Soapy Smith's Denver fake auction house, 1888

ONE OF DENVER'S FAKES.
Rocky Mountain News
December 17, 1888
(Article transcribed below)

(Click image to enlarge)

ake auction houses

For years there were fake auction houses operating along Seventeenth Street in Denver, Colorado, most being under the control of Jefferson Randolph Smith II, alias "Soapy" Smith. The last known fake auction house in Denver is mentioned in a letter to Soapy, dated 1896. It was run by ex-Soap Gang members, as Soapy was no longer a resident of Denver. Men who worked in Soapy's auction houses included, G. E. "Auctioneer" Roberts, James "Duke of Halstead" Thorton, John O. "Texas-Jack" Vermillion and John L. "Reverend" Bowers.

     The Denver police did their best to shut them down, with little success. At one point they even placed officers on the sidewalks in front of the dens, there to warn pedestrians not to engage the auctioneers and his shills, but after a few days the police officers were removed and placed back on regular duty because of an increase in crime elsewhere in the city, likely caused by the bunco men themselves, in order to get the cops back on the beat, and away from their shops!

     Below is the first known expose on the auction houses published in the Rocky Mountain News, December 17, 1888.

ONE OF DENVER’S FAKES.

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THE SNIDE AUCTION SHOPS AND THEIR MEETINGS.

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A REPORTER’S EXPERIENCE.

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New guileless Youths and Inexperienced Countrymen Are Inveigled into Exceedingly Bad Bargains – The Steerer’s Part.

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Wo’n ‘alf! Two ‘n ‘alf! Two’s ‘alf! Only two dollars and fifty cents bid, gentlemen, for that solid rolled gold chain. Only two and a half! Why, it is worth three times that much, if it’s worth a cent.”

     These were the words that reached the ear of a NEWS reporter the other afternoon while going down Seventeenth street in search of an item. He had heard this and many other similar cries almost every day for a long while as his daily routine takes him down Seventeenth street below Larimer, and this is the locality most thickly strewn with the auction stores of the class referred to, and they are all of the same ilk–not a very good one, either–but never before had he been attracted, beyond a mental inquiry as to whether there were many gullible enough to be taken in by the fakirs. This cry, however, was in some way peculiar and the reporter was drawn into the small circle which surrounded a be-whiskered auctioneer who sported very flashy jewelry. The principal object was to satisfy curiosity and secondly a belief that many of THE NEWS readers would like to know something about these places and their methods.

"Do I Hear Ten Dollars?"

 
     The reporters entrance was the signal for a bit of extra bustle and the crowd of steerers became extraordinarily engrossed in the examination of various watches, chains, rings and other articles in the shop, intent on making an impression of rushing business on the prospective “sucker” they thought they saw in view. To encourage them in the IDM with which they had become [illegible] THE NEWS man edged up to the counter and the auctioneer and began to manifest some interest in a very showy looking watch which was labeled:

SOLID GOLD
warranted full jeweled
guaranteed one year.

    

"What might that ‘cre [?] Timepiece be worth:” queried the reporter.
     The reply was very voluminous, setting forth the many qualities of the watch, which was declared to be a solid gold-filled case, stem winder and set her, with full set jewels. Be information was also given that all goods are sold by auction and he would put it up.“Now, gentlemen,” said the auctioneer, “here’s a man who wants to bid on this watch and will give him a chance. How much will you bid? Speak up.”
     “Five dollars,” said the reporter.
     “Five dollars? What do I hear? Say, young fellow, do you want to buy this watch? If you do, you’ll have to speak louder.”
     “I’ll give ten,” was the remark of someone in the crowd.
     “That’s more like it. I’m offered $10. gentlemen. Who’ll make it $11?” and the lusty lunged auctioneer proceeded to urge additional bids.

"Eight Dollars."

  
     The watch was finally knocked down to one of the “gentlemen” in the crowd for $17.50, but not until the reporter had discovered by a close examination that the watch was one of the best deceptions to be found. It was an alloy case, not even filled gold, and the works were of a kind once described to the reporter by a jeweler friend as “the five-dollar-a-[illegible] watches.” The man who “bought” the watch appeared to be very proud of his acquirement, but if one could have watched him later on he would have seen another transfer of the watch back to the case, the gentlemen standing around being merely figureheads to deceive and help [illegible] in the unsuspecting countryman or the [illegible] youth who has not yet learned that all that glitters is not gold.
     In another place a similar watch was put up. There was a “hayseed” who evidently wanted something to tell him when to eat, and all sorts of inducements were made to draw him into a deal but he bought shy and the watch was sold to the original bitter for $8. The bitter, who was only one of the “dummies,” made a noise that he didn’t have quite enough cash at hand but wanted to leave a deposit until he could get the money. This wouldn’t go and the watch was handed back to the auctioneer, who did his best to get the farmer to bid, and finally the old man said he would bid $8. Then others bed and finally the farmer found himself bidding $15. Then he apparently remembered what he had promised to buy his [illegible] and wished he [illegible]. But the wish was [illegible two paragraphs] spider and fly game and it works quite as often as the fabled “come into my parlor.”

