Mary Eva Smith, Soapy Smith's widow: "She looked her trouble in the face and did not hesitate to go into the camp of his enemies."

Entire article
Seattle Daily Times
Aug 19, 1898
(transcribed below)

(Click image to enlarge)

he looked her trouble in the face and did not hesitate to go into the camp of his enemies."

      The following is an interesting newspaper clipping discussing Mary Smith's (Mary Eva Noonan) trip to Skagway, Alaska to settle her husband's (Jefferson Randolph "Soapy" Smith II) estate. She knew that "Soapy" was wealthy. Decades later she told her son and grandchildren that she figured Soapy was worth around $40,000,000. What she didn't know was that much of the money was in the hands of friends and associates along the west coast, San Francisco, etc. After his death, these "friends" just kept the money, using it to build their own business empires. What was left in Skagway was stolen. She did come back with personal effects, letters, the rifle, etc.

Seattle daily Times
August 19, 1898

     The steamer Rosalie, which arrived here early Sunday morning, had two passengers of more or less interest. One was major Walsh, retiring Commissioner of the Yukon, the man who had more absolute power than any other that ever went into Alaska, and the man who nearly all of the Dawson miners hate bitterly. The other was a woman, Mrs. Jefferson Randolph Smith of St. Louis Mo., the wife of “Soapy” Smith, who represented all that was lawless at Skagway until two months ago, when his career was suddenly ended by a bullet through the heart from the gun of City Engineer Reid. Both these personages were seen yesterday by a Times reporter.
     Major Walsh was found at the Butler Hotel shortly before his departure for the East yesterday afternoon. He was courteous and had many things to say. He was eager to justify the course taken by himself and other Canadian officers in the interior. He considered it foolish for the papers to pay any attention to the complaints of miners who came out. He thought they would not be satisfied with anything. On all these subjects Major Walsh had an ax to grind.
    Asked regarding the permanence of the Klondike as a mining district major Walsh said:
    “The Klondike will be a good district for many years to come. The output this year was about $11,000,000, but that was mostly from Bonanza and Eldorado Creeks. The claims on these creeks are not nearly worked out yet. Then there are miles of new creek bed, recently located, that have not been worked at all. I think the output next year will be 20,000,000. The royalty will not stop work next season to any extent, as I believe the miners have no intention of quitting work on that account, although they will try a bluff.
    “Dawson is woefully overcrowded just now. Why is it that all the thousands that went into that country came direct to Dawson? There are not too many people in the interior for the country if they were properly distributed, but more than nine-tenths of them are at Dawson. There will be trouble next winter if the newcomers do not spread out to the other districts.”

____

    Mrs. “Soapy” Smith, dressed in deep black and leading a little boy by the hand, trudged down to the overland yesterday afternoon at 4 o’clock and sought the seclusion of a sleeper.
    She had just returned from Skaguay, where she visited the grave of her husband, tried to settle up his tangled business affairs and solve the scene of Alaska’s greatest riot.
    It was a sad trip for Mrs. Smith for, it is said, with all his faults she loved her husband dearly. She looked her trouble in the face and did not hesitate to go into the camp of his enemies. Her seeming refinement of manner made the way easy for her at Skagway and she received every courtesy. She finally decided not to try to remove his body to St. Louis.
    Instead, she brings home the trusty Winchester, a shot from which finally killed Smith’s slayer. She thinks a great deal of the relic and it is seldom out of her site. Just in what shape she found “Soapy’s” business affairs Mrs. Smith declined to say. They were badly tangled up and it is doubtful if she got much from his interest.

Mary Eva Noonan (Smith)
Mar 17, 2009
May 5, 2010 
Jun 18, 2010
Sept 4, 2010 
May 21, 2011
Aug 1, 2011
Dec 25, 2011
Apr 12, 2012
Apr 27, 2012
Sep 14, 2012
Aug 9, 2013
Aug 13, 2013
Aug 20, 2013 

Mary Eva Noonan (Smith): pages 7, 19, 52, 104-08, 124-25, 139, 146-47, 167, 169-72, 197, 202, 281-82, 379, 407, 410-11, 417-18, 425, 428, 436, 442-44, 448, 451, 486, 495, 498-99, 503, 543-46, 554-55, 584-87, 592, 594.

"The Rev. Porter was fascinated with the game and firm in his belief that he could pick out the shell under which nestled the little black ball, but when the shell was lifted up the little black ball had mysteriously disappeared, as had also $52 of his hard earned wealth."

— Boulder Daily Camera, June 29, 1893

APRIL 6

1789: Congress begins regular sessions in New York City.

1830: Joseph Smith organizes the Mormon Church in New York.

1830: Mexico disallows further emigration into Texas by settlers from the U.S.

1862: The Battle of Shiloh during the Civil War begins.

1862: The explorer, John W. Powell, loses his right arm during the Battle of Shiloh.

1865: One third of Confederate General Lee’s Army is cut off by Union forces during the Battle of Sayler's Creek.

1875: Alexander Graham Bell is granted a patent for the multiple telegraph, which sends two signals at the same time.

1875: Indian Chief Black Horse and 10 others are killed, and 19 soldiers are wounded near the Cheyenne Agency, Indian Territory.

1881: Luther King is lynched by cow-boys for snitching in the botched Benson stage robbery.

1886: The Anti-Dude Club of Newton, Kansas is formed and sets fines for various infractions, which include carrying a cane, wearing kid gloves and a plug hat, and parting one's hair down the middle.

1892: The Blonger brothers gambling house in Denver, Colorado is closed. The Blonger’s are a rival bunco gang of the Soapy Gang run by bunco artist Soapy Smith.

1897: Special Deputy Sheriff Bat Masterson forcefully enters a voting polling booth at Eighteenth and Larimer Streets in Denver, Colorado. Masterson shot off his pistol to clear the booth of vote counters. Tim Conners pulled out his revolver but it was shot out of his hands by Masterson. C. C Louderbaugh is shot in the hand.

1900: George Scarborough, a peace officer and a cattle detective, dies from gunshot wounds received during a gunfight with four suspected rustlers near San Simon, New Mexico Territory. Scarborough was known as the man who killed the man (John Selman) who killed Wesly Harden.

1909: Americans Robert Peary and Matthew Henson claim to be the first humans to reach the North Pole.