Soapy Smith's Soap Box: Bascomb Smith

Showing posts with label Bascomb Smith. Show all posts

April 1, 2021

Bad Man From Colorado: Bascomb Smith in Butte, Montana, 1896.

BAD MAN FROM COLORADO
The Butte Miner
Butte, Montana
December 4, 1896

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ad Man From Colorado

Bascomb Smith in Butte, Montana

A hard accounting of "Soapy" Smith's younger brother, Bascomb.

As of this newspaper article, Bascomb was a recent released one-year prisoner of the Colorado prison system. His brother was gone, having fled Colorado to keep from being placed behind bars, likely he was looking at a longer sentence than Bascomb. Soapy tried to convince Bascomb to leave Colorado with him, and though Bascomb had numerous chances, he chose to stay. This article is one of the harshest accountings of Bascomb I have ever seen. I do not know how much of it is accurate. Below is the transcription of the article.

The Butte Miner
Butte, Montana
December 4, 1896

—

BAD MAN FROM COLORADO.

—

Bascom Smith, Brother of the Famous “Soapy” Smith, Makes His Bow.

Bascom Smith, bad man from Colorado, and brother of Col. Jefferson Randolph Smith, better known throughout the west as “Soapy” Smith, has turned up in Butte and it is not unlikely that the police will have as much trouble with Bascom as the authorities of Denver have during the past four years.
     Colorado is very glad to lose Bascom. The atmosphere in Denver got a little too sultry for “Soapy” about two years ago. He was wanted on a charge of flim-flamming a “guy” out of several thousand. “Soapy” disappeared with his sudden wealth and was afterwards heard from in old Mexico. Since then he has given the Queen City a very wide berth.
     As a confidence man and now and then gun player “Soapy” was king of the rollers in Colorado for years. Bascom Smith, who has unexpectedly honored Butte with his presence, worked in “Soapy's” team for a time but his art got to coarse, so his slick brother deserted him. Bascom in other words used his gun on a man down there and sent him to a swift account. He was tried in the district court and served a slight sentence. He figured in other gun plays and came near breaking up “Soapy” in business. For genuine toughness Bascom has many marks against his name on the criminal blotter of that city.
     His first bow to Butte was in the role of a person who subsists on the earnings of a low woman. Officer Griffith arrested the man on complaint of Elsie Edwards. She says that Smith has been living with her both in Denver and Butte. They came to this city two weeks ago and since that time Smith has spent over $100, earned by the woman, drinking it up over the bar of a Galena street saloon. She complains of ill-treatment, more particularly described as threats to kill, and several beatings.
     Whether the woman's story is true or not, such brutal treatment would be nothing else than a repetition of the man's wild career in Denver. He was taken before Justice Holland and released on bonds of $100, which were furnished by Edmund Levi. Smith will enter his plea this morning. In the meantime Elsie Edwards is in absolute dread that Smith will take her life, but the police are apprised of his history and will keep an eye on the bad man from Colorado.

—

Points to consider

Soapy was not wanted ('about two years ago') "on a charge of flim-flamming a guy out of several thousand." Both he and Bascomb were awaiting trial for the assault on John Hughes, proprietor of the Arcade restaurant, saloon and gaming rooms in Denver.
It is well-known that Bascomb "worked in 'Soapy's' team for a time," but did "his art get to coarse, so his slick brother [Soapy] desert him?" I don't believe that this is true. Soapy always backed his brother.
"Bascom in other words used his gun on a man down there and sent him to a swift account. He was tried in the district court and served a slight sentence. He figured in other gun plays and came near breaking up 'Soapy' in business." I believe the article is referring to Bascomb's killing of Harry Smith in Denver, June 23, 1893. Bascomb got off using the self-defense plea, and there were enough witnesses to back it up the story.

After this article was published, Bascomb was arrested, held for a few days, and then discharged (see post March 26, 2021).

Bascomb Smith

March 26, 2021

June 23, 2020
September 24, 2020

Bascomb Smith: pages 22, 41-42, 67, 75-76, 88-89, 92, 120-22, 139, 143, 162-63, 165, 167, 169, 176, 178, 182, 214, 247, 264, 273-75, 336, 340, 352, 355, 361, 363, 367, 370-77, 381-86, 391-99, 403-05, 408-09, 412, 420-23, 519, 554-55, 584, 588-89, 594.

