Artifact #54: Letter to Soapy Smith from Edwin B. Smith, November 18, 1897.

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letter to Soapy Smith from his cousin Edwin Smith, November 18, 1897
Artifact #54

     In November 1897 Soapy was spending time in Spokane, Washington watching for better signs of the coming Klondike gold rush. Three months prior he had arrived in the tent city of Skaguay, Alaska but winter was setting in and there was not enough money to be made. To be proactive, Soapy had written to cousin Edwin B. Smith in Washington, DC, to ask him to use his influence to secure permits to operate at Fort St. Michael in Alaska, one of the routes into the Klondike. This site at the head of the Yukon River looked early on to be a prime location for a major settlement. Edwin replied in a letter dated November 18, 1897.

Washington
Nov 18, 1897.

Dear Jeff:
     Your letters were gladly received. Always anxious to know how you are doing. You say you want me to send your permit. The letter to Col. Randall is all the permit the war department will give. That letter which I have already forwarded you grants you every concession you are after. I hope you will not get in any trouble with the minimums of the law.
     Your brother
     Ed B. Smith

It is probable that Soapy had already opted for Skaguay.

George Morton Randall
October 8, 1841 – June 14, 1918
Circa 1890

     The "Col. Randall" Edwin referred to in his letter is Colonel George Morton Randall, who on August 8, 1898 was awarded the rank of colonel of the 17th US Infantry during the Spanish–American War. In September he transferred to the 8th US Infantry at Fort St. Michael, Alaska. On January 20, 1900 President William McKinley gave Randall the commission as brigadier general of Volunteers. He was the first commander of Fort St. Michael. Source: Wikipedia

     Cousin Edwin grew up with young Soapy. In Round Rock, Texas, Soapy introduced Edwin to his early swindle sales and Edwin was being educated to work along side Soapy. According to Edwin it was witnessing the shooting of outlaw Sam Bass in Round Rock on July 21, 1878 that convinced Edwin to follow a different path. Thirteen days shy of being exactly twenty years later, Soapy would follow Sam Bass in being shot to death.

"Smith was an inveterate gambler, 'straight,' as the term goes, when events were smooth for him, but of devious methods when he needed the money."

—Rocky Mountain News, July 11, 1915

NOVEMBER 15

1777: The Continental Congress approves the Articles of Confederation.

1806: Explorer Zebulon Pike spots the mountaintop that is later given his name, Pikes Peak.

1861: US Commissioner William Ross signs a treaty with the Mission, Prairie, and Woods Indians of the Potawatomi tribe at their agency in Kansas.

1861: The transcontinental telegraph from Nebraska to California becomes operational. The lines had been up since October 24, 1861.

1864: Civil War Union General William T. Sherman begins his "March to the Sea."

1867: Cheyenne, Wyoming Territory welcomes the first train.

1867: the first stock ticker is unveiled in New York City.

1875: a local Wichita, Kansas newspaper praises lawman Wyatt Earp who found a drunken stranger asleep under a bridge with $500 in his pocket and as a result kept the man from being robbed.

1882: Deer Lodge and Helena, Montana are connected by telegraph.

1893: The Denver Times writes about bad man Soapy Smith’s election bid, “There is no question as to his being elected Alderman from the Third ward at the election next spring.”

1897: Bat Masterson states in a newspaper interview that reports of his friend, Soapy Smith being kicked out of Skagway are erroneous.

1897: The Denver Evening Post publishes that Soapy and three other men disembarked in Skaguay and worked 19 of the 23 days they were there. In that time, they made $30,000.

1901: Miller Reese patents the first electrical hearing aid.