by Amy Reading
70 When the newspapers reported: Rocky Mountain News, October 17, 1895.
71 “Nowadays men drink”: Rocky Mountain News, October 25, 1896.
72 In 1897, Lou and Sam: Mercantile Agency Reference Book and Key, “Blonger Bros.”
73 One ambitious young lawyer: Lindsey, Beast, pp. 60–63, 324.
74 As Chase advanced: Noel, City and the Saloon, p. 110; and Bretz, Mansions of Denver, p. 18.
75 “He Buncoed Blonger”: Denver Times, October 10, 1898.
76 “All the detectives”: Quoted in Van Cise, Fighting the Underworld, p. 5.
77 “The funniest part of the joke”: Denver Times, February 24, 1902.
78 nor did they dwell: Emporia Gazette, August 6, 1906.
79 The newspapers largely confined: Denver Republican, October 28, 1902.
80 Lou racked up two more: “Colorado State Penitentiary Record of Lou Blonger #12258,” file folder 29, Maiden Papers.
81 “I must say that if I were”: New York Times, February 16, 1904.
82 In the suit that Bonynge had filed: U.S. Congress, Contested Election Case of Robert W. Bonynge vs. John F. Shafroth, pp. 240, 423.
83 “What’s the use of staying”: Denver Republican, February 4, 1904.
CHAPTER NINE
The Machine and the Sting
1 Hermann H. Heiser: Rocky Mountain News and Denver Times, June 30, 1915.
2 who would one day serve: Goodstein, Robert Speer’s Denver, p. 299.
3 jailed along with the Mabray gang: Hawkins, Mabray and the Mikes, p. 113.
4 Duffield readied himself: Denver Times, July 1, 1915.
5 Sure enough, two weeks later: Denver Times, July 6 and 13, 1915.
6 For the next decade: Blonger Bros., “Blonger Bros. Timeline.”
7 Other evidence suggests: Parkhill, Wildest of the West, p. 99.
8 If the answers were satisfactory: File folder 20, n.p., Maiden Papers.
9 On any given day: File folder 25, pp. 2–3, Maiden Papers.
10 A week or ten days later: File folder 26, pp. 10–12, Maiden Papers.
11 And then they’d all go: File folder 4, p. 10, and file folder 25, n.p., Maiden Papers.
12 A bunco man could be fired: File folder 25, p. 59, and file folder 29, pp. 34–35, Maiden Papers.
13 “Don’t look around”: File folder 26, p. 40, Maiden Papers.
14 Another time: File folder 25, p. 9, Maiden Papers.
15 “Well, Doc, you are a pretty”: Van Cise, Fighting the Underworld, p. 100.
16 “I offered a $1,000.00 reward”: File folder 1, n.p., Maiden Papers.
17 The men who accepted his money: Parkhill, Wildest of the West, p. 98.
18 “abrupt, incisive”: Rocky Mountain News, May 28, 1943.
19 His family remembers: Rod Drake and Cindy Van Cise, conversation with author.
20 He’d distinguished himself: Denver Post, December 10, 1969; and Rocky Mountain News, December 9, 1969.
21 “I wear the same G.A.R.”: Van Cise, Fighting the Underworld, p. 15.
22 “I like your style”: Ibid., p. 16.
23 “This is the first time”: Ibid., p. 17.
24 On election night: Denver Post, November 2, 1920.
25 “His victory is chiefly due”: Denver Post, November 3, 1920.
26 Once, he stormed into: Secrest, Hell’s Belles, p. 293.
27 If he caught: Keating, Gentleman from Colorado, p. 71.
28 “What do you mean, Chief”: Van Cise, Fighting the Underworld, p. 20.
29 “But, son,” said Chief: Ibid., p. 24.
30 “I am being jobbed”: Denver Times, January 10, 1921.
31 “general lawlessness”: Denver Post, January 11, 1921.
32 “We are laying off”: Denver Times, January 11, 1921.
33 “Who were the men”: Van Cise, Fighting the Underworld, pp. 49–50.
34 “We can’t do much more”: Ibid., p. 52.
35 “Keep that date open”: Ibid., p. 94.
36 Van Cise wrote: File folder 8, n.p., Maiden Papers.
37 “#1 and another stranger”: File folder 11, n.p., Maiden Papers.
38 “I saw the bunc that limps”: File folder 16, n.p., Maiden Papers.
39 “See that room”: Van Cise, Fighting the Underworld, p. 118.
40 “Colonel, is there anything”: Ibid., p. 64.
41 “as our friend Van Cise”: Ibid., p. 71.
42 “What do you think”: Ibid., p. 146.
