Another Soapy Smith - Fitzhugh Lee story version

  SOAPY SMITH'S EAGLE
July 4, 1898 Skagway, Alaska
Fitzhugh Lee float

(Click image to enlarge)

 

nother Fitzhuge Lee version

      During the first annual July Fourth parade in Skagway, Alaska, "Soapy" Smith entered a float, carrying a wire cage with a live bald eagle, Soapy had name Fitzhugh Lee, in honor of the Spanish-American War general of the same name.

      The standard version used in my book, Alias Soapy Smith: The Life and Death of a Scoundrel, states that

An immense American eagle, as full of fight as a cocoanut is of meat, and with an armament that would put the Vesuvius to shame. His beak is a variable [veritable] “iron virgin” for ferocity, his talons are an inch and a half long and sharp as a dagger. He is as large as a large gobbler, measuring 9 feet from tip to tip.
      The great bird was caught … about thirty miles down the canal by Frank Howard and three companions … on a prospecting tour. He was found wedged in between two rock walls…. When they saw him, he showed fight instantly, and they were obliged to lasso him first, then throw a heavy blanket over him. Yesterday the boys arrived in Skaguay with the bird in a big dry goods box, heavily grated, and with a large rope fastening his legs together. Even then he … was open to any engagement to fight.
      The boys took him to Capt. Jeff Smith as a present, a big wire screen cage has been built for him … behind the saloon, where he now is monarch of all … within his reach. Yesterday a full grown hen was put in the cage, and with one stroke he tore her head off, and scattered her limbs and feathers all about him. He had half eaten her before her heart had ceased to quiver. [Unknown Skaguay newspaper clipping. 7/1/1898, author's collection]

      Recently, I came across a new version published in The Klondike Nugget (Dawson, Yukon Territory) on July 4, 1900, two years, three days, after the original story's publication. Which is more accurate will likely remain a mystery to the ages.  

The Klondike Nugget,
Dawson, Y. T.
July 4, 1900

An Eagle With a History.

      Those who were just in Skagway on the fourth of July two years ago have not forgotten the fine specimen of the proud bird, emblematic of freedom, an American eagle, that traveled in a large wire cage in the procession.

      A Week Previous to the Fourth two Indians were out in a canoe fishing in Lynn Canal near the mouth of the Chilkat River. They had a number of fish in the boat and were intently watching their lines in the water when – swoop, hugh – they felt their canoe shiver from end to end, it upset their canoe and the Indians found themselves struggling in the chilly water. But they were not alone; with them was a large bird, and eagle which had came down like a shot from heaven, having been attracted by the fish in the boat. The eagle had struck the boat with such force as to upset it and, at the same time stun itself to such a degree as to render it incapable of flying away until the Indians had time to recover themselves and right their canoe, when they proceeded to capture the author of their fright and sudden immersion.

      The eagle fought desperately, but was finally tied by the feet, muzzled and rendered harmless. The captors brought it to Skagway and sold it to “Soapy” Smith for $15. Four days after the Fourth, and while gazing on the same eagle which was in a cage in the rear of “Jeff’s Parlor,” the man Stewart was held up and robbed of $2800, which robbery led up to “Soapy’s” death and the final scattering of his crowd, a number of whom are still in San Quentin penitentiary, while for others are about to do to be discharged from the U. S. jail at Sitka after having served two years.

      Three months later the eagle, having been kept in captivity all the time, was set free, and when last seen it was upwards of 1000 feet high and sailing in a direct line from Mount St. Elias.

ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPH: The photograph above was taken by Reverend John Sinclair on July 4, 1898. It depicts the moments previous to the big scheduled parade. The float, a freight wagon, holds a large wire cage containing the live American bald eagle given to Soapy Smith a short time earlier. Behind the wagon a man holding a large American flag will be followed by Soapy's private volunteer army, the Skaguay Military Company, in which Soapy is Captain. The small boy dressed as "Uncle Sam" is the 9-year-old son of Soapy's business partner John Clancy. The wagon rests in front of Soapy's saloon, Jeff Smith's Parlor (far right). The white and grey horse between the Parlor and the wagon is Soapy's. He will be riding the same as (officially) the fourth division marshal of the parade, but Soapy manages to force his way to the front of the parade, becoming the unofficial grand marshal.

Fitzhugh Lee: July 4, 2009 

Fitzhugh Lee: pages 520-22, 525, 595.

"Reid carted an old Smith and Wesson six-shooter, an ancient gun he had used in the rip-roaring days of the west and which he considered the best gun in Skagway. He said it never failed him but its failure finally cost his life."

—Matthew M. Sundeen, Alias Soapy Smith, p. 533."

DECEMBER 17

1777: France recognizes American independence.

1791: A traffic regulation in New York City establishes the first street to go "One Way."

