Soapy says, "Happy July 4!"

Jeff Smith's Parlor
July 4, 2012
(photo by Donna Smith)

onna Smith and Jerry Stainer, Friends of Bad Man Soapy Smith members, took a trip to Skagway, Alaska recently. It's definitely not their first trip there but Donna wanted to send me some photographs of how things are looking, Soapy wise.

The photo at top shows that the Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park is once again taking interest in the July 4 festivities by decorating Soapy's saloon in red, white, and blue. Soapy was indeed very patriotic, and in fact, photos of Jeff Smith's Parlor without patriotic bunting draped all over it are on the rare side.

Donna says you can't go to
Skagway without visiting
Soapy Smith's grave.
(photo by Donna Smith)

While in Skagway Donna purchased my book, Alias Soapy Smith at the Skagway News Depot, which had been autographed by me, so they also had the entire cast of the Days of 98 Show autograph it! I thought that was a wonderful idea. Donna and hubby Jerry also took in the Temsco helicopter ride and rode the steam train to Fraser and back again. During the ride they saw two bears. Donna said they even did a little geocaching while they were there. That's a game people play where someone will hide small little prizes and then those with a GPS (global positioning system) application try to find it. My daughter Ashley and her boyfriend just started playing the game. Afterwards Donna told me they saw the play and did the usual tourist shopping in the stores of Skagway.

Thank you very much Donna!

Soapy Smith's Olde Tyme Photo Parlor
A modern business capitalizing on Soapy's name
(photo by Donna Smith)

Donna Smith and Jerry Stainer
April 2, 2011
April 1, 2011 

JULY 3

1775: U.S. Gen. George Washington takes command of the Continental Army at Cambridge, Massachusetts.

1844: U.S. Ambassador Caleb Cushing successfully negotiated a commercial treaty with China that opened five Chinese ports to U.S. merchants and protects the rights of American citizens in China.

1862: Union forces are the victors in a battle with Confederate troops in Locust Grove, Indian Territory.

1863: The Civil War Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania ends as a major victory for the Union after three days of fighting.

1865: General Connor arrives in Fort Laramie, Dakota Territory (present day Wyoming), with orders to protect the stagecoaches of the Overland Mail Company from Arapaho Indians.

1867: The 3rd Infantry from Fort Wallace, Kansas, reports one soldier wounded near Goose Creek, Colorado Territory.

1869: Four Indians are killed in a fight with the 8th Cavalry in Hell Canyon, Arizona Territory.

1871: The Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad Company introduces the first narrow-gauge locomotive. It is called the Montezuma.

1873: Vigilantes lynch a rustler who stole a widow's cow in Phoenix, Arizona Territory.

1876: The steamship Far West begins the journey down the Yellowstone River, Montana Territory, carrying the bodies of George Custer and his men, Reno's wounded, and the horse Comanche.

1876: The first newspaper account of Custer's battle at the Little Bighorn appear in the Bozeman Times, Montana Territory.

1878: A posse under command of J. J. Dolan terrorizes San Patricio, New Mexico Territory, as they search for the Regulators. One of the Regulators is outlaw Billy the Kid.

1878: John Wise flies the first dirigible in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

1880: The publication, Science, goes on sale, with inventor Thomas Edison having provided the principle funding.

1884: E. C. Abbott, alias “Teddy Blue,” records that the outfit, under the leadership of Granville Stuart, hung a rustler between the DHS Ranch and Fort Maginnis, Montana Territory.

1888: Wyatt Earp's second wife, Celia "Mattie" Blaylock, commits suicide in Pinal, Arizona Territory. Mattie had accompanied Wyatt to Tombstone and separated (abandoned) from the lawman after they left Tombstone. She worked as a prostitute.

1890: Idaho becomes the 43rd state of the Union.

1897: G. A. Lancaster files a claim on Eldorado Creek in the Yukon, later to be known as Gold Hill, located in the Klondike, Yukon Territory.

1898: During the Spanish-American War, six Spanish warships in Cuba's Santiago-de-Cuba Harbor attempt to flee by shooting their way through a U.S. blockade. U.S. warships destroy all of the Spanish ships killing more than 350 Spanish seamen. The U.S. loses one sailor in the battle. Newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst maneuvers his steamer close to the action and captures (rescues) 17 Spanish seamen from the water.

1901: Harvey "Kid Curry" Logan, Ben Kilpatrick, “Deaf Charley” Hanks, and an unknown 4th member of the Wild Bunch gang, rob a Great Northern Coast Flyer train near Wagner, Montana, getting away with up to  $65,000, gold watches, and a bolt of silk. After Kilpatrick boarded as a passenger, “Deaf Charley” (or possibly Harvey Logan) snuck onto the coupling between the tender and baggage car, and hijacked the train to a prearranged point where Logan and Kilpatrick then robbed the express car, blowing up the safe with dynamite. Before leaving, the Express Manager asked for a souvenir, and Logan emptied his gun and handed it over, saying, “Thanks for your help.” It is the last recorded Wild Bunch robbery.