Number 1830: Who were those masked men?

My brother-in-law, Jim, and I had a conversation several years ago. We had been watching some thirties gangster movies on video tape (that's how you know it was several years ago). The subject of the dialogue came up. Jim asked me, “Did people really talk like that in those days? Did they say, ‘all right, you muggs’?” I don’t know, I wasn’t there. But slang and colloquialisms change all the time, so in 1935 it could have been possible to walk past a street corner gathering of tough guys who were calling each other muggs...or worse.

That brings us to our entry today, one of the “Gang Busters” stories, this one from Popular Comics #139 (1947), and featuring masked gunmen. My question is, did any crooks actually commit crimes while wearing masks borrowed from the Beagle Boys? My opinion is that style of mask was more a symbol in fiction than a reality. Once again, I wasn’t there. The thugs trying to steal Peg Leg Bates’ peg leg full of opium wear those masks. Dialogue is fairly sparse in this story, but had there been more they might have called each other muggs, also.

One of them, captured by Inspector Stefan, says, “Ya got me, copper!” which is probably the least original line ever spoken by a crook, and leads to another question, in real life did captured criminals ever actually say to police, “Ya got me, copper”?

The mugg who drew this story is unidentified by the Grand Comics Database.

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