Cabbage - [kab-ij] Chiefly British
1. a. cloth scraps that remain after a garment has been cut from a fabric and that by custom the tailor may claim.
2. slang - verb. To steal; pilfer: He cabbaged whole yards of cloth.
Cove - (kəʊv) Brit, Austral
1. old-fashioned , slang - a fellow; chap.
Cabbaging Cove: A scoundrel keen on pilfering [from the annals of not-so-distant history]!
About the Cabbaging Cove

~ The Day Book, June 21, 1916 - Chicago, Ill.
With thanks to Click Americana for pointing it out!
“Desperate measures may sometimes be necessary”
(via my-ear-trumpet)