1860: Cavalry and Texas Rangers attack the camp of Peta Nocona's Indian Comanche’s on the Pease River in Texas. Ranger Lawrence Ross and his men join a detachment of Cavalry from Camp Cooper and Fort Belknap for the attack. Fourteen Indians are killed, two are taken prisoner, along with a white female, Cynthia Parker, who had been kidnapped as a child in 1839. She is the wife of Peta Nocona and the mother of baby daughter, Quanah Parker.

1866: General Patrick Connors commands that Indians living north of the Platte River “must be hunted like wolves.”

1872: “Scouts of the Plains” written by Ned Buntline played to a packed house staring Bill Cody and Texas Jack Omohundro. Despite not being good actors Buffalo Bill and Texas Jack are a hit.

1882: “The soap fiend with his little tricks is again in town, taking in the four bits and the dollars of the unsuspecting verdants. The game is to roll up little bits of soap in paper with an occasional bank note enclosed, and then mixing all together sells the privilege of choice for the figures named. In nineteen cases out of twenty the buyer gets his nubbin of soap and blue paper, but the bank notes, like hen’s teeth, are too scarce for him to find.” (Arizona Weekly Citizen, Tucson)

1886: Sam Belle is shot and killed by Frank West at a Christmas party.

1895: George Brownell obtains a patent for his paper-twine machine.

1903: Orville and Wilbur Wright succeed on their second attempt at engine powered flight. The aviation age is born when their flying-machine stays aloft for 12 seconds traveling a distance of 102 feet at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

Klondike Saloon token sells for ...

KLONDIKE SALOON
First saloon in Skagway, Alaska
One historian believes the man standing is Frank H. Reid.
(image: San Francisco Chronicle, August 21, 1897)

HE KLONDIKE SALOON TOKEN

Hammers to highest bidder for $680.00!

      Oh how I would have loved to have this token, but it is just a tad over my budget. I will have to be satisfied with having a digital one.
     The following is from Alias Soapy Smith: The Life and Death of a Scoundrel.

      Another saloon in which Jeff is believed to have had a controlling interest was the Klondike. Located in a tent near the northeast corner of Broadway and McKinney (5th Avenue), it was advertised under the proprietorship of Ira Coslet [sic?] and Ward. By the end of December they moved the saloon to a two-story structure at the corner of Broadway and Holly (6th Avenue today) and added “Music Hall” to the name. A December 31, 1897, Skaguay News advertisement billed the Klondike as “the largest and best equipped place in Skaguay,” with “Scotch and Irish Whiskies, fine wines and all the leading brands of cigars.” It had clubrooms for gambling and furnished rooms upstairs for lodging. A dance hall and theater were connected with free entertainment every night.
     Frank Reid is believed to have been a bartender at the Klondike when it was only a tent, and that this is where Jeff and Reid first met. On July 8, 1898, Jeff fired the rifle shot that eventually killed Reid.

      Soapy Smith is believed to have had a connection to the Klondike Saloon, perhaps even owing an interest. He could have taken an interest of the business as part of a protection racket or by attaching his gambling business. Considering that the Klondike was the first saloon in Skaguay (now spelled Skagway), it is reasonable, at the very least, to assume that he met and knew owners Cosslett and Ward. It is likely that Soapy centered his gambling activity around the saloon. Old timers in Skagway claimed that Soapy held an owing interest in the Klondike. Frank H. Reid, one of the vigilantes who shot Soapy during the gunfight on Juneau Wharf, worked as a bartender at the Klondike Saloon, and this is probably where Soapy and Reid met.

The token (side A)
The Klondike Saloon
Cosslett and Ward
SKAGUAY

      The image at the top of this post shows two men next to the Klondike Saloon. I would guess that these are Cosslett and Ward, the proprietors. However, author M. J. Kirchhoff believes that the man standing is Frank Reid.

      Skaguay News man E. J. Stroller White reports of one shootout that took place at the Klondike Saloon. His account is published in Alias Soapy Smith, pages 441-42.

One night a man was killed in the Klondike Saloon and the stranger who did the shooting fled to the street, pursued by a crowd of enraged friends of the deceased.” White had been sleeping underneath the printing press in The News building when five shots were fired after the man “just as he passed the printing office.” Two of these hit the sidewalk, but three flew into the building. The next morning White secured “several sheets of boiler iron with which to surround” his sleeping area.

The token (side B)
There's always "the other-side-of-the-coin."
Cosslett and Ward
SKAGUAY

 

Klondike Saloon: pages 439, 441, 456-57, 531.

It was not generally known how many were included in Smith’s gang. Dr. Whiting and Keelar, the “Money King,” later compiled a list of the roughnecks who were supposed to have belonged, and both those men were in a position to judge fairly well. There were 192 names on their list, all of them suggestive of the underworld and many of them unprintable. The sobriquets range from “Soapy” Smith and the “Lamb” to “Moon Face Kid,” “Slim Jim,” “Blackjack Doctor,” “The Queen,” “B. S. Jack….”

