Did Soapy Smith go to Deadwood, South Dakota in 1897?

SOAPY SMITH IS IN TOWN
The Deadwood Evening Independent
May 18, 1897

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id Soapy Smith go to Deadwood, North Dakota in 1897?

 

 

 

 

 

If you watched HBOs series Deadwood (2004), then you may recall seeing a character loosely based on Soapy Smith ("Soap with a prize inside!"). A lot of research went into the making of the series, and apparently they found the old published letter from a Deadwood pioneer writing about a particular stagecoach ride in which one passenger was "Wild Bill" Hickok, and the other was "Soapy" Smith. While it is possible that there was a passenger who went by the alias of "Soapy," it is likely not Jefferson Randolph Smith, who at age 16, was still living at home with his parents and siblings in Round Rock, Texas. It would be another nine years (1885) before he would obtain the moniker "Soapy."

     The topic of Soapy Smith in Deadwood comes up occasionally, but until now there has been no evidence that he visited the town. The primary Deadwood gold rush ended in 1890, but gold was still being mined, and the population maintained a slow growth, so there was money to be made for someone of Soapy's career choice. He had visited smaller towns in his travels, so it is possible. 

     After 1890 famous gambler's, such as Alice Ivers Duffield, known to most as "Poker Alice Tubbs," were still arriving and working in Deadwood, via train, also a newcomer to the gold-town. Al Swearingen and his Gem Theatre were still operating (until 1899). Gambling and prostitution were still legal (until 1898), indicating that Daedwood was still on the wild side, a natural attraction for Soapy Smith to visit in 1897.

 

Still wild
Deadwood in 1897

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     The newspaper piece is dated May 18, 1897 so one of my first tasks was to try and pin-point where Soapy was known to be operating around this time.

• January-February 1897: Spokane.
• May 1897: St. Louis.
• July 1897: Seattle.
  

     Soapy was constantly moving around during this period. Few of the letters written to him at his last known location, did not reach him right away. Thus, it is very possible that he was in Deadwood in May 1897. 

 

MAYBE THIS REALLY IS SOAPY?

 

 

Seth Bullock, Sol Star and Soapy Smith?

 

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Back on December 18, 2020 on Facebook I posted the above photograph taken in Deadwood, South Dakota, showing Seth Bullock and Sol Star, with an unidentified gentleman that looks surprisingly like Soapy Smith. At the time I did not think it was Soapy so I did not post it here in this blog. When I posted the newspaper clipping that mentions Soapy Smith in Deadwood in Deadwood on May 18, 1897 I sought out the photograph of Seth Bullock and Sol Star and have to wonder if that third gentleman is actually Soapy?

 

"It is a notorious fact that confidence men and gamblers and other traffickers in the weaknesses of human nature are shrewd, companionable and generous men. They are generous on the order of “lightly come, lightly go.”"

—Daily Alaskan, July 25, 1898.