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0:46

Señor Miguel Otero stepped

0:48

out of a hotel lobby and strode

0:50

down the sidewalk. The morning

0:53

air was crisp in Denver, and

0:55

Otero was likely in a good mood. Yesterday,

0:58

he had been unexpectedly lucky.

1:00

He had stepped out of his hotel and started to

1:03

stroll down the sidewalk, just like

1:05

he was now. But

1:06

yesterday, a young man stopped

1:08

him and greeted him warmly. The

1:11

young man introduced himself as an old friend,

1:14

but Otero didn't recognize him.

1:16

The young man seemed convinced, and

1:18

Otero would have felt bad if he had turned him away.

1:22

After the two men exchanged pleasantries,

1:24

the acquaintance asked Otero to accompany

1:27

him to a local policy shop.

1:29

The young man wanted to see if his draw

1:31

had won.

1:32

Otero had heard of policy shops.

1:35

They were shops that gave the public access

1:38

to state-run lotteries.

1:40

Otero agreed and followed his

1:42

new-slash-old friend.

1:45

When they arrived at the shop, Otero

1:47

decided to test his luck. He

1:49

drew a few numbers and actually won.

1:52

He could scarcely believe how easy it was to

1:54

win the lottery, and he was glad he had

1:56

decided to take this spontaneous adventure.

1:59

The clerk in the policy shop had

2:02

told him to collect his earnings the next

2:04

day. And now Miguel Otero

2:06

strolled down Larimer Street in downtown

2:09

Denver to do just that. He

2:12

retraced his steps to the shop and

2:14

turned the final corner

2:16

and then he stopped short.

2:17

There was no sign of the policy shop.

2:20

At the spot where the shop stood just

2:22

yesterday, there was now a locked door.

2:25

For a moment, Otero thought he was in the wrong

2:28

place. But as he looked around,

2:30

he grew more concerned. All

2:32

the other shops and restaurants he had seen yesterday

2:35

were still there. He was in exactly

2:37

the right place.

2:39

His feeling of concern likely grew far

2:41

worse.

2:42

Yesterday, the clerk at the shop had

2:44

asked him to prove his credit standing

2:47

so that he could receive his lottery winnings.

2:50

Otero had obliged and given the clerk

2:52

a bank note worth $2,400.

2:56

Otero had not been suspicious because

2:58

it was a state-run enterprise. But

3:01

now his mind raced with possibilities. Had

3:04

he been swindled?

3:13

From Black Barrel Media, this is Legends

3:15

of the Old West. I'm your host, Chris

3:17

Wimmer, and this season we're telling the stories

3:19

of some of the legendary con artists of the

3:21

Old West. This story is about the

3:24

mastermind behind the gold brick

3:26

scheme and several other elaborate

3:28

cons. This is episode 5, Fool's

3:31

Gold.

3:38

Around a decade after the California

3:40

gold rush, history repeated itself,

3:43

this time at Pikes Peak.

3:45

Gold had been found in the Rocky Mountains

3:48

in the early 1800s, but it wasn't until new

3:50

discoveries in 1858

3:53

that prospectors rushed

3:55

to Pikes Peak. The number

3:57

of miners who swarmed the area ran

3:59

into the thousands. Mining

4:02

camps quickly grew into settlements, and

4:05

as always, a lucky few struck

4:07

it rich. Some found a little

4:09

bit of gold but not enough to change their

4:11

lives,

4:12

and most found nothing but backbreaking

4:14

work and endless frustration.

4:17

Sixteen-year-old Charles Bags was

4:20

in that last group.

4:21

He spent almost two months searching the

4:24

mines near Boulder

4:25

and finally gave up in June of 1859.

4:29

Bags never lost the thrill of taking a risk,

4:32

he just sought a different way of finding it.

4:34

Bags was born in Soda Bay, New

4:37

York in 1843, and he decided at a young age that

4:39

he would

4:41

never hold an ordinary job.