—Clarence Andrews
Alias Soapy Smith, p. 564.

DECEMBER 15

1791: The first ten amendments of the Constitution, known as the Bill of Rights, are ratified by the state of Virginia.

1815: Jane Austen's Emma is published.

1854: The first street cleaning machine is put into operation in Philadelphia.

1863: The first U.S. bank robbery is committed by lone postal employee Edward W. Green, who held up a bank in Malden, Massachusetts.

1869: Deputy John Thomason and three other men surround the Samuel family farmhouse in Clay County, Missouri in search of outlaws Frank and Jesse James. The men are in hopes of collecting a $3,000 reward for the brothers but they are not there.

1877: The Dodge City Times of Dodge City, Kansas reports that “Sheriff Bassett has been appointed by Mayor Kelly to assist Marshall Ed Masterson in preserving order and decorum in the city.”

1877: Thomas Edison patents the phonograph.

1880: Outlaw Charles Bowdre states in a letter to J. C. Lea of Fort Sumner, New Mexico Territory that he is running and is thinking about turning Billy the Kid over to Sheriff Pat Garrett in return for his freedom.

1881: Charles Earl “Black Bart” Bowles robs the Downieville-Maryville stagecoach four miles from Dobbins, California. At the conclusion of the robbery he leaves behind an unusual calling card: a poem.

1883: Marshal Henry Brown kills gambler Newt Boyce in Caldwell, Kansas.

1890: Chief Sitting Bull, Indian leader of the Hunkpapa Teton Sioux, is killed by Indian police at his home in a remote corner of the Standing Rock Reservation in Grand River, South Dakota along with 11 other tribe members, allegedly while resisting arrest.

1901: Outlaw and Wild Bunch member Harvey “Kid Curry” Logan is captured in Jefferson City for the shooting of Knoxville policemen William Dinwiddle and Robert Saylor.

THE BOOK, ALIAS SOAPY SMITH AS AN INVESTMENT!

Put Your Eggs In A Money Making Basket

ant to make money? Looking for an investment?

PURCHASING ALIAS SOAPY SMITH 

IS AN INVESTMENT!

I have saved searches for my book Alias Soapy Smith, so that I can see whatever pops up online about it. I recently received a search from a site called "Used Price Info," which was nothing uncommon or special about it, except for the prices it advertised for the sale of my book online. Mind you, many of these prices were based on "used" books! The prices range from $49 to $102. I did some checking at Amazon, one of the cheapest prices listed for my book, and the site was correct. The cheapest USED copy of Alias Soapy Smith at Amazon is $92.09.

NEW copies can still be had from my publisher at $26 (plus shipping), but apparently people and the internet search mechanism are not aware of this! Grab a copy before they're all gone, read it, and then resell it at double the price! Of course, I cannot guarantee obtaining a return that is double your investment, but there are not a lot of books out there, minus antique ones, that can say this. 

BUY AN INVESTMENT TODAY!
www.klondikeresearch.com

Sources:
Used Price Info.

Amazon

 

He is one of the greatest characters in the west

— Lafe Pence
Colorado state representative, 1894.
Alias Soapy Smith, p. 312.

OCTOBER 9

1675: The first U.S. corporation, The New York Fishing Company, is charted.

1790: In the U.S., George Washington delivers the first State of the Union address.

1815: The Battle of New Orleans begins. The War of 1812 had officially ended on December 24, 1814, with the signing of the Treaty of Ghent but the news of the signing had not reached British troops in time to prevent their attack on New Orleans.

1838: Alfred Vail demonstrates a telegraph code he had devised using dots and dashes as letters. The code is the predecessor to Samuel Morse's code.

1856: Borax (hydrated sodium borate) is discovered by Dr. John Veatch.

1863: The Central Pacific Railroad has its groundbreaking ceremony in Sacramento, California.

1865: 1,400 Kickapoo Indians defeat 370 members of the attacking Texas militia at Dove Creek, near San Angelo, Texas.

1869: Camp Wichita is established on Medicine Bluff Creek, Oklahoma by General Sheridan.

1870: US mint Carson City, Nevada begins issuing coins.

1877: Crazy Horse (Tashunca-uitco) and nearly 800 Sioux and Northern Cheyenne Indian warriors launch a surprise attack on Colonel Nelson Miles and 7 companies of infantrymen in the Wolf Mountains above the Tongue River, Montana Territory. It is their final battle against the U.S. Cavalry in Montana.

1889: The tabulating machine is patented by Dr. Herman Hollerith. His firm, Tabulating Machine Company, later becomes International Business Machines Corporation (IBM).

1894: Fire causes serious damage at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, IL.

1895: Outlaw John Wesley Hardin marries Callie Lewis, a marriage that lasts only a few hours.

1900: U.S. President McKinley places the District of Alaska under military rule.

