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August 24, 2022, marks the 100th anniversary of Philip Van Cise’s roundup of Denver’s Million-Dollar bunco ring, which marked the end of Lou Blonger’s criminal empire. It’s a date we’ve been anticipating for so many years that it almost slipped by without noticing. Luckily, some important news jolted us into action. Colorado journalist Alan Prendergast, […]

We’ve spilled a lot of ink over the years trying to determine the true identity of this woman known as Kitty Blonger. Was this prostitute, who informally took the Blonger name as a hooker in their employ during the early 1880s, also Sam’s second wife Sadie Wilson from the early 1890s? Both women appear to […]

If you are intrigued by the idea of getting a pretty succinct overview of the Blonger story in audio form, please check out a new podcast episode in the Criminal Records series: Criminal Records Podcast: Lou Blonger (libsyn.com) “In a follow-up to our episode about one very slick criminal, we’re taking listeners through a tour […]

As you may know, Blonger Day also includes the ritual “airing of grievances” – no, sorry, that’s Festivus – rather, it includes a recounting of the past year’s events (as bountiful or scanty as they may be), not to mention a peak at the year to come. The Mark Inside In April, author Amy Reading […]

Nine years ago today, April 22, 2003, I walked into my office at work with an idea. The previous night I had discovered that my great-great-grandfather’s long-lost brothers had apparently used the surname “Blonger” instead of the family spelling “Belonger”. Using that clue, I’d also been able to find them in census records in several […]