The Soapy Smith Wake 2013

THE SOAPY SMITH WAKE(S)

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uly 8, 1898 is the date of demise for Jefferson Randolph "Soapy" Smith. Of all events to remember, it is this day of death that family descendants gather together to toast the life and history of this amazing nineteenth century confidence man.

It all started in 1977 when members of the Smith family, including Jeff, his brother and parents, visited Skagway, Alaska. With the cast of the Day's of '98 Show we created the first Soapy Smith wake. It has been called a "wake" ever since. With Jeff's assistance, the Magic Castle started up their own annual event in 2003, but they prefer to call it "Soapy Smith Night." On this website and with the Smith family it will always be known by its original namesake, the Soapy Smith Wake.

There are currently five "wakes" held annually within the United States,

1. Eagles Hall, Skagway, Alaska. 
2. Magic Castle, Hollywood, California. 
3. The Tivoli Club (a reproduction of Soapy's saloon in Denver, Colorado), Whitehorse Ranch movie lot, Landers, California. 
4. The Wizard's Club, Chicago, Illinois. 
5. The Lumber Baron Inn, Denver, Colorado.

For more information please visit my main website "wake" page here.













Key word search: wake

"Whenever men like you need to win, they turn to men like me."

— “Nuckey” Thompson, Boardwalk Empire.

JUNE 8

1786: Commercial ice cream is manufactured for the first time in New York City.

1790: The first loan for the U.S. is repaid. The Temporary Loan of 1789 is negotiated and secured on September 18, 1789 by Alexander Hamilton.

1861: Tennessee votes to secede from the Union and join the Confederacy during the Civil War.

1867: Indians fight the 7th Cavalry in Chalk Bluffs, Kansas.

1869: Ives McGaffey receives a patent for the vacuum cleaner.

1872: The penny postcard is authorized by Congress.

1874: Chiricahua Apache Indian Chief Cochise, age 62, dies of natural causes on an Arizona reservation.

1878: Billy the Kid signs an affidavit against the Seven Rivers Gang in the murder of Frank McNab, New Mexico.

1885: Three guards protecting a supply train are killed by Indians in Guadeloupe Canyon Sonora, Mexico.

1890: Unknown outlaws stop a Northern Pacific train in New Salem, North Dakota only to find the safe is empty.

1892: Robert Newton Ford, killer of outlaw Jesse James, is shot and killed inside his tent saloon by Edward Capehart O’Kelley in Creede, Colorado.

1904: U.S. Marines land in Tangiers, Morocco to protect U.S. citizens.

Soapy Smith in 3D

My new stereoviewer and a facsimile
of the Soapy Smith stereocard

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fter page 160, in the first of four photograph sections of my book, is an important but grainy copy of a stereoview card taken in Leadville, Colorado on July 21, 1880. In the photograph is Soapy Smith and a partner of his. Also in the photograph is a very blurry ex-President Grant mounted on a horse riding horizontally in the picture, as if going from side-to-side in the street to greet the townspeople.



Recently, I purchased an antique 1901 Underwood and Underwood stereoviewer so that I could finally see the picture in it's 3-D glory, as it was intended to be viewed. Naturally, I wanted to post my find here, but did not think I could reproduce the 3D effect.

Looking through the stereoviewer lens

I even took a picture through one lens of the stereoviewer, obviously knowing it would be nothing more than an interesting still.

Then I remembered a website online where there was a collection of stereoview cards were made to look as if they were in 3D by using Photoshop to quickly bounce back and forth between the two images. The brain overlays the images and presto, we have a 3D image from the past. Well, it wasn't "presto" for me. It took about four hours to figure out how to use my animation program that is part of my Photoshop, but I was successful!

I am proud to present, Soapy Smith in 3D

Looking at the photograph, there are two 

men standing just behind the two wagons. 

The one on the left is Soapy Smith

Leadville
April 4, 2011

Leadville: pages 10, 36-37, 75, 77-78, 116, 123, 134-35, 144, 152, 176, 189, 192, 219, 225, 292, 297, 347, 349, 420, 509, 594.

"Colorado papers continue to tell about “Soapy” Smith’s good qualities. This is nothing but soft soapy."

— The Salt Lake Herald, August 3, 1898

OCTOBER 9

1539: Hernando De Soto claims Florida for Spain.

1621: The Dutch West India Company receives a charter for New Netherlands (now known as New York).

