The Cosmopolitan Hotel and Soapy Smith in Tombstone, Arizona

2nd floor under construction
Circa summer 1880

(Click image to enlarge)

he Cosmopolitan Hotel

Soapy stayed there. Why?

      The first-class Cosmopolitan Hotel opened at 409 Allen Street, on the north side of the street, between Fourth and Fifth Streets in the summer of 1879, in a tent, and by the end of the year, a one-story frame structure was erected. In the summer of 1880, a second floor was added, the first two-story building in Tombstone. Suites and rooms were furnished with black walnut and rosewood bed-sets and spring mattresses. The hotel included a ladies’ parlor, sitting rooms, and a veranda with orange trees. The hotel had a restaurant, a cigar store business, and the Cosmopolitan Saloon, run by “Buckskin” Frank Leslie and William Knapp in the summer of 1880. By 1881 the saloon was under management of Archer and Pryke.

Cosmopolitan Hotel
2nd floor under construction
Circa summer 1880
Courtesy Mike Mihaljevich

(Click image to enlarge)

      The front steps of the Cosmopolitan is the location of the shooting death of Mike Killeen on June 22, 1880. Mike’s estranged wife, May Killeen, was seeing “Buckskin” Frank Leslie and the two were ending a dance date when husband Mike came on the scene. Gunfire erupted and Mike died from his wounds five days later. Less than two months later Leslie and Killeen were married at the hotel.

Location of Cosmopolitan Hotel 
Tombstone, Arizona
 shaded yellow
 Courtesy Google Maps

 
(Click image to enlarge)

Location of Cosmopolitan Hotel 
Tombstone, Arizona

(Click image to enlarge)

Jeff Smith as Soapy
standing at site of Cosmopolitan Hotel

(Click image to enlarge)

      The Cosmopolitan advertised itself as the headquarters for all stage companies, which might explain why Soapy picked that particular hotel to stay in. It is also very possible that he was there to aid the Earps in their fortification inside the hotel. Following the Earp, Clanton and McLaury gunfight on October 26, 1881, brothers Virgil and Morgan spent their recovery time at the hotel. As tension between the Earp’s and the “cow-boys” mounted, the Earp’s fortified themselves and their families inside the Cosmopolitan.

Jeff R. Smith, Pueblo
The Daily Epitaph
January 26, 1882

      The exact date of Soapy's arrival in Tombstone is unknown, but he first signed the Cosmopolitan Hotel register on January 26, 1882. It is probable that this is the time that Soapy met the Earp's and future gang members, John "Texas Jack" Vermillion (later known as "Shoot-Your-Eye-Out Jack") and "Big Ed" Burns (Byrnes). This would indicate that Soapy, at the very least, met everyone at the hotel. The questions of how and why remain unanswered. 

      On December 28, 1881 Virgil Earp was shot and wounded by unknown assailants while walking to his room at the Cosmopolitan Hotel. Peter Brand, author and historian, wrote an article for Wild West magazine (March 2007) entitled, "Wyatt Earp’s Vendetta Posse" in which he writes,

"By mid-January 1882, Virgil's condition had improved slightly, and Wyatt decided to headquarter the Earp families with Virgil at the Cosmopolitan Hotel for safekeeping. Tombstone was a powder keg, and Wyatt knew there was safety in numbers."

Jeff R. Smith and lady, Fort Worth
The Daily Epitaph
January 31, 1882

      Soapy left and returned to Tombstone and the Cosmopolitan Hotel at least three times between January 26 and February 16, 1882, signing it and listing three different cities (Pueblo and Leadville, Colorado and Fort Woth, Texas) It was not at all uncommon that Soapy and other confidence men did this, to protect against local lawmen seeking information from their place of origin. Interesting that “a lady” accompanied two of those hotel registrations.
      Could Soapy have possibly known, or became part of, the Earp's plan for “safety in numbers” as Peter Brand eludes to? Or is it merely a coincidence? Why would he want to be a part of the violence? What was in it for Soapy? It certainly would not be the first time Soapy jumped at the chance to fight for those behind the badge whom he sought an alliance with so that he could operate his chosen profession unmolested. Was he assisting the local lawmen, from more attacks by the “cowboys,” in exchange for the privilege to operate his games in Tombstone, with minimal interference?

Jeff R. Smith and lady, Leadville
The Daily Epitaph 
February 16, 1882

      Was Soapy perhaps helping new friend, “Big Ed” Burns, who was likely fighting to retain power and control of his operations in the area. It would be interesting, but not surprising, to know if Burns also help the Earp family in their time of need while bunking down at the Cosmopolitan.

      The Earp’s vacated the Cosmopolitan on March 27, 1882. Two months later, on May 26, The Cosmopolitan, along with most of the business district, was razed by fire. The Cosmopolitan Hotel did not return but Soapy did!
      I have xerox copies of one of Soapy's personal notebooks. Soapy returned to Tombstone and sold his prize package soap beginning on December 17, 1883. In his own handwriting, he wrote up a week's tally.

Sales in Tombstone.
A.T. Dec. 1883
Dec 17th Mon. .......$65.00
Dec 18th T [Tue] ....$58.00
Dec 19th W [Wed] ..$53.00
Dec 20th T [Thur] ...$57.00
Dec 21st F [Fri] .......$23.00
Dec 22nd Sat ...........$58.50
_______________________
................................$314.50

$314.50 is the equivalent of  $8,808.09 in 2020 dollars, for five days of work! Not a bad haul for selling soap!

SOURCE:

• “Best Thing of the Kind I Ever Saw,” by Rita Ackerman, Tombstone Times, Sept 2020.
• "Wyatt Earp’s Vendetta Posse," by Peter Brand, Wild West Magazine, March 2007. 

March 23, 2009
September 25, 2009
November 13, 2009
August 19, 2010
December 26, 2010
April 24, 2017

Then, with tears in his eyes, “Soapy” said that he knew very well that he could not always be on his guard—that someday somebody would get him. He referred to the James boys of Missouri, also to the Younger brothers. “You see,” said “Soapy,” “somebody always gets them in the end. Now,” said he, “some day, notwithstanding my gentle and affectionate nature, you will pick up a newspaper and you will read of my being killed with my boots on, because you know a feller can't always get his finger on the trigger first. It's sure to come.”

—Saunders Norvell, Forty Years of Hardware, 1924