Ella Wilson: murdered prostitute of Skagway, Alaska

Grave marker of Ella Wilson
Gold Rush Cemetery
Skagway, Alaska

(Click image to enlarge)

lla Wilson: murdering prostitute of Skagway, Alaska

(From Alias Soapy Smith: The Life and Death of a Scoundrel)

Late on Saturday, May 28, 1898, Ella D. Wilson, a prostitute, was murdered in her Holly Street cabin. The shocking details were published up and down the west coast.

SMOTHERED TO DEATH.

Mysterious Murder of a Mulatto Woman in Skagway.

Skagway, May 29, via Port Townsend. June 3.—A mysterious murder occurred here last night. Ella D. Wilson, a mulatto woman, was smothered to death in her house on one of the busiest streets of the town by some unknown person. The murder was not disclosed until this afternoon. The woman was found lying in her bed. Around her neck a pillow-case had been drawn tightly, with the ends thrust in her mouth for a gag. Her wrists and ankles were tied together with sheets. Over her head and face a pillow was pressed down, and death had evidently resulted from smothering. Robbery is supposed to have been the motive for the crime, as the woman’s trunk had been rifled. She was thought to have had about $2000…. There is no clue to the murderer. The murdered woman had lived in the principal towns on the Pacific coast.[1]

      Those who have read Alias Soapy Smith know about the controversial murder and robbery of the Skagway soiled dove, Ella Wilson and how Denver madam, Mattie Silks, blamed Soapy and U. S. Deputy Marshal Sylvester Taylor for the horrendous deed. My book goes into great detail about everything known about Wilson's death and Silk's later accusations. However, I have written very little on Ella Wilson here on this blog. The reason is that little new information has surfaced.
      Marlene McClusky of the Skagway Historical Society blog wrote the following on August 2, 2011.

The New York Times of March 22, 1898 reported that a black prostitute had shot and killed a laboring man at the entrance to her cabin in the saloon district in Skagway. According to the captains of the Alki and the Hueneme the murder started as a result of trouble which began early on Monday evening over the disappearance of the man's watch.[2]

Another Murder at Skaguay
New York Times
March 22, 1898

(Click image to enlarge)

Today's blog post centers on the newspaper clipping from the New York Times, March 22, 1898.

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Another Murder at Skaguay.

SEATTLE, Washington. March 21.-Skaguay has had another murder, according to the officers of the steamers Alki and Hueneme, which have arrived here direct from the Lynn Canal. On last Monday night a laboring man was shot by a colored woman of the lower class in the entrance of her cabin, in the saloon district of Skaguay. He died shortly before the steamers sailed. The murder was the result of trouble which began early Monday evening over the disappearance of the man's watch.[3]

_______________

Marlene McClusky continues,

Apparently nothing was done to investigate this, but on May 28, 1898 - only two months later, Ella D. Wilson, a black prostitute or laundress, was strangled in her bed and her belongings stolen. Her house was on Holly Street, the same neighborhood. Perhaps the murder of Ella Wilson was simply retribution or frontier justice for the earlier murder. Although it was widely rumored that she had $3000, it is highly unlikely that a poor black prostitute could have amassed that much money. Even the high priced call girls made little money.[4]

On the Find-A-Grave page devoted to Ella, someone posted an unknown, un-sourced write-up.

ELLA WILSON

Born: 1880 Died: May 28, 1898

"She gave her honor for the life of Skagway."

As a resident of Skagway's Red Light district, Ella was not given a large funeral after an anonymous strangling. She undoubtedly had many friends, but her standing in the community was not high.

      Many of Skagway's ladies of the evening lived in the Red Light district cribs named for their nationalities and trade. Jap alley, Paradise alley, and French alley were enclaves of women in virtual slavery. The money only passed through their hands to the men who controlled their lives.

      Eventually prostitution was outlawed from the downtown district and cribs ceased to house the "soiled doves" of Skagway.[5]

The quote, "She gave her honor for the life of Skagway" is a play on the inscription on Frank Reid's grave marker, "He gave his life for the honor of Skagway."

      If you are familiar with Find-A-Grave, it would be nice to go over there and leave some virtual flowers: Ella Wilson at Find-A-Grave.

SOURCES:
[1]: Morning Oregonian, 06/04/1898, p.2.
[2]: Skagway Stories: Ella Wilson
[3]: New York Times, March 22, 1898.
[4]: Skagway Stories: Ella Wilson
[5]: Find-A-Grave: Ella Wilson.










Ella Wilson: August 6, 2011

Ella Wilson: pages 507-12.

"'Thieves fall out and we may find out some time what became of Jeff’s property. There are men in Skaguay now who claim to have killed my brother. I have been told that Reid did not kill him, but that another man in the crowd fired a bullet into his back while he was struggling with Reid.'

'There are very few honest people up in that country,' Said Bascomb last night. 'I was told that my brother had $80 in cash in his clothes when he died, also that he owned several lots in Skaguay, a half-interest in Clancy’s saloon which was taking in probably $200 a day and an interest in the White Pass Trail.

The widow never got anything out of the estate. The money was gone and there was no trace of the lots, as they had never been recorded. Even a letter of thanks from the secretary of war could not be found and nearly everything in Jeff’s room had been stolen.'"

— Bascomb Smith, Alias Soapy Smith, p. 555.

JANUARY 14

1639: Connecticut's first constitution, the "Fundamental Orders," is adopted.

1784: The U.S. ratifies a peace treaty with England ending the Revolutionary War.

1873: John Hyatt's 1869 invention of ‘Celluloid’ is registered as a trademark.

1864: Vigilantes lynch five outlaw members of the “Innocents” in Virginia City, Montana Territory. One of those hung was Jack Gallagher, whose last words were “I hope forked lightening will strike every strangling…of you.”

1872: Russian Grand Duke Alexis celebrates his 21st birthday and the killing of his first buffalo in Nebraska. The duke missed with his first six shots before Buffalo Bill hands him his .50 caliber rifle. The Duke gets within 10 feet of his prey and shoots, killing the buffalo.

1878: Slabtown changes its name to Leadville, Colorado Territory.

1878: Alexander Graham Bell demonstrates the telephone for Britain's Queen Victoria.

1878: Bat Masterson is sworn in as Ford County Sheriff. He becomes a long-time friend of bad man Soapy Smith in Denver, Colorado.

1881: Gambler Johnny O'Rourke, alias “Johnny-Behind-the-Deuce,” shoots and kills a mining engineer following an argument in Charleston, Arizona Territory. He rides to Tombstone where he is protected from a lynch mob by Virgil Earp, Marshal Ben Sippy, and Sheriff John Behan.

1882: The Myopia Hunt Club, in Winchester, Massachusetts is the first country club in the U.S.

1886: Indians appear on doorsteps of many homes in Wichita, Kansas begging to be let in from the cold.

1887: Bad men James Lamb and Albert O'Dell are hung in Fort Smith, Arkansas for the 1886 murder of a farmer who had hired them to do some work.

1891: General Nelson Miles reports that the Sioux Indians are returning to their Dakota reservations.