1784: The U.S. Congress formally creates the U.S. Army to replace the disbanded Continental Army. On June 14, 1775, the Second Continental Congress had created the Continental Army for purposes of common defense and this event is considered to be the birth of the United States Army.

1800: John Adams moves to Washington D.C. He is the first president to live in the capitol.

1805: A peace treaty between the U.S. and Tripoli is signed in the captain's cabin on board the USS Constitution.

1851: The New York Knickerbockers become the first baseball team to wear uniforms.

1856: Cullen Whipple patents the screw machine.

1860: the Great Comanche Tornado named after a town that it completely destroyed in Iowa, on the Mississippi River, kills more than 175 people between Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Lake Michigan.

1871: The Obocock Bank in Corydon, Iowa is robbed of $15,000 to $45,000 in gold and bills by 24-year-old Jesse James and others. 

1873: A drunken soldier in a Delano, Kansas dancehall shoots Emma Stanley, a dancer, in the leg. Edward “Red Beard” Beard, the proprietor, rushes a group of soldiers in his place, firing a pistol hitting one soldier in the throat and another in the leg. Two nights’ later some 30 soldiers invade Beard's place shooting and wounding gambler Charles Leshhart and another dance hall maiden. The soldiers then burn the dance hall to the ground.

1874: Bessie and Sallie Earp are arrested for opening a house of ill repute in Wichita, Kansas.

1887: William Moore locates the White Pass Trail near the future town of Skagway.

1888: The poem, Casey at the Bat by Ernest Thayer is published.

1895: James Musgrove, sheriff of the Cooweescoowee District (present day Rogers County) of the Cherokee Nation is shot and killed by "Frog" Davis, a cattle thief, in Catoosa, Oklahoma. Musgrove and Deputy J. Flippin approached Davis’ house to arrest him, but Davis was hiding in an outhouse and began firing at the lawmen hitting Musgrove in the abdomen. Davis escaped and Musgrove died shortly thereafter. The following week Davis was arrested near Tulsa, Oklahoma where he was tried and convicted for the murder.

1895: Two brothers, Bob and Bill Christian, and Jim Casey, escape from the Oklahoma County Jail in Oklahoma City. The brothers were being held for the murder of Pottawatomie County Deputy Sheriff Will Turner. Casey was being held for the murder of Canadian County Deputy sheriff Sam Farris. Chief of Police John Milton Jones, and Officer G. Jackson confronted the escapees at Grand and Broadway. A gunfight broke out during which Chief Jones and Jim Casey were killed. The Christian brothers escaped.

1898: The San Francisco Call publishes a story in which volunteers of Soapy Smith’s private army, the Skaguay Military Company are robbed by a fake doctor.

The prize package envelope sell racket

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he more things change, the more they stay the same. This old saying is especially true with human nature, which has not changed in a thousand years. The same old swindles Soapy Smith and his Soap Gang used to dupe the unwary with, are nearly as good today as they were 125-years ago. One might think that Soapy's prize package soap sell racket, in which he pretended to wrap money into a few packages of soap and auctioned them off one at a time, after mixing in wrapped cakes of soap containing no money. Rather than standing on a busy street corner as Soapy did in his day, the sharpers of today use technology to their advantage. I found four examples on eBay searching under the key words, "mystery envelope," and I'm certain I could find many more varieties of the same scam searching under different key words. The difference between Soapy and today's cons is that they are using envelops rather than soap bars.

The photograph at the top of this post is located on eBay here. Following is the schtick used in that "sale."

That's right ladies and gentleman you are bidding on a mystery envelope This envelope is guaranteed to have an item inside it valued at least $5.00 USD. Could it be a rookie baseball card? a wrist watch? a joke book? a celebrity autograph? a gift card? a knife? Glassware? A Video Game? CASH????? Who ever wins the auction just message me what number of Envelope you wish to purchase. And if you happen to win a prize I will mail the prize first class Mail or if you happen to win Cash I will issue the cash by Paypal. Thanks and Best of luck. Buy it and find out! any questions please ask SHIPPING INFORMATION: Please contact me with any issues you have before leaving negative feedback. I am sure we can find a solution that would be acceptable for both parties. I offer shipping discounts on multiple item purchases. The buyer must notify the seller after the first item has ended that they have additional items they are bidding on for the discount to apply. I ship 1 day after payment has cleared. Shipping charges are based on U.S. delivery. No international shipping of fixed blade knives. Please remit payment within 3 days of auction close. If you have any questions or concerns regarding your purchase, please don't hesitate to email or contact me. Thank you for your interest.

