Soapy Smith gambling house. Legend has it that above the entrance of the stairway leading upstairs to the gambling games was a sign that read "caveat emptor", Latin for "let the buyer beware". Smith's younger brother, Bascomb Smith, joined the gang and operated a cigar store that was a front for dishonest poker games and other swindles, operating in one of the back rooms. Other operations included fraudulent lottery shops, a "sure-thing" stock exchange, fake watch and bogus diamond auctions, and the sale of stocks in nonexistent businesses. Because of bribes, some of the police officers patrolling the streets would not arrest
Beware (film) Beware (film) Beware (1946) is an American race film directed by Bud Pollard, and released by Astor Pictures. The film is also known as Beware! (American poster title). Ware College is a small Black college in Ware, Ohio. Once prominent, it is now low in attendance, low in enrollment, and low on money. At a meeting with instructors Drury and Annabelle Brown, Dean Hargreaves reveals that CEO Benjamin Ware III, grandson of the college's founder, claims the estate of his late grandfather is now also destitute, which they believe is untrue and a result of Annabelle's having spurned his affections.