the irish-american thomas "snake" kinney was born and raised in st. louis's "kerry patch" neighborhood. he and his brothers, michael and william, worked as newsboys during the late 19th century. tom would always snatch the biggest bundle of papers for himself in the morning, but always square accounts with his victim at the end of the day. one newsboy who had been victimized by kinney complained to a local beat cop, who exclaimed, "that little kinney sneaked the papers!" the policeman spoke with a thick irish brogue, so "sneaked" came out sounding like "snaked", hence kinney's nickname.