Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (UK Und.) to thieve; thus bustler n., a petty thief; bustling adj., thieving.

1789

G. Parker Life’s Painter 178: Village bustler. A bustling fellow that has such a propensity to thieving, that whatever place he is in he will not go to bed till he has robbed somebody, from the dish-clout in the sink-hole, to the diamond ring off the lady’s toilet.

2. (UK Und.) to pickpocket; also as n., an act of pickpocketing in which a young woman asks the proposed victim of the crime for the time, then pretends to stumble against him, so that her accomplice can protest to the man, while the woman effects the theft.

1889		Clarkson & Richardson Police! 345: This was the way in which the ‘bustle’ was worked, and the gentleman, unconscious of his loss, was glad to escape what seemed to be a scandal. Shortly afterwards, however, he discovered the loss of his pocket-book.
1896		‘Thieves’ Sl.’ Gent.’s Mag. CCLXXXI Oct. 348: ‘Lord John Russell’ was at one time a common equivalent for ‘bustle’ (to pick pockets).