Let the Buyer Beware Marker

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Denver in Denver County, Colorado — The American Mountains (Southwest)

Let the Buyer Beware
Wall Street of the Rockies
— Seventeeth Street - Seventeenth Street. Denver, Colorado —

Let the Buyer Beware Marker Photo, Click for full size

By Jeff Smith, circa July 8, 2010

1. Let the Buyer Beware Marker

Inscription. In the 1880s and 1890s Denver was the nation's headquarters for "con" men, a dubious honor that it maintained into the early years of the 20th century.

The most famous con man was "Soapy" Smith who sold $5.00 bars of soap from 17th Street, claiming that some had one hundred dollar bills inside the wrappers. (Marker Number 17.)

Location. 39° 45′ N, 104° 59.771′ W. Marker is in Denver, Colorado, in Denver County. Marker can be reached from the intersection of 17th Street and Larimer Street, on the right when traveling south. Click for map. Marker is in this post office area: Denver CO 80202, United States of America.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker. Clark and Gruber Mint (about 600 feet away, in a direct line); Larimer Street (approx. 0.2 miles away); Constitution Hall (approx. 0.2 miles away); Sugar Building 1906 (approx. 0.2 miles away); Oxford Hotel and Annex (approx. 0.2 miles away); Henry Lee Building - 1907 (approx. ¼ mile away); Wall Street of the Rockies (approx. ¼ mile away); Union Station Area (approx. 0.3 miles away). Click for a list of all markers in Denver.

More about this marker. The marker is 18" diameter and embedded into the cement sidewalk near the street curb.

Also see . . . Alias Soapy Smith. This is the official website for the Soapy Smith Preservation Trust and home of the Friends of Bad Man Soapy Smith. It is maintained by the Smith family descendants of Jefferson Randolph "Soapy" Smith. Our goal, through research and publication, is to reveal and preserve Soapy as an important historical figure of the late nineteenth-century American West. His story is a fascinating study in crime and the frailties of human nature. (Submitted on February 5, 2012.)

Additional keywords. crime, old west, gambler

Credits. This page originally submitted on February 3, 2012, by Jeff Smith of Corona, California. This page has been viewed 212 times since then. Photo 1. submitted on February 3, 2012, by Jeff Smith of Corona, California. • Syd Whittle was the editor who published this page.

Editor’s want-list for this marker. Wide area view of the marker and its surroundings. • Can you help?