PIPE LAYERS



OED has 1840, so I can antedate only the verb. This is from the Public

Ledger, 28 April 1841, pg. 2, col. 2:



If it find among public officers any men addicted to intemperance,

gaming, licentiousness, or other vices, any swindlers, any common slanderers,

any of those cheats at the polls, now technically called _pipe layers_, it is

bound to remove them promptly and indignantly, and will show open, reckless

contempt for its moral obligations by the least hesitation.



This is from the Public Ledger of 4 May 1841, pg. 2, col. 2:



...one infamously distinguished, for fraud and perjury and _pipe laying_,

and all the base acts of the partisan _drummer_ and _borer_.



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