The Confidence Men of Leschi Park
A visiting Wells, Fargo express agent is fleeced by a trio of notorious swindlers in a elaborate 'bunko' game near the sea lion pavilion.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Cyrus N. Rogers, an express agent for Wells, Fargo & Co. from Mojave, California, arrived in Seattle for a vacation and checked into Hotel Stevens. While walking in Leschi Park near the sea lion pavilion, he was approached by a man named Sweeney, a notorious confidence man, who struck up a conversation about Southern California. They were soon joined by a 'cowboy' named 'Fatty' Myers. Myers produced a deck of bunko cards and began a game. When Rogers refused to gamble, Myers snatched a $20 bill from his pocket. When Rogers tried to leave, Myers grabbed his gold watch. Sweeney pretended to mediate, then introduced a third man, Jack Thompson, who Thompson claimed would help him recover the watch if he paid $70. Rogers, believing he had found a friend, agreed. However, the bunko men skipped town, and police later arrested Thompson, charging him with complicity in the grand larceny. Thompson, a well-known figure in Seattle's sporting fraternity, claims he was merely trying to help a stranger recover his stolen property.
“He was a slim, quirky looking young man of good appearance and education, but excessively nervous and quite diffident in demeanor.”
The 'bunko' game in Leschi Park reflects a time when Seattle's rapid growth attracted both legitimate opportunity and professional predators. The interplay between local 'sporting men' and unsuspecting newcomers is a classic narrative of the city's early, lawless boom years.
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