Artifact #55: Soapy's son writes to Edwin B. Smith, 1905

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our father and I were sincere friends and I honor his memory.

Artifact #55

Soapy Smith's son, Jefferson Randolph Smith III was born February 8, 1887, which means at the writing of this letter he was eight days into his eighteenth year. Is his age just a coincidence for contacting his 46 year old first cousin, once removed? Was he looking for a job in Washington D.C. where Edwin lived and worked? Jefferson worked for a newspaper and got into politics, just as Edwin did, so it seeks very possible that Jeff wanted to know about one field or the other, and perhaps even both! 

February 16, 1905

My dear young kinsman:

I was very much pleased to hear from you and hope you write from time to time let me know how you and your family are getting on. There is always a place in the world for a young man of industry, patience and courage; and a man who is absolutely determined to make something of himself is almost certain to succeed. Your father and I were sincere friends and I honor his memory. Give your mother and sisters my love and best wishes. It is possible that I may go to St. Louis on my way to Texas when the year is out and if so I will be sure to pay you a visit. If there was anything for a youth to do in this city I would like to see you here but the field here is barren of opportunities. With best wishes,

Edwin B. Smith

to Mr. Jefferson R Smith

St. Louis, Mo.

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     The letter was postmarked in Washington D.C. on February 16, 1905 at 7 AM. It was postmarked in St. Louis, Missouri on February 17, 1905 at 8 PM. Meaning that it traveled about 834 miles in 37 hours. Not bad for 1905.

Stationary logo
Circa 1904-1905
Note the leafless tree is the same one in the photo below

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The New Willard
Circa 1904
Courtesy of Library of Congress

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     The stationary and envelope comes from the New Willard Hotel in Washington D.C. It was common in the 19th century for people to utilize "free to customers" stationary from hotels, saloons, and other businesses stationary. Edwin may have obtained some, or even possibly lived in the newly renovated hotel.

    Still standing and listed on the national register of historic places with the National Park Service, The Williard underwent a massive transformation at the turn of the century, becoming the New Willard.

     The new Willard, designed by New York architect Henry Janeway Hardenbergh and erected by the George A. Fuller Company, was hailed at its opening as Washington's first skyscraper. Completed in 1904, the new building saw an addition of 100 rooms in 1925, broadening the F Street facade by about 49 feet. The property remained in the Willard family until 1946, closed in 1968, and underwent extensive renovation, again opening its doors in 1986.

Further information on the Willard and the New Willard can be found at the NPS.

Jefferson Randolph Smith III (Soapy's son): March 17, 2012, February 5, 2011, February 1, 2011, November 28, 2010, September 26, 2010, September 26, 2010, June 27, 2010, May 29, 2010, May 10, 2010, November 22, 2008.

Edwin Bobo Smith: November 15, 2017, November 11, 2017, December 1, 2011, June 17, 2011, June 6, 2011, January 5, 2011, March 27, 2010, July 21, 2009.

Jefferson Randolph Smith III (Soapy's son)

: pages 7, 107-08, 167, 417-18, 546, 584, 587-89.

Edwin Bobo Smith: pages 20, 22-30, 35, 32, 36, 333, 425, 428, 444-49, 589.

"I think you hit him"

—Soapy to Texas Ranger Richard Ware
after Ware shot outlaw Sam Bass
July 19, 1878, Round Rock, Texas
–Alias Soapy Smith, p. 31.

NOVEMBER 20

1789: New Jersey becomes the first state to ratify the Constitution.

1868: Fort Omaha, Nebraska is established.

1868: A Denver mob seizes captured criminal Sam Dougan from Denver City Marshal Dave Cook and hang him from a tree. Dougan and Ed Franklin had robbed Police Judge Orson Brooks of $100. The pair fled to Golden, Colorado where Cook shot and killed Franklin and captured Dougan.

1879: The Tabor Opera House, built by the “Silver King” Horace “Haw” Tabor, in Leadville, Colorado opens.

1880: Charles Earl “Black Bart” Bowles robs the Redding, California-Roseburg, Oregon stagecoach in California, a mile from the Oregon state line.

1884: Deputy U.S. Marshal Cash Hollister is shot and killed by Bob Cross, a man wanted for adultery. Hollister and three other lawmen are at the Cross farm in Hunnewell, Kansas, where Cross' wife and sister deny he is there. When Hollister comes across Cross, the latter shoots twice, killing him.

1892: “Chief” Jeff “Soapy” Smith presents his fraternity, the Improved Order of Red men, with a war bonnet that came directly off the battlefield of Wounded Knee.

1901: North West Mounted Police in the Yukon, Canada are on alert due to an imaginary threat of an American invasion. The threat is orchestrated by the Order of the Midnight Sun, an organization formed by American miners. The plans for the invasion are made in jest, out of boredom, and never meant to be leaked outside the membership.

1901: The second Hay-Pauncefoot Treaty providing for construction of the Panama Canal, is signed by the U.S.

1903: Tom Horn, Cavalry scout, Pinkerton detective, range detective, champion steer roper, and outlaw, is tried and hung in Wyoming, for the murder of 14-year-old Willie Nickell, a crime that some believe he did not commit. While awaiting execution, Horn made the rope used to hang him, one day before his 43rd birthday.