"And when I die,
don't bury me deep;
leave one hand free
to fleece the sheep."

—From the film, Honky Tonk (MGM, 1941).

March 26, 2021

Bascomb Smith brother of Soapy Smith, is free: The Butte Miner, December 10, 1896


BASCOM SMITH IS FREE. The Colorado Terror The Butte Miner Butte Montana December 10, 1896

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ascomb Smith: The Colorado Terror

I previously published a Butte newspaper clipping for October 2, 1896 in which a drunken Bascomb Smith had an altercation with a Miss Dora Harris, who retaliated by instigating Bascomb's arrest on a concealed weapons charge. Bascomb turned around and accused her of stealing $25 of his. It appears that in between October and December Bascomb got into hot water again, this time for pulling his pistol and menacingly pointing it at Elsie Edwards. Below is the transcribed article.

—

BASCOM SMITH IS FREE.

—

Elsie Edwards Gets Scared of Him and Digs Out.

Bascom Smith, the Colorado terror, a brief sketch of whose career in that state was contained in the Miner a few days ago, was discharged by Justice Almon yesterday for want of prosecution, the complaining witness, Elsie Edwards, having made tracks out of the city. At the time of his arrest the woman was positive that she would prosecute Smith for drawing a weapon upon her but she recalled the bloody record of the man in Denver and lost her nerve.
Smith has appealed to his more famous brother “Soapy” Smith on several occasions when he was in trouble but he did not know this time where “Soapy” might be found or this community would not have been large enough to have held the greatest confidence man west of the Mississippi river.
Bascom Smith is now making ready to return to Colorado.

—

Bascomb states that he did not know where his brother ("Soapy") was, and this was likely a legitimate claim. Bascomb had spent a year in prison, while his older brother had already spent the good portion of that year traveling the west and northwest, including two months marooned in Alaska, Seattle, Spokane. Soapy was also looking for Bacomb, asking friend Bat Masterson in a letter dated November 18, 1896, if he had seen Bascomb in Denver, of which Bat had not actually seen him, but wrote

"I hear of him, however, and always in some kind of trouble. He has been arrested twice of late for disturbance and discharging firearms down in the neighborhood of 20th and Market streets, and you know the kind of people who frequent that locality. If I were you I would advise him to leave here, as it is only a question of time until he will get a “settler” and every time the papers speak of him they generally say the brother of “Soapy” Smith, who was last heard of skinning suckers in Alaska. So you see you are not getting any the best of it."

Masterson was not exaggerating Bascomb’s troubles. The Denver Evening Post lists five charges against him, including vagrancy, drunkenness, disturbing the peace, carrying concealed weapons, and discharging firearms. He was fined a total of $153 and had his “elegant, silver-plated, highly engraved revolver confiscated.” On November 5, 1896, he was in court for stealing a woman’s expensive diamond-encrusted jewelry. According to the Post, Bascomb still had some friends in the current administration and received an order to leave town rather than face fines still owed from his October melee. Bascomb left Denver and landed in Butte, Montana leading up to his current affair.

Bascomb Smith

June 23, 2020
September 24, 2020

"It’s only a gambling problem if I’m losing."

—Unknown

March 24, 2021

SAW THE FAKE COLLISION: Oct 2, 1896, Bascomb Smith is arrested for concealed weapons

SAW THE FAKE COLLISION
Bascomb Smith goes on a tear.
Denver Post
October 2, 1896

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hiskey induced a desire for war and Smith carried his artillery with the bravado of a Leadville militiaman.

On the early morning of April 21, 1895 "Soapy" and his younger brother Bascomb, who had been drinking heavily on Saturday evening, started in on causing trouble in Denver. After exposing that the chief of police was inside one of the cities brothel's, they decided to visit the saloon of their enemies, Sam and Lou Blonger. Finding neither were in, the Smith's went into the Arcade Clubrooms and started an argument. When proprietor, John Hughes tried to stop the Smith's they unleashed their rage on him, nearly killing him. Soapy and Bascomb were arrested and a trial date was set. Soapy fled the state before the trial, and before doing so, he desperately tried to convinced Bascomb to come with him, but for whatever reason, Bascomb chose to remain in Denver, and on September 20, 1895 he was sentenced to one year for his part in the attack on John Hughes.

Fast forward one year, Bascomb Smith is released, and though he swears he is reformed, he falls back into bad habits. The newspaper article from the Denver Post, October 2, 1896 is transcribed below.

