Soapy Smith's "STAR" notebook, 1882: Part #7 - page 7

Soapy Smith's "star" notebook
Page 7 - original copy
1883

(Click image to enlarge)

THIS POST UPDATED
August 21, 2023

OAPY SMITH'S "STAR" NOTEBOOK

Part #7 - page7

This is part #7 - page 7, the continuation of deciphering Soapy Smith's "star" notebook from the Geri Murphy's collection. A complete introduction to this notebook can be seen on page 1.

The notebook(s) are in Soapy's handwriting, and often times pretty hard to decipher. A large part of this series of posts is to transcribe the pages, one-at-a-time, and receive help from readers on identifying words I am having trouble with, as well as correcting any of my deciphered words. I will include the original copy of each page, an enhanced copy of each page, a copy in negative, and a copy with typed out text, as tools to aid in deciphering the notes. There are a total of 24 pages. This means that there may be upwards of 24 individuals posts for this one notebook. Links to the past and future pages (pages 1, 2, 3, etc.) will be added at the bottom of each post for ease of research. When completed there will be a sourced partial record of Soapy's activities and whereabouts for 1882-1883.
     Important to note that the pages of the notebook do not appear to be in chronological order, with Soapy making additional notes on a town and topic several pages later.

Soapy Smith's "star" notebook
Page 7 - enhanced
1883

Courtesy of Geri Murphy

Soapy Smith's "star" notebook
Page 7 - negative
1883
Courtesy of Geri Murphy

Here is what I believe to be the correct deciphering of the text. Do you agree, or do you see something else? There are two words I have not been able to decipher positively. All comments, suggestions and ideas are welcome! I will update the new information to this post.

Page 7 (bottom).

• Line 1: "For license"
• Line 2: "Tombstone City 12.50"
• Line 3: "County [Cochise] 6.50"
• Line 4: "Board one week 15.00"
• Line 5: "[total] 34.00"
• Line 6: "E B. [East Bound?] Dr [drive] to __?___"
• Line 7: "To 7.00"
• Line 8: "to 40 percent of"
• Line 9: "15.00 6.00"
• Line 10: "A watch 4.00"
  
• Line 11: "[total] 17.00"

Interpretation: Soapy makes notations of his expenditures to and from Tombstone, Arizona, 1883. He note his purchases of a city license, a county (Cochise) license, and one weeks stay at an unknown hotel (December 17-22, 1883).
     Line #6: is where deciphering runs into a snag. On the previous page of the notebook (page 6) Art Petersen notes that "Soapy bought a ticket from San Francisco, CA, to El Paso, TX, for $60. He was riding the Southern Pacific, which in 1880 had reached Benson on its route east." Today, when traveling to Tombstone from Benson you take the AZ-80 East. Could "E B. dr to (can't read town name)" mean "east-bound drive to (can't read town name)?" Art believes it might be "Exit Benson drive to (can't read town name)." 
     Line #7: appears to be cost "to" a destination for $7.00.
     Line #8 and #9: 40 percent of $15.00 is $6.00. Was this some sort of payoff?
     For lines #7-#9, Art Petersen believes "To reach Tombstone, Soapy had to take one of the several stages running from B. In leaving Tombstone, he calculated the cost of the drive back to Benson. It was $7, but in calculating that, he remembered that he had not yet accounted for the cost of the drive from Benson to Tombstone. There were several coaches in competition with one another at the time and always cutting their fares. The standard was was often cut to $4, $5, or $6, or $7. Soapy didn't remember what price he paid to Tombstone but he remembered the discount--40%, so he calculated that from the standard fare to find the $6 he paid. So he returned to Benson at some point presumably to continue his journey to El Paso, TX. He still had the rest of his ticket for travel.
     Line #10: He purchased a watch for $4.00.
     Line #11: Total expenses are $17.00 

Close-up
undecipherable word
Page 7

     Line 6 contains an undecipherable word that plagued me, so I posted close-up enlargement of it on some of the Tombstone history groups on Facebook, hoping someone might recognize the word as a place or name.
     Previously, I thought it was the name of a place, but from every individual who responded, I received the following suggestions.

• "JR"
• "JRs"
• "JR's"
• "JP"
• "JPs"
• "JP's"
• "IR" 
• "IRs" 
• "IR's"
  

It's a bit of a long shot, but could Soapy have sent his father ("JRS") $7? It is known that Soapy loved his father, but did not have a whole lot of respect for him. Perhaps he might have written "JRS" rather than "father?" It is known that his father wrote letters asking for money.
    Art Peterson writes,

     I'm sorry to report that I remain puzzled. You provide some helpful comparison letters. Those took time to gather, showing you're as uncomfortable with the burden of the puzzle as I--probably more as you are the master puzzler of the notebook! Well, of all the comparison letters, I side with those who see JP. Soapy seems to drop the right leg off his Rs in a strong, vertical fashion whereas with a P, the line tends toward the horizontal. Today, the letter before the second suggest "Cl," but I have no idea what to do with those. Of the comparison letters, J seems closest to me--a hastily formed J.
     So what might JP stand for? In line with your payoff thought, JP could stand for Justice Peace. Or it could stand for some person, his initials. I looked again at all the towns around Tombstone; none suggests the letters in question.
     I also read the stagecoach history again to see if one of the names of the several owners of stage lines might be related. No. The article, Stage Coach Lines gives an interesting transportation picture of the region.
     Young Soapy at that time wanted to keep track of his costs. He lists the ticket from SF. He records a benchmark, being in LA. He records his basic costs in Tombstone City. It makes sense to me that he would record the cost of travel from Benson to Tombstone, and the $7 one way is in line with the fare about that time. His wanting to keep track of his costs keeps dragging me back to interpreting the $7 & $6 as the cost of transport over the 24 miles between Benson & Tombstone. If those costs or one of them is not for transport, why would he leave the cost out? There could be an explanation, of course--that he let the driver make a "sure thing" bet with him for the ride and the driver lost, making the $6 for something else, maybe for what you say, a payoff. Could be you're going to have to leave this line in an unknown state, the worst kind for a puzzler.
     Seems to me you've made a worthy effort on this line. Maybe time to move on. When it comes time to put together a transcription of the whole (which would make a very interesting read since it seems to be pretty much chronological and makes a narrative), there'll be opportunity to look back with fresh eyes.

I have to agree with Art. I could guess, but with so many choices I don't see it fair to history to "decide." I leave it for a future time.

THANK YOU ART PETERSEN FOR YOUR SKILLS IN
DECIPHERING AND RATIONALE 

 

 

Visit the Soapy Smith Soap Box blog

 

TOMBSTONE
Mar 23, 2009
Sep 25, 2009
Nov 13, 2009
Aug 19, 2010
Dec 26, 2010
Sep 04, 2020
Feb 25, 2021
Mar 04, 2021

STAR NOTEBOOK
April 24, 2017
Part #1
Part #2
Part #3
Part #4
Part #5 
Part #6
Part #8
Part #9
Part #10
Part #11
Part #12
Part #13
Part #14
Part #15 (not published yet)
Part #16 (not published yet)

Part #17 (not published yet)
Part #18 (not published yet)
Part #19 (not published yet)

Part #20 (not published yet)
Part #21 (not published yet)
Part #22 (not published yet)

Part #23 (not published yet)
Part #24 (not published yet)

 

"Never give a sucker an even break or smarten up a chump."

—Edward Francis Albee (1857-1930)