Soapy Smith And Col. Sellers

Soapy Smith and "Col. Sellers"
Jeff Smith collection

(Click image to enlarge)

 

 

 

E KNOW WHO SOAPY WAS

BUT WHO WAS "COL. SELLERS?"

     My father, mother and I met author, historian, Howard Clifford during the Harriet Pullen Klondike gold rush memorabilia auction in Seattle, Washington in 1975. It's the auction where my father purchased Soapy's roulette table, grave marker, and other great artifacts. Mr. Clifford sent my father a nice copy of the photograph shown at the top of this article. He told my father that Pullen identified Soapy as being the man on the right, and the man on the left as "Col. Sellers," and that the photograph had been taken in Leadville, Colorado in 1880. If I am not mistaken, he said it was ID'd in pencil on the back of the photo. I stayed in touch with Mr. Clifford over the next three decades, and we shared information, photographs, documents, etc. I valued his friendship.
     In 1997 Mr. Clifford published, Soapy Smith: Uncrowned King of Skagway in which on page 3 he shared the photograph, but identified Soapy as the man on the left, not the right, as stated by Pullen. He also identified the other man as Joe Simmons. I never understood why he did that, but it raised questions as to the information Mr. Clifford shared from Harriet Pullen. Did Pullen really identify the other man as "Col. Sellers?" I had to make some decisions when I was rough drafting my own book, Alias Soapy Smith. In getting my publisher, Art Petersen's aid in researching and deciding on a course, we started first to attempt to identify which man was Soapy. Mr. Clifford identified Soapy as the man on the left, and not the right, as Harriet Pullen had stated. After great comparison work, Art and I also concluded that Soapy was most likely the man on the left. Our research also concluded that Soapy was likely between the age of 17-20, circa 1877-1880. We opted to believe that the photo was probably taken in Texas, but could have been taken in Leaville, Colorado, as Soapy had been there in July 1880.
     Fast forward 12 years, I was checking out an old issue of the Daily Denver Times, July 8, 1881 for sale on eBay, when I caught "Col. Sellers" from the corner of my eyes. It was a poor copy but from the article I found enough information to perform more research to find out where the name "Col. Sellers" came from.

 

Daily Denver Times
July 8 1881
"Col. Sellers"
Text published below

(Click image to enlarge)

 

     The article copy from the Daily Denver Times shown above is the best copy I could obtain, but the text is copied below for ease of reading.

AMUSEMENTS.
________

RAYMOND’S “RISKS.”

      Certainly Mr. Raymond cannot complain of the way in which he has been received in Denver, and the keen appreciation of his abilities is shown by his audiences. Last evening a full house witnessed “Risks," one of the best pieces of character acting done by this famous comedian. His make-up was capital, and of course his "business" was great. It is Mr. Raymond's silent work―If such an expression is allowable―that is particularly funny, and convulses an audience as much as his spoken lines. Last night his allusion to eye-water―a reference to his famous “Col. Sellers"―was promptly taken up by the audience, and the prolonged applause that followed showed with what pleasure the character is remembered.

Original handbill for the play Risks
Courtesy of the Library of Congress

(Click image to enlarge)

 

     After some research I found that "Mr. Raymond" is John T. Raymond, an actor and comedian. He is known for the formation of the company that introduced the play, Our American Cousin to the public.
     In 1874 Raymond produced and acted in the very successful, Gilded Age, based on the book written by Mark Twain. Raymond played the part of "Col. Mulberry Sellers," known throughout as "Col. Sellers," for which Raymond played for the next four years. In the Fall of 1878 Raymond produced and acted in, Risks. Apparently, the monetary success attained from Gilded Age did not continue over into Raymond's other plays, but to satisfy his audiences he would incorporate "Col. Sellers" into his other characters, as seen from the newspaper article above. The public and his critiques loved the cross-overs, but he "made more friends than money." Raymond's success improved in 1881 with new plays.

CONCLUSION

     Being the same name in the same date range, I will guess that the name of the man ("Col. Sellers") in the photograph with Soapy, was an alias. But why use such a famous name of that time period? Soapy had one hell of a sense of humor. It was likely a joke between Soapy and his friend, no doubt another bunko sharp? Unfortunately, we will probably never know the full story, but one part of the mystery seems to have been brought to light.

SOURCES:

1. Great Artists of the American Stage: A Portrait Gallery of the leading actors and actresses of America, 1882.
2. Wikipedia: John T. Ramond. 
   

"Look high, look low, and we see that gamblers actually form the majority of the world's inhabitants."

— James Runciman, Side Lights, 1893