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.

Upon her approach, her sister, a large masculine woman, fired at the monster, and put a ball through his head; but such is the abstract ferocity of these animals that he did not let go his hold, until her daughter had put a rifle ball through him, and her sister shot him in the head with her pistol, when he relinquished his hold and fell to the ground, where he yelled and rolled about till a man finished him with an axe. The poor woman fainted and fell from loss of blood. She has borne into the house, and her wounds were carefully dressed; but it was several months before she was able to attend to her ordinary occupation.
Davy Crockett's Almanack, 1838 Vol 1. No. 4.


