Quiet in Denver: Soapy Smith and fifty men under arms ready to assist in mob trouble, 1893

"Fifty men under arms ready to assist"
The Sun
New York
July 29 1893

(Click image to enlarge)

 

 

ast night, Soapy Smith, a well-known sport, notified the Chief of Police that he had fifty men under arms ready to assist in quieting any row that might be started.

 

 

 

Below is the transcribed newspaper article

―
QUIET IN DENVER.
―
Military Still Under Arms and Special Police Sworn In.

DENVER, July 28.―In Camp Relief, in River Front Park, more than a thousand men were fed to day.[A] The meals consisted of bread and meat stew. Last night the tents were filled and many slept in the old grand stand. This afternoon a gang of men out at Fortieth street broke into a bakery and carried off all the bread and pastry. A car load of canned goods was sacked also.[B] Scores are going out on every train,[C] yet the number of unemployed seems not to diminish. Police regulations are better and fears of more rioting are now abating. The military are still under arms, the police force has been increased, and 100 deputy sheriffs have been sworn in. Last night, Soapy Smith, a well-known sport, notified the Chief of Police that he had fifty men under arms ready to assist in quieting any row that might be started.[D] Several of the ringleaders of the lynching were arrested and jailed to-day.

―

(A) More than anyone in Denver, Reverend Thomas Uzzell aided Denver's poor and troubled. Because Uzzell was non-denominational, and made charity a top priority, Soapy is known to have given money to Uzzell, and none of the other denominational churches. But the "Panic of 1893" overwhelmed Uzzell's resources and he simply could not help. The city of Denver and the state of Colorado was forced to step-up and help. (B) Even with city and state aid, it just wasn't enough. It is so like Soapy, who was also economically strapped during this period, to raid the bakery and/or the train load of canned food, to donate it to Uzzell and those in charge of feeding the homeless camped at River Front Park. (C) There are accounts that the police and Soapy's deputies grabbed the leaders and the worst of the trouble makers among the homeless gangs and put them on trains to be shipped out of the city. (D) It is known that Soapy and members of the Soap Gang were deputized by the police. One of these being Bascomb Smith, Soapy's younger brother, who was arrested for assualt, on the same day that the newspaper article was published, and in his possession was a deputy commission and a badge.

The following is from Alias Soapy Smith: The Life and Death of a Scoundrel.

The collapsing economy sparked radical political campaigns nationwide. In June 1893, a full-scale depression, historically known as the Panic of 1893, was tearing down the US economy. Silver producers found their mines and smelters unprofitable and began closing them. Whole industries began crumbling, including 194 railroad corporations; of 500 banks to close nationally, 12 were in Denver, 6 on the same day, July 18, 1893, and 3 more the following day. Depositors not retrieving their funds beforehand lost their money as federal insurance protection was then unknown. The nation’s unemployed, about 2,500,000, began drifting into the cities in search of jobs and food. In Denver, hundreds of men roamed the streets, begging for work, food, and shelter. Denver newspapers reported a steady rise in holdups by hungry men and in suicides by the desperate who had given up hope. Faced with these conditions, on July 27, 1893, the city set up a refugee camp at the foot of Sixteenth Street at River Front Park.[1] The national guard furnished tents for 400 men; another 200 slept in grandstands. Parson Uzzell helped screen applicants. The city fed between 500 and 1,000 people each day for over two weeks. Many residents feared Denver would not recover from the economic collapse. To help the troubled city, railroads offered reduced fares out of town and later issued free tickets. The economic crisis was ultimately blamed on the federal government for changing to a gold standard rather than staying with silver and gold. This belief influenced many votes in the previous election and would again those to come.

Jeff’s saloon, gambling, and bunco businesses suffered a lack of quality gamblers and victims. As a sign of hard times, in March 1893, it appears Jeff spread employment of the Soap Gang into saloons owned by associates and friends. Jeff himself presided over the gambling rooms at the Ingersoll Club at 1653 Larimer near Seventeenth.[2]

―

For several days, the News scapegoated the gambling halls with articles about men with little money who had gambled it away in crooked games. As a result, homeless men angry, and a few considered taking back some of that ill-gotten cash by force. Beginning July 26, 1893, for two nights it was feared that bands of hungry men might mob gambling halls. The first night was without attack but made fearful enough by wandering crowds of men. Before the second night, Sheriff Burchinell took no chances and swore in about fifty deputies. They were heavily armed and assigned to gambling halls alongside well-armed gamblers. That night, had any men from among the larger crowds that assembled near Larimer rushed any of the establishments, the bloodshed would have been horrific.[3] Jeff, who was prepared to fight, expressed his concerns and hopes to a News reporter.

Jeff on Guard.

Hon. Sapolio Smith on Thursday evening, when it was broadly intimated that a raid on the gambling houses was intended, was on the battlements. Laying his armament aside for a moment, he delivered himself of the following characteristic remarks: “There mustn’t be any more of these mobs in Denver. It’s a bad business. Now, take to-night fer instance. There’s this restless, excitable crowd ready to hand, and I know of four or five miscreants who are circulating about trying to stir up an assault on a couple of business houses [that are] supposed to have considerable cash on hand. They’d better not try it, for we’ve got men enough interested in preserving this city to make ignominious failure a certainty for them. We business men can’t afford to have this city destroyed—as soon as the clouds roll by, and that’ll be blessed soon, she’s going to be a bird!”[4]

Reported in the same issue was an incident involving Bascomb as a deputy.

Arrested for Assault to Kill.

John Cooney was arrested at a late hour last night for an assault to kill at Nineteenth and Larimer. His head was badly beaten. It is claimed by his friends that he is an innocent party, and that he was assaulted by two deputy sheriffs—Bascom Smith and Ingersoll. The stories of the different parties are conflicting. Two shots were fired in the melee.[5]

The police managed to keep the crowds moving so they quickly tired, and by 10 p.m. they had completely dispersed. The next day, Saturday, railroad cars loaded with unemployed men were rolling eastward. Some known or suspected troublemakers were forcibly placed on the first train cars. Slowly the fear of mob violence dissipated.

NOTES:
[1] Denver in Slices, Louisa Arp, p. 33.
[2] Rocky Mountain News 03/21/1893, p. 4.
[3] Rocky Mountain News 07/28/1893, p. 3.
[4] Rocky Mountain News 07/29/1893, p. 2. “clouds roll … be a bird!” Interpretation: As soon as these storm clouds roll by, which will be soon, Denver will be like a bird, flying high again.”
[5] Rocky Mountain News 07/28/1893, p. 3.

 

"Police estimated that during the 1860s one out of ten professional criminals in New York was a confidence man."

—Karen Halttunen,
Confidence Men and Painted Women.