Trust me, you won't get anything of equal value of what you pay.





P.S. I sent the seller a link to this post to see if he/she cares to give their opinion. They are more than welcome to leave a comment below.

Oh! You can see me…. By the dawn’s early light; With red rings ‘round my eyes from gambling all night.

Victories – so proudly they hailed from the twilights first gleaming. Gave proof through the night, the “House” gave me a “creaming.”

— Postcard poem

MAR 30

1539: Spanish explorer, Hernando de Soto lands in Florida with 600 soldiers to search for gold.
1783: The Pennsylvania Evening Post, the first daily newspaper in the U.S., is published by Benjamin Towner.

1848: W. G. Young patents the ice cream freezer.

1854: The U.S. territories of Nebraska and Kansas are established.

1865: The first recorded celebration of (later called Memorial Day) takes place.

1868: Decoration Day officially becomes Memorial Day (see “1865”).

1879: William Vanderbilt renames New York City's Gilmore’s Garden to Madison Square Garden.

1883: Twelve people in New York City are killed attempting to get off the Brooklyn Bridge when it was rumored that it was collapsing.

1883: Soapy Smith purchases a street vendors license to sell his prize package soap in Washington City, Iowa.

1889: The brassiere is invented.

1896: The first automobile accident occurres in New York City.

1903: the first motorcycle hill climb is held in Riverdale, New York.

1911: Ray Harroun wins the first Indianapolis Sweepstakes. The 500-mile auto race is later named the Indianapolis 500. Harroun's average speed was 74.6 miles per hour.

Soapy Smith Parlor museum restoration, Martin Itjen bus, part 22

"Martin Itjen" (Douglas Smith) and NPS Ranger Kari Rain
with Skaguay Alaska Street Car

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estoration of Jeff Smith's Parlor continues through the summer months. It was advertised in Skagway and on the Facebook page for the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park that they would be bringing Martin Itjen's only remaining "street car" out of storage to parade it (very slowly) around town (May 16, 2013) for a good last look before it goes in for restoration. This may be the last time it is seen on the street before it is placed on permanent display next to the Parlor.

Tour guide, Douglas Smith, went along with the "parade" portraying 'ole Martin Itjen himself. I would have loved to have been there but I was lucky enough to be a passenger in the "street car" in 1977 when George Rapuzzi drove my family in the July 4 parade.

Numerous photographs were taken that day, and many can be seen on my Facebook page.

Also, in this post, is the first look of the newly restored Parlor front. It is not to 1898 specifications as that front was changed in the early teens. What is seen today is the front as Martin Itjen made it. Note the "Jeff. Smith's Parlor." sign. There are two periods, one after "Jeff" and one after "Parlor." These are periods showing abbreviation. "Jeff." is the abbreviation for "Jefferson," and "Parlor." is the abbreviation for "Parlors," clearly indication Soapy had other parlors (saloons). One on-going problem I have is writing the name of his saloon properly. To do so, I have to write Jeff. Smith's Parlor. which certainly can confuse readers who see them as periods, stopping a sentence, rather than as periods, indicating abbreviations. I have decided to publish the name as "Jeff Smith's Parlor" to alleviate that possible confusion, even though it is not historically correct.   

__________

ALIAS SOAPY SMITH
BOOK SALE

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Link to purchase
__________

Jeff. Smith's Parlor museum restoration

February 4, 2009 (Part 1)
February 19, 2009 (Part 2)  
March 31, 2010 (Part 3)  
August 7, 2010 (Part 4) 
February 11, 2011 (Part 5) 
April 5, 2011 (Part 6)
May 8, 2011 (Part 7)
May 17, 2011 (Part 8)
November 20, 2011 (Part 9)
March 21, 2012 (Part 10)
March 30, 2012 (Part 11)
June 20, 2012 (Part 12)
August 8, 2012 (Part 13)
August 29, 2012 (Part 14)
September 1, 2012 (Part 15)
September 26, 2012 (Part 16)
October 4, 2012 (Part 17)
December 6, 2012 (Part 18)
December 16, 2012 (Part 19)
March 11, 2013 (Part 20)
May 6, 2013 (Part 21)

"Jeff Smith's Parlor had his name in large letters across the front facade of the building. This was Soapy's personal podium, the place where he stood at the bar at shined as the "respected businessman, law abiding citizen, and patriot." I guess you could say that the false front extended into the inside of the Parlor as well. Old timers referred to the Parlor as 'the real city hall.'"