4:44

A painful incident swore him off a conventional

4:46

life in the office. Bags

4:49

worked as a postal clerk in Illinois.

4:51

His responsibilities included operating

4:53

the printing press.

4:55

In an unfortunate accident, the

4:57

machine cut off one of his fingers.

5:00

That drove Bags to join the Pikes

5:02

Peak gold rush at the tender age

5:04

of 16.

5:06

After he came up empty in 1859, he

5:09

began to travel the west.

5:15

For a while, Bags bounced around

5:17

from place to place without any particular

5:19

direction. He served in the American

5:22

Army as a quartermaster.

5:24

Then as an agent for the famed Overland

5:26

Stage Company,

5:27

Bags ventured north to Virginia

5:29

City in Montana Territory.

5:32

He spent three years working with his father

5:34

in Virginia City.

5:35

Bags' father was a lawyer who also

5:38

had a position in the government.

5:40

We don't know the exact circumstances

5:42

of how Bags decided to pursue a life of

5:44

swindling, but several sources say

5:46

he started his long career as a con man

5:49

under the instruction of the notorious King

5:51

of Three Card Monty,

5:53

William Canada Bill Jones.

5:56

Newspaper articles called Bags a

5:58

disciple of Canada Bill. Bill.

6:00

Canada Bill was a sometime partner

6:03

of riverboat gambler George Duvall,

6:05

and Bags worked as a shill for Canada

6:08

Bill on trains running out of Nebraska.

6:11

A shill was responsible for luring

6:13

the mark into a trap by pretending

6:15

to win big.

6:17

There are records of Bags and a few

6:19

other shills being arrested for looting

6:21

a man on a train outside Omaha in

6:24

July of

6:26

1873. Eventually, Bags went to Denver

6:29

and he was no ordinary con man. He

6:31

had spent nearly 15 years traveling

6:34

and learning and perfecting his trade.

6:37

He advanced well beyond the simple sleight

6:39

of hand tricks of three-card Monte.

6:42

The swindles Bags planned were

6:44

elaborate, and over time,

6:47

his schemes grew more daring and complicated.

6:49

A newspaper quoted him

6:51

as saying, It's as easy to

6:53

make big money as little money. In

6:56

my profession, $100 is just chicken

6:59

feed.

7:00

We think in thousands, not tens.

7:03

It is as easy to separate a sucker, the

7:05

right sucker,

7:06

from $5,000 as from 50.

7:10

In the booming city of Denver, Bags

7:13

had plenty of suckers. At

7:15

the same time that George Armstrong Custer

7:17

and the 7th Cavalry were being transferred

7:19

to Dakota to square off with the Lakota

7:21

and Cheyenne, and Buffalo Bill,

7:24

Texas Jack, and Ned Buntline were

7:26

performing Scouts of the Prairie for audiences

7:28

on the East Coast,

7:30

and Jesse James and the James Younger gang

7:32

were robbing their first train, Charles

7:35

Bags was launching one of his most

7:37

famous cons, the so-called

7:40

gold brick scam.

7:46

A portly man in an expensive, tailored

7:49

suit shifted his weight in anticipation.

7:52

He was accompanied by a poorly dressed

7:54

man in dirty clothes and a

7:56

thin gentleman in a dapper suit.

7:59

A clutter of metal scales and other

8:01

scientific tools littered the table

8:04

in front of them.

8:05

The walls of the shop were lined with jars

8:08

and vials filled with different colored

8:10

liquids.

8:11

Behind the counter, a man wearing a leather

8:14

smock turned over a heavy gold

8:16

brick.

8:17

Setting it down, he carefully carved

8:20

out a small piece of the metal.

8:22

His face was set in an impressively serious

8:24

expression. The unusual

8:27

trio of men looked on eagerly as

8:29

he started running tests on the slice of

8:31

gold.

8:33

The portly man in the expensive suit leaned

8:35

closer. He waited anxiously for

8:37

the outcome.

