“And if you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you.”
George Parker (1870–1936) was one of the most brazen con men in American history. He made his living selling New York’s public landmarks to gullible tourists. His favorite was the Brooklyn Bridge, which he sold twice a week for years. He convinced his marks that they could make a fortune by controlling access to the roadway. Police repeatedly had to remove “buyers” from the bridge as they tried to erect toll barriers.
Public landmarks on Parker’s “for sale” list included the original Madison Square Garden, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Grant’s Tomb and the Statue of Liberty. George had many different methods for making his sales. When selling Grant’s Tomb, he would often pose as the general’s grandson. He produced impressive forged documents to prove that he was the legal owner of whatever property he was selling.
Parker was convicted of fraud three times. After his third conviction in 1928 he was sentenced to a life term at Sing Sing Prison, where he spent the last eight years of his life. Recounting tales of his criminal exploits made him a popular figure among guards and fellow inmates. George is remembered as one of the most successful con men in the history of the United States, as well as one of history’s most talented hoaxers.
The Original Confidence Man
William Thompson was an American criminal whose modus operandi caused the term “confidence man” to be coined. In fact, the Thompson case was a major inspiration and source for Herman Melville’s 1857 novel The Confidence-Man.
Operating in New York City in the late 1840s, a well-dressed William Thompson would approach an upper-class mark, pretending they knew each other, and begin a brief conversation. After initially gaining the person’s trust, Thompson would ask “Have you the confidence in me to trust me with your watch until tomorrow?” Upon taking the watch (or occasionally money), Thompson would depart, never returning the watch.
Thompson was arrested and brought to trial in 1849, in a case that made newspaper headlines across the country. The New York Herald, recalling his explicit appeals to the victim’s “confidence,” dubbed him the “confidence man.”
An article in the “Police Intelligence” section of the New York Herald described the arrest of Thompson:
Arrest of the Confidence Man
…many have been duped, and the last that we recollect was a Mr. Thomas McDonald, of No. 276 Madison street, who, on the 12th of May last, was met by this “Confidence Man” in William Street, who, in the manner as above described, took from him a gold lever watch valued at $110; and yesterday, singularly enough, Mr. McDonald was passing along Liberty street, when who should he meet but the “Confidence Man” who had stolen his watch. Officer Swayse, of the Third Ward, being near at hand, took the accused into custody on the charge made by Mr. McDonald. The accused at first refused to go with the officer; but after finding the officer determined to take him, he walked along for a short distance, when he showed desperate fight, and it was not until the officer had tied his hands together that he was able to convey him to the police office. On the prisoner being taken before Justice McGrath, he was recognized as an old offender by the name of Wm. Thompson, and is said to be a graduate of the college at Sing Sing. The magistrate committed him to prison for a further hearing. It will be well for all those persons who have been defrauded by the “Confidence Man” to call at the police court Tombs and take a view of him.
“Yellow Kid” Weil
Joseph “Yellow Kid” Weil (1875—1976) was one of the best known American con men of his era. Weil’s biographer, W. T. Brannon, wrote of Weil’s “…uncanny knowledge of human nature.” Over the course of his career, Weil is reputed to have stolen more than 
$8 million.
Weil was born in Chicago, and started work as a collector in his home town’s bustling loan-sharking industry at age 17. His career progressed into the protection rackets when he noticed his peers pocketing small portions of the boss’ proceeds. For a cut, offered Weil, he wouldn’t share his knowledge of their perfidy. Plenty complied.
In the 1890s, under the tutelage of Chicago confidence man Doc Meriwether, Weil started conducting public sales of Meriwether’s Elixir, the chief ingredient of which was rainwater.
The nickname “Yellow Kid” first was applied in 1903 and came from the comic strip “Hogan’s Alley and the Yellow Kid.” After working for some time with a grifter named Frank Hogan, Chicago alderman “Bathhouse John” Coughlin associated grifter Frank Hogan and Weil with the comic: Hogan was Hogan, and Weil became the Yellow Kid.
During his career, Weil developed his own philosophy of why people are susceptible to being conned:
“The desire to get something for nothing has been very costly to many people who have dealt with me and with other con men,” Weil wrote. “But I have found that this is the way it works. The average person, in my estimation, is ninety-nine per cent animal and one per cent human. The ninety-nine per cent that is animal causes very little trouble. But the one per cent that is human causes all our woes. When people learn – as I doubt they will – that they can’t get something for nothing, crime will diminish and we shall live in greater harmony.”
Weil served time at Atlanta Prison from 1940 to 1942, and died in Chicago in 1976 at the age of 100.
Phil Robertson, Editor
