Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (UK/US Und.) to run away, to escape; thus big crush, a mass escape.

1838		R. Nicholson Cockney Adventures 6 Jan. 79: ‘Crush!’ said half-a-dozen voices at once [...] and the thimble people and table vanished.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1873		Sl. Dict.
1904		‘Number 1500’ Life In Sing Sing 258: Crushing the jungle. Escaping from prison.
1924		G. Henderson Keys to Crookdom 402: Crush. To get away.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 26/2: Big crush. A wholesale prison escape.
1962		Ragen & Finston World’s Toughest Prison 796: crush –To escape from a prison or jail.

2. as crush in, to join a group or event when uninvited.

1889		Dead Bird (Sydney) 27 July 2/2: Railway carriage [...] filled with business gents. Labourer, crushing in, sits down.
1908		B. Fisher A. Mutt in Blackbeard Compilation (1977) 55: The jinks held by the prosecution club last evening was a great success [...] A. Mutt is not a member of the club but he ‘crushed in’ long enough to hand out a recitation.

3. (US Und.) to break into.

1904		‘Number 1500’ Life In Sing Sing 246: Crush. to force.
1914		Jackson & Hellyer Vocab. Criminal Sl. 29: ‘The ducat box was crushed last night,’ i.e. ‘The ticket office was burglarized’.
1926		J. Black You Can’t Win (2000) 109: The dynamite and drills would [...] be available in case they decided to ‘crush’ into the jail and beat the box while serving their time.