8:38

He was the sucker in this elaborate

8:40

charade. He just didn't know it.

8:43

Finally, the man behind the counter set

8:46

down his equipment.

8:47

He looked up at his expectant audience.

8:50

In a deliberate, measured voice, he

8:52

said that the gold was of a very high

8:54

quality.

8:56

The portly man was excited because

8:58

he believed he had just stumbled into a small

9:00

fortune.

9:01

That of course was what Charles

9:03

Bags wanted the man to believe.

9:06

And here's how it started.

9:11

On a sidewalk in Denver, earlier

9:14

that day, a

9:15

shill in tattered clothing tapped

9:17

on the arm of the portly man in the expensive

9:20

suit. The man turned to

9:22

look at the shill. The man was

9:24

irritated at being bothered by a stranger

9:26

in ratty clothing. The

9:28

man rudely asked the shill what he wanted.

9:31

The shill just stared back at him without speaking.

9:35

The portly man grew impatient. He

9:37

muttered that he was busy and he started to walk

9:39

away. But then another man

9:42

stopped him. This man was well-dressed,

9:45

complete

9:45

with a top hat and a silk umbrella.

9:48

That was Charles Bags, and he said

9:50

he was acting as the shill's translator.

9:53

The man in the expensive suit remained

9:56

irritated, but Bags went on to say

9:58

that the shill wanted

9:59

man to do a favor. The man's

10:02

irritation turned to curiosity.

10:04

What could the ragged-looking stranger

10:07

do for him?

10:08

Bags nodded at the shill. The

10:10

shill lifted up a grimy cloth

10:13

sack. The

10:14

sack was weighed down by something heavy,

10:16

and the portly man couldn't help but wonder

10:19

what was inside.

10:20

Bags instructed the shill to open

10:23

the sack.

10:24

The shill carefully rolled down the top

10:26

of the sack.

10:27

Inside, a gold brick

10:29

glinted in the daylight.

10:31

Bags informed the man in the expensive

10:33

suit that the stranger in tattered

10:36

clothes wanted to sell the gold brick.

10:39

The portly man in the expensive suit was

10:41

astonished, and Bags lowered

10:43

his voice to a conspiratorial

10:46

tone as he suggested they speak

10:48

in a more private location.

10:50

The trio walked to a quiet alleyway.

10:54

Bags told the portly man that the

10:56

shill was willing to sell the brick for

10:58

much less than it was actually worth.

11:01

The shill placed the gold in

11:03

the portly man's hands. The

11:06

man was impressed by the weight of the brick, and

11:08

he examined it closely. As

11:10

far as he could tell, there was nothing unusual

11:13

about it. But he also realized

11:15

that he didn't know much about precious metals.

11:17

The man

11:19

put the gold back inside the sack,

11:21

straightened his back, and spoke authoritatively

11:24

as if he were actually in control of the situation.

11:27

He said he wanted to verify the brick of gold

11:30

at an assayer's office. After

11:32

all, he was a businessman who conducted his

11:34

affairs in a lawful manner. Bags

11:37

and the shill exchanged a glance. Bags

11:40

said the poor man in the ratty clothes had

11:42

no reservations about taking the gold to

11:45

an assayer. Bags conveniently

11:47

suggested an assay office,

11:49

since the businessman was

11:51

not from Denver. After

11:54

a brief pause, the businessman agreed.

11:57

Bags led the unlikely group

11:59

up the sidewalk.

11:59

to a narrow storefront on which

12:02

the name of the assay office was printed in

12:04

bold letters.

12:06

The three men stepped inside. The

12:08

Portley businessmen glanced around the room.

12:11

It looked well equipped to test the metal.

12:14

The assayer, wearing his heavy leather

12:16

smock, cut a sliver of the metal

12:18

from the brick. After running

12:20

some tests, he declared that the gold

12:23

was of the finest quality. Bags

12:26

helpfully guided the Portley businessmen to

12:28

a bank so that they could withdraw the

12:30

money to buy the brick. The

12:32

businessmen paid bags and the shill

12:35

and went back to his business with a smile on his

12:37

face.

