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oapy Smith's "STAR" notebook page 24, 1882 and 1884, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland. Steamer Ancon.
This post is on page 24, the last of the "STAR" notebook pages I have been deciphering and publishing for the last two years, since July 24, 2023. The page is two separate notes dated 1882 and 1884. The 1882 portion (Lines 8-20) is a stand-alone note, whereas the 1884 portion (Lines 1-7) is a continuation of page 23.
This is the continuation of deciphering Soapy Smith's "star" notebook from the Geri Murphy 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 these pages draw is of young 22-23 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.
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| Soapy Smith STAR Notebook Page 24 - Enhanced copy 1884 Courtesy of Geri Murphy |
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There are a total of 24 pages. Links to the past 23 pages are 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.
Although the communication of 22-23-year-old Jefferson Randolph Smith II is with himself, the writing also communicates with us about him 142 years later (and potentially far beyond today).
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| Soapy Smith STAR Notebook Page 24 - Negative copy 1884 Courtesy of Geri Murphy |
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| Soapy Smith STAR Notebook Page 24 - Negative copy 1884 Courtesy of Geri Murphy |
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FEBRUARY 25, 1884
- Line 1: "Left San Francisco" [see pages 22-23], after two or three arrests for operating his prize package soap racket.
- Line 2: "Feb. 25th 1884." Soapy is mentioned in a San Francisco newspaper on January 11, 1884. He left on February 25, 1884. Soapy is listed in the hotel register at the Brooklyn Hotel on February 14, 1884. On February 21st., he is arrested for a stud poker swindle. He saved the newspaper clipping. He registers at the Brooklyn Hotel on February 23, 1884 (Daily Alta California), and two days later he leaves San Francisco.
- Line 3: "Per steamer Ancon:"
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| The Ancon |
- Line 4: "for Los Angeles" [newspaper: Los Angeles Daily Herald]
- Line 5: "Weather fair and"
- Line 6: "not sick but better"
Art Peterson adds his opinion for line 6: The last word I see is "bitter," not "better." Two things point to "bitter" as the word, context and Jeff's practice of supplying dots for the letter "i." For context, a test is to ask how "better" fits with meaning. If he were sick, as he tells in the Oct 15 note of lines 8 through 20, he would have something to be better from. But Jeff writes that he is "not sick."
Then comes the transition word "but," used to signal movement from one condition to its oppositive or to a contrasting condition. Contrast is what I think Jeff is after. In a rough sea, he can be sea sick, as he discovered and recorded about himself in the Oct 15 1882 note about cross the bar from the Columbia River. Similarly, in leaving SF this time, he also wanted to record his personal condition during the departure. He's writing in space above the note he wrote on Oct 15, and seeing it, is reminded of the sea sickness he felt then. With regard to how he's feeling this time in contrast to the last time he made a departure, he's "not [sea] sick but [am feeling] bitter."
Bitter about what? Jeff knows but does not say. So we need to suppose. It is likely some setback or loss that he is leaving behind. Is the setback as you surmise, that he was not able to establish an operation in the city by the bay, maybe because the competition was too well entrenched? Or because the police were too vigilant? Both? Or because he suffered a loss, maybe a big one, perhaps when playing studhorse poker a few days before? So, a loss of some kind in addition to the overall situation? Something or some things caused Jeff to record that feeling. Then, as if to bitterly own the feeling—the effect of some cause or causes—he signs his initials in a kind of exclamation mark of regretful disgust, maybe with a tinge of disappointment.
The dot above an "i" in the English language is part of that little letter to characterize it among the loops, lines, and curves of other letters. It's also used to distinguish the letter "j" as it, too, needs help to show itself for what it is in the thicket of shapes in language. It's habit one gets into in writing. I find myself doing it thought probably not as consistently as Jeff seems to have been in his writing. And the dot is there, up there above.
Something else regarding context may be contained in the forming of the word "bitter." Not a line but an impressed, curved line crosses the Ts, a flourish to say bitterness very much indeed.
So that's the meaning that seems capable of appearing in the context of this entry, this line, and this last word. These seem to be a compressed comment about events when in San Francisco—the arrests and the long time spent there coming to what is apparently a permanent close.
Then comes the transition word "but," used to signal movement from one condition to its oppositive or to a contrasting condition. Contrast is what I think Jeff is after. In a rough sea, he can be sea sick, as he discovered and recorded about himself in the Oct 15 1882 note about cross the bar from the Columbia River. Similarly, in leaving SF this time, he also wanted to record his personal condition during the departure. He's writing in space above the note he wrote on Oct 15, and seeing it, is reminded of the sea sickness he felt then. With regard to how he's feeling this time in contrast to the last time he made a departure, he's "not [sea] sick but [am feeling] bitter."
Bitter about what? Jeff knows but does not say. So we need to suppose. It is likely some setback or loss that he is leaving behind. Is the setback as you surmise, that he was not able to establish an operation in the city by the bay, maybe because the competition was too well entrenched? Or because the police were too vigilant? Both? Or because he suffered a loss, maybe a big one, perhaps when playing studhorse poker a few days before? So, a loss of some kind in addition to the overall situation? Something or some things caused Jeff to record that feeling. Then, as if to bitterly own the feeling—the effect of some cause or causes—he signs his initials in a kind of exclamation mark of regretful disgust, maybe with a tinge of disappointment.
The dot above an "i" in the English language is part of that little letter to characterize it among the loops, lines, and curves of other letters. It's also used to distinguish the letter "j" as it, too, needs help to show itself for what it is in the thicket of shapes in language. It's habit one gets into in writing. I find myself doing it thought probably not as consistently as Jeff seems to have been in his writing. And the dot is there, up there above.