—

SAW THE FAKE COLLISION
—
Which drives Bascomb Smith to drink and Dora Harris to jail.

      When Bascomb Smith was released from the county jail a few weeks ago he swore by the beard of Ali that he would forever lead a life of rectitude and control any unruly desire to terminate a McKinley argument with a Colts’ 44. He shunned saloons and avoided the lair of the tiger until his pals marveled. The Temptations of a great city had no attractions for the reformed gun artist and chronic rounder, who deviated not one jot from the straight but narrow path, yet Bascomb finally plunged headlong from grace. In an evil moment he permitted himself to part with half a dollar, and was one of the 18,683 “suckers” who witnessed the pre-arranged locomotive collision last Wednesday. Related closely to Jefferson Randolph Smith, Past Grand Imperial Potentate of the Sacred Order of Fakirs, Bascomb declared the Elyria affair too raw to catch a Missouri tie chopper. Smith persuaded himself to remain until the big swindle had finally been consummated, then he vanished, intent on an orgie which would make Market street nervous. He prefaced his trip by a select collection of profane expletives which he showered on the management of the collision fake, and bled himself to the haunts of the sinful. Then Bascomb drank. Any old liquid concocted that came his way was gulped down as quickly as an alligator swallows a Mississippi Coon.
     Bascomb's thirst continued all of yesterday and far into the night. Whiskey induced a desire for war and Smith carried his artillery with the bravado of a Leadville militiaman. At midnight Bascomb became involved in an argument with Miss Dora Harris, who was a sweet-faced babe in gay “Paree” just 45 years ago. Bascomb and Dora flirted and quarreled. When the reformed county jail graduate missed a roll of $25 he threatened to inaugurate an extended slumber in Riverside for the giddy French girl. She retaliated by having Bascomb jugged for carrying concealed weapons. Now la petite Dora languishes in a prison cell pending her trial on a charge of larceny from the person.
     And the pre-arranged collision fake is responsible for it all.
—

If the article is correct, the train collision that occurred "last Wednesday" took place on September 30, 1896. The other well-known crash exhibit occurred fifteen days earlier, on Tuesday, September 15, 1896, and ended in tragedy as both train boilers exploded, killing three spectators and injuring many more. Because of the article heading, Saw the Fake Collision, I believe the train crash Bascomb witnessed was a duplicate copy, taking advantage of the staged crash and horrific incident in Texas? I could not find anything on the staged crash of September 30th, but there is film and photographs of the crash fifteen day prior.

"Grand Imperial Potentate of the Sacred Order of Fakirs."

Love it!

"Bascomb declared the Elyria affair too raw to catch a Missouri tie chopper"

I don't know what this means.
Elyria is a town in Ohio, if that means anything.

"When the reformed county jail graduate missed a roll of $25 he threatened to inaugurate an extended slumber in Riverside for the giddy French girl"

Riverside is the main cemetery in Denver, so Bascomb was threatening to kill Dora Harris.

"The confidence game took many forms, but its underlying principle was always the same: to let the mark beat himself, using his cupidity as the motor of his doom."

—Luc Sante

March 12, 2021

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

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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.

February 22, 2021

Artifact #76: Letter from Emmie L. Smith to Jefferson R. Smith III, 1912

Artifact #76 - Letter A
From Emmie L. Smith to Jefferson R. Smith III
October 16, 1912
Jeff Smith collection

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t don’t look like we will ever get any trace of Bascom"

Artifact #76 - Letter B
From Emmie L. Smith to Jefferson R. Smith III
October 16, 1912
Jeff Smith collection

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Artifact #76 is a letter from Emma [Emmie] Lou [Lu] Smith, Soapy's sister, to Jefferson Randolph Smith III, Soapy's son.

We know that Emma died on May 3, 1915, but her date of birth is a mystery. Interesting enough, each federal census, her year of birth changed.

1870 Census: Emma is listed as being born in 1867.

1880 Census: About 1870.

1900 Census: Oct 1873.

1910 Census: 1880.

The content of the letter is personal family matters, with mention of politics and of Bascomb (spelled "Bascom" in the letter) Smith, her and Soapy's brother.

Emma Lou Smith

Below is the transcribed letter.

Waco, Texas
Oct 16th 1912.

