They Feared an Ill Omen: Soapy Smith, the steamer Utopia and superstition. Seattle Post Intelligencer, August 14, 1897.

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hey Feared an Ill Omen

Seattle Post Intelligencer, August 14, 1897.

ADDENDUM: New information has been posted on December 28, 2019, stating that the latest known date and time for Soapy's first arrival in Skagway is August 20, 1897, at 5 p.m.

    

    The following newspaper clipping describes the delay of the Klondike bound Utopia steamship, based on the superstition of "Friday the 13th." Although every day wasted could mean the loss of a gold bearing claim, these gold stampeders thought it best to wait until 12:30 a.m., Saturday the 14th to allow their captain to begin the journey north.

     This clipping is also very important to the saga of "Soapy" Smith as he is listed as a passenger on the Utopia, his first trip to the brand new camp of Skaguay, Alaska. The Utopia's captain, John O'brien, plays a key part in Soapy's Alaskan adventures. Following is the article in full.

THEY FEARED AN ILL OMEN
_____________________

Utopia’s Passengers Objected to Sailing 
Friday, the 13th Day of the 
Month – Was it Superstition?

     “Friday, August 13.”

     This was the date on which the steamer Utopia was to have sailed for Alaska. She waited till 12:30 this morning, Saturday, August 14.

     Who says there are not lots of superstitious people in the world? When the gold hunters who purchased berths on the Utopia began to reckon on the day of the week (Friday) upon which they were to sail, they hesitated about starting. When they remembered, upon reflection, that it was also the 13th day of the month, they positively refused to budge.

     Thus it was that the Utopia waited all day Friday, and in the first hours of the next succeeding day cast off her lines and pointed her nose to the north.

     The passengers came to Capt. O’Brien yesterday morning and pointed out the unlucky number of the day in the month, and the further fact that from the time since when “the memory of man runneth not to the contrary,” Friday has been held to be a most unfavorable day upon which to undertake a journey.

     It was whispered about the wharves yesterday the Capt. O’Brien himself saw the ill omen hovering in front of him and had cast about for a good excuse to wait until a more favorable day and hour.

     The Utopia’s gallant skipper was questioned as to his alleged hesitancy about sailing on the 13th day of the month and the sixth day of the week.

     “There is nothing in it,” he said emphatically. “We were not quite ready to sail this morning – the engineer will be ready tonight. Yet, it is true that some of the passengers kicked on sailing on Friday, the 13th, and rather than have any dispute about the matter, and in order to give everyone a fair treatment, it was decided to sail at 12:30 tomorrow morning. Besides, there were good reasons why we did not sail today. In the first place, we could not load the horses until flood tide. Then, again, the ebb tide will bring us on our way and will give us an advantage of four hours.”

     Some of the Utopia’s passengers were seen last night. They admitted that they had felt a little nervous over the prospect of having to sail on Friday, the 13th day of the month, and expressed relief that they would not embark till the 14th.

     The Utopia will make the run to Dyea in about five days.

     The Utopia received another visit from inspector Bryant last night. He went through the vessel, and, learning that she was carrying 60 horses, he issued orders forbidding her to proceed to see with more than sixty-five passengers.

     At the office of the company last night a reporter of the Post-Intelligencer was told that the instructions from Capt. Bryant would be obeyed. How many tickets had been originally sold could not be learned, but it is presumed that her list did not contain more than the authorized number of passengers. The following list was earmarked for publication:

Thomas A. Morrin.

A. Berger.

James Stronach, Jr.

George Winter.

A. A. Chittick.

Isaac Thompson.

L. H. Horn.

S. E. Boston.

M. S. Goodnight.

John Deland.

B. H. West.

Crys Snyder.

E. H. Wood.

F. A. Burns.

J. H. Crocker.

F. E. Sprague.

Fred H. Lysons.

L. S. Humes.

W. J. Ford.

E. M. Emria.

B. Voorhees.

Alex Thompson.

G. W. Bayne.

W. W. Getchel.

Flora Wright.

E. J. Heacock.

Arthur Bermer.

H. Higgins.

H. S. Stevens.

Anton Polaora.

H. C. Ingles.

Ben Olsen.

A. Wold.

(second column)

Matt Strall.

P. D. Terry.

George Foster.

J. R. Smith.

Joseph Leo.

J. L. Dillion.

George Smith.

George Welsh.

W. P. Gossner.

A. B. Vogie.

P. C. Chittick.

J. W. Boston.

G. McKae.

G. J. Kohl.

Peter Pomroy.

G. Curtis.

John Clifford.

M. A. Perry.

J. F. Ford.

R. A. Case.

Fred Talbot.

R. M. Merrit.

L. H. Warson.

A. G. Gregory.

J. G. Fritz.

Mary Wright.

J. M. Laughlin.

C. C. Savlage.

C. B. Nash.

George D. Kittinger.

Henry Fredericks.

