Soapy Smith's "STAR" notebook, 1884, Denver: Part #18 - page 18

Soapy Smith STAR Notebook
Page 18 - Original copy
1884
Courtesy of Geri Murphy

(Click image to enlarge)

oapy Smith in Denver.

Operating the prize package soap sell racket in 1884.

This is page 18, the continuation of page 17, and dated March 28 - April 12, 1884, 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.
     These notebook pages have never been published before! They continue to be of revealing interest. The picture that the pages draw is of young 22 year-old Jefferson pursuing "soap sales" over a very wide spread of territory and in a very tenacious, even driven, way.
     The notebook(s) are in Soapy's handwriting, and sometimes 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. My long time friend, and publisher, Art Petersen, has been a great help in deciphering and adding additional information.
     I will include the original copy, an enhanced copy, and a negative copy of each page. Also included will be 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 1882-1884.

     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.

     In one noticeable respect, page 18 is different from most of the other pages seen so far, as it is notes taken after the fact. Page 18 is also different as it is a description of his operations in Denver, and only Denver. From my research I know that Soapy is not yet entrenched in Denver at this time, but this page may be the very beginning stages of that entrenchment.

     Although the communication of twenty-one-year-old Soapy Smith is with himself, the writing also communicates with us about him 142 years later (and potentially far beyond today).
     The first half of page 18 seems to be expense notes, and the second half begins to list income (which continues on p19).      
     Below are my attempts to attempts to make the writing easier to see and decipher.

Soapy Smith STAR Notebook
Page 18 - Enhanced copy
1884
Courtesy of Geri Murphy

(Click image to enlarge)

Soapy Smith STAR Notebook
Page 18 - Negative copy
1884
Courtesy of Geri Murphy

(Click image to enlarge)

Soapy Smith STAR Notebook
Page 18 - Deciphered copy
1884
Courtesy of Geri Murphy

(Click image to enlarge)

Page 18

• Line 1: "Clothes from March 28 to [1884]"

• Line 2: "Apr [April] 27. [$]75.00" 

Notes: Soapy paid $75 for clothes in the span of one month, between March 28 - April 27, 1884.

• Line 3: "Board &. [$]75.00"

Notes: room and board, likely a hotel, for the same one month period, March 28 - April 27, 1884.

• Line 4A: "incidental [$]70.00"

Notes: It's common to build "incidental[s]" into a budget.

• Line 4B:"Paid RB [room and board] clerk [$]140.00"

Notes: Why is this different from Line 3? Was it another town, another hotel? Listed is $75.00 and then $140.00 as "Paid RB clerk." Instead of cost for board being listed twice, probably the 75 for "Board" is part of the $140 figure. That would make sense except that 75 + 70 = 145. Perhaps what's happening is that Soapy figures 70 may be what "incidental[s]" will come to, but in paying in advance for his stay, he paid the RB estimate of 75 but only 65 for "incidental[s]." If these came to more, he could pay upon checking out, OR, if he didn't use all the incidentals money, a refund would be due.

• Line 5: "March 28th 1884"

• Line 6: "ticket [$]5.00"

Notes: Train or stagecoach ticket?

• Line 7: "License [$]10.00"

Notes: Likely a Denver city street vendors license. it is known that in other cities, Soapy did purchase "licenses" to engage in "sales." Ironically, following city ordinances often protected Soapy from legal problems.

• Line 8: "lost [$]5.00 on bet."

Notes: Oh to know the details! This second "March 28th 1884" date may be a heading for expenses that day, including a notation for how much he has left ($114) after expenses "to open" his Denver sales campaign. The March 28 expenses list a license for $10 and $5 lost on a bet. These expenses seem clear, but two others are not—the "ticket" for $5 and the room also for $5. What was the ticket for—entrance to something, a train ticket? Or might the "ticket" be a printed sign of some kind that he could set up, or cards (as in business cards) for some purpose.  

• Line 9: "room [$]5.00"

Notes: room and board for one night? He already paid for room and board, so what could another room be for—to conduct sales in, or a storeroom for storing sales good? Then there's the amount of $5, which is quite a bit ($167.55) for a room, unless it were over time, such as for a month. 

• Line 10: "had [$]114.00 to open"

Notes: To open what? His street game? The prize package soap sell racket?

• Line 11: "Commenced"

• Line 12: "to sell in Denver"

Notes: He 'started' or 'begun" his game(s) in Denver, Colorado. 

• Line 13: "4th time on Friday"

• Line 14: "March 28th 1884"

Notes: March 28, 1884 is a Friday, but what does "4th time" refer to? Four sales, or four attempts? Perhaps it refers to prior visits since 1882-1883, as he was traveling the West for quite a while.

• Line 15: "1. Sale $20.00 March 28th"

Notes: Line 13 implies it was the "4th time," however, line 15 reads only one sale?

• Line 16: "2 Sales [$]55.00 ' ' [March] 29th [1884]"

Notes: Two sales for a total of $55 on March 29, 1884. He then took Sunday through Tuesday off, and began again on Wednesday, April 2nd, earning the largest amount of sales recorded on page 18, $74.50 ($2,645.50 in today's dollars).

• Line 17: "2 Sales $74.50 Apr 2nd"

Notes: Two sales for a total of $74.50 on April 2, 1884.

• Line 18: "2 ' ' [Sales] $28.00 ' ' [April] 3rd"

Notes: Two sales for a total of $28 on April 3, 1884.