My Dear Nephew:

I was very glad to received your long looked for letter, was glad to learn all was well. Crops have turned out very good this year fruit and vegetables very plentiful. Cool weather has come and it is raining now and very cool for this time of the year. You asked who was the favorite for President. Wilson of course as Texas has been in the Democratic Columns always. I deplore the attempted assassination of Ex president Roosevelt and hope he will soon recover. I heard from Temple kins. Willie Jeff is Back in Temple and all was well. Emmie Taylor, my niece paid us a visit this Summer. Would be pleased to received the photos. It don’t look like we will ever get any trace of Bascom [sic]. Mr. Garner [Emmie’s husband] is fairly well and sends his regards to you all.

Love top all, your Loving Aunt
Emmie Lu Gardner
927 Franklin Street.
Waco, Texas

The letter speaks of family items, and about midway mentions the "attempted assassination of Ex president [Theodore] Roosevelt," which occurred two days prior to Emmies letter, on October 14, 1912.

While campaigning in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Roosevelt was shot by a saloonkeeper named John Schrank. The bullet lodged in his chest after penetrating his steel eyeglass case and passing through a thick (50 pages) single-folded copy of the speech he planned to give that day, which he was carrying in his jacket. As an experienced hunter and anatomist, Roosevelt correctly concluded that since he was not coughing blood, the bullet had not reached his lung, and he declined suggestions to go to the hospital immediately. Instead, he delivered his scheduled speech with blood seeping into his shirt. He spoke for 90 minutes before completing his speech and accepting medical attention. His opening comments to the gathered crowd were, "Ladies and gentlemen, I don't know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot, but it takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose." Afterwards, probes and an x-ray showed that the bullet had lodged in Roosevelt's chest muscle, but did not penetrate the pleura. Doctors concluded that it would be less dangerous to leave it in place than to attempt to remove it, and Roosevelt carried the bullet with him for the rest of his life.

Artifact #76 - Envelope
From Emmie L. Smith to Jefferson R. Smith III
October 16, 1912
Jeff Smith collection

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Emmie goes on to say, "It don’t look like we will ever get any trace of Bascom." Young Jefferson Smith no doubt asked if she might know of his whereabouts, but she did not. It is believed that Bascomb Smith died of a drug overdose in Omaha, Nebraska, previous to September 7, 1909 (see post Sept 24, 2020), three years previous to the writing of this letter. Between Bascomb's drug use and the family moving around, Bascomb would have had a hard time finding his siblings and nephew.

The envelope is addressed to "Mr. Jeff Smith, c/o The Times [St. Louis Times] Editorial Dept." The notes in the upper left corner are illegible. They were probably added after delivery, by Jefferson.

Lot where Emmie and husband's
home stood in 1912
Assuming addresses didn't change

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Emma Lou Smith

May 22, 2010

Emma Lou Smith: page: 22, 121, 377, 397, 403-04, 589.

"A number of moralists condemn lotteries and refuse to see anything noble in the passion of the ordinary gambler. They judge gambling as some atheists judge religion, by its excesses."

—Charles Lamb, Essays of Elia, 1832

September 25, 2020

Soapy Smith's brother Bascomb Smith: A champion to Miss Hall

A CHAMPION
San Francisco Chronicle
October 12, 1898

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ASCOMB IS A CHAMPION

Guess Bascomb Smith wasn't all bad. The texts of the newspaper appear below.

Miss Hall finds a champion.
Brother of “ Soapy” Smith claims her as his wife.

There is another side to the pathetic story told to the police by Minnie Hall, the Vaudeville actress to jump into the bay from Howard Street Wharf on Monday afternoon. Her real name is or was, Elsie Edwards, and she came here from Seattle with Bascom Smith, a brother of “Soapy" Smith, who was killed in Skagway, Alaska, about two months ago by members of the vigilance committee.
Smith, presenting himself as the husband of the actress, secured her release yesterday from the matron's quarters at the City Prison. She accompanied him willingly, and did not deny his statement that she is his wife. Prior to her release the distressed vaudeville artist procured a search warrant in Judge Conlan's court to secure possession of her trunk and contents, which she values at $200, from Mine. Ferlot's house, 724 California street, where she roomed. She appeared in court wearing slippers and somewhat thin attire.
Smith says that nobody evicted the would-be suicide, but that she "got full of claret up to her chin" and wandered off to the wharf unnoticed by those in the rooming-house. Her trunk is now in the property clerk's office at police headquarters.

