Sunday, November 30, 2008

First mention of a gang in Los Angeles?

Well, maybe. On page 3 of the December 17, 1881 Los Angeles Times, a headline reads "A host of Los Angeles hoodlums" (also referred to in the story as "a company of local bloods") played a prank on one Leo Bundy of New York.

Readers of the day were told that the prank was the "old, old snipe joke, played so many thousand times." It consisted of convincing Mr. Bundy that snipe were to be had at the river bottom. After tramping a mile, setting up candles and sacks (presumably to hold the birds, once bagged), the merry pranksters left Mr. Bundy on watch while they went off to guide the birds to him. Poor Mr. Bundy sat waiting, his gun at the ready, till past midnight.

The success of the joke was "complete and glorious" according to the Times.

Guess you had to be there.

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