Soapy Smith swindles an Oklahoma Wild West show, 1890.

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Jeff Smith appeared as a plaintiff and secured from Judge Miller, in the county court, an attachment against the advance car of the Oklahoma Wild West show, which is somewhere in the Union depot railroad yard. Mr. Smith claims that J. R. Henry, who owns this car, owes him something like $500, but it could not be learned how he contracted the debt.

Rocky Mountain News July 26, 1890

Boy, would I love to know the particulars of this story! I can only imagine that Mr. J. R. Henry either fell prey to one of Soapy's men, or possibly lost his dough gambling in the Tivoli Club. Mr. Henry appears to have been part of the "advance" crew for an Oklahoma Wild West Show on it's way to Denver. Perhaps the most famous traveling old west show in Oklahoma was the Pawnee Bill Wild West Show.

Jeff Smith

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