tow, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

tow n.

[SE tow, strands of flax used for a light (money, like tow, ‘burns’ fast)]

money.

1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open 128: Towe. clipt money.
1872		Schele De Vere Americanisms 296: Money itself has in the United States, as in England, probably more designations than any other object – liquor alone excepted [...] tow, wad (both of them evidently tailors’ slang).

In phrases

in tow

1. (Aus.) enamoured of.

1932

(con. WWI) L. Mann Flesh in Armour 92: ‘It would be amusing if they were both in tow with the same girl’.

2. (Aus. prison) susceptible to bribery.

1990

Tupper & Wortley Aus. Prison Sl. Gloss. 🌐 Tow. As in ‘has a screw in tow’; where a prisoner has managed to organise a prison officer to traffic drugs or contraband into a prison.