Skip to main content

Scoundrels

Recognition is given to certain historical individuals or groups that used silver as money for questionable purposes or who used or managed silver or silver projects in illegal manners.

Juana Barraza photo

Juana Barraza

Scoundrels
Mexico
Date of Birth: Dec 27, 1957

Juana Dayanara Barraza Samperio is a Mexican serial killer known as "La Mataviejitas" (The Little Old Lady Killer). She was sentenced to 759 years in prison for the killing of 16 elderly women. Sentences imposed in Mexican courts are generally served concurrently, but the maximum sentence under...

Read More »

Nordahl photo photo

Blane David Nordahl

Scoundrels
United States
Date of Birth: 1962

Burglar to the Stars

Blane Nordahl is a unique American cat burglar - a person who is adept at entering and leaving the burglarized place without attracting notice. He became a specialized cat burglar, a Silver Cat Burglar. His burglaries focussed on items that were valuable including a stein...

Read More »

Judas Iscariot no photo available

Judas Iscariot

Scoundrels
Date of Birth: - — 33

The thirty pieces of silver that Judas received for betraying Jesus have become a symbol of greed and betrayal. According to the Gospel of Matthew, Judas agreed to betray Jesus for this sum of money, which was equivalent to the price of an enslaved person at that time. Some scholars believe this...

Read More »

William Morris Stewart photo

William Morris Stewart

Scoundrels
United States
Date of Birth: 1827 — 1909

William Morris Stewart (August 9, 1827 – April 23, 1909) was an American lawyer and politician. In 1964, he was inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.

Personal

Stewart was born in Wayne County, New York, on August 9, 1825. As a child he...

Read More »

Peder Olofsson no photo available

Peder Olofsson

Scoundrels
Sweden
Date of Birth: 17th C

The Nasa (Nasafjäll) silver mine (Swedish: Nasa silvergruva), located on Nasa Mountain on the border between Sweden and Norway, was used for mining silver, mainly from 1635 to 1659 and from 1770 to 1810. Smelting occurred during the first period (1635-1659) at Skellefteälven; during the second...

Read More »

Hunt Brothers -  Nelson, Lamar & William Hunt no photo available

Hunt Brothers - Nelson, Lamar & William Hunt

Scoundrels
United States
Date of Birth: 1926 — 2014

Silver Thursday was an event that occurred in the United States silver commodity markets on Thursday, March 27, 1980, following the attempt by brothers Nelson Bunker Hunt, William Herbert Hunt and Lamar Hunt to corner the silver market. A subsequent steep fall in silver prices led to panic on...

Read More »

Henry Comstock photo

Henry Comstock

Scoundrels
Canada
Date of Birth: 1820 — 1870

Henry Tompkins (or Thomas) Paige Comstock (1820–1870) was an Canadian miner after whom the Comstock Lode in Virginia City, Nevada was named. The Comstock Lode was the richest silver mine in American history.

Referred to by history books variously as a "sanctimonious gaffer", an "illiterate...

Read More »