Soapy Smith's fake telegraph office in Skagway, Alaska

Soapy Smith's fake telegraph office
Le Klondike
Lucky Luke Productions, 1996

(Click image to enlarge)

oapy Smith's fake telegraph office.

      Back in December 2007 I made one of my first online posts (on my original and now defunct website) regarding Soapy's infamous telegraph office.

      Skagway was just weeks old. Still a camp of tents, there were no newspapers, except for a hand-full of newspaper men who rushed to Skagway to obtain as much information as they could, and make it back to the states to submit their story before the deadline. The nearest law man was five miles away in Dyea, accessible only by boat, so crime was rampant. An early resident of Skagway wrote, "Skaguay was like an ant hill that had been stirred up by a stick welding child." Seeing an opportunity, Soapy opened a telegraph service that would send a message anywhere in the US for $5. There was just one thing missing; the telegraph wires. That little incidental fact didn't stop Soapy Smith from making money at it.

      Soapy's telegraph con was one of the more brazen scams he operated in Skagway. It is also perhaps his most comical one, if one can find humor in it. I say "comical" because the victims were truly unwary and gullible, compared to most that came through that town. The humor can be appreciated when one realizes that this took place in 1897-98 and telegraph lines did not reach Juneau until November 9, 1901 and Skagway at some point after that.

      There is humor in it due to the gullibility and ignorance of the victims, considering that Skagway was a brand new camp of tents at the time. A big part in understanding the humor, requires a little imagination. Getting to Skagway, Alaska in 1897 was not easy. The first ships leaving the docks of Seattle and cities were over-flowing with passengers, and the captains knew only the basics of the route and it's dangers. There were ships that actually got lost, run-aground, and worse. Passengers spent a week or more on a ships, some being nothing more than overloaded junk heaps refitted for service to capitalize on the gold rush, trying to get to Skagway as fast as they could. Once there, passengers and their gear were tossed ashore as quickly as possible, so that the captain could sail back to the states for more paying passengers.

Soapy Smith's fake telegraph office
Le Klondike
Lucky Luke Productions, 1996

(Click image to enlarge)

      A more thorough understanding of the "humor" also requires the experience of sailing through the Lynn Canal towards Skagway today, and seeing that the entire route is still nothing but wilderness. That wilderness keeps the planned building of a modern road along the 99 miles between Juneau and Skagway from becoming a reality. Now, imagine being a stampeder in 1897-98, taking that same route. How ignorant or gullible does one have to be, to not realize that the way needs to be cleared, telegraph poles erected, and lines strung for over a thousand miles of Alaskan wilderness, forest, mountains, and rivers? Construction would take great planning, cost, and years, which was prohibitive in 1897. You have to admit that tricking someone with a fake telegraph office, in the Alaskan wilderness of 1897, is kind of funny.
      Much of the early history of Skagway is based on eyewitnesses and personal accounts, which is all there is in regards to Soapy's telegraph office. That is, until we combine them with Soapy's standard method of operation, which remained consistent throughout his career. This means that there was likely more to the telegraph story than just tricking $5 from a "cheechako" (Chinook Indian jargon for "newcomer;" a tenderfoot, greenhorn).
   

Laying telegraph lines in Alaska
Colliers Weekly
November 9, 1901

(Click image to enlarge)

HOW IT WORKED:

