Wiktionary
kidsman
n. (context dated English) An adult who recruits children to train them as criminals.
Usage examples of "kidsman".
He was brave, imaginative, quick-the ideal target for a kidsman, one of those who took in unwanted children and made thieves of them.
Should a boy fail to exhibit the required amount of tact and ingenuity in dipping it was the custom for him to be given a severe beating from the other boys or by the kidsman himself.
Durban would have done to trap the kidsmen and trace the goods to the Fat Man legitimately.
More important, he wanted to trace them back to the opulent receiver who was organizing them, and probably the kidsmen as well.