The Soap Gang at McNeil Island prison.

November 8, 2010

Thanks to the McNeil Island Penitentiary records on microfilm at the National Archives I was able to find some of the members of the Soap Gang sent there after Soapy was killed. There were over 800 mugshots I had to sort through and unfortunately none were of the gang. The written records upon being received into the prison are revealing and well worth the effort. Several mysteries remain, such as what became of the prison records for John L. "Reverend" Bowers, W. E. "Slim Jim" Foster and Van B. "Old Man" Triplett?

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1898 Part 1

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 1898 Part 2

The records above show the following information for

Edward Fay: Although not known as a member of the Soap Gang, his shooting of Deputy U.S. Marshal Rowan in Skagway, Alaska and the subsequent protection he received from Soapy make him an interesting study. his name is believed to have been John Fay and under his name listed in the record is the underlined words "true name" which appears to be pointing at his last name. There also appears to be possibly a question mark there. Hopefully future records found will clear up the name issue.

Number of Commitment: 821

Number: 104488

Conviction when: November term 1898

Where: District of Alaska

Offense: Manslaughter

Sentence: 8 years and $100 fine

Date of Sentence: Jan. 6, 1899

Expires When With "Good Time Counted": Sept. 13, 1905

Born: Boston, Mass.

Single or Married: Single

Reads: Yes

Writes: Yes

Age: 33

Height: 5'-9-1/2"

Weight: 155 ["148-1/2" written underneath]

Hair: D Brown [dark brown]

Complexion: Fair
Eyes: Very light blue
Occupation: Bartender
Religion: [missing]
Where Arrested: Surrendered himself at Sitka, Alaska
When Arrested: Feb. 3, 1898
How Long in Jail Before Trial: Since arrest
First or Second Offense: 1st
Temperate or Intemperate: Temperate [Merriam-Webster: "Absence or avoidance of extravagance, violence or extreme partisanship." Also "Moderate in the use of alcoholic beverages."]
Plea of Guilty or Not Guilty: Not Guilty
Residence: Spokane, Wash
Attorney for Plaintiff: N/A
Attorney for Defense: Leddy & Pratt
Judge: C. S. Johnson
Remarks: Received at Pen Jan. 13, 1899. Dis'd 8:30 a.m. 10/5/05
[additional notes]: Large scar under chin, ___ finger right hand crooked. Beard black, mustache redish [sic]

It is interesting to finally learn that Fay was convicted of manslaughter, and not murder. Although he was sentenced to 8 years he only served 6 years - 9 months.

W. H. "Professor" Jackson: All my records and newspaper archives from 1894 onward show his first and middle initials were W. H. However after his capture in Skagway his first name is listed as Turner. As official court records are not reliable I am not going to make a stand on his name issue, but rather use both names with an explanation just as I have done in my book.

Number of Commitment: 1014

Number: 104589

Conviction when: November term 1898

Where: District of Alaska

Offense: Assault with dangerous weapon

Sentence: 10 years

Date of Sentence: Jan. 6, 1899

Expires When With "Good Time Counted": May 23, 1907

Born: New York

Single or Married: Single

Reads: Yes

Writes: Yes

Age: 45

Height: 5'-9"

Weight: 190

Hair: Black

Complexion: Light
Eyes: Reddish Hazel
Occupation: Cattleman
Religion: [missing]
Where Arrested: Skagway, Alaska
When Arrested: June 10, 1898 [Should read July]
How Long in Jail Before Trial: Since arrest
First or Second Offense: 1st
Temperate or Intemperate: Temperate [Merriam-Webster: "Absence or avoidance of extravagance, violence or extreme partisanship." Also "Moderate in the use of alcoholic beverages."]
Plea of Guilty or Not Guilty: Not Guilty
Residence: Buffalo, New York
Attorney for Plaintiff: Fredricks
Attorney for Defense: Hawes and Cruze [sic: Hume and Crews]
Judge: C. S. Johnson
Remarks: [quote marks indicate that it is a repeat of the information from Fay's comments] "Received at Pen Jan. 13, 1899," with the addition of, "Release out on ____ habeas corpus 9/20/05 - 12 noon."
[additional notes]: Scar under right jaw. Small scar in forehead over left eye. Slightly lame in right leg.