The earliest use of the prize package soap racket that I have come across (1856)

1856 SOAP SELL RACKET
"Vox Populi" Print,
Lowell, Massachusetts.
courtesy of Capitalism by Gaslight

hen researching the prize package soap sell racket for my book, Alias Soapy Smith, one of the mysteries I wanted to solve, was whether Soapy Smith had invented the scam, as some earlier biographies suggested. I sought out the earliest examples of the swindle I could find, and quickly learned that Soapy was not the first to use the con, although there is no doubt that he is the most famous of the soap spielers. In searching old newspapers I found a few, but none earlier than the 1870s. I am thrilled to have accidentally come across this newspaper ad for the confidence trick, dating way back to 1856!

     The following is from the Capitalism by Gaslight page.

“Grand gift distributions” and “prize packages” awarded cash and gifts to people who purchased tickets through the mail, attended special theatrical performances, or purchased products. Similar to lotteries (some charged they were too similar), gift distributions promised people would qualify to receive amounts of money and luxurious goods that were otherwise out of their reach.
      Using a variety of techniques, prize package operators were swindlers by degrees. Major Ross induced customers to buy more bars of soap than they needed by entering into drawings for everything from handkerchiefs and gold watches to tracts of land. The fine print, however, reveals that people had only a one-in-20,000 chance of winning the grand prize – a house – if it existed at all.

Following is the text from the ad.

"Let those now wash who never washed before,
And those that often wash, now wash the more!"

MAJOR ROSS
THE WORLD-RENOWNED SOAP MAN!
Is in town with pints, quarts, gallons, hogsheads, tierces of soap. Yes, any quantity of soap:
WHO WILL BUY?
A BOX OF SOAP AND
A PRESENT!
Ranging from 25 cts to $500, for only $1. WHO WILL BUY!
The Major may be found at town hall,
Thursday, March 27, at 7 o'clock, P.M.
Admittance Free. Ladies respectfully invited.
Come, See, and Hear
Ross, Soap Man.

      The list of prizes given is hard to decipher from this digital copy, but it includes a plot of land, gold watches, gold and silver charms and jewelry, all the way down to handkerchiefs. All told, over $1000 in merchandise is offered up as prizes. Below the list of prizes is the "remarks," which unfortunately are too small to read and be able to copy faithfully, but enough of it can be partially made out to form the opinion that it is a "warning" that not all who buy a chance will win a prize. It also explains that with each sale of soap, an envelope is given, in which contains a slip of paper. That slip of paper informs the purchaser if there is a prize to be awarded. Naturally, as in Soapy Smith's soap racket, Major Ross surely had shills and boosters working with him, hidden in place-sight within the crowd, who would expertly play the part of purchaser who "won" a prize. These bunko-sharps would make a spectacle of themselves, loudly proclaiming, and then claiming their prize in front of all to see. At this point the soap man would announce that certain larger prizes still remain unclaimed, which always excited the crowd to purchase up the remaining cakes of soap. 

Source:
Capitalism by Gaslight

 










Prize Package Soap Sell Racket
(There are numerous posts and they're not in order of importance so make sure to scroll) 

Prize Package Soap Sell Racket: pages 8, 15, 37-39, 41, 43, 45-56, 48, 52, 55-56, 58, 75, 95-97, 106, 119-20, 149, 159, 163, 410, 464, 485.

Not the least amusing trait of “Soapy” Smith’s character is the eager interest which he takes in the preservation of law and order. The interest is, of course, not purely unselfish, for he realizes that crimes of violence create a sort of public opinion likely to be unhealthy for his own peaceful, if peculiar, industry. He feels that there are times when fine distinctions get confused, and therefore he is always foremost for law and order coupled with life, liberty and the pursuit of a sure thing.

—San Francisco Examiner
Alias Soapy Smith, p. 493.

DECEMBER 7

1787: Delaware is the first state to ratify the U.S. constitution.
1796: John Adams is elected the second president of the U.S.
1836: Martin Van Buren is elected the eighth president of the U.S.
1863: George Ives, a member of the “innocents” outlaw gang, robs and kills Nick Thiebalt in Ruby Valley, Montana Territory.
1868: The outlaw James-Younger gang robs the Gallatin, Missouri bank. John W. Sheets, a former captain in the Union Army, is shot and killed by Jesse James.
1871: The town of Kit Carson, Colorado Territory is surrounded by thousands of buffalo, who are ranging 200 miles farther west than usual. The Indians of the region say that it is a prediction of a bad winter.
1874: Twenty-six Indians surrender to Captain Keyes and the 10th Cavalry at Kingfisher Creek, Indian Territory.
1874: Four men rob the Tishomingo Bank in Cornith, Mississippi. Newspapers and some historians say it is the work of the James-Younger gang.
1875: John Clark brings the first flock of sheep into Arizona Territory.
1878: The first train to enter New Mexico Territory comes from Colorado via the Raton Pass.
1888: Buffalo Bill Cody visits Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Kind endorsements for the book, Alias Soapy Smith: The Life and Death of a Scoundrel.

