DON'T JOSH ME

The recent surveys indicating that many Americans believe that the new "Golden Dollar" actually contains gold is reminiscent of the "Racketeer Nickel", the 1883 five-cent piece without the word "cents", which was sometimes gold-plated and passed off as a five-dollar gold piece.

An ANA "Money Talks" transcript by Mark Van Winkle features the best-known of the "racketeers":

"In one famous court case, a deaf-mute named Josh Tatum was accused of passing off many of these gold-plated or "Racketeer" nickels. But he was able to go free, since no one could ever successfully testify against him. As a deaf-mute, he never actually called the coins anything . . . he merely gave them to clerks, and politely took whatever change they gave him."

Some numismatic references state that the story of Josh Tatum is the origin of the English word "josh", as in "You're joshing me." But my favorite online dictionary, Merriam-Webster (http://www.m-w.com/) has this entry for the word:

Josh: Etymology: origin unknown. Date: 1852 transitive senses : to tease good-naturedly : KID intransitive senses : to engage in banter : JOKE

Given that this citation predates the 1883 coin by over 30 years, it seems unlikely that Mr. Tatum is actually the original source of the word.

In none of the references I've come across in my library is there a citation for the Boston trial of Mr. Tatum. How can we verify any of this without consulting original source materials? Does anyone know of any contemporary newspaper articles discussing the trial?

Wayne Homren, Editor

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The E-Sylum: Volume 3, Number 18, April 30, 2000, Article 8

DON'T JOSH ME

Wayne Homren, Editor