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victim took him up on his offer, he would be satisfied when it was correctly identified by the jeweler. Waddell sold his first brick for $ 4,000 and began manufacturing bricks which were sold for between $ 3,500 and $ 7,000. He also expanded his operations into the "green goods" or sawdust swindle and, between the two ventures, he reportedly made $ 250,000 within ten years.
96:(c. 1860 – March 27, 1895) was an American swindler, confidence man and underworld figure in New York during the mid- to late 19th century. He was one of the most successful men of his trade making nearly a quarter of a million dollars using his "gold brick" swindle, a con game which he invented and introduced to New York in 1880, and from which the term "
159:, but was murdered by him there in an argument over shares of a bunco swindle on March 27, 1895. He had been shot several times by O'Brien, twice in the back and chest as well as suffering wounds to his head and heart, at the Northern Railway Station. O'Brien was arrested by French authorities; however, his trial was postponed when the
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The victim was brought to an accomplice posing as an assayer, who occupied an office and displayed the necessary equipment, who confirmed
Waddell's claims. If the person was still not convinced, Waddell would take out a slug of real gold and suggest he take that piece to a jewelers where, even if the
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gambler and was eventually cut off by his family before the age of 21. He arrived in 1880 in New York, where he offered the first gold brick ever offered for sale. This was part of his famed "gold brick" game in which the buyer, believing to be purchasing a gold brick from the
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Waddell was also involved in schemes with other prominent confidence men, including attempts to sell the
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Cassell's
Dictionary of Slang: A Major New Edition of the Market-Leading Dictionary of Slang
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Sucker's
Progress: An Informal History of Gambling in America from the Colonies to Canfield
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Swindler and confidence man credited for the invention of the "gold brick game".
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The Gangs of New York: An
Informal History of the New York Underworld
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The French
Quarter: An Informal History of the New Orleans Underworld
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236:. London: Sterling Publishing Company, Inc., 2005. (pg. 618)
183:. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1999. (pg. 113)
203:. Chicago: University Of Chicago Press, 2008. (pg. 227)
305:. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001. (pg. 19)
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requested that he be extradited to the United States.
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Players: Con Men, Hustlers, Gamblers and Scam
Artists
325:. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press, 2002. (pg. 131)
223:. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1943. (pg. 156)
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351:. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1928. (pg. 176-179)
285:. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1936. (pg. 233)
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417:. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1938.
303:Chicago: City on the Make: City on the Make
151:Waddell eventually moved his operations to
201:On the Make: The Hustle of Urban Nightlife
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367:"Inquiry in Waddell's Case Finished".
155:, France, working in partnership with
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321:Hyde, Stephen and Geno Zanetti, ed.
253:Cohen, Gabriel (November 27, 2005).
16:American confidence man and swindler
131:. Although raised in a respectable
380:"Tom" O'Brien's Trial Postponed".
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441:People from Springfield, Illinois
161:United States Department of State
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476:American people murdered abroad
221:The Growth of the United States
181:The Rise of the City, 1878-1898
456:American confidence tricksters
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481:Burials at Oak Ridge Cemetery
135:family, he became known as a
107:, before his murder by noted
446:Criminals from New York City
461:Deaths by firearm in France
179:Schlesinger, Arthur Meier.
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471:People murdered in Paris
486:1895 murders in France
219:Harlow, Ralph Volney.
255:"For You, Half Price"
142:U.S. Assayer's Office
127:, shortly before the
125:Springfield, Illinois
40:Springfield, Illinois
123:Waddell was born in
66:Cause of death
466:Murdered criminals
133:upper-middle-class
129:American Civil War
451:American gamblers
413:Asbury, Herbert.
232:Green, Jonathon.
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264:February 9,
157:Tom O'Brien
137:high-stakes
113:Tom O'Brien
98:goldbricker
79:Kid Waddell
425:Categories
167:References
119:Biography
115:in 1895.
111:artist
70:Gunshot
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109:bunco
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48:Died
29:Born
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