George Wilder: The records I was able to find before publication show that Wilder did not serve time in prison but obviously this is not the case having been sentenced to 7 years.

Number of Commitment: 1013

Number: 104490

Conviction when: November term 1898

Where: District of Alaska

Offense: Assault with dangerous weapon

Sentence: 7 years and $100 fine

Date of Sentence: Jan. 6, 1899

Expires When With "Good Time Counted": Nov. 13, 1904

Born: Ohio

Single or Married: Single

Reads: Yes

Writes: Yes

Age: 52

Height: 5'-9"

Weight: 170 ["168-1/2" written underneath]

Hair: D Brown [dark brown]

Complexion: Fair
Eyes: Very light blue
Occupation: Miner
Religion: [missing]
Where Arrested: Skagway, Alaska
When Arrested: July 11, 1898
How Long in Jail Before Trial: Since arrest
First or Second Offense: 1st
Temperate or Intemperate: Temperate [Merriam-Webster: "Absence or avoidance of extravagance, violence or extreme partisanship." Also "Moderate in the use of alcoholic beverages."]
Plea of Guilty or Not Guilty: Not Guilty
Residence: N/A
Attorney for Plaintiff: Fredricks
Attorney for Defense: W. T. Hume and Cruze [sic: W. T. Hume and W.E. Crews]
Judge: C. S. Johnson
Remarks: [quote marks indicate that it is a repeat of the information from Fay's comments] "Received at Pen Jan. 13, 1899," with the addition of, "Release out on ____ habeas corpus 9/20/05 - 12 noon."

[additional notes]: Right ____ under to __________. Bald from forehead to back of center. Sandy Mustache

Interesting that Wilder was sentence to 7 years when previously he was thought to have escaped conviction. When he "assaulted with a dangerous weapon" was probably the night of Soapy's death, being one of the gang members who pulled a gun along with Jackson.

 Sources
McNeil Island Penitentiary Records of Prisoners Received, 1887-1951; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M1619, 4 rolls); Records of the Bureau of Prisons, Record Group 129; National Archives, Washington, D.C.

McNeil Island Penitentiary Prisoner Identification Photographs 1875-ca. 1923 (ARC # 608846); Bureau of Prisons, Record Group Number 129; National Archives Pacific Alaska Region (Seattle).

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The Denver Soap Company

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Inside the bunco brain

Friends member, Rich asked the following question,

Friend Jeff...welcome back! I hope you had an enjoyable and successful trip.

I find it fitting that the previous 'entree'' was the amazing drawing of the 'Bunco Brain'. [love it]

Since you asked...I would like to know more specifics about the thinking and the 'lenghts' that JRS II and his men went to...to acheieve their goals.
The whole psychological aspect of all the well thought out deception is compelling and extremely interesting.
I can't help thinking of the movie.."The Sting".

One example that I read about, that blew me away was: During the stampede through "White Pass", several members of the gang actually left Skaguay, and went on a 'fake stampede' with cotton stuffed backpacks and sleds carrying lightweight fake cargo with axe handles etc. sticking out.

They presented themselves as regular...and 'very benevolent and helpful regular folks seeking the same ultimate goal of gold....when in fact their only interest was fleeceing those along the beginning of the trail with their bunco games and other schemes.

Talk about 'survival of the fittest'! lol

Friend Rich, Thank you for the warm welcome and continued support. There are numerous hints and explanations spread throughout my book, but perhaps my favorite appears on pages 492-494.
    

... So Seattle was addressed. Next came San Francisco. Its papers delighted in stories about Jeff, the more sinister the better, and one of his severest critics was the San Francisco Examiner. The opportunity to alter that criticism came when that paper sent Edward F. Cahill to investigate and report on conditions in Dyea and Skaguay. Learning he was on the way, Jeff prepared a VIP tour. When Cahill went home, charmed by Jeff, he gave Skaguay and its notorious citizen a clean bill of health. His article was titled “What I Saw Of Real Life & Death at Skaguay And Dyea” and began, “When hell freezes over it will be like Skaguay. … That is what I was told. What I found was different. I found a community in which there is order without law….”

