Samuel Bennett died on September 21, 1853, in Shreveport, Louisiana. Ironically, even though he was well known as a con artist, someone was always sure they could beat the crafty conman, only to walk away without their money. Bennett would feign reluctance, in the end, he would show his “skills” to the other passengers. Inevitably, his name was so associated with the game that curious passengers on the riverboats would often ask him to demonstrate it. Bennett claimed that he had been playing the game since he was a boy, and as an adult, he was so proficient at it that he soon earned the nicknames of “the King of the Thimbles” and “the Napoleon of the Thimble-Riggers.”īennett made his living at the thimble ruse and other con games so proficiently that in the early 1840s, stringent laws were passed in several states that specifically prohibited the game. “Dr.” Samuel Bennett, from Shreveport, Louisiana, was one of the best-known “thimble artists” to ever cruise the Mississippi River.īennett was born in New Hampshire on January 1, 1791, and grew up to work as a fur trader, merchant, and tavern keeper, before making a name for himself as a “thimble artist.” Bennett was never actually a physician, but somewhere along the line, he acquired the honorific title of “Dr.”Ī variation on the “shell game,” Bennett’s con game was played with three thimbles and a tiny paper ball.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |