I guess I've always just assumed that "sold" meant "cheated," "stung," "rooked," "taken advantage of," "burned," "conned," "fleeced," etc. Partridge (A Dictionary of the Underworld, British and American) has only "sold down the river" and "sold out," but under "sell" he has "to sell a man is to betray him, by giving information against him, or otherwise to injure him clandestinely for the sake of interest... A man who falls a victim to any treachery of this kind, is said to have been sold like a bullock in Smithfield, J. H. Vaux, 1812."

Look at the text of "Dreary Black Hills" in the DT, Kat. You'll see the term "sell" used to suggest a con game or a dishonest hustle, at least. It's in about the fourth of fifth verse.

Sandy