A man of all work in a “saloon.” The name probably comes from his swamping or cleaning the place out. Western.
1907. Late last night the man who was killed by a trolley car on the Sellwood line was identified as Matthies Frueh, 69 years of age, who resided at Oregon City. He was a swamper in a saloon in that place.—The Oregonian, Oct. 13.
1911. When Winiford Johnson learned that John M. Johnson, whom she married in Portland, was employed as a “swamper” in a San Francisco saloon she came to the conclusion that he had descended altogether too low in the social scale and decided to institute suit for divorce.—Id., Aug. 30.