Something else regarding context may be contained in the forming of the word "bitter." Not a line but an impressed, curved line crosses the Ts, a flourish to say bitterness very much indeed.
So that's the meaning that seems capable of appearing in the context of this entry, this line, and this last word. These seem to be a compressed comment about events when in San Francisco—the arrests and the long time spent there coming to what is apparently a permanent close.
- Line 7: "JRS" [Jefferson Randolph Smith]
The Ancon was an ocean-going wooden sidewheel steamship built in San Francisco in 1867. She carried both passengers and freight. In her early career she was a ferry in Panama and then sailed between Panama and San Francisco. Later she began coastal runs between San Diego and San Francisco. Her last route was Port Townsend, Washington to Alaska. Today she is more notable for her disasters than her routine voyages.
From mid-1875 to 1887 the Ancon sailed between San Francisco and San Diego, with several stops in between. She made three round trips per month. A one-way fare from San Pedro to San Francisco with a cabin was $15, and $10 for steerage. In late 1878 she was also periodically assigned to the San Francisco–Portland line with a single stop at Astoria. Starting in 1885, the Ancon was periodically assigned to shuttle between San Francisco and Eureka.
Alaska service (1884–1889)
Cruising to Alaska became popular in the 1880s, so the Pacific Coast Steamship Company began to use the ship for "excursion" cruises in the summer. The Ancon made three round trips to Alaska in 1884 under the command of Captain James Carroll.
In addition to her legal freight, the Ancon was thought by some to be engaged in smuggling. Under the laws of the District of Alaska, it was illegal to import alcohol. Nonetheless, according to one newspaper, after the ship arrived in Alaska, "for twenty-fours hours there was simply the deuce to pay with drunken fishermen and crazed people of both sexes." In 1887 U.S. Customs authorities confiscated $2,000 worth of gin, labeled as mineral water, from the Ancon. The ship and her captain were also accused of smuggling opium from suppliers in Victoria, British Columbia to Alaska, where it was transferred to whaling ships that brought it back to West Coast ports in the United States.
The Pacific Coast Steamship Company, for which the Ancon sailed in 1884 with Soapy as a passenger heading to Los Angeles, California, as reported in the Los Angeles Herald. The image above shows the ports of call, which includes Santa Barbara and San Luis O'Bispo, two locations mentioned on page 21 of the Star notebook. San Luis is inland about 10 miles, but a port at Shell Beach has a direct route from there to San Luis. If Soapy travelled from the South to San Francisco, he could go from San Luis by rail or by ship.
From mid-1875 to 1887 the Ancon sailed between San Francisco and San Diego, with several stops in between. She made three round trips per month. A one-way fare from San Pedro to San Francisco with a cabin was $15, and $10 for steerage. In late 1878 she was also periodically assigned to the San Francisco–Portland line with a single stop at Astoria. Starting in 1885, the Ancon was periodically assigned to shuttle between San Francisco and Eureka.
Alaska service (1884–1889)
Cruising to Alaska became popular in the 1880s, so the Pacific Coast Steamship Company began to use the ship for "excursion" cruises in the summer. The Ancon made three round trips to Alaska in 1884 under the command of Captain James Carroll.
In addition to her legal freight, the Ancon was thought by some to be engaged in smuggling. Under the laws of the District of Alaska, it was illegal to import alcohol. Nonetheless, according to one newspaper, after the ship arrived in Alaska, "for twenty-fours hours there was simply the deuce to pay with drunken fishermen and crazed people of both sexes." In 1887 U.S. Customs authorities confiscated $2,000 worth of gin, labeled as mineral water, from the Ancon. The ship and her captain were also accused of smuggling opium from suppliers in Victoria, British Columbia to Alaska, where it was transferred to whaling ships that brought it back to West Coast ports in the United States.
(Click image to enlarge)
The Pacific Coast Steamship Company, for which the Ancon sailed in 1884 with Soapy as a passenger heading to Los Angeles, California, as reported in the Los Angeles Herald. The image above shows the ports of call, which includes Santa Barbara and San Luis O'Bispo, two locations mentioned on page 21 of the Star notebook. San Luis is inland about 10 miles, but a port at Shell Beach has a direct route from there to San Luis. If Soapy travelled from the South to San Francisco, he could go from San Luis by rail or by ship.
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| Jeff Smith, passenger Los Angeles Herald February 26, 1884 |
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OCTOBER 15, 1882
- Line 8: "Left Portland Oct 15th" [Oregon]
- Line 9: "1882"
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| The Queen |
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| The route out of Portland, Oregon Courtesy of Google |
- Line 10: "Quite a rough"
- Line 11: "voyage while crossing"
- Line 12: "the bar at the mouth"
- Line 13: "of the Columbia [river in Oregon][add map of Colombian River pathway]
- Line 14: "The waves came up"
- Line 15: "so high that they"
- Line 16: "struc [struck] the upper"
- Line 17: "deck. I got as"
- Line 18: "sick as a mortal"
- Line 19: "well could be"
- Line 20: "without dying"
Soapy arrives in San Francisco on October 18, 1882. On October 29-30 he registers at the Brooklyn Hotel (see blog post Feb 23, 2021) listing his residence as New York, probably to hide the fact that he had been to San Francisco in the past, and arrested there.
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
"It was in good old times. Every man had
money―unless he met 'Soapy.'"
——San Francisco Examiner, February 25, 1898
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Thank you for leaving your comment and/or question on my blog. I always read, and will answer all questions asap. Please know that they are greatly appreciated. -Jeff Smith