12:38

His pocket was weighed down by the gold

12:40

brick, but his bank account was much

12:43

lighter.

12:44

It wasn't until much later that he

12:46

realized he had been swindled.

12:49

The shill and the assayer were part of

12:51

Bags' gang.

12:52

The assayer's office was a fake,

12:54

and the gold brick was just a chunk

12:57

of painted lead. The

12:59

scheme worked to perfection, as it

13:01

had so many other times.

13:03

And for Bags' next big con,

13:05

he would go even further with the fake

13:07

business idea.

13:23

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14:02

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14:06

Senor Miguel Otero was a reputed

14:09

banker and statesman from New Mexico.

14:12

He was visiting Denver to attend a lecture

14:14

by Oscar Wilde,

14:16

the famous Irish poet and playwright

14:18

who was touring America.

14:20

Otero decided to leave his hotel to

14:23

take a short stroll.

14:25

As he walked down Larimer Street, a

14:27

man approached him.

14:28

The man greeted Otero warmly.

14:31

As the young man earnestly shook Otero's

14:33

hand, Otero looked at him blankly.

14:35

He simply could not recognize the man.

14:38

Otero knew that he was a man of considerable

14:41

note.

14:41

The young man seemed like he meant well.

14:44

When the young man realized that Otero

14:47

didn't know who he was, he mentioned

14:49

a few names of Otero's friends and family.

14:52

He even remembered the name of one of Otero's

14:54

closest friends.

14:55

Otero became convinced that the young

14:58

man was indeed an old acquaintance.

15:01

Otero sheepishly blamed his poor

15:03

memory for the lack of recognition.

15:06

The young man brushed it off cheerfully.

15:08

He asked Otero if he would accompany

15:10

him to a policy shop nearby. A

15:13

policy shop was essentially a shop

15:15

that sold lottery tickets,

15:17

and the young man wanted to see if he had won a

15:19

prize.

15:20

Otero obliged. With

15:22

the young man in the lead, they chatted

15:25

as they walked down the street.

15:30

The pair bumped into one of the young man's

15:32

friends along the way.

15:34

The friend also had a lottery ticket with

15:36

him. Otero thought this was a

15:38

little odd, but the friend said something

15:41

that distracted him. He said he had

15:43

a way to outsmart the system.

15:46

The friend volunteered to go to the policy

15:48

shop to demonstrate his technique.

15:51

Otero was amused and curious

15:53

to see how this would play out,

15:54

so the three of them strolled down the street

15:57

to the shop. The

15:59

policy shop was

15:59

being run by a trim man with

16:02

a dark beard and green glasses. When

16:05

he put out his hand to take the lottery ticket from

16:07

the young man, Otero noticed that

16:09

he had a missing finger.

16:12

Otero's acquaintance didn't win anything,

16:14

but his friend, the third man in the group,

16:17

had won a prize, just as he predicted

16:19

he would.

16:20

Another lottery drawing was about to happen,

16:23

and the lucky winner drew again and

16:25

won.

16:26

The policy shop clerk asked if the

16:28

winner wanted to keep going. The

16:31

man said, despite his recent luck, he

16:33

was strapped for cash. Then

16:35

he asked Otero if Otero would

16:38

be willing to fund the venture for a 50-50

16:40

split. Otero

16:42

thought it over. He had seen the man

16:44

win repeatedly. He thought this was a

16:46

chance for him to earn some easy money. The

16:50

clerk asked the pair to establish their

16:52

credit. They had to guarantee the

16:54

amount they were willing to bet. Once

16:56

again, the lucky winner helplessly

16:59

looked at Otero. Otero

17:01

smiled and signed over a five-day

17:03

note worth $2,400. The

17:07

clerk with the missing finger thanked him. When

17:10

the pair of bettors finished their run, the

17:13

clerk told Otero to return the next

17:15

day to collect his winnings. Comforted

17:18

by the fact that it was a legitimate, state-sanctioned

17:21

lottery, Otero agreed. The

17:24

next morning, Otero eagerly retraced

17:26

his steps to the policy shop. To

17:29

his dismay, there was no sign of it.