―Jeff Smith

MAY 27

1647: Achsah Young, of Windsor, Connecticut is executed for being a "witch." It was the first recorded execution of a "witch" in the colonies.

1668: Three colonists are expelled from Massachusetts for being Baptists.

1813: Americans capture Fort George in Canada.

1837: Famed lawman and gambler, James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok is born in Troy Grove, Illinois.

1870: It is reported that the Indians who had attacked a Kansas Pacific construction crew new Kit Carson, Colorado Territory on May 13, 1870, crossed the Union Pacific tracks at Antelope, Wyoming Territory, with four cavalry companies in pursuit.

1873: Members of the outlaw James-Younger Gang rob the St. Genevive, Missouri Bank of $4,100.

1892: Soapy Smith advertises McGinty, the petrified man, in Denver, Colorado. A surviving photograph shows it is displayed in one of his auction houses.

1896: 255 people are killed in St. Louis, Missouri by a tornado.

1898: The White Pass & Yukon Railway Company arrives in Skagway, Alaska, in force to begin construction.

1901: The Edison Storage Battery Company is organized.

1907: The Bubonic Plague breaks out in San Francisco, California.

Book Review: “Lady Justice and the Cruise Ship Murders”

Robert Thornhill at Soapy's grave

hat if Soapy Smith hid the poke of gold his men stole from Klondike miner, John Douglas Stewart? What if it was never recovered after Soapy was killed and no one but one poet gang member knew where it was hidden? What if a modern day researcher figured out where the gold was hidden and wanted to see that Stewart's descendants were the ones to uncover it? Stewart's approximately 159 ounces of gold would be worth about $221,437.71 today, which is enough for many unscrupulous humans to consider robbing and even murder to obtain that gold.

Lady Justice and the Cruise Ship Murders by Robert Thornhill is Episode #11 of the Lady Justice series, an ongoing collection of comedy/mystery stories spawned in the creative mind of the author.

There you have the fast-paced, nail-biting, action-packed mystery that will interest Soapy Smith fans and "have you on the edge of your seat one minute and laughing out loud the next." An easy read, with interweaving story lines that do not confuse the reader or interrupt the story. Mystery, comedy, Alaskan history and explanatory photographs.

Book cover

A couple, Ox and Judy, are on a honeymoon cruise with tag-along friends, Walt and Maggie, when two other passengers are murdered. The murders are linked to a the secret meeting between John Stewart's descendants and an author who believes he knows where the gold is hidden. The Stewarts' were the intended murder victims but a change of their room aboard the ship saved their lives. Once the crooks realized they murdered the wrong couple the race was on to murder the right couple before they reached Skagway, Alaska and the gold. The Stewarts' with the help of their new found friends, who thankfully are peace officers, spend the rest of the cruise eluding the modern day thieves intent on possessing the gold at any cost.

I own a signed copy that now resides proudly along with Soapy Smith collection of books.

Lady Justice and the Cruise Ship Murders
http://booksbybob.com/
Paperback
Number of pages: 240
Publish date: October 18, 2012
Publisher: Createspace
ISBN: 1480130559 (ISBN13: 9781480130555)

"Thou shall not kill…without a good alibi."

— Keith C. Cobb, Exceptions to the Rules.

MAY 26

1647: A law bans Catholic priests from the colony of Massachusetts.

1736: The British and Chickasaw Indians defeat the French at the Battle of Ackia.

1835: A resolution is passed in Congress stating that they have no authority over state slavery laws.

1836: The House of Representatives adopt what has been called the “gag rule.”

1853: Famed gunman John Wesley Hardin is born in Bonham, Texas.

1863: Miners led by Bill Fairweather discover gold in Alder Gulch, Idaho Territory, later renamed Virginia City.

1864: Montana Territory is created from a part of Idaho Territory.

1865: Arrangements are made in New Orleans for the surrender of Confederate forces west of the Mississippi.

1868: President Andrew Johnson is acquitted, by one vote, of all charges in his impeachment trial.

1874: While celebrating his 21st birthday, John Wesley Hardin shoots and kills Comanche County Deputy Sheriff Charles Webb in Comanche, Texas. Inside a saloon Webb aimed his gun at Hardin but Bud Dixon, shouted a warning to Hardin who turned about and fired his own gun. Webb wounded Hardin in the side, before receiving a bullet to the head.