43 One of the detectives on the force: File folder 25, p. 3, Maiden Papers.
44 That spring, a spieler: File folder 25, pp. 4–5, Maiden Papers.
45 “There is nothing doing”: Van Cise, Fighting the Underworld, p. 158.
46 “Hell, the District Attorney”: Ibid., pp. 154–55.
47 “Why, these seem to be”: Ibid., p. 156.
CHAPTER TEN
The Raid
1 “Norfleet did not look”: Van Cise, Fighting the Underworld, p. 183.
2 “For God’s sake”: Ibid., p. 184.
3 “the greatest kind of luck”: Ibid., pp. 182–83.
4 Or perhaps Norfleet: Lubbock Avalanche, June 17, 1920.
5 He says that he gave: Denver Post, August 26, 1922.
6 In one version of his story: Bentley, “Norfleet—Man-Hunter,” p. 39.
7 Robert Maiden was on duty: File folder 16, n.p., Maiden Papers.
8 Beginning at seven o’clock: Denver Post, August 31, 1922.
9 In Norfleet’s account: Norfleet, Norfleet (1924), p. 322.
10 Van Cise’s version: Van Cise, Fighting the Underworld, p. 196.
11 Much later, a fellow swindler: File folder 4, p. 17, Maiden Papers.
12 “There is no need”: Van Cise, Fighting the Underworld, p. 197.
13 In Felix’s bags: File folder 4, pp. 26–27, Maiden Papers.
14 “By God,” Duff exclaimed: Van Cise, Fighting the Underworld, p. 202.
15 Sanborn recalled that: Denver Post, August 31, 1922.
16 “Shoot the works”: Van Cise, Fighting the Underworld, p. 204.
17 “Randle York 3201”: Ibid., pp. 204–5.
18 Roy Samson, for his part: Ibid., pp. 205–8.
19 Two men stood: Denver Post, August 25, 1922.
20 Then the prisoners: Denver Times and Denver Post, August 25, 1922.
21 The prisoners were photographed: File folder 29, n.p., Maiden Papers.
22 Only when he reached: Van Cise, Fighting the Underworld, p. 205.
23 “like a great, gray spider”: Denver Post, August 27, 1922.
24 Prisoners outnumbered guards: Denver Times, August 25, 1922.
25 Others tried to buy: Denver Times, August 26, 1922.
26 The transcript of Norfleet’s statement: Denver Times and Denver Post, August 25, 1922.
27 But Van Cise forestalled: Van Cise, Fighting the Underworld, p. 213; and Parkhill, Wildest of the West, pp. 103–5.
28 Many years later, Parkhill: Van Cise, Fighting the Underworld, p. 213.
29 That morning, as Norfleet: Parkhill, Wildest of the West, p. xxv.
30 The phone in the Lookout: Van Cise, Fighting the Underworld, pp. 208–9.
31 Robert Maiden, in his zeal: Ibid., pp. 210–11.
32 “desperate character”: Denver Post, August 25, 1922.
33 He was forced to spend: Denver Post, August 27, 1922.
34 But on the positive side: File folder 4, n.p., Maiden Papers.
35 Jackie French, the Beau Brummell: Van Cise, Fighting the Underworld, p. 109.
36 After the last of the Denver: Denver Post, August 26, 1922.
37 He checked into the Columbia: Rocky Mountain News, August 26, 1922.
38 Duff’s little memorandum: File folder 4, p. 44, Maiden Papers; and Rocky Mountain News, August 29, 1922.
39 “well-known in sporting circles”: Denver Post, August 26, 1922.
40 “He’s all right”: Van Cise, Fighting the Underworld, p. 214.
41 But Mrs.
Franklin had: Ibid., p. 230.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Pure Speculation
1 “They picked the wrong bird”: Oakland Tribune, August 25, 1922. See also New York Times, August 25, 1922.
2 “I know 24 men”: Syracuse Herald, August 26, 1922.
3 “If there is one thing”: Barnes, “Fighting the Fakirs in Finance,” p. 618.
4 “A little knowledge”: Rice, My Adventures with Your Money, p. 96.
5 “The average professional man”: Edward H. Smith, Confessions of a Confidence Man, p. 105.
6 “While apparently written”: Review of The Professional Thief, p. 625.
7 Charlie Chaplin was nervous: Chaplin, “Charlie Chaplin Learns to Sell Liberty Bonds,” pp. 109–11.
8 “capitalize patriotism”: Rockoff, “Until It’s Over, Over There,” p. 13.
9 McAdoo’s troops created: Ibid., p. 31.
10 Before the war: Cowing, Populists, Plungers, and Progressives, p. 95.
11 The Liberty Loan program arguably: Cohen, Making a New Deal, p. 77.
12 Later, corporations would use: Ibid., p. 175.
13 “INTEGRITY … INTELLIGENCE”: Quoted in Calder, Financing the American Dream, p. 87.