(Click image to enlarge)

erhaps you noticed that I've been absent for a while? Trust me, it is not for the lack of new and exciting information, but rather an extended vacation. In the last 30-years I notice that this happens annually, right after the July 8 Soapy Smith wake. Before that date I slowly climb, much like a roller coaster, to a short and exciting summit, followed by a quick and sharp assent. My brain works on overload before each July 8, and then crashes. Normally, I bounce right back after a day or two but this year took a little more out of me. But I have returned, with a lot of exciting news to talk about ... one day at a time.
      While on "vacation," I received a couple of really nice emails from readers of Alias Soapy Smith. The first comes from Vince Grindstaff of Georgia, who writes,

Dear Jeff,

      I finished reading your book, Alias Soapy Smith, about two weeks ago and have taken the time since to allow my thoughts to settle in before writing you. Let me congratulate you on your masterful work. I started reading the book last fall when it arrived and have taken my time, not out of disinterest, but instead, reading it at a gratifying pace, content that the book was there to entertain me, like good conversation with a friend, always with more to look forward to each time I put it down. Having so enjoyed the process, I was a little sad to reach the conclusion of the book.

      The wealth of information with which you detail the life of your great grandfather is unsurpassed by any biography I have read previously. From the personal descriptions given by those who were there at the time, to the newspaper articles describing the events, this gold mine of detail in your book helps paint a clear picture of the life and times of Soapy Smith. I have a deep love for Colorado and your descriptions of life there during the late 1800s fleshed out what those times were like more vividly than anything I've read previously.

      Your examination of Soapy Smith's world shed light on a complex and fascinating multidimensional human being, not simply a flat portrayal of a character from the old west. Astounding depictions of his criminal activity were counterbalanced by descriptions of his love for family and dedication to friends. Your depiction of his ability to cheat and steal from some while also generously giving to others in need shows a person living within a complex structure of sense of duty and loyalty, surviving within his own code for living.

      Each chapter in the book read like a roller coaster ride, portraying a sense of the adventure possible in those times. Like your great grandfather, I was born in Georgia and was fascinated to learn of his origins here before he headed to Texas and Colorado. Like your great grandfather, I also lived for a time in Colorado, developing a love for the state that I still consider my second home. I look forward to going back and will definitely include the town Creede as a stop to visit Soapy's old stomping grounds.

      Congratulations again on your superior effort. Reading Alias Soapy Smith was a joy. It is evident that you have put your heart and soul into its writing. I really wish Hollywood would take notice. I feel your great grandfather's life adventure would translate exceptionally well onto the big screen. Best of luck and continued success.

Regards,

Vince Grindstaff

Atlanta, GA

      After reading that wonderful endorsement my downward ascent after the wake, shot right back up to the summit! To top that off, I also received a nice endorsement from Jesse James historian, Bob James, who writes,

Hello Jeff,

      I finish reading Alias Soapy Smith that was a loan from the University of Idaho Library back in June. I was allowed until July 20, 2013 to return it. It took me much longer than most books that I read.

      BUT--BUT--BUT, it was worth every minute of my time to read SO MUCH, not only about your great grandfather, Jefferson Randolph Smith, but so much about what went on here in COLORADO back when Creede and so many other towns got started. It is a well put together book and you should be given all due thanks for putting down in book form.

I THANK YOU JEFF!!!!

Bob James.

Thank you very much Vince and Bob, for taking time out to tell me what you thought of my work. You have no idea how good it makes me feel to hear from readers, like yourselves, who appreciate and enjoy what I publish.
 

"... historians are forever chasing shadows, painfully aware of their inability ever to reconstruct a dead world in its completeness, however thorough or revealing their documentation. Of course they make do with other work: the business of formulating problems, of supplying explanations about cause and effect. But the certainty of such answers always remains contingent on their unavoidable remoteness from their subjects. We are doomed to be forever hailing someone who has just gone around the corner and out of earshot."

— Simon Schama, Dead Certainties [Unwarranted Speculations]

