Green’s Dictionary of Slang

nabbing cheat n.

the gallows.

1800		‘Fashionable Characters: A Kiddy’ in Oracle n.p.: ‘One of the beaks told me, that instead of crossing the herringpond at the expense of Government, I should now pay my respects to the nabbing cheat’.
1849		Leamington Spa Courier 4 Aug. 4/5: Look ahead — fight shy or you are in for the Nabbing Cheat.