14 Gradually, it became common: Ibid., pp. 98–104.
15 The forced austerity: Olien and Olien, Easy Money, pp. 3–6.
16 The stock market began to rev: Cowing, Populists, Plungers, and Progressives, p. 75.
17 Jobs were created: Baritz, Good Life, p. 71.
18 Within the first few months: Guenther, “Wreckage,” p. 509.
19 “The war and the activities”: Bulger, “Psychology of the Sucker,” p. 107.
20 “Send us your $100 Liberty Bond”: Guenther, “Pirates of Promotion, Who Are After Your Liberty Bonds,” p. 32.
21 Like the commodities: Keys, “Get-Rich-Quick Game,” p. 14121.
22 The swindlers’ term: Barnes, “ ‘Reloading’ and ‘Dynamiting’ Financial Dupes,” p. 322.
23 One mark estimated: Frasca, Stock Swindlers and Their Methods, p. 6.
24 In 1905, the Chicago Tribune tabulated: Chicago Tribune, June 25, 1905.
25 In 1926, the New York: “Gyp’s Dirty Dozen,” p. 61.
26 The New York Evening Post: Quoted in “War on the ‘White Collar Bandits,’ ” p. 11.
27 “Every dollar so lost”: Escher, “Finance,” p. 30.
28 “The swindler steals money”: Simmons, “What the Swindler Steals Besides Money,” p. 25.
29 Small, traditional family firms: Chandler, Visible Hand, pp. 1–2.
30 In 1921, a share in Radio: Kyvig, Daily Life in the United States, p. 214.
31 He hoarded, manipulated: Cowing, “Market Speculation in the Muckraking Era,” pp. 411–12.
32 In 1919, the NYSE: Ott, “The ‘Free and Open’ ‘People’s Market,’ ” p. 16.
33 “It is his business”: “Merchants of Credit and the Pirates of Promotion,” pp. 539–40.
34 “The man with money”: Denver Times, August 30, 1922.
35 In 1918, the Federal Trade Commission: Cowing, Populists, Plungers, and Progressives, pp. 115–17.
36 “Perhaps you think”: Woolwine, “Would You Walk into a Trap Like This?” p. 19.
37 “This ignorance and credulity”: “Baffling Kinds of Ignorance,” p. 499.
38 “It seems quite hopeless”: Keys, “Get-Rich-Quick Game,” p. 14121.
39 A Harvard study: Cowing, Populists, Plungers, and Progressives, p. 165.
40 “the fundamentals of sound”: “Poison-Ivy Securities,” p. 20.
CHAPTER TWELVE
The Showdown
1 “Bunko ‘Sucker’ Disappears”: Rocky Mountain News, September 14, 1922.
2 “in all probability”: Rocky Mountain News, September 15, 1922.
3 “He carries two”: Denver Post, September 15, 1922.
4 “Why did members”: Rocky Mountain News, August 31, 1922.
5 “for their splendid work”: Denver Times, August 25, 1922.
6 “does object to paying”: Denver Times, August 31, 1922.
7 “The questions that arise”: Denver Post, September 2, 1922.
8 “Where bunko men operate”: Denver Times, September 2, 1922.
9 “I never saw this man”: Denver Post, August 26, 1922.
10 Indeed Van Cise: Denver Post, January 10, 1923.
11 An intense and public: Denver Times, August 29, 1922.
12 So it came as almost: Rocky Mountain News, October 1 and 6, 1922.
13 “a certain ‘I’ve waited’ ”: Denver Post, August 29, 1922.
14 Now his deputies worked: Denver Post, September 8, 1922.
15 Two months after the raid: Rocky Mountain News, October 26, 1922.
16 “reorganized remnants”: Denver Post, September 21, 1922.
17 “Confidence men have been”: Denver Post, January 3, 1923.
18 “a joint account”: Denver Post, January 4, 1923.
19 The following week: Denver Post, January 12, 1923.
20 A few days later: Denver Post, January 17, 1923.
21 The courtroom was bursting: Rocky Mountain News, February 6, 1923.
22 “He talks too much”: Van Cise, Fighting the Underworld, p. 313.
23 “He was drunk last night”: Ibid., p. 315.
24 The two special prosecutors: Denver Post, February 8 and 18, 1923.
25 “I come from a family”: Denver Post, December 10, 1922.
26 When the jury was sworn: Denver Post, February 3, 1923.
27 Whenever the prosecution: Denver Post, February 8, 1923.
28 There were only two: Van Cise, Fighting the Underworld, p. 255.
29 In daily attendance: Denver Post, February 13, 1923.
30 “Not on your tintype”: Denver Post, February 18, 1923.
