100 years ago in Spokane: Five ‘bunco sharps’ arrested after fleecing people throughout the West

From our archives, 100 years ago

A team of five bunco sharps – con men – were arrested in Spokane after “working the entire western part of the United States for more than two years.”

Their big mistake came when they tried to swindle a farmer from Clearwater, Idaho, who alerted Spokane police about this “sure thing” horse-betting method.

He met three of the men as he emerged from Spokane’s Union Station. They struck up a conversation with the farmer and expressed interest in buying his farm. Then they took him to a “sumptuous dinner at Davenport’s.” Over dinner, they “sprung the racing game talk.” They said that they had a foolproof scheme for betting on a horse race in Texas, and all he needed to do was lay some big bets.

Yet this farmer was no rube. He pretended that he had to run to an important meeting with his real estate broker. Then he went directly to police headquarters and told his suspicions to a detective.

Police arrested three of the men on Sprague Avenue and two other men in a hotel. A search showed the men were in possession of several checks for $1,500 and a variety of bank checkbooks.

Two of the men matched the description of bunco men who had recently fleeced a Pocatello sheepman after he gave them $10,000 to bet on a sure-thing horse race. They told the farmer he had won $38,000. Then they disappeared.

They also matched the description of men who had fleeced a Butte farmer of $4,000 by the same method two weeks earlier.

The accused were being held in jail pending further investigation.