Men of No Reputation: Robert Boatwright, the Buckfoot Gang, and the Fleecing of Middle America

Swindler. Murderer. Scoundrel. Robert Boatright was one of Middle America’s greatest confidence men. Although little remembered today his story provides a rare glimpse into America’s criminal past. Working in concert with a local bank and an influential Democratic boss “this dean of modern confidence men” and his colorful confederacy of con men known as the Buckfoot Gang seemed untouchable. A series of missteps however led to a string of court cases across the country that brought Boatright’s own criminal enterprise to an end. And yet the con continued: Boatright’s successor John C. Mabray and his cronies many of whom had been in the Buckfoot Gang preyed upon victims across North America in one of the largest midwestern criminal syndicates in history before they were brought to heel.

Author Kimberly Harper discusses how Boatright’s story exposes a rift in the wholesome midwestern stereotype and furthers our understanding of 19th- and 20th-century American society.

Host or Publisher Missouri State Archives