31 “One is said to be”: Denver Post, February 11, 1923.
32 “Every effort is being made”: “J. Frank Norfleet Arrives in Denver for ‘Bunko’ Trial,” unpaginated scrapbook page, Maiden Papers.
33 From almost the very first: Rocky Mountain News, February 6, 1923.
34 To back up their case: Denver Post, February 5, 1923.
35 Crump began his opening: Denver Post, February 7, 1923.
36 “a vampire squad of women”: Denver Post, February 8, 1923.
37 “Cruel claws of intimidation”: Ibid.
38 “Neither the law”: McCord v. People.
39 Such an interpretation: People v. Livingstone.
40 Nineteenth-century market culture: Gilfoyle, Pickpocket’s Tale, pp. 220–21.
41 Not until 1906: People v. Tompkins, 186 N.Y. 413 (1906).
42 One swindler: Crowley, “New Weapon Against Confidence Games,” pp. 233–36.
43 When Judge Dunklee finally: Denver Post, February 16, 1923.
44 The spectators enjoyed: Denver Post, February 9 and 13, and March 21, 1923.
45 Several moving picture: Denver Post, March 9, 1923.
46 “Thrill followed thrill”: Denver Post, February 21, 1923.
47 It wasn’t until his second: Denver Post, February 22, 1923.
48 On the day that Van Cise’s: Denver Post, March 2, 1923.
49 The trial entered its seventh: Denver Post, March 4, 1923.
50 “an interesting but highly”: Van Cise, Fighting the Underworld, p. 351.
51 He interrogated her: Ibid., pp. 252–54.
52 The defense counsel argued: Denver Post, March 8 and 9, 1923.
53 The courtroom was: Denver Post, March 12, 1923.
54 steerers “bringem”: Denver Post, March 10, 1923.
55 His turn came on Reamey’s: Denver Post, March 12, 1923.
56 He told how: Denver Post, March 13, 1923.
57 At last, Reamey was revealed: Ibid.
58 “The phonograph is revolving”: Denver Post, March 10, 1923.
59 As if admitting defeat: Denver Post, March 14, 1923.
60 Reamey’s stories had been: Denver Post, March 2
0, 1923.
61 “I object, if the court please”: Denver Post, March 21, 1923.
62 the longest criminal trial: Denver Post, March 24 and 29, 1923; and “Supreme Court to Get Million Words to Read When Hearing Appeal in Denver ‘Bunk’ Case,” unpaginated scrapbook page, Maiden Papers.
63 Some watchers noticed: Denver Post, March 23, 1923.
64 Others looked outside: Denver Post, March 11, 1923.
65 Within the first two hours: Denver Post, March 25, 1923.
66 The next day: Denver Post, March 26, 1923.
67 A third day of deliberation: Ibid.
68 Then a fourth: Denver Post, March 27, 1923.
69 A fifth day: Denver Post, March 28, 1923.
70 At 4:45 on the afternoon: Denver Post, March 29, 1923.
71 “Perjured evidence”: Ibid.
72 The very day after: Dallas Morning News, March 31, 1923.
73 As the entire city: Denver Post, March 30, 1923.
74 He also loudly indicted: Denver Post, March 31, 1923.
75 On June 1, 1923: Denver Post, June 1, 1923.
76 Attorney Hawkins immediately: Denver Post, October 11, 1923.
77 “It’s all over”: Denver Post, October 12, 1923.
78 On October 18, 1923: Denver Post, October 18, 1923.
79 “Say, what would a girl”: Rocky Mountain News, April 21, 1923.
80 Blonger admitted: “Blonger Swears Duff Led Million-Dollar Bunko Ring That Operated in Denver,” unpaginated scrapbook page, Maiden Papers.
81 “Toward Lou Blonger”: Rocky Mountain News, April 21, 1923.
82 “motherly, gray-haired”: Denver Post, June 12, 1923.
83 Blonger declined rapidly: “Blindness and Death Steal upon Lou Blonger in Cell as He Pins Life Hope on Appeal,” unpaginated scrapbook page, Maiden Papers.
84 In the last two weeks: Rocky Mountain News, April 21, 1924.
85 His body would be transferred: Denver Times, April 22, 1924.
86 Mrs. Blonger would be: Rocky Mountain News, April 23, 1924.
87 Adolph Duff would also die: Denver Post, November 25, 1929.
88 “How are you, Spencer”: Dallas Morning News and Oakland Tribune, October 2, 1923.
89 In March 1924: Dallas Morning News, March 9, 1924.
90 “destitute and dependent”: Texas, “Full Pardon.”
91 In fact, Spencer was: Galveston Daily News, January 15, 1927; and Ferguson, Executive Branch of State Government, p. 51.