> I'm pretty sure I know what the term "sandbaggers" means. I like to
> think of them as the people who arrive just when the situation is most
> desperate and stem the flood by "sandbagging" the river.
>
> My dictionary also suggests that "sandbagger" has a less defensive
> meaning, too: One who hits another over the head with a sandbag. Ouch.
I'd go with the thumping of people on the head. The sandbag referred to
in this sense is not necessarily the large, square thing used for building
gun emplacements and dykes, but what Americans I believe generally call a
'kosh', a sock or similar item filled with sand, and which is heavy enough
to induce unconsciousness but remains non-lethal because it deforms on
impact. Thus one might 'sandbag' a person in order to rob or abduct them;
the use of a sandbag relies, of course, on stealth, since it really isn't
a very formidable weapon if your victim sees you coming. The typical
historical image is of someone sneaking out of a shadowed alleyway to
'sandbag' some poor hapless passer-by. Thus the implication of
deviousness or stealth noted by Jason Potapoff in his note on this
subject.
Remember Willy Cain, trying to outthink the notional Boulin kidnappers?
'We're not that different; the snatch, the hit ...'
Phil