SWADDLERS,
Rogues, who, not content to rob and plunder, beat and barbarously abuse, andoften murder the Passengers. Hence, To seaddle; To beat lustily with a Cane, &c.
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Entry taken from 1736 Canting Dictionary, by Nathan Bailey.
Swaddlers in the 1811 Vulgar Tongue
Also see examples in Canting Songs and Slang Rhymes collected by John S. Farmer (1896).