SEPTEMBER 6

1620: Pilgrims leave England on the Mayflower from Plymouth, to settle in the New World.
1819: Thomas Blanchard patents the lathe.
1860: The 4th Infantry battles with Indians on Deep Creek (Utah).
1864: Fort Zarah is established on the banks of Walnut Creek near the crossroads of the Santa Fe Trail, Kansas. This is an Indian trail, as well as the army supply route from Fort Riley. In 1867 the fort is relocated in stone buildings two miles away. The fort is abandoned on December 4, 1869 when the Indians in the area move their home southwestward.
1873: David Roberts shoots and kills Peter Welsh and George Summer in front of Cy Goddard's saloon in Hays City, Kansas.
1875: Charles Evans is hung in Fort Smith, Arkansas by order of Judge Isaac Parker for the killing of a 19-year-old youth. During the murder trial, Evans wore his victim’s shoes, which were recognized by the boy’s father.
1876: The Southern Pacific railroad from Los Angeles to San Francisco, California is completed.
1878: John Selman's “Wrestlers” stage a raid during the Lincoln County War in New Mexico Territory, killing one man.
1887: The University of Wyoming in Laramie opens.
1895: Law man, Bill Tilghman shoots and captures Doolin Gang member, Bill Raider. The wound is too severe to transport Raider and Tilghman has to nurse his prisoner back to health in order to take him to the nearest jail.
1899: The company, Carnation, processes its first can of evaporated milk.
1901: President William McKinley is shot and mortally wounded (he) by Leon Czolgosz. McKinley dies of his wound eight days later. Czolgosz, an American, is executed on October 29, 1901. The execution is filmed and can be viewed online.
1909: Five months after the fact, word reaches the outside world that American explorer, Robert Peary, had reached the North Pole.

Reviews and comments made about the book, That Fiend in Hell: Soapy Smith in Legend.

(Click image to enlarge)

 difference is apparent between the book review comments made by those who have not researched Soapy Smith and those who have.
      Cathy Spude's website contains seven comments about That Fiend in Hell by various writers, researchers, and publishers. Of these, only William H. Hunt is known to have published anything about Soapy Smith in Alaska (Chapter 5, "Vigilantes," Distant Justice: Policing the Alaskan Frontier, 1987). Unfortunately, Hunt's 16-page chapter contains the common, erroneous information put forth by previous authors who were willing to pass along hearsay and fiction about Soapy Smith. My aim in addressing this matter is not to belittle those who have written so glowingly of Cathy Spude's book but to point out that these writers have not been serious researchers about the life of Soapy Smith and his immediate environment. For this reason, their glowing comments about That Fiend in Hell tend more toward friendly flattery than authoritative comment.
      The exception is William H. Hunt. He points to himself as one who made errors in representation and who learned from Cathy Spude's book. Subsequently he also read my biography and wrote that he appreciated my research and its presentation (see comment, top right column).

      A contrast to the statements addressed above about That Fiend in Hell comes from M. J. Kirchoff, twice named Alaska Historian of the Year and author of the new book Dyea, Alaska. It appears in Skagway Stories, a blog devoted to the history and people of Skagway, Alaska. Provided below is this blog post in full, with Mr. Kirchoff's "comment" emphasized.

Yesterday I attended a lecture at the National Park Service by M. J. Kirchhoff on violence on the trails and the Soapy story. There was also a critical review of Spude’s book which many agreed had many false assumptions and mistakes. Mark agreed that Jeff Smith’s book on Soapy is a very good reference for students and historians.

      Mark’s new book is called Dyea, Alaska: The Rise and Fall of a Klondike Gold Rush Town, printed in 2012 and available at the Skagway News Depot in Skagway. I leafed through it and was amazed at the incredible collection of historic photos of Dyea that have never been published before. Also at their clarity and good descriptions. Here is Michael Gates description: 'Kirchhoff is a widely respected historian whose previous works include an excellent biography of Jack Dalton as well as Clondyke: The First Year of the Rush… Kirchhoff tackles the overlooked aspects of Alaska and Yukon history and fills in the gaps in our understanding of the North…. Kirchhoff’s book charts the rapid decline of Dyea, and offers an explanation for the eventual death of this once bustling community, but you will have to read the book to learn the answer....

      All writers and researchers appreciate friendly comments about their work and tend to publish them in promotions. Sometimes, though, the comments seem not so friendly, and the best of these are the ones that point out the good and the not so good, such as mistakes or perceived failings. When only the comments of those less than fully qualified are presented, all highly flattering, the effect tends more toward puffery than honest comment. In the pursuit of truth, good can come from comments that also find fault. They help to adjust a work and make better work possible.
      I guess it all boils down to this: when a work is published, its life is not over. It keeps on living the life that has been given it by its creator. Glowing comments from those not so qualified to evaluate do not establish or preserve the quality of a work. Only its ability to present truths that last over time can do that.

 

"Lawlessness was rampant, but it did not touch us. The thugs lay in wait for the men with pokes from the “inside.” To the great Cheechako army, they gave little heed. They were captained by one Smith, known as “Soapy,” whom I had the fortune to meet. He was a pleasant-appearing, man, and no one would have taken him for a desperado, a killer of men."

— Robert Service, The Trail of ’98

MAY 25

1787: The Constitutional convention opens in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1844: The gasoline engine is patented by Stuart Perry.

1844: The first telegraphed news dispatch, sent from Washington, D.C., to Baltimore, Maryland appears in the Baltimore Patriot.

1858: The first shipload of gold miners from California arrives in Victoria, British Columbia.

1865: Ten woodcutters from the steamboat Cutter on the Maruias River, Montana Territory are killed by Indians.