It is interesting that Elsie "Minnie Hall" Edwards came to San Francisco with Bascomb. The question that remains is whether they were actually married. I have not found her mentioned when Bascomb returned to Seattle, where in 1899 he was forced to leave once again.

"Claret" is a red wine from Bordeaux, or wine of a similar character made elsewhere.

Good friend and exceptional historian/researcher, Peter Brand writes, "I think I have more on them in Butte Montana. They seem to have a similar relationship to Doc Holliday and Kate. Gambler and prostitute and love/hate etc."

The research never ends!

Bascomb Smith
August 1, 2011
May 4, 2012
September 20, 2015
September 22, 2015
March 23, 2019
June 23, 2020

"Casinos and prostitutes have the same thing in common; they are both trying to screw you out of your money and send you home with a smile on you face."

—V. P. Pappy

September 24, 2020

The possible death of Bascomb Smith: Soapy Smith's hot-head younger brother

BASCOMB SMITH
Ends his life with drugs
Alliance Herald
September 9, 1909

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ascomb Smith's death

Did Bascomb die a "drug fiend" in 1909?

     What ever happened to Bascomb Smith and when he died, has been a mystery in the Smith family. The last we previously heard from Bascomb was in December 1899 when he was ordered to leave Seattle, Washington after shooting and wounding a man. There is a family story that Bascomb died in the 1920s but it is not known where this information came from, nor is there any provenance.
     Author/historian and good friend, Peter Brand responded to a post about Bascomb, trying to determine if an article he had found was about our Bascomb Smith (see top pic). It seems probable that it is.
     It is known, according to the Seattle newspapers, that Bascomb was a "hop fiend." The fact that his father and several uncles were attorney's, I can see where Bascomb might lie about being a retired "young promising lawyer." If this is our Bascomb Smith, then he died at some point previous to September 7, 1909 in Omaha, Nebraska.

REST IN PEACE BASCOMB.

Only positively-known image
of Bascomb Smith

(Click image to enlarge)

* Special thanks go out to author/historian Peter Brand for locating this newspaper clipping!

Bascomb Smith
August 1, 2011
May 4, 2012
September 20, 2015
September 22, 2015
March 23, 2019
June 23, 2020

"In a bet there is a fool and a thief."

—Proverb

June 23, 2020

The shooting of Harry "Shotgun" Smith by Bascomb Smith, June 23, 1893.

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HE SHOOTING OF HARRY

"SHOTGUN" SMITH.

Denver's unsolved murder: Number #10

On June 23, 1893, Harry "Shotgun" Smith (no relation) went on a drinking binge and made the deadly mistake of visiting the Tivoli Club and provoking a fight with Bascomb Smith, the younger brother of bad man "Soapy" Smith. Bascomb walked away unscathed. Harry Smith was not so lucky.

On the afternoon of June 23, 1893 Harry Smith purchased a gun from the Solomon pawnshop for $10. About 8:30 that evening, he entered Goldsmith and Wacker’s saloon at 1718 Larimer, already drunk. He spotted Bascomb and Jimmy Blaine at a table in the rear, went up to Bascomb, and said, “I can whip you in any kind of fight.” He then pulled his gun, struck Bascomb on the head, and told him to “draw and shoot.” But Bascomb was not armed. Before Harry could shoot, the bartender and Blaine grabbed him and forcibly removed him to the street. Meanwhile, Bascomb went to his room, retrieved his “big 45-caliber,” and went to the Tivoli Club. A half hour later, Harry came in, asked Soapy the whereabouts of Bascomb, and was told that he was not there. Jeff proposed a drink but then noticed Harry had a pistol in his right trouser pocket. So rather than a drink, Jeff induced Harry to leave. He did, but twenty minutes later he returned to find Bascomb standing at the entrance. Harry was verbally abusive while Bascomb tried to reason with him. Frustrated, Harry yelled, “You —. I can meet you at your own game,” and again drew his revolver. But this time Bascomb was ready and had his gun out a moment in advance. Grasping one another, they wrestled into the entrance of the Tivoli. Bascomb fired a shot that entered Harry’s left wrist, forcing him to drop his revolver. Bascomb fired three more shots in rapid succession, two of which “lodged into the right breast just above Harry’s heart, piercing his lungs and exiting through the shoulder.” A bullet that missed hit Fritz Beck, a spectator, taking off a piece of his right ear. Harry fell on his back, his head striking hard on the flagging. Bascomb jumped over Harry and ran up Market Street and into a Chinese laundry. He was followed by Officer Barr, who upon reaching the laundry met Bascomb walking out to surrender, saying, “I shot the man to save my own life.”

