The "sawdust game," was a confidence scam that only swindled those who deserved to be swindled.
The term “bunco” has come to mean to any type of swindle, but in the 19th century it usually referred to a confidence game involving crooked gambling.
The Audacity of a Professional Thief.

Suggestions for an evening costume. [more]
“The respectable citizens of Chicago are making an effort to rescue the city from the control of the disorderly classes. It is doubtless to-day the worst governed of the large cities in the country, and the effort to rescue it from those who have disgraced its name has been none too soon.” - N. Y. Tribune.
Quoted in Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, March 31, 1883.



