July 24, 2016

Commemorative Soapy Smith rifle

Soapy Smith and the shootout on Juneau Wharf
predominantly engraved
 
(Click image to enlarge)






OAPY SMITH - SKAGWAY HERITAGE RIFLE

Built on a Henry Big Boy .44 Magnum, the Skagway Heritage Rifle is fully-functional and is 24 karat gold-plated! Henry is one of the most trusted firearm manufacturers in the country, and American Legacy Firearms guarantees that each rifle is built to last. Only 10 will be available in the edition! Each engraving is specific to Skagway’s history.


      The artwork shows a bust of Soapy and a scene of the shootout on Juneau Wharf, using the painting by artist Andy Thomas, whom I am proud to have assisted in the historical information. It's a shame it wasn't done on the Winchester Model 1892 rifle.
      My cousin, Jay Douglas Hartzell, ordered one. I'm so jealous!

Price: $2,495.00

For more information and photographs go to American Legacy Firearms.







A favorite saying of his was, “Do unto others what they’d like to do to you, but do it first.”
Alias Soapy Smith, Introduction.



OCTOBER 9


1847: Mormon leader Brigham Young and his followers arrive in the valley of the Great Salt Lake (Utah).
1847: Richard M. Hoe patents the rotary-type printing press.
1849: Georgetown University in Washington, DC, presents its first Doctor of Music Degree to Henry Dielman.
1858: the first weekly mail to Santa Fe, New Mexico Territory arrives from the east.
1865: Indians led by Red Cloud, Crazy Horse, Young Man Afraid, and Roman Nose, camp near Fort Casper (Wyoming) to plan their next battle.
1866: Tennessee is the first state readmitted to the Union after the Civil War.
1869: William F. Cody is “discovered” at Fort McPhearson, Nebraska by the novelist, Ned Buntline.
1886: Calvin James hangs at Fort Smith, Arkansas for the August 1, 1885 murder of Tony Love, a partner in illegal liquor sales in the Chickasaw Nation.
1890: Soap Gang members John “Reverend” Bowers and others are arrested in Denver, Colorado for operating a mock auction house, designed to sell fake gold watches to unsuspecting victims.
1895: Construction begins at Fort Constantine Yukon by the North West Mounted Police at junction of Forty-mile Creek and Yukon River. It is due to the growing number of whites and gold miners in the area, which will be home to the largest gold rush in history. This rush will draw bad man Soapy Smith north, setting up operation on the American side, at Skagway, Alaska.
1897: Black soldiers of the 25th Infantry Bicycle Corps set out on a 40-day expedition on bicycles, from Missoula, Montana to St. Louis, Missouri to demonstrate the unique means of military transportation.
1898: One-time Soap Gang member, Jeff Dunbar is shot and killed in a saloon by a bartender, Jim Davis, in Dixon, Wyoming.
1899: outlaw Sam Ketchum, brother of Thomas “Black Jack” Ketchum dies from shock due to an arm amputation in the Santa Fe, New Mexico prison. Sam was involved in the robbery of three Santa Fe Railroad trains near Folsom, New Mexico, with his brother’s gang. Sam was wounded by a posse on July 12, 1899, but nor before killing Sheriff Edward Farr and Deputy W. H. Love. Lawman Tom Smith was also killed by one of the outlaws. Sam was shot in the shoulder, but managed to escape. He hid at a ranch owned by Henry Lambert near Ute Park. Gangrene set in and Lambert was forced to amputate Sam’s arm. A few days later, Ketchum was found and taken to prison, where he died within two weeks.