Old Time Con Men: Soapy Smith
We haven’t done one of these in some time, so come with me, back to the 19th century in the American West where we shall meet the infamous Soapy Smith. His real name was Jefferson Smith and he was born […]
con men
Princess Caraboo
Totally true story. 1817. Almondsbury in +. On the evening of Thursday, April 3rd a bizarre young woman with black hair, black eyes and a black turban showed up at the house of a cobbler. The woman spoke an indecipherable language, […]
Old Time Cons: The Kansas City Shuffle
As part of our continuing series on old time con men, today we’re going to feature not an actual con man, but a con itself. The infamous Kansas City Shuffle. The con has been around with that name since the […]
Old Time Con Men: Victor Lustig
1890 – 1947 Another one of the great old time con men was “Count” (yeah right) Victor Lustig. He is most famous for selling the Eiffel Tower, but his cons are many, notorious, and the famous 10 Commandments for Con Men is attributed to […]
Old Time Con Men: George Parker
And if you believe that, i got a bridge i’d like to sell you… This is a phrase embedded in American culture, and refers of course to selling some idiot the Brooklyn Bridge. This all comes from one man: George […]
Old Time Con Men: Joseph Weil
One aspect about the era spanning from the lat 1800s to the second world war that is one of the most colorful is the old time con men. In this series we’ll touch upon some of the most intriguing. We begin, Ladies and Gentlemen, […]