By all accounts, the bulk of the suckers were greenhorns, fresh off the boat. Swindlers used to approach the stewards of international vessels docked at Ellis Island and pay them for information about passengers who might have money and be interested in buying property. "They didn't understand the country," Mr. Nash said of this population. "They didn't understand the law. But they understood that this was supposed to be the land of opportunity."

When it comes to victims and victimizers, perhaps the humorist Will Rogers deserves the last word. "They may call me a 'rube' and a 'hick,' " he said. "But I'd a lot rather be the man who bought the Brooklyn Bridge than the man who sold it."

Maybe in the sense that we would be willingly taken in by one Mr. Kaufman for our own entertainment, this might not make us Rubes... but maybe each of us is just a little bit Ruby.