• Line 19: "2 ' ' [Sales] $39.00 ' ' [April] 4th"

Notes: Two sales for a total of $39 on April 4, 1884.

• Line 20: "2 ' ' [Sales] $36.00 Apr 5th"

Notes: Two sales for a total of $36 on April 5, 1884.

• Line 21: "2 ' ' [Sales] $45.00 Apr [April] 7th"

Notes: Two sales for a total of $45 on April 7, 1884.

• Line 22: "2 Sales $32.00 Apr [April] 8th"

Notes: Two sales for a total of $32 on April 8, 1884.

• Line 23: "1 Sale $28.00 ' ' [April] 9th"

Notes: One sale for $28 on April 9, 1884.

• Line 24: "1 ' ' [Sale] $33.00 [April] 10th"

Notes: One sale for $33 on April 10, 1884.

• Line 25: "1 Sale $14.00 ' ' [April] 11th"

Notes: One sale for $14 on April 11, 1884.

• Line 26: "1 ' ' [Sale] $19.00 [April] 12th"

Notes: One sale for $19 on April 12, 1884.

     In Seattle in July 1882, over several days, Soapy took in $112 ($3,702,84 in today's dollars). "Several days" may be estimated to be three, so for the first three days of sales in Denver, Jeff took in $149.50 ($5,308.75) for an increase over Seattle sales of $37.50 ($1,331.63), or a 34% increase.

     Soapy's total income recorded on page 18 through April 12 (taking Sunday the 6th off) for 12 days' work through April 12, 1884, is $423.50 ($14,191.49). Soapy's skill at "selling" has apparently improved. Additionally, instead of moving from place to place, he's discovered a way to conduct his selling in one city without having to move from place to place. In this regard, if Jeff was working on 17th Street, the main thoroughfare from the train station, he had a steady stream of new customers all day every day.
     The Denver sales continue on notebook page #19

 

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Notebook pages
April 24, 2017
Part #1
Part #2
Part #3
Part #4
Part #5 
Part #6
Part #7
Part #8
Part #9 
Part #10
Part #11
Part #12
Part #13
Part #14 
Part #15
Part #16 

Part #17
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)

"If you want to understand today, you have to search yesterday. "

—Pearl Buck

"Ice Box" Murphy: Another Soapy Smith gang member who didn't exist.

(Click image to enlarge)

ce Box Murphy

Did He Exist?

Anyone reading my book, Alias Soapy Smith: The Life and Death of a Scoundrel, and this blog, might have wondered why I have not included the history of the soap gang member, “Ice Box” Murphy. The early biographies introduced me to Murphy, whose story was also included in most of the later biographies and articles. Today, many writers repeat the same old fabrications. Wait, “fabrications?” Since I started researching “Soapy’s” history in 1985 I have never found a single source or newspaper article proving that “Ice Box” Murphy existed outside the old bios.

In my book, Alias Soapy Smith: The Life and Death of a Scoundrel, 2009, I wrote

Early biographers had access to scant factual information about members of Jeff’s soap gang. Invented yarns and exaggerations where no known facts were available made their stories more interesting. Some of the men said to have worked for Jeff, such as “Ice Box” Murphy, are possibly complete fabrications as not a single separate accounting of their existence could be found.

It was in the book, The Reign of Soapy Smith: Monarch of Misrule, by William R. Collier and Edwin V. Westrate, 1935, where I first read about "Ice Box" Murphy, describing the story of how he got his name (pp. 32-33).

     “Ice Box” Murphy, box-car tripper, amateur yegg, and one-time running mate of ‘A No. 1,’ the world-famed hobo, was taken on by Soapy as a booster. Ambitious to be a great safe blower, Murphy’s career in that field was irreparably ruined by the fatal blunder which earned him his sobriquet early in his efforts.
     His small stature secured him membership in a gang which took him along on a ‘job’ whose objective was to empty the safe of a wholesale butcher shop. The diminutive Murphy was boosted through the transom. Sent in with ‘soup,’ putty, fuse drills, and blanket, he operated alone in the darkness. Some fifteen minutes elapsed before he unlocked the door from the inside and rejoined his pals. A minute later, the building was shaken by a muffled explosion. The yeggs rushed in-to discover that Murphy had blown the steel refrigerator instead of the safe!
     In every direction the floor was strewn with shattered steaks, chops, frankfurters, hams, cutlets, and sides of beef. There was no time to correct the error, and Murphy, in disgrace, was banished forever by the blasting brotherhood. He was never allowed to forget his faux pas, and the name, ‘Ice Box,’ was fastened on him in derision. To Smith, however, he had his uses, and he was kept as a member of the soap gang.

In the book, Soapy Smith: King of the Frontier Con Men, by Frank G. Robertson and Beth K. Harris, 1961, the authors repeated the same story, and did not add anything new on Murphy.

Ice Box Murphy came by his name because in a burglary he crawled into a building to blow open a safe, but confused the safe with a large old-fashioned walk-in refrigerator. Instead of money, he blew steaks, roasts, and mutton chops all over the room.

Since that time, authors have repeated the same story, unable to add anything new. I don't particularly believe that there was an "Ice Box" Murphy but as William Wright said in 1888, "The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence," so I will continue to keep an open mind and open eyes.

Visit the Soapy Smith Soap Box blog

 

"Ice Box" Murphy: page 73.

"The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence."

—William Wright, 1888