor doing the shimmy-shimmy, … Continue reading →
Second Thief, Best Thief reviewed in Crossing Under The Hudson
Crossing Under the Hudson: The Story of the Holland and Lincoln Tunnels By Angus Kress Gillespie I discovered a marvelous little collection of stories entitled Second Thief, Best Thief: Tunnel Bar by Anthony Olszewski. All of the eight stories take … Continue reading →
Jersey City somewhat shady out-of-state lottery shop
With the ongoing Powerball frenzy, I’ve been thinking about the somewhat shady out-of-state lottery shop that operated briefly here around 25 years ago. The place was on Newark Ave, just east of Five Corners, in Jersey City. It was run … Continue reading →
The Case of the Disappearing Daily News
At the Tunnel Bar, the Daily News began to disappear. As this happened late in the afternoon, it was just a nuisance. If this happened in the morning, it would have been a disaster. The paper was a necessity early … Continue reading →
Vinny’s brush with Jersey City Politics
Everyone in Jersey City’s involved with politics — even Vinny Buchelle. Vinny was head flunky at a trucking outfit in Jersey City PG (PreGentrification). Any business here that’s bigger than the corner candy store donates to every candidate for mayor. … Continue reading →
The more the merrier?
Tunnel Bar regular Margie’s boyfriend — Hoboken Frank (not to be confused with Biggie’s nephew, Frankie from Hoboken) — had an interesting tale about some guy he met when locked up over in NYC. Seems that the gent had committed … Continue reading →
Hal and the Gypsy Electrolux salesman
I generally worked afternoons / nights at the Tunnel Bar. One morning, my father was hard at work implementing one of his improvement projects, so I was in tending bar early. Though the window, I see a new Cadillac pull … Continue reading →
The Amazing Roy and his acrobatic checks
New customers came to the Tunnel Bar by various paths. As the place was on 15th just outside the Jersey City side of the Holland Tunnel, I aimed to get at least a little bit of that endless traffic to … Continue reading →
Go on till you come to the end: then stop.
At one point in the ’60s, Hal, armed robber and free lance enforcer for La Cosa Nostra, lived in a relatively large apartment house in Bayonne. The residents were all White — as was the entire neighborhood. Everyone in the … Continue reading →
Did you ever think about becoming a fence?
One of the regulars in the Tunnel Bar was Grumpy Will, an 85 year-old gent who had done a long stretch in Dannemora for murder. One day he asked me, “Did you ever think about becoming a fence?” “Nah, buying … Continue reading →
Jungle Juice Willy’s benediction
Jungle Juice Willy — Jersey City Heights resident, longshoreman, WWII combat veteran and patron of the Tunnel Bar — had a story about a visit from a priest. (God only knows now why the good Father was in the apartment … Continue reading →
Herby the Mailman’s jail watching
Herby the Mailman lived across the street from the old City / County jail on Pavonia back of the courthouse. (My memory is that somehow or other the place had a Central Ave. address?) He had a couple of funny … Continue reading →