SILK Snatchers,
a Set of Varlets, who snatch Hoods, Scarves, Handkerchiefs, or any Thing they can come at.
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Entry taken from 1736 Canting Dictionary, by Nathan Bailey.
Silk Snatchers in the 1811 Vulgar Tongue
Also see examples in Canting Songs and Slang Rhymes collected by John S. Farmer (1896).