17:32

All that remained was a rusty lock

17:34

on the doors.

17:36

Otero fumed as he realized he had been

17:38

swindled.

17:39

There are other versions of the story, but they

17:41

all have two things in common on the criminal

17:44

side.

17:45

The fake policy shop and the clerk

17:47

with the neatly trimmed dark beard who

17:49

was, of course, Charles Bags.

17:52

Chris Cahn earned Bags a lot of attention

17:55

from journalists and police.

17:58

He was boldly quoted in the local newspaper.

18:01

I am a poor man and Otero is

18:03

rich.

18:04

He has served several terms in Congress

18:07

and is afraid of publicity. I

18:09

need the money and he can afford to lose

18:11

it. He dares not complain.

18:14

But Bags was only partially correct. Otero

18:18

did make a complaint, but he wanted

18:20

no part of the publicity that followed and

18:22

he failed to appear in court to testify

18:25

against Bags. By

18:27

Bags own admission, he was arrested, quote,

18:30

about a thousand times, but

18:32

he was never convicted.

18:41

Even if Charles Bags was slightly

18:43

exaggerating when he said he'd been arrested a

18:45

thousand times,

18:47

he still spent a fair amount of time dealing

18:49

with the law. That came with the territory.

18:52

And since Bags, who had been nicknamed Doc

18:54

Bags at some point along the way, was

18:57

headquartered in Denver,

18:58

he regularly butted heads with Sheriff

19:01

Michael Spangler.

19:03

On one memorable occasion,

19:05

Sheriff Spangler dragged Bags into

19:07

court on the charge of being a

19:09

Bunko Steerer.

19:11

That was a charge commonly made against con

19:14

men and swindlers.

19:16

Bunko was a slang term for

19:18

a con or a swindle. And the

19:20

men who perpetrated cons or swindles

19:22

were often called Bunko Steerers.

19:26

On this occasion, Sheriff Spangler

19:28

would receive a lesson in the nuances

19:30

of the legal system.

19:32

The trial took place at the courthouse near the

19:34

post office with Judge Victor Elliott

19:37

presiding over the matter.

19:39

The courtroom buzzed with excitement.

19:41

Rumor had it that Doc Bags was

19:43

going to represent himself.

19:45

Even his friends were surprised at his decision.

19:48

Sheriff Spangler was sure that

19:50

Bags was out of his depth this time.

19:52

But Doc Bags still had a trick up his

19:55

sleeve.

19:59

The label con men

19:59

Man is short for Confidence Man, a

20:02

man who gains the confidence of an innocent

20:04

person so he can steal the person's money.

20:07

To be a good con man, you needed

20:09

an abundance of confidence in yourself.

20:12

You had to sell your scheme to your victim.

20:15

But even with Doc Baggs' abundance of

20:17

confidence,

20:18

people thought he might have gone too far this

20:21

time. It was one thing to have

20:23

the confidence to sucker some random

20:25

person in a street hustle.

20:27

It was a completely different thing to

20:29

have the confidence to defend yourself in a

20:31

court of law. Doc

20:34

Baggs was immaculately dressed.

20:36

As he stood up to address the court, a

20:39

hush fell over the room. He

20:41

posed a simple question to Judge Elliott.

20:44

How could he, Doc Baggs, be

20:46

arrested for a charge that was not

20:49

defined in the criminal statutes? He

20:51

pulled out a thick dictionary.

20:54

As he thumbed through the book, Baggs

20:56

declared that the term, Bunko Steerer,

20:59

did not appear on any of the pages.

