Jefferson "Soapy" Smith (1860 – 1898) was a con artist and gangster in the Old West. He started out with simple three card monte, and shell games, but his most famous scam, the prize package soap sell racket, earned him the nickname "Soapy." He often worked with one or more shills. "Although he traveled and operated his confidence swindles all across the western United States, he is most famous for having a major hand in the organized criminal operations of Denver and Creede, Colorado, and Skagway, Alaska, from 1879 to 1898. In Denver, he ran several saloons, gambling halls, cigar stores, and auction houses that specialized in cheating their clientele." Soapy was killed in a shootout on Juneau Wharf in Skagway.
Lord Gordon Gordon swindled Jay Gould out of $200,000.00 in cash and 1 million dollars in stock before fleeing to Canada. In 1874 he was identified by a Scottish jeweler that he had conned out of 25,000 pounds posing as Lord Glencairn. Facing extradition for his crimes he threw himself a lavish bon voyage party in Manitoba and promptly committed suicide.
Mary Ann Watts, a pickpocket, and a shoplifter is a clever woman, and well worth knowing. Take a little time to check out some of the other interesting stories in The National Night Stick archives. http://nightstick1.azurewebsites.net/themes/NewsPaper/CriminalPage.aspx
Behold Victor Lustig, the man who sold the Eiffel Tower....... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Lustig
"I went looking for trouble and I found it." - Charles Ponzi http://hoaxes.org/archive/permalink/charles_ponzi_and_the_ponzi_scheme
This is supposed. to be a picture of Black Bart, but I'm skeptical... Whoever he is, he probably belongs here. Black Bart (1828-1917), was an English-born outlaw noted for the poetic messages he left behind after two of his robberies. Photo from Wikipedia. Looks like he lost weight.
(No relation to Big Nose Kate ) Big Nose George (George Parrott, a.k.a. Big Beak Parrott, George Manuse, and George Warden, 1834 – 1881) A short but violent reign of terror began when a gang led by Big Nose George Parrott robbed stagecoaches and freight wagons in Montana, Wyoming, and Dakota Territories. Although Parrott was more of a run-of-the-mill horse thief and highwayman, his gang enjoyed a successful run in the late 1870s. A yearning for bigger profits led to an attempted Union Pacific train robbery, which eventually resulted in his demise.