Cahill’s accounts of Skaguay’s and Dyea’s trails, merchants, and residents were so positive they glowed. Additionally, Cahill discredited stories of rampant lawlessness and disease. It seems highly probable that Jeff altered Cahill’s view of the “sure thing man” because in depicting him and his helpers on the trail, the newsman repeated Jeff’s long-held business philosophy. Cahill ventured onto the trail, probably with helpful direction at the least, and at the most, he was guided there by Jeff himself. In realistic detail, Cahill described how in the icy climate the con man

is found blowing his nimble fingers and running his little shell game seated on the snow by the slippery trail, while his cappers stand around habited like “farmers” to beguile the unwary Klondiker, sweating like a beast of burden, to drag his heavy sled up the hill. The sure-thing man’s code of morality is the most extraordinary and perhaps unexpected thing about him. He resents with bitter anger and scorn the name of thief or vagrant, and, in fact, he will not rob you except by rule. If you do not cross his lines you are perfectly safe, and he holds that if you are fool enough to go up against his game he has a perfect right to take every advantage that his skill permits. In fact, he insists loudly that he is a law-abiding citizen and when heedless people in Skaguay talked about a vigilance committee the confidence man, exulting in his numbers and his might, stood up in line to keep peace with an ugly gun, and the peace was kept. … I met one of the tribe of an evening at a road-builder’s camp at the head of the White Pass. He shall be nameless here because outside of his calling he seemed a decent sort of fellow and rather shame-faced about his “business,” as he called it, although he made no secret of his methods…. It is not all profit in the shell game, which, old-fashioned as it is, was yet the favorite and most lucrative means of polite swindling. The retinue of cappers and steerers is expensive and they are paid about twice as much as, let us say, a locomotive engineer or other skilled mechanic.

“No, it isn’t all profit by any means,” he explained. “I have to clear $100 before I make a white quarter for myself. I have to pay the men wages, their board, and their whisky. After I clear the $100 it begins to mount up pretty quick.” He admitted that he had taken in something like $250 on that day.

“You are operating among the packers?” was asked.

“No, I don’t do business with packers. They have not much money, and I don’t want their little $15 or so. What I’m after is the men that’s going into Dawson. It makes me sorry sometimes to have to separate them from their little wad, but—well, it’s them or me.”

“You are not doing any work in Skaguay now?” one asked.

“Naw,” in a tone of contempt. “There’s nothin’ in Skaguay—nothin’ but stranglers.”

“Stranglers?”

“Yes, vigilantes.”

Cahill then focused on Jeff Smith.

It is possible that … some injustice has been done to Mr. Smith which should be corrected, if only out of regard for the distinguished family to which he belongs, for the sun never sets on the Smiths. “Soapy” Smith is not a dangerous man, and not a desperado. He will fight to very good purpose if he must, but he is not in the least quarrelsome. Cool in the presence of danger, absolutely fearless, honorable in the discharge of those obligations which he recognizes, generous with his money, and ever ready with a helping hand for a man or woman in distress, he bitterly resents the imputation that he is a thief or vagrant. It is true that if you go up against his game you will certainly lose your money, but it is a process of painless extraction. I may as well acknowledge an imperfect sympathy for those who let themselves be swindled in the persuasion that they have themselves a sure thing. … You may lend “Soapy” Smith $100 or more at any time and be certain to get your money back with interest sooner or later, all without a scratch of the pen. …

Not the least amusing trait of “Soapy” Smith’s character is the eager interest which he takes in the preservation of law and order. The interest is, of course, not purely unselfish, for he realizes that crimes of violence create a sort of public opinion likely to be unhealthy for his own peaceful, if peculiar, industry. He feels that there are times when fine distinctions get confused, and therefore he is always foremost for law and order coupled with life, liberty and the pursuit of a sure thing.

Jeff showed the highly positive article to a limited few. Although it put Jeff and Skaguay in a favorable light, residents might not take kindly to an unbeatable gambler who had a hand in civic matters and who had a military company under his command.

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What in Sam Hill would you like to see?

I'm back from Tombstone, Arizona and well rested. I came back to many interesting emails as usual and find myself overwhelmed, also as usual. So I ask you, what in Sam Hill would you like to see!? Is there some particular interest of Soapy's life you have a question about or just wish to know more about? A certain photograph, book passage, or newspaper article? I'll do my very best...as usual.

email: Jeff Smith

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The bunco brain.

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Soapy in Dodge City?