21:01

If the term didn't exist, then

21:03

there couldn't be a law against such a person.

21:07

Judge Elliott ordered a check of all the

21:09

statutes and law books.

21:11

It turned out Baggs was right. The

21:14

term, Bunko Steerer, wasn't

21:16

defined anywhere,

21:17

and Judge Elliott was forced to dismiss

21:19

the case. Detective

21:22

Spangler fumed as Baggs cheerfully

21:24

walked out of the courthouse. At

21:26

that point, Spangler employed a new

21:28

strategy to rid Denver of the notorious

21:31

con man. He told a deputy

21:33

sheriff to follow Baggs everywhere.

21:36

If Baggs talked to someone, anyone, the

21:39

deputy was instructed to inform the person

21:41

that he was dealing with an infamous swindler.

21:44

It didn't take long for Doc Baggs to have

21:47

fun with the new dynamic. Baggs

21:49

disguised himself in different costumes to

21:52

slip past the deputy. Then

21:54

Baggs happily informed Sheriff Spangler

21:57

that his deputy was doing a bad job.

21:59

Soon, Bags told his gang members

22:02

to go up to the sheriff and pretend to be

22:04

random Good Samaritans.

22:07

The gang members informed the deputy about

22:09

the disguise that Bags was wearing that day.

22:12

Armed with the information,

22:14

the deputy sheriff would, of course, quickly

22:16

find a person on the street who matched the

22:18

description.

22:20

The deputy would rush up to the innocent man

22:22

and accuse him of being a notorious criminal.

22:25

When the man rightfully protested, the

22:28

deputy believed it was all part of the ruse.

22:31

Innocent people were accosted all over

22:33

the streets of Denver,

22:35

while Doc Bags and his cronies stood

22:37

a safe distance away and laughed

22:39

at the fun. Bags

22:42

and his team outwitted the sheriff's department for

22:44

a while, but they couldn't keep it up forever.

22:47

Eventually, Doc Bags took a breather

22:49

from Denver to chase a new challenge,

22:52

and when he went back, he formed the partnership

22:55

that would be his final act.

23:03

In 1880, Doc Bags

23:05

visited Kansas.

23:07

His mark was a cattleman from Texas.

23:10

Bags hoped to sell the cattleman a

23:12

salted gold mine.

23:14

Just like the great diamond hoax of 1872,

23:17

Bags made sure there was enough gold

23:19

in the mine to make the cattleman believe

23:22

it was worth far more than it actually was.

23:24

Bags was handsomely

23:26

dressed.

23:27

He played the part of a respectable, honest

23:30

landowner.

23:31

His courteous manners and charm won

23:34

the cattleman over.

23:36

The man bought the mine for the hefty sum

23:38

of $4,500. When he realized he had been conned,

23:43

the cattleman was impressed instead of outraged,

23:46

which probably meant he had money to

23:48

burn. He sent Bags an

23:50

elegant gold watch with a note saying

23:53

that Bags was the only

23:55

man in the world who ever got one

23:57

cent the best of me.

23:59

When Doc Bags returned to Denver, it

24:02

wasn't like the old days.

24:04

Sheriff Spangler's vigilance made it

24:06

nearly impossible to pull off the elaborate

24:08

cons that Bags had completed before

24:11

his famous court appearance.

24:13

His accomplices were getting arrested,

24:15

and one evening in 1885,

24:18

Bags gathered his trusted friends and

24:20

boarded a southbound train out of town.

24:23

Bags was leaving

24:24

Denver behind, but not the game.

24:32

After Denver, Bags partnered

24:34

with a notorious swindler named Clay

24:37

Wilson. Wilson had worked

24:39

some of the same territory as Bags,

24:42

and he was also on the run from Denver.

24:45

One of Wilson's high profile marks

24:47

was the son of the president of a bank

24:50

in the boomtown of Leadville, Colorado.