1869: Six settlers are killed by Indians in Jewell County, Kansas.

1883: Bad man, Harris Austin, shoots and kills Thomas Elliott for stealing whiskey in the Chickasaw Nation (present day Oklahoma). Austin escapes and remains at large until Deputy Marshal Carr tracked him down in April 1889. He was hung in Fort Smith, Arkansas on January 16, 1890.

1895: James Lee publishes Gold in America: A Practical Manual.

That Fiend in Hell: "Jeff Smith fails to mention," except that he did "mention"..., and a lot more about the murderer of Soapy Smith.

THE END OF SOAPY SMITH
The Shootout on Juneau Wharf
Smith and Reid shoot one another as Jesse Murphy (left)
rushes in to aid Reid. Murphy kills Smith with Smith's rifle.
Artist Andy Thomas worked closely with Jeff Smith to get the details precise.
(Courtesy of Andy Thomas)

    

(Click image to enlarge)

elow is the latest post from my blog, Examining "That Fiend in Hell": Soapy Smith in Legend. Please let me know what you think.

     On pages 192-93 of "That Fiend in Hell," author Cathy Spude offers an example of how I make an "effort to convince … readers that Jesse Murphy 'murdered Soapy'…." She points to a news report that I cite in the July 19, 1898, issue of the Portland Morning Oregonian and asserts that I cite only the portion of the sentence that serves my point (that Murphy claimed to have killed Soapy Smith) and that I purposely left out the rest because it disputes my point. To make her case about the omission from the Portland paper, she uses phrases like "Jeff Smith fails to mention" and "he fails to point out."

      This is indeed a very strange quibble because I did quote the entire sentence. In fact, I quote not just the entire sentence but the entire paragraph in which the sentence appears. The matter is made even stranger because to document her accusation, she cites the numbers of three surrounding pages on which discussion of the matter appears, but she fails to list the page on which appears the entire sentence and paragraph from the Portland Morning Oregonian. Here for clarity is that paragraph as it appears on page 548 of Alias Soapy Smith.

The shooting, Dr. Cornelius says, is the best thing that ever happened to Skagway next to the new railroad. Dr. Cornelius performed the autopsy on Smith’s body for the coroner’s jury. A man named Murphy claimed after the first autopsy that it was his bullet that killed the gambler, and it was necessary to perform a second [autopsy] to determine that Reed’s [sic] bullet did the work.

      I would like to think that the author of "That Fiend in Hell" just made a mistake. Mistakes happen. I even made one once … perhaps two. But Cathy Spude takes such a heavy handed approach that it seems there is much more than a mistake at work in her thinking. In writing that "Jeff Smith fails to mention" and "fails to point out," she does not imply but rather outright accuses me of intentionally leaving out text in order to "justify" a conclusion. I cannot know what was in Cathy Spude's mind, but the stern, accusatory tone of her language does make itself known and felt as she apparently intended. Then in light of how her example is in complete error, revealed is not just a mistake or careless inattention to detail but a deep and determined bias against my biography of Soapy Smith. I am at a loss for any other way to explain such a focused indictment based on an error of her own making.

      Cathy Spude in her criticism of my treatment of Soapy's death and the cover up that followed would have a reader believe my conclusion is based on half a sentence rather than the 23 pages of evidence and interpretation that appear in chapters 25 and 26 of Alias Soapy Smith (pages 538-561). I took much time and care in laying out the evidence, evaluating it, and drawing reasoned conclusions about it. To my knowledge, nothing has been omitted or obscured.

      The story of the murder of Soapy Smith has just appeared in a feature-length article I was invited to write for Wild West magazine (April 2013, pages 44-51). It's a nice spread, with many illustrations. Though a feature piece, its space requirements called for compression, so only the most pertinent facts and the overall conclusion appear. For the full story, my book is the ultimate source for a survey of all known evidence and an even-handed examination of it.

      Cathy Spude on page 193 of her book also claims that Jeff Smith lacks "understanding of [the] historic context" of Skagway in 1898. Probably no one will be surprised to learn that Jeff Smith disagrees. For three decades I have studied the players of this period and the details of their doings. I know this context extremely well; I just don't follow Cathy Spude's interpretations of people or events. Each of these disagreements, as well as correction of errors—one at a time—will make good reading for other days.

 

"She told lies so well a man would be a fool not to believe them."

— Unknown

APRIL 12

1782: The British navy wins its only naval engagement against the colonial navy at the Battle of Saints, off Dominica, during the American Revolution.

1799: Phineas Pratt patents the comb cutting machine.

1811: The first colonists arrived at what would later be named Cape Disappointment, in the future state of Washington.

1833: Charles Gaylor patents the fireproof safe.

1861: Confederate forces fire on the U.S. at Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina, starting the Civil War.

1864: Confederate General Nathan Forrest captures Fort Pillow, in Tennessee and murders the black Union troops there.

