Artifact #59: Letter from Soapy Smith to his wife, Aug 28, 1897.

"Yours till death"
Page 1 of 2
Jeff Smith collection

(Click image to enlarge)

he first physical evidence of Jeff’s presence in Skaguay

is a letter to his wife Mary, dated August 28, 1897. Enclosed were receipts for $1,500 to her. Using an inflation calculator that $1,500 is the equivalent of about $55,832.52 in 2019 dollars.
      Following is the contents of the letter. Note that he spells Skagway as "Scagway." The name and spelling of the towns name went through several changes, and as Skagway was just a few weeks old at the time Soapy wrote his letter, no one was certain of the spelling. 

Scagway Aug 28, 1897

Dear wife

      I got Mrs. Scovell, the wife of elder Sylvester Scovell, the correspondent of the N.Y. World, to send you $500 as I did not know if [I] could send it myself or not. Since then I have had luck in a trade and send $1000 more, making $1500 on this boat the Queen. It will be shipped by express to you from Seattle, Wash. This makes $1600 all told. Take up that mortgage and cash yourself up. That is, keep the money yourself. And don’t go saying anything in St. Louis as you will never get a cent out of anything in St. Louis. Write to Juneau. Be sure and send $1000 to 1,300 at least to Brown and Bro Denver to pay mortgage.

Yours till death,
Jeff

"Yours till death"
Page 2 of 2
Jeff Smith collection

(Click image to enlarge)

You will find the letter, as well as the surrounding history, on page 436 of Alias Soapy Smith: The Life and Death of a Scoundrel.

Artifact #59: page 436.

"According to the information I received from the Deputy Marshal, a man named Murphy is credited with the killing of Smith and not Frank Reid as reported in the newspaper."

—Major Sam Steele, NWMP, Alias Soapy Smith, p. 547.

DECEMBER 21

1620: The Mayflower and its passengers, pilgrims from England, land at what would become Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts.

1849: The first ice-skating club in the U.S. is formed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1866: A relief party out of Ft. Kearney, Nebraska led by Captain William Fetterman is ordered to rescue the fort's woodcutting detail that is under attack by a small band of Indians. Fetterman is ordered not to leave sight of the post, but the Captain, who had supposedly boasted that very morning that if the fort would give him 80 men, he would ride through the whole Sioux Nation, ignores the orders and pursues the Sioux Indians well out of safe range of the fort. He and his men become fatalities of an ambush led by Crazy Horse.

1876: Marshal Charles Faber of Los Animas, Colorado is killed when he enters the Olympic Dance Hall to disarm bad brothers Clay and John Allison. Clay is released of the murder charge when no witnesses could be found to testify. John Allison was seriously wounded in the encounter but recovers.