A Shy Granger

  
     The auction rooms are, in fact, considerably, if not wholly, on the fake order. Cheap jewelry, watches, and even clothing are put up and bid on by the [illegible] fakirs to prices far above what they are worth. There are some things sold that are of good quality, but they are not given away by any means, and a good profit is always made. But the bulk of the goods are of the conceivably cheap order and not worth having at any price.
     From the fact that so many of these fakirs gain a living in this city is evident that there are a great many green individuals in Denver every day and it is to be believed that they are not all the unsophisticated countrymen who come in to spend their hard-earned cash and see the sights, but that quite a number of Denver’s population have not learned to steer clear of such joints. The man who gets “bit” by such means generally makes no complaint, as he is averse to revealing himself as a rank sucker, and therefore these places keep up their robbing shops simply because no one complains to the police. A few arrests or the charge of false pretenses would have the wholesome effect of ridding the city of “joints” of this character. But of course no such action can be hoped for from the present force.

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Auction House: pages 15, 43, 75-76, 88, 90, 92, 120, 129-32, 138, 162-63, 180, 188, 190-91, 242, 294, 360, 421-22.

"It is difficult to account for the action of people who fall victims to such bare-faced bunko games; it must be the result of the inherent love of the American people for being humbugged."

— Aspen Daily Chronicle, July 30, 1889.

APRIL 12

1782: The British navy wins its only naval engagement against the colonial navy at the Battle of Saints, off Dominica, during the American Revolution.

1799: Phineas Pratt patents the comb cutting machine.

1811: The first colonists arrive at what would later be named Cape Disappointment, in the future state of Washington.

1812: The War of 1812 begins when President Madison declares war on England.

1833: Charles Gaylor patents the fireproof safe. 

1861: Confederate forces fire on the U.S. at Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina, starting the Civil War.

1862: Denver, Colorado passes its first anti-prostitution law.

1864: Confederate General Nathan Forrest captures Fort Pillow, in Tennessee and executes the black Union troops there.

1865: David “Big Dave” Updyke, stagecoach robber, murderer, and onetime sheriff of Ada County, Idaho Territory, is hung by vigilantes, along with cohort Jake Dixon, 30 miles west of Boise, Idaho. He led the July 13, 1865 stagecoach robbery that left four dead. A note pinned to his body read “aider of murderers and horse thieves.”

1867: General Hancock, at Fort Larned in Kansas, tells Cheyenne Indians to abide by the treaty of 1865 and stay on their lands south of the Arkansas River or risk starting a war.

1872: The outlaw Jesse James gang robs a bank in Columbia, Kentucky, killing one person and getting away with $1,500.

1877: A catcher's mask is used in a baseball game for the first time.

1883: Charles “Black Bart” Bolton robs the Lakeport-Cloverdale stage a second time, this time about 5 miles from Cloverdale, California. At the conclusion of the robbery he leaves behind an unusual calling card: a poem.

1884: Con men Tom Daniels, J. B. Parmer, Bill Kelly, Con Sullivan and George Millsap are arrested in Denver, Colorado for armed robbery of a man ($150 and a pistol), after the man would not play a sure-thing game operated by Charles “Doc” Baggs. Some of the cons would later work for Soapy Smith’s Soap Gang.

1888: John Billee and Thomas Willis rob and murder W. P. Williams and bury his body in a ravine in the Kiamichi Mountains, Oklahoma Territory. They would eventually hang for the crime.

1889: Buffalo Bill's Wild West leaves New York for a tour of France.

1892: Voters in Lockport, New York are the first to use voting machines.

1892: Before becoming a member of the Soap Gang, Jeff Dunbar shoots and kills a black man named Lewis Adams during a card game in a saloon in Casper, Wyoming. Dunbar shot four times, three of the shots taking effect, killing Adams instantly. Dunbar is arrested, tried and acquitted. He leaves for Denver and joins the Soap Gang.

1898: Soap Gang member Harry Green signs his name as “Jeff Smith” on the register of the Hotel Northern in Seattle, causing newspaper there to falsely report that Soapy Smith was in their city. The real Jeff Smith, aka “Soapy,” was in Skagway, Alaska, is mad as hell at Green for pretending to be him.

1900: Corteze D. “Cort” Thomson, Denver Colorado gambler and husband of brothel madame Martha A. “Mattie” Silks, dies of ptomaine poisoning from eating spoiled oysters. Thomson had been involved with bad man Soapy Smith in the shooting death of Cliff Sparks.

1905: The Hippodrome opens in New York City.