L. W. Tozier.

     The passengers boarded the steamer at 10 o’clock last night. At that hour all the freight was a board and everything was in shipshape for the voyage. The passengers were happy at the prospect for their speedy departure for the Gold fields. In the men’s cabin a good-looking fellow, with a mellow-toned fiddle, kept the crowd of light-hearted gold hunters entertained with old-fashioned tunes for an hour or more. The scene was full of picturesque incidents -enough to fill several volumes of the modern novel. Truly, it was a scene to remind one of the days of ‘49. Most of the men were attired and rough clothes and flannel shirts, and many wore belts stuck full of cartridges with brand-new revolvers in bright, new leather cases. Some had a bowie knife to keep the weapon company.

     One of the members of the company operating the Utopia said last night that the steamer had accommodations for 158 passengers, and was amply able to carry that number. He said, however, that the law was being observed.

     Among the Klondikers taken out last night by the Utopia was a party composed of A. L. Peacor, of Snohomish, and L. S. Humes and Fred H. Lysons, of this city [see: Victoria Daily Colonist, Sept. 23, 1897, Mr. Lysons only lasted one month in Alaska before calling it quits]. They will be joined at Skaguay by Frank McCurdy, of Port Townsend, who took up five horses on the barge Ajax last Sunday for the party. Mr. Humes goes in the employ of the Alaska Steamship Company, with istructions to push through to Dawson City in haste. Mr. Lysons, who is in charge of the party, may not go further than Dyea, but expects to get the other members of the party, with their supplies, through without much loss of time. Mr. Lysons and Mr. Humes also represent a syndicate of newspapers as correspondents.

July 22, 2017: Film footage of the Utopia, 1925.
July 19. 2017: Newly discovered photos of the Utopia.
May 13, 2017: When did Soapy first arrive in Skagway?

Utopia: pp. 412-17, 435, 447.
John O'Brien: pp. 413-16, 435, 586.

"You never knew anyone to have such power. He never lets one of his followers go hungry if he has a dollar in his pocket, and they know it."

—Colorado state representative Lafe Pence, 1894.
—Alias Soapy Smith, p. 312.

NOVEMBER 6

1858: a Constitution for Jefferson Territory is adopted, which eventually becomes the state of Colorado.

1860: Abraham Lincoln is elected as the sixteenth president of the United States.

1861: Jefferson Davis is elected as the president of the Confederate States of America.

1861: James Naismith, the inventor of basketball, is born.

1868: The Red Cloud War officially ends.

1869: The first official intercollegiate football game is played in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

1869: Jack Carr, dissatisfied with his dinner at Daniel Steele's hotel in Evans, Colorado Territory, is given a refund and ordered to leave. He returns shortly after, and shoots Daniel Steele to death. A trial is quickly arranged and Carr is promptly executed by hanging.

1874: A cavalry detachment attacks Gray Beard's Cheyenne Indian camp near McClellan's Creek in Texas, rescuing 6-year-old Julia and 4-year-old Adelaide Germaine. The girls had been kidnapped from a wagon train in Kansas the previous spring. 4 Indians and 2 soldiers are killed.

1876: English businessman, John Tunstall, arrives in Lincoln County. New Mexico Territory. He is one of the main combatants of the Lincoln County War.

1877: Bat Masterson is elected sheriff of Ford County, Kansas. Later Masterson would become a good friend of Soapy Smith and members of the Soap Gang.

1885: Bad man Soapy Smith is fined $5 for disturbing the peace in Denver, Colorado.

1890: Fort Bridger, Wyoming is officially abandoned as the last soldiers leave.

1891: Comanche, the only horse of Custer's 7th Cavalry to survive the 1876 Battle of the Little Bighorn, dies at Fort Riley, Kansas. The horse is still on display at the University of Kansas.

1891: Constable Jacob “Jake” Teeter is shot and killed in Truckee, California. He was drinking in Hurd’s Saloon when Deputy Sheriff James Reed walked in with a few friends. A heated argument started and Reed disarmed Teeter, who left the saloon and came back with another revolver and fired at Reed, but missed. Reed returned fire and didn’t miss. Teeter died the next morning with four bullets lodged inside his corpse.

1896: Bounty hunter and cattle rustler, Bill Dunn is shot dead by Deputy Sheriff Frank Canton in Pawnee, Oklahoma Territory. People in the area accused the Dunn brothers of being involved in rustling and robbery. Sheriff Frank Canton, who had previously arrested Bill Dunn for rustling, began investigating the claims. Bill Dunn rode into Pawnee intent on killing Canton. As Canton walked out of a restaurant, Dunn fired two shots at him, missing his target. Canton drew and fired two shots, killing Dunn. The shooting is ruled self-defense. Bill Dunn is best known for killing (along with his brothers) outlaws Charley Pierce and George “Bittercreek” Newcomb, members of the Doolin Gang, on May 2, 1895.

1908: Wild Bunch outlaws Robert Leroy “Butch Cassidy” Parker, Harry “Sundance Kid” Longbaugh arrive in San Vicente, Bolivia after robbing the Aramayo Mine payroll two days previous. After being wounded during a gun battle with four local lawmen, of which Parker shot and killed one, Parker commits a murder-suicide when he shoots and kills Longbaugh and then himself. The outlaws, unknown to the locals, are buried in an unmarked grave.

1910: Roy “Arkansas Tom” Daughterty, member of the Doolin-Dalton gang is paroled and released from prison in Lansing, Michigan.