24:53

In 1882, Wilson took the young man for $25,000 by running the

24:55

infamous Gold Brick

25:00

Scam.

25:01

Wilson was arrested, but escaped

25:04

prosecution by returning part of the money

25:06

to the victim. Wilson

25:08

made his way to Denver, where he found himself

25:11

on the bad side of a gambler named Jim

25:13

Moon. One night, Wilson

25:16

and Moon were involved in an altercation

25:18

in the Saloon Arcade.

25:20

A drunken Moon slapped Wilson

25:22

across the face.

25:24

Moon shoved Wilson out of the Saloon

25:26

and threatened to kill him, but Wilson

25:29

was the one who made good on the threat. Wilson

25:31

returned with a pistol and killed

25:34

Moon in the Saloon.

25:36

Wilson was acquitted of the crime, but

25:38

Moon's friends swore revenge,

25:40

and Wilson fled Denver.

25:43

After that, Bags and Wilson

25:45

partnered up. They traveled the

25:47

country swindling people out of their money,

25:50

and they had a long run of it. In 1903,

25:54

they came very close to swindling a man named

25:56

Dr. Abbott out of $15,000.

25:59

but a single handshake saved Abbott

26:02

at the last minute.

26:04

Clay Wilson played the part of a prospector.

26:07

He told Dr. Abbott that he had struck

26:09

gold at a claim in Arizona, and

26:12

the owner of the neighboring claim was

26:14

unaware of Wilson's find.

26:16

Wilson wanted Dr. Abbott to

26:18

help him buy the neighboring claim. If

26:21

Abbott could put up $15,000, they

26:24

could buy the neighboring claim, and then

26:26

Wilson's gold would be secure. Wilson

26:30

and Abbott would own everything in the area,

26:32

and they could get rich.

26:34

Wilson put on a brilliant act, and

26:37

Dr. Abbott was convinced,

26:39

especially since Wilson claimed he couldn't

26:41

read or write.

26:42

Wilson would have to rely on Abbott

26:45

to finalize the deal.

26:47

The new partners met the owner of the neighboring

26:49

claim, who was obviously

26:51

Doc Bags. Bags,

26:54

of course, agreed to sell his claim

26:56

to Dr. Abbott, and they were about

26:58

to solidify the deal when it all fell

27:00

apart. When Wilson

27:02

stood up to leave, he shook hands

27:04

with Dr. Abbott.

27:06

Dr. Abbott was surprised by the feel

27:08

of Wilson's hand.

27:10

Wilson said he had spent his whole life doing

27:12

hard labor in the mines,

27:14

and yet, as Abbott put it, Wilson's

27:17

hand was as soft as a woman's.

27:20

Dr. Abbott became suspicious,

27:22

and he called off the deal,

27:24

which probably made him one of the few people

27:26

to survive a Doc Bags swindle

27:29

when he was in so deep.

27:31

Doc Bags

27:32

continued his life of grift for

27:34

another 12 years after the failed attempt

27:36

on Dr. Abbott. A wanted

27:39

poster from 1912 testifies

27:41

that Doc Bags and Clay Wilson

27:44

ran together for 30 years before

27:46

Bags finally called it quits. The

27:49

details of how Doc Bags gave up the

27:51

life of a swindler are hazy.

27:53

Some sources report that Bags ran

27:56

his last con in 1915, a

27:59

con in which he stole.

27:59

a remarkable $100,000 from his target.

28:04

After that, it sounds like he retired

28:06

to a comfortable life at a ranch in California.

28:10

If the numbers are true, Doc Bags

28:12

ran cons for more than 50 years

28:15

and survived to retire when he was in

28:17

his 70s.

28:26

Next time on Legends of the Old West, it's

28:28

the story of the Huxter who tarnished the

28:30

name of Snake Oil forever,

28:33

Rattlesnake King Clark Stanley.

28:36

That's next week on the season finale of Swindlers

28:39

here on Legends of the Old West.

28:47

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