Bunco Artists in Richmond, 1870-1920

Richmond in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was home to a lively underworld of tricksters, swindlers, confidence men and thieves. The former Confederate capital''s under-staffed police force and dense population--large numbers of immigrants and the very poor--accommodated the enterprising criminal.

Newspaper reports of the day offer a glimpse of a wide variety of crimes and misdemeanor...