The Confidence Game of 1888
A victim of a brazen street robbery in Seattle describes how he was lured into a basement by a sophisticated crew of swindlers who posed as wealthy travelers.
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.
A gentleman in this city, who has been held up, says he has an idea of how these things are managed. He says he was recently met by a trio of men, and he fell into the trap just as the average man would. They had the appearance of men of wealth and culture. When they mentioned their friends and banks and credit, I was delighted. They knew so much about railroads, Europe, and the Orient that we had a pleasant chat. The only thing that I suspected was the miserable way in which they skipped the scene. I don't care anything about the loss, but I would like to kill them for that paltry $10. If they had played the gentlemanly part a little longer they might just as well have doubled their winnings, but they got frightened. I played a good game anyway, and that is some satisfaction. A well-known sporting man believes he knows the three men who fleeced the young victims. He says that one is a faro dealer who was formerly a physician and came to Seattle several weeks ago. The others are new arrivals, but they are quite well-known among sporting haunts. All three of these men disappeared from their accustomed haunts simultaneously with the robbing of the victims and have not since reappeared.
“The only thing that I suspected was the miserable way in which they skipped the scene. I don't care anything about the loss, but I would like to kill them for that paltry $10.”
This story of sophisticated con-artists fleecing marks in the city center mirrors the recurring anxieties about public safety and transient grifters that have haunted downtown Seattle for over a century. The 'confidence game' remains a fixture of urban life, evolving from street-level swindles to modern digital scams.
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