1867: From Fort Larned in Kansas, General Hancock tells Cheyenne Indians to abide by the treaty of 1865 and stay on their lands south of the Arkansas River, or risk starting a war.

1872: The outlaw Jesse James gang robs a bank in Columbia, Kentucky of $1,500 and killing one person.

1877: A catcher's mask is used in a baseball game for the first time.

1883: Charles “Black Bart” Bolton robs the Lakeport-Cloverdale stage a second time, this time about 5 miles from Cloverdale, California.

1888: John Billee and Thomas Willis rob and murder W. P. Williams and bury his body in a ravine in the Kiamichi Mountains, Oklahoma Territory. They would eventually hang for the crime on January 16, 1890.

1889: Buffalo Bill's Wild West leaves New York for a tour of France.

1892: Voters in Lockport, New York became the first in the U.S. to use voting machines.

1898: Soap Gang member Harry Green signs his name as “Jeff Smith” on the register of the Hotel Northern in Seattle, causing newspaper there to falsely report that Soapy Smith was in their city. The real Jeff Smith, aka “Soapy,” was in Skagway, Alaska.

1905: The Hippodrome opens in New York City.

Was the research for the book, Alias Soapy Smith, unscholarly and lazy?

y ninth, and far from last, post on the blog, Examining "That Fiend in Hell:" Soapy Smith in Legend looks into the accusation that my research for my book Alias Soapy Smith was unscholarly and lazy. You can also find it online here.

      Throughout That Fiend in Hell, author Cathy Spude assails my research as unscholarly and at times implies that I was lazy in its conduct. Emphasized is the assumption that the bulk of my research was performed online, but as explained in the preface of my book, that was far from the case. Newspaper research was especially difficult in 1985 when I began the task as there were no online collections that allowed one to simply to open a screen and type in a key search word. My early research took me to numerous libraries, archives, and museums in Alaska, Colorado, and Washington to view microfilm unavailable through inter-library loan. On page 192 of her book Spude assumes and implies that I accessed Alaska newspapers online, but as she researched the same Alaska newspapers I did, she is fully aware that, even now, these newspapers are not available online. Further, she assumes I accessed other sources for quotation from these newspapers. This is not the case. Every quotation in my book that is from Alaska newspapers in Skagway for 1897-98 comes from photocopies in my possession from library-held microfilm of those newspapers, cranked through a "reader" page by page.

      In my home state I ordered microfilm rolls, one at a time, for two decades. As microfilm has no search capability or index, thousands of hours were invested in scouring each of the many reels, reading page-by-page, day-by-day, year-by-year, researching my subject and those in his circle in newspapers of that time and place. I was extremely successful in finding and publishing information that otherwise might never have been uncovered and explored because much of it lay buried until I found it, assembled it, gave it interpretive context, and published it in 2009. "Reading upwards of 90,000 pages took years. It was a daunting task but proved a goldmine of information not known to have been republished anywhere...." (Alias Soapy Smith p. 6).

 

"People have a tendency to make things turn out the way they want them, not necessarily as they are. They find ways of making the evidence tell them what they want it to mean."

— Miss Pierce, English 211 professor

APRIL 9

1682: Robert La Salle claims the lower Mississippi River and all lands that touch it for France.

1833: Peterborough, New Hampshire opens the first municipally supported public library in the U.S.

1865: Confederate General Lee surrenders, effectively ending the Civil War, at Appomattox Court House, Virginia. The four year war claimed 360,000 Union lives and 260,000 Confederate for a total of 620,000 lives lost.

1866: The Civil Rights Bill passes over President Andrew Johnson's veto.

1867: The Senate ratifies a treaty with Russia that includes the purchases of the District of Alaska for 7.2 million dollars.

1870: The American Anti-Slavery Society is dissolved.

1872: S. R. Percy receives a patent for dried milk.

1878: Marshal Ed Masterson is killed in Dodge City, Kansas by Jack Wagner at the Lady Gay Dance Hall. His brother Bat was a short distance away and shot Jack Wagner and Alf Walker. Wagner died the following day and Walker died of his wounds about one month later.

1892: Nate Champion is shot dead at the K.C. ranch near Buffalo, Wyoming when a posse of hired gunmen, led by Frank Canton, Tom Smith and Frank Wolcott who had been hired to by cattlemen to wipe out the settlers during the Johnson County War.

1892: Parson Tom Uzzell has $75 and his pants stolen in Creede, Colorado. Soapy Smith helps him get his money back.

1892: McGinty the petrified man is “discovered” and then purchased by Soapy Smith in Creede, Colorado.

1892: Soap Gang member, Cornelius “Con Sullivan” Sullivan is elected to the Creede, Colorado city council.

1898: John Addison Porter, Secretary to President McKinley, writes to Soapy Smith acknowledging the minutes and letter from the Skagway Military Company. Soapy hangs this letter on the wall in Jeff Smith’s Parlor.