1883: Soapy purchases a street vendors license in Nebraska City, Nebraska to sell his prize package soap.

1888: Recently discharged doorman of the U.S. House of Representatives and the man who shot John Wilkes Booth, Boston Corbett, escapes from the insane asylum in Topeka, Kansas, where he has resided for the last 15 months.

1893: Bill Doolin and his outlaw gang rob a train near Cimarron, Kansas.

1896: The Dow Jones Industrial Average appears for the first time in the Wall Street Journal.

1900: Harvey Logan, and Will Carver, of the outlaw Wild Bunch gang, ambush and kill Sheriff Jesse Tyler and cattleman Sam Jenkins 40 miles from Thompson Springs, Utah.

That Fiend in Hell: On good and not-so-good comments.

Add caption

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 difference is apparent between the book review comments made by those who have not researched Soapy Smith and those who have.

Cathy Spude's website contains seven comments about That Fiend in Hell by various writers, researchers, and publishers. Of these, only William H. Hunt is known to have published anything about Soapy Smith in Alaska (Chapter 5, "Vigilantes," Distant Justice: Policing the Alaskan Frontier, 1987). Unfortunately, Hunt's 16-page chapter contains the common, erroneous information put forth by previous authors who were willing to pass along hearsay and fiction about Soapy Smith. My aim in addressing this matter is not to belittle those who have written so glowingly of Cathy Spude's book but to point out that these writers have not been serious researchers about the life of Soapy Smith and his immediate environment. For this reason, their glowing comments about That Fiend in Hell tend more toward friendly flattery than authoritative comment.

The exception is William H. Hunt. He points to himself as one who made errors in representation and who learned from Cathy Spude's book. Subsequently he also read my biography and wrote that he appreciated my research and its presentation (see comment, top right column).

A contrast to the statements addressed above about That Fiend in Hell comes from M. J. Kirchoff, twice named Alaska Historian of the Year and author of the new book Dyea, Alaska. It appears in Skagway Stories, a blog devoted to the history and people of Skagway, Alaska. Provided below is this blog post in full, with Mr. Kirchoff's "comment" emphasized.

Yesterday I attended a lecture at the National Park Service by M. J. Kirchhoff on violence on the trails and the Soapy story. There was also a critical review of Spude’s book which many agreed had many false assumptions and mistakes. Mark agreed that Jeff Smith’s book on Soapy is a very good reference for students and historians.

Mark’s new book is called Dyea, Alaska: The Rise and Fall of a Klondike Gold Rush Town, printed in 2012 and available at the Skagway News Depot in Skagway. I leafed through it and was amazed at the incredible collection of historic photos of Dyea that have never been published before. Also at their clarity and good descriptions. Here is Michael Gates description: 'Kirchhoff is a widely respected historian whose previous works include an excellent biography of Jack Dalton as well as Clondyke: The First Year of the Rush… Kirchhoff tackles the overlooked aspects of Alaska and Yukon history and fills in the gaps in our understanding of the North…. Kirchhoff’s book charts the rapid decline of Dyea, and offers an explanation for the eventual death of this once bustling community, but you will have to read the book to learn the answer....

All writers and researchers appreciate friendly comments about their work and tend to publish them in promotions. Sometimes, though, the comments seem not so friendly, and the best of these are the ones that point out the good and the not so good, such as mistakes or perceived failings. When only the comments of those less than fully qualified are presented, all highly flattering, the effect tends more toward puffery than honest comment. In the pursuit of truth, good can come from comments that also find fault. They help to adjust a work and make better work possible.

I guess it all boils down to this: when a work is published, its life is not over. It keeps on living the life that has been given it by its creator. Glowing comments from those not so qualified to evaluate do not establish or preserve the quality of a work. Only its ability to present truths that last over time can do that.

"Lawlessness was rampant, but it did not touch us. The thugs lay in wait for the men with pokes from the “inside.” To the great Cheechako army, they gave little heed. They were captained by one Smith, known as “Soapy,” whom I had the fortune to meet. He was a pleasant-appearing, man, and no one would have taken him for a desperado, a killer of men."

— Robert Service, The Trail of ’98

MAY 25

1787: The Constitutional convention opens in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1844: The gasoline engine is patented by Stuart Perry.

1844: The first telegraphed news dispatch, sent from Washington, D.C., to Baltimore, Maryland appears in the Baltimore Patriot.