Harry Smith and Bascomb went by patrol wagon to city hall, where the police surgeon dressed Harry’s wounds. Growing delirious, Harry started asking for Soapy, and at times he cried out, “If Bascomb was here now, I would fight him. Bring him in.” Soapy came, “spoke to him kindly and the dying man seemed relieved. At times imagining that he had killed Bascomb and then he would cry out, "I got him. I got him.” Harry was taken to St. Luke’s hospital where he died at 11:30 p.m.

According to witnesses, including the editor of The Mercury newspaper, Bascomb was working in the Tivoli Club on 17th and Market Streets, when a drunk Harry Smith walked in looking for trouble. According to to the editor, Bascomb did all he could to stay clear of Harry, but Harry wanted to fight. "When Bascomb could run no further he drew bead [aimed his gun] and that is why he is alive instead of dead." Bascomb was completely exonerated in court on grounds of self-defense but most of Denver's newspapers called it a murder that Bascomb escaped with.

Five years later, in 1898, the Denver Evening Post listed the Harry Smith shooting as "number #10 in Denver's unsolved murders."

Harry Smith: pages 89, 184, 273-76.

"It was quite warm in the compartment so 'Soapy' undid the buttons of his vest. I was interested to observe that instead of carrying his two guns on his hips, strapped around his waist, as we usually see them these days in the movies, 'Soapy' had a sort of harness around his shoulders. The holsters of his two large Colt revolvers hung under his arms and the butt of each revolver pointed forward, just concealed by the top of his vest. With this contrivance the bad man of the West never reached for his hip, in theatrical fashion, thus advertising to his adversary what was to be expected. Not at all! When 'Soapy' started in action all he had to do was to gently put his hand inside of the upper part of his vest and with one swing the other fellow was 'covered.'"

—Saunders Norvell, Forty Years of Hardware, 1924

JUNE 23

1683: William Penn signs a friendship treaty with the Lenni Lenape Indians in Pennsylvania.

1835: Cullen Montgomery Baker, notorious Texas and Arkansas desperado is born in Weakley County, Tennessee. It is alleged that he and his gang killed from fifty to several hundred people during the era following the Civil War.

1836: Congress approves the Deposit Act, which contains a provision for turning over surplus federal revenue to the states.

1860: The U.S. Secret Service is created to arrest counterfeiters.

1865: Confederate General and Cherokee Indian chief, Stand Watie, surrenders the last Confederate army at Fort Towson, Oklahoma Territory.

1868: Christopher Sholes receives the patent for the Typewriter.

1877: Jesse Evans, a member of the Murphy-Dolan gang during the Lincoln County War in New Mexico Territory, is acquitted in the murder of Quirrono Fletcher.

1878: John Larn, a lawman-turned-outlaw is lynched in Fort Griffin, Texas by vigilantes. When the vigilantes take possession of Larn, they were not able to release him from his cell, so they shot there.

1880: The Windsor Hotel in Denver, Colorado opens. Leased to Colorado millionaire Horace Tabor, the Windsor is easily the most lavish hostelry in the west.

1883: Charles Earl “Black Bart” Bowles robs the Jackson-Ione stage four miles from Jackson, California. At the conclusion of the robbery he leaves behind an unusual calling card: a poem.

1884: Cherokee Indian outlaw Bluford “Blue Duck” Duck murders a farmer named Samuel Wyrick in the Flint District of the Cherokee Nation. Blue Duck emptied his revolver into Wyrick, reloaded, and then fired again at a boy who was working for Wyrick. Duck then rode over to a neighboring farm and shot at but missed the neighbor. Deputy Marshal Frank Cochran arrested Blue Duck for the murder.

1885: Denver City Council rescinds Soapy Smith’s peddler’s license to sell his prize soap packages.

1893: Bascomb Smith, brother of Soapy Smith, shoots and kills “Shotgun Harry” Smith (no relation) in the Tivoli Club, Denver, Colorado.

1898: The first battle of the Spanish-American War is fought at Las Guasimas. The Cavalry regiments are commanded by Major General Joseph Wheeler, the only Confederate general to be reinstated in the U.S. Army after the Civil War.