Below is a list of persons who were involved in the Million-Dollar Bunco
Trial of 1923, Colorado's longest and most expensive trial to that time. It pitted Philip Van Cise, district attorney of Denver, against Lou Blonger and
a gang of confidence men who had swindled summer tourists for many years without
fear of arrest.
We are interested in hearing from anyone who has information about, or is seeking
information on, any of the persons on this list.
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Photo
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Name
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Nicknames;
Criminal Aliases; and Pseudonyms used by Van Cise in FTU
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Other Information
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THE
LAW
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DISTRICT
ATTORNEY
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Philip
S. Van Cise
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Denver
district attorney who directed the investigation and later wrote Fighting the Underworld
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SPECIAL
PROSECUTORS
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S.
Harrison White
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Former
Chief Justice of the Colorado Supreme Court, prosecuted the case (with
Riddle) after Van Cise was disqualified
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Harry
C. Riddle
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Former
district court judge, prosecuted the case (with White) after Van Cise was
disqualified
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SPECIAL COUNSEL
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Roy
O. Samson
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Van
Cise's right-hand man; agent with the U.S. Department of Justice (DP
3/6/23), resigned
to work with Van Cise throughout the investigation (p. 124); (T) Mar. 6, 1923
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ASSISTANT
DISTRICT ATTORNEY
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Kenneth
W. Robinson
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26, Van
Cise's trusted assistant; (T) Feb. 23, 1923
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DEPUTY DISTRICT ATTORNEYS
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Bernard
A. Gates
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(T) Feb. 28, 1923
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Lewis
D. Mowry
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Andrew
J. Reynolds
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Fred
W. Sanborn, Jr.
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(T) Mar. 2, 1923
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Harry N. Sales
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noted in DP 9/9/22
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??
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Bill
Brown (in FTU)
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alcoholic;
fired by Van Cise in the middle of the investigation
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PERSONAL
ATTORNEYS
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Henry
E. May
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Van
Cise's personal counsel; had lost to Van Cise in election for D.A. (p.
246)
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Charles A. Irwin
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Van
Cise's personal counsel
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Edgar McComb
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Van
Cise's personal counsel
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INVESTIGATORS
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Arch B. Cooper
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former
Kansas City policeman
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Andrew
Koehn
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former
St. Louis policeman, had worked for Tate; (T) Mar. 16-19, 1923
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Robert
R. Maiden
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R. R.
Roberts (during the investigation)
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former
Kansas City policeman; (T) Mar. 16, 1923
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Fred
M. Tate
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former
Secret Service agent, recommended by Samson
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Ben
Eager
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perhaps
a pseudonym in FTU
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installed
Dictaphone in Blonger's office, but refused to turn it on unless offered
a job as an investigator
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SECRETARIES
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May
Golin
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perhaps
a pseudonym in FTU
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Van
Cise's secretary (p. 70)
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? ?
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"Mrs.
Steno" in FTU
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transcribed
the voices heard on the Dictaphone, but sometimes not very well
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MANAGER
OF SAFETY (ex-officio SHERIFF)
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Frank
M. Downer
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not named in FTU
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FOB, reprimanded by grand jury Apr. 7, 1923
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CHIEF DEPUTY SHERIFF
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Thomas
R. Clarke
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Hal
Crane (in FTU)
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FOB, extorted gambling houses and bootlegging joints (p. 22); went to California and consorted with bunco
men (p. 89); resigned after drunken
orgy in grand jury room the night the jury began deliberating (DP
3/26/23); pall bearer at Blonger's funeral
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DEPUTY
SHERIFFS
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A.F.
(Doc) Dawson
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honest
man in sheriff's office; former city marshal of Cripple Creek (p. 88)
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Jim
Marshall
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former train robber and gambler, but reformed and supported Van Cise
(p. 89)
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J.
William Ronaldson
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COUNTY JAIL WARDEN
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Frank Kratke
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John Drake (in FTU)
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FOB, reprimanded by grand jury Apr. 7, 1923
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CHIEF
OF POLICE
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R.H. (Rugg)
Williams
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not named in FTU
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CAPTAIN OF POLICE DETECTIVES
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Dan Cronin (??)