1858: The first shipload of gold miners from California arrives in Victoria, British Columbia.

1865: Ten woodcutters from the steamboat Cutter on the Maruias River, Montana Territory are killed by Indians.

1869: Six settlers are killed by Indians in Jewell County, Kansas.

1883: Bad man, Harris Austin, shoots and kills Thomas Elliott for stealing whiskey in the Chickasaw Nation (present day Oklahoma). Austin escapes and remains at large until Deputy Marshal Carr tracked him down in April 1889. He was hung in Fort Smith, Arkansas on January 16, 1890.

1895: James Lee publishes Gold in America: A Practical Manual.

Soapy Smith's grave marker stolen, 1908

Soapy Smith's final resting place
The first of five grave markers
placed over the grave
(courtesy of  Dickey Family Collection)

arl Gurcke published a post entitled, A Very Brief History of Skagway Tourism, on Golden Nuggets, the official blog for the Klondike gold rush National Historic Park. It is a brief history of Skagway tourism.

Included in the story is the contents of the newspaper article which most likely explains what happened to the first marker on Soapy Smith's grave, and the date it went missing. 

The following is from The Daily Alaskan, July 20, 1908

The headstone over the grave of "Soapy" Smith has been carried away—stolen. Jack Keller visited the grave yesterday and only a hole in the ground remained where he had seen the headstone at a visit on Wednesday last... The head piece was a simple wooden slab bearing the inscription: Jefferson R. Smith, aged 38. Died July 8, 1898. The grave is at the south edge of the Skagway burying ground and is largely overgrown with shrubbery. There has been a constant stream of visitors to the place all spring and summer evidencing the interest felt in the outlaw and the tragedy of his taking off. That there should be a vandal so foolish as to steal a gravestone that could not be shown to another without stamping the owner as a ghoulish vandal—that is to say thief—is one of the queer things we hear of as we travel the trail.

The marker was stolen sometime between July 15-20, 1908. Key to the story is that the marker removal left a hole (left there when pulling the marker out of the ground).  The second grave marker (in my possession) is very roughly broken up along the bottom, meaning that it did not come out of the ground very easily. I am betting the bottom portion of the 2nd marker was left in the ground, not leaving "a hole" as the one reported in the newspaper article did. It is possible that the marker still exists, somewhere in someone's private collection, probably by a collector who has no idea who Jefferson Randolph Smith is.

All of Soapy's grave markers, and their known histories can be viewed on the main website (which is currently being revamped) here.

Soapy Smith's grave markersNovember 21, 2008
June 20, 2009
September 3, 2009
May 21, 2011
May 28, 2011
May 6, 2012
October 9, 2012
March 6, 2013

"There are four kinds of Homicide: felonious,
excusable, justifiable, and praiseworthy."

—— Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914)

MAY 23

1785: Benjamin Franklin writes in a letter that he has invented bifocals.

1788: South Carolina becomes the eighth state to ratify U.S. Constitution.

1827: The first nursery school in the U.S. is established in New York City.

1846: Arabella Mansfield (Belle Aurelia Babb) is born. She is the first woman in the U.S. to pass the bar exam, though she never used her law degree.

1867: The outlaw James Gang robs the Hughs and Mason Bank in Richmond, Missouri of $4,000 in gold. The town’s mayor, the jailer and his son are killed in the process as other men are broken out of jail.

1868: Kit Carson dies during an operation in Fort Lyon, Colorado Territory, at age 59.

1872: The outlaw James-Younger gang robs a bank in Genevieve, Missouri of $4,000.

1873: The Canadian Parliament in Ottawa, Ontario passes a bill creating the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP); a military police like Royal Irish Constabulary, to patrol the border and to keep peace between Indians and traders. In 1920 they are merged with the Dominion Police to form the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). During the Klondike gold Rush they did their best to keep Soapy Smith and the Soap Gang out of Canada.

1876: Boston’s Joe Borden pitches the first no-hitter in the history of the National League.

1879: The first U.S. veterinary school is established by Iowa State University.

1882: Convicted murderer, Jesse Evans, of Lincoln County War fame escapes while on a prison work exchange program and is never heard from again.

1895: The New York Public Library is created.

1900: Civil War hero Sergeant William Carney becomes the first African American to receive the Medal of Honor, 37 years after the Battle of Fort Wagner.

1901: American forces capture Filipino rebel leader Emilio Aguinaldo.