Soapy Smith in San Francisco, 1882.

Soapy, Taylor and Waller at the Brooklyn Hotel
San Francisco Examiner
November 13, 1882

(Click image to enlarge)

 

 

 

OAPY IN SAN FRANCISCO, 1882.
  NEW DISCOVERY!

 

I knew that Soapy had been in San Francisco in 1881, being arrested TWICE for operating his prize package soap sell racket, and I knew he had gone through in the late 90s, but 1882 is brand new information as of this posting.

Soapy signs the register at the Brooklyn Hotel, along with

• John Taylor: whom early authors described as Soapy's mentor in Texas.

• John T. Waller: Spelled as "J. F. Waller."
  

 

The Brooklyn Hotel
San Francisco, California
Circa 1875
Archive of California, Bancroft Library

(Click image to enlarge)

The Brooklyn Hotel was on Bush Street, near Montgomery. The photo is Bush Street looking west from Sansome Street. Hacks and hotel stagecoachs (called "buses") bring hotel guests to and from the hotel. Circa 1875.
     Interesting to note is that Soapy stayed at this same hotel about three years later, on February 22, 1884, listing his residence as Denver, Colorado.

SOURCE:

• San Francisco Examiner, November 13, 1882

• Photo: Archive of California, Bancroft Library
  

San Francisco
October 6, 2009
December 26, 2009
December 26, 2009 (part 2)
January 3, 2012
February 23, 2021

San Francisco: pages 40-41, 60, 82, 85, 109-10, 118-19, 152, 242, 361, 409, 411-12, 418, 425, 428-29, 432-33, 450, 463-65, 472, 492, 504, 527, 545, 574, 587.

"Even as I approach the gambling hall, as soon as I hear, two rooms away, the jingle of money poured out on the table, I almost go into convulsions."

—Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Gambler, 1866