The Pacific House Confidence Game
A visitor from British Columbia loses his savings in twenty minutes flat at a Second Street boarding house.
John Maloney, J. Smith and William Hayes, who were arrested Wednesday on the charge of being disorderly persons, were held in reality on the charge of bunkoing Charles Lee, an unsophisticated fellow from British Columbia, out of $140 in room 4 at the Pacific house, on South Second street. Lee was brought face to face with the prisoners, but would not identify any one as the individual who dealt the cards to him. According to the story told the police by Lee, the men gained his confidence Tuesday about the time the Sehome arrived and in less than twenty minutes after he landed his money had gone. His wolf-like friends did not want to see him penniless in a strange place, so one of them, who gave his name as C. H. Smith, loaned him $10 and took his personal note as security.
“His wolf-like friends did not want to see him penniless in a strange place.”
Seattle’s Pacific House was a notorious waypoint for travelers arriving by water. The 'bunko' game remains a perennial theme of urban life, though digital scams have replaced the card-table hustlers of the 1890s.
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