Born in Troy, Missouri, he entered the United States Military Academy in 1878, but resigned in 1881 and went into land speculation in the Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas booms.

[2] Bonfils took $250,000 of bribes from Harry Ford Sinclair to not report on the Teapot Dome scandal.

Bonfils and Tammen both justified their style of sensationalistic journalism, as well as crediting their success as newspapermen, with the quote "a dogfight on a Denver street is more important than a war in Europe.

The Post with its tabloid format, red headlines and yellow journalism was closely tied to the rise of the Tom Pendergast political machine in Kansas City.

At the time of his death, he was pursuing a libel lawsuit against the Post's competitor, the Rocky Mountain News.