      Imagine your gullible self, disembarking from a horrid five days spent onboard a rusty and overcrowded steamer, not counting the time spent getting to the pacific coast where your ship awaited. So there you are, a weary traveler, soon to be miner, dropped off with your supplies and fellow passengers, in a new, little explored wilderness territory, perhaps, thousands of miles from home, eagerly wishing you could let your loved ones know that you were still unscathed and this far into your journey north. There in front of you is a small sign on a tent, "telegraph office." A message home for $5. It's pricey, but worth every penny.
      Upon entering the “office,” you learn that the key operator has stepped out for a moment but will soon return. Encouraged to wait, you are surrounded by newfound “friends” who chat with you, asking questions, that unbeknownst to you, will be used by the Soap Gang later on. They soon offer you the usual pastime games of chance, three shells and pea or perhaps a little three-card monte. When the key operator appears, if you still have the $5 fee, he will "send" your message, while offering information on the gold region as well as the best places to eat, drink and stay in Skagway. He tells you not to miss out on going to the Klondike Saloon [Soapy's place]. Making sure he answers all your questions, and in between gathering more information about you and your situation. Who are you traveling with? Where are you headed and when? Do you have enough cash to make it through the winter? He seems to genuinely care and at the conclusion, you leave the office satisfied, with new information and hope.
      Once leaving the tent, you don't notice that one of the gang is tailing you. After a time, the man tailing you approaches and informs you that a reply telegram has arrived and awaits you back at the office—for an additional $5. The friendly games of chance might be employed again to obtain even more of your money. Later, while taking in the sites of the new camp, you run into one or two of the new "friends" you had made in the office. He insists on showing you the town. The clerk happens along and invites you all to his hotel room to sample a shipment of cigars and whisky he just received from the ship anchored in the bay.
      Inside the room there are a few men sitting at a card table playing poker. Greetings are made as the clerk is informed by one of the men that his wife needs him at their tent immediately. You are eagerly invited to sit in on the game and play a few hands while you wait for the clerk to return. In conversation, you find out one of these men lives in your hometown, and apparently has met you before. He does, after-all, know a lot about you (information gathered from you earlier). They offer up a toast, and shove a glass of whisky into your hand. A few toasts and your head is swimming. You awaken in the early morning, behind a tent, and cannot remember the previous night, but before too long you realize that you out a large portion of your ready cash. Was it the whisky? Were you robbed? Or was it that because you were certain you held a "sure-thing" poker-hand, but lost to a better one? Even if the thought occurs to you later that you had been swindled, there is no time to complain to the law, if you could even find a lawman, and then wait until justice is served. Every hour you waste not getting on the trail to the gold fields, means more claims being staked out and that means less gold for you. chalking up the loss to experience and hoping you will make up the loss with a new found gold strike, you hit the trail out of Skagway.

      This does not mean I condone the crime, but it sure does make the victims look a little foolish. There are no records or accounts of anyone admitting they had been taken by the telegraph office, but then again, who would be willing to go home and admit that they fell for such a trick?

"It is popularly believed Reid killed Smith, but those claiming to know assert Murphy fired the fatal shots."

—Will Clayson, Alias Soapy Smith, p. 550.

DECEMBER 23

1783: George Washington arrives home to Mount Vernon after the disbanding of the Continental Army following the Revolutionary War.

1788: Maryland cedes a 100-square-mile area for the seat of the national government. Two-thirds of the area becomes the District of Columbia.

1823: The poem A Visit from St. Nicholas by Clement C. Moore is published. It is also known by the names The Night before Christmas and 'Twas the Night before Christmas.

1844: George W. Arrington is born in Greensboro, Alabama. He is best known as a captain in the Texas Rangers in the 1870s. In the early 1880s he was sheriff for Wheeler County, for eight years before retiring. He died on his ranch, March 31, 1923.

1852: The Theatre of Celestial John opens on Telegraph Hill in San Francisco, California. It is the first Chinese theatre in the U.S.

1863: A vigilante organization is formed inside John Lott's store in Bannack, Montana Territory. Their goal is to rid the territory of the outlaws calling themselves “the Innocents.”

1867: A treaty with Indians of the Senacas, Shawnees, Quapaw, and other tribes guarantees their removal from Kansas to Indian Territory.

1872: Bill Brooks, the former marshal of Newton, Kansas kills a man named Brown in a shootout in Dodge City, Kansas.

1874: The Gordon Party, a group of prospectors from Sioux City, Iowa reach the part of the Black Hills, Dakota Territory called Custer's Park, where gold had been discovered four months prior.

1880: Lincoln County Sheriff Pat Garrett and his posse sneak up on Billy the Kid and his outlaw gang holed up in a deserted adobe near Stinking Springs. Inside are Billy, Charlie Bowdre, Dave Rudabaugh, Tom Pickett and Billy Wilson, who are unaware of the lawmen outside. In the morning Bowdre steps outside the door and the lawmen open fire hitting Bowdre in the chest. Bowdre screams out, "I'm killed, Billy, they killed me." Billy supposedly tells Bowdre, "They have murdered you, Charlie, but you can get revenge! Go out there and kill some of the s.o.b.'s before you go!" With that, Bowdre is led out the door to his death when the lawmen shoot him. Bowdre never fires his pistol. The siege lasts for two days before the outlaws surrender.

1880: Thomas Edison incorporates the Edison Electric Light Company of Europe.

1898: Members of Soapy Smith’s gang are sentenced for the robbery of John D. Stewart; John Bowers is given one year in prison for larceny and six months for assault and battery. “Slim Jim” Foster is sentenced to one year and fined $1,000 for larceny, and six months for assault and battery. Van B. “Old Man” Triplett is sentenced to one year for larceny.

1913: The Federal Reserve Bill is signed into law by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson. The act establishes 12 Federal Reserve Banks.