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John Bacon (in FTU)
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FOB
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POLICE DETECTIVES
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George
Sanders
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Van Cise uses two pseudonyms in FTU, Pete Land and George Lusk,
but seems to have confused the actions of these four detectives
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FOB,
went with Clarke to California (p. 22); gave list to Duff; reprimanded by grand
jury Apr. 7, 1923; FTU says this was Land
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Harry Lane
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FOB,
implicated by Reamey as distracting victim's attention while searching for
the men who conned him (DP 3/13/23), FTU says this was Land
and Lusk (p. 265-66)
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Herbert Cole
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FOB,
implicated by Reamey as distracting victim's attention while searching for
the men who conned him (DP 3/13/23), FTU says this was Land
and Lusk (p. 265-66)
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Pete Carr
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FOB (probably), Maiden testified he saw Carr talking to Duff (DP
3/16/23). Since Van Cise's pseudonyms were fairly transparent, one
must assume he was writing about Pete Carr.
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??
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Oliver
Smith (in FTU)
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FOB, "spy" that Van Cise allowed Clarke to plant in his office
(p. 91)
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Thomas J. Lahey
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(T) Feb. 26, 1923, linked Blonger and Duff based on a conversation he had
with Duff regarding John C. Mitchell, an alleged con man
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CONSTABLE
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Ike
Goldman
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Abe
Silver (in FTU)
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FOB, extorted gambling houses and bootlegging joints and rigged juries
for misdemeanor court (p. 22), reprimanded by grand jury Apr. 7, 1923
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HEADQUARTERS
FORCE
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Cheney
Bagby
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installed telephone wires (p. 114)
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Harold
H. Healey
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Lorenzo
W. Linville
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(T) Mar. 2, 1923
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Harold
M. Webster
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STATE
RANGERS
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These men made the
arrests during the raids of August 24, 1922.
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Colonel
Patrick J. Hamrock
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head of the special force
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Captain
Orville L. Dennis
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Elmer
F. Arnbrecht
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Edward
T. Bell
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James
A. Chase
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Myron
Donald
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Thomas
Elkins
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Claude
G. Harrington
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Claude
F. Head
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William
Q. Howell
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Otis
Mathis
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Adolph
Oster
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Robert
Perry
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Charles
E. Scarbrough
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Lewis
N. Scherf
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Fred
J. Soward
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Fred
Steffan
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Robert
E. Swingle
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OTHER LAWMEN
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Thomas Lee Woolwine
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District attorney of Los Angeles; taught Van Cise how the con game worked
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William Pinkerton
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FOB, head of Pinkerton Detective Agency, met with Blonger every year in
Hot Springs, Ark.
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Leonard
DeLue
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Leon
Dean (in FTU)
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head
of a Denver detective agency; introduced Van Cise to Blonger prior to his election
(p. 14); claimed that the only two people ever convicted of a swindle in
Denver were arrested by him (DP 8/30/22); testified before grand
jury (DP 9/28/22)
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Walter J. Patterson
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(T) Mar. 14, 1923; U.S. narcotics agent
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Billy Aarons
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FOB, agent for U.S. Department of Justice (p. 122), name found in
Blonger's book (p. 205)
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THE
JUDICIARY
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DISTRICT
COURT JUDGES
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George
F. Dunklee
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presided
over the trial of the bunco men
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Charles
C. Butler
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disqualified
Van Cise from prosecuting the case; later Chief Justice of Colorado
Supreme Court
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Clarence
Morley
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not
named in FTU
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refused to reduce bonds on con men (DP 9/1/22), but stalled
on dismissing two bunco men's countersuits against Van Cise (p. 247);
later Ku
Klux Klan leader,
Governor of Colorado, 1925-27, later spent time in Leavenworth after
conviction for mail fraud
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CLERK
OF COURT
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George
McLachlan
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BAILIFFS
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Kelly
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Ramsey
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COURT
STENOGRAPHER
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Lewis
T. Reiter
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handled
entire trial: 1,400,000 words
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OTHER
OFFICIALS
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GOVERNOR OF COLORADO
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Oliver H. Shoup
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supported Van Cise's raid (p. 177)
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MAYOR OF DENVER
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Dewey
C. Bailey
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never
named in FTU,
always "the Mayor"
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FOB; derided the citizens who had funded
Van Cise's investigation
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CORONER'S
OFFICE
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William
H. Sharpley
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FOB,
in charge of summoning jurors after Frank Downer was disqualified
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Floyd
Fairhurst
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FOB
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Fred
Boyer
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FOB
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FOB stands for "Friend of Blonger," that is, someone who was not
part of the underworld but who had ties to the Blonger gang.