Soapy traveled all across the United States in his early career following fairs to swindling the unwary. Several city street vendor licenses he saved show that he legally paid for the privilege. We know some of the cities he visited and operated in and I am always watchful for hints and signs of all places he stopped over for a day or two. Considering we know that he worked all holidays, it is a safe bet that he worked nearly all the towns he stepped foot in.

One such place I always wondered about is Dodge City, Kansas. Did Soapy visit and possibly operate there for one or more days? I hoped a new book, Dodge City: The Early Years, 1872-1886 by William B. Shillingberg (1999) might give me the answers, or even a few hints to keep me searching there.

The book is a well done history and I encourage anyone interested in Dodge's history of corruption, gunfights, and not so angelic facts about Wyatt Earp and "Bat" Masterson to find a copy. Unfortunately for me, because of the many exciting gunfights, the author, like many before him, did not seem to find much interest in the secret doings of the bunco gangs. 

When searching locations for possible Soap Gang activity I always take note of the criminal names listed. Many times they are a clue, especially if Soapy is associated with the name in some form. Shillingberg did mention a few names and hints of bunco activity but not nearly enough. On page 183 he wrote,

"Marshal Larry Deger faced troubles of his own with Robert Gilmore—the ubiquitous Bobby Gill, a member of Mayor Kelley's gang and a man described by Bob Wright as 'one of the most notorious characters and...the best all-around sure thing man that ever struck Dodge City.'"

Another hint of bunco activity is on page 276 that reads,

"To the relief of many, Mayor Webster issued a strongly worded proclamation: 'To all whom it may concern: All thieves, thugs, confidence men, and persons without visible means of support, will take notice that the ordinances enacted for their especial benefit will be rigorously enforced on and after to-morrow, April 7, 1881."

Page 389 mentions for the year 1886 that,

"More and more citizens wanted some sort of reform. A rash of robberies and an invasion of confidence men forced the city to hire six extra policemen."

Could Soapy have visited Dodge? I will keep searching for the answer.

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Book signing in Tombstone, Arizona

If you happen to be in Tombstone for their Helldorado Days October 15-17, 2010 please stop by a say hello!

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Soapy Smith Discussion Forum

Family member, Carol Moriarty Rowe talks briefly about her grandmother, Mary Eva (Smith) Moriarty (Soapy's daughter) over at the Soapy Smith Discussion Forum The link for the Forum is listed at the very top of this page. The Discussion Forum is the perfect place for family members and friends to converse. There you can post photographs as well. If you wish to post photographs let me know and I will give you the directions. You can't delete your comments or make corrections once they are posted but I can from my end so just let me know and I can fix any errors.

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One post a day?

My goal with this blog has been to post at least one article a day. Life has a habit of getting in the way of the best laid out plans, and continues to do so. I apologize for the lack of posts. Believe me, it is not for lack of trying or information. Ideas and coming articles are beginning to fill up my desktop. Continued trips down to my old stomping grounds for appointments and chores usually mess my blog plans up for a few days but an upcoming book-signing trip to Tombstone, Arizona next week has me scrambling for needed trip items. I promise to do my best to post what I can before and during my trip. Most important to me is that you, my visitors, know that I am not tiring of this blog. Rather, I am just getting started!

Watch for coming articles, including...

• Many more early photographs.
• Outlaw Harry Tracy's connection to John and Frank Clancy (Soapy's partners).
• New information on Soap Gang members.
• More original documents never before published.
• and much more...

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Was Soapy Smith more well known than Wyatt Earp?

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1.) Another comparison was made on January 23, 2012.

2.) Cathy Spude doubts the accuracy of this study, please see August 23, 2012.

When speaking on Soapy Smith I often mention that I believe that he was more well-known than Wyatt Earp while the two men were alive. I figured this from the massive amount of newspaper accounts of all his "adventures." Recently on another forum a friend posted a Google newspaper archive bar graph for Wyatt Earp between the years 1880-1970. It gave me the idea of making a bar graph for Soapy in the same time period. I was not surprised  to see that my theory was right (see above bar graph).

The top two graphs cover larger and smaller city newspapers across the United States and my friend suggested that I should also include the Google newspaper archives to produce a bar graph for major newspapers across the U.S. I chose the New York Times for the far east, and the Los Angeles Times for the far west. When comparing bar graphs please take note of the dates.

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