Soapy Smith musical

The cast of Stonecliff pose
during the death scene of Soapy Smith.
Is that Jesse Murphy about to shoot Soapy?
(courtesy of Crystal Schick/Yukon News)

(Click image to enlarge)

     Originally, this was to be a post about a play (this one a musical) in which "Soapy" Smith play a part. While that is newsworthy for this blog and Soapy family and fans, I did not take much notice of the photograph of the actors rehearsing until I was ready to publish the post. It appears that (1) Frank Reid (left) is wounded in the lower region, a pistol lays nearby. (2) Soapy (center) is laying down, appearing to be holding his leg (as if wounded), with no rifle nearby, and reaching one arm towards (3) another man (right) who has a rifle, perhaps just grabbing it away from Soapy and now pointing it at him? Could this third man be Jesse Murphy? Is this all just coincidence, or did the writer of the play Stonecliff read Alias Soapy Smith: The Life and Death of a Scoundrel, or perhaps one of my many blog posts? Very interesting.

hite Pass and Yukon Route musical chugs on without director.

The cast and crew of Stonecliff are pushing forward without Conrad Boyce, who went on medical leave.

Jackie Hong Nov. 16, 2017 8:00 a.m.

At the 11th hour, the cast and crew of Stonecliff, an upcoming musical about railway builder Michael James Heney and the construction of the White Pass and Yukon Route, hit an unexpected obstacle that threatened to derail months of preparation and work.

With less than two weeks before Stonecliff was set to debut in Whitehorse, creator, director and producer Conrad Boyce told the company Nov. 5 he’d experienced a medical issue and needed to fly to Ontario for surgery the next day. He wouldn’t be able to return in time for the opening night Nov. 17, or for any other part of the musical’s tour.

“We were shocked. It’s not something you’d expect,” actor Doug Rutherford said in a phone interview Nov. 8.

But within hours, and over orders of pizza, the shock had given way to planning. The cast and crew decided against pulling the plug and instead, like Heney, chose to forge ahead, splitting up Boyce’s responsibilities among themselves to make sure Stonecliff would make it to the stage as planned.

“It’s really important for us, I think, to go ahead, and it’s an important story and it’s a local story that we can all feel passion for,” said actress Angela Drainville, who, on top of playing Harriet “Ma” Pullen, took over as producer for the Whitehorse run. “I think we were all committed to making sure that it was staged and (that we) really do justice to the presentation and we are confident that we will be able to do that, so here we are.”

Named after Heney’s hometown of Stonecliff, ON., the musical, which stars Shaw Festival actor Billy Lake, follows the struggles and triumphs of Henney and his crew as they build the White Pass and Yukon Route, taking the audience on a journey from from Skagway to Carcross to Whitehorse.

“It’s one of those perfect musicals where it has all of those experiences — it has some tragedy, certainly, you can’t build a railroad without tragedy, but there’s also a lot of great comedic and romantic moments where you’re released from that drama as well,” Drainville said.

Producing the Whitehorse leg felt like a natural fit, she added, since she’s familiar with the Yukon Arts Centre and has extensive experience with producing events, including the annual Atlin Arts and Music Festival.

Other cast members who stepped in include story narrator Bruce Barrett, who will be producing the shows in Skagway and Dawson, actor RP Singh, who will be doubling as technical director and playing character Reverend Sinclair actor James McCullough, who will be filling in as director as well as portraying John Hislop, and actor Brett Chandler, who’s taking over logistical and transportation coordination.

“It’s amazing, actually, how many hats Conrad was wearing, because there seems to be far more people wearing far more hats than they used to, than we were Sunday,” said Rutherford, who’s portraying Eratus Hawkins. Rutherford had originally stepped forward to produce the Anchorage portion of the tour, but the cast and crew ultimately decided, under the circumstances, to scrap it and focus on the Whitehorse, Skagway and Dawson stops instead.

Boyce had also left the cast and crew in as good of a position as he could have, Barrett said, which made continuing on without him easier.

“We more or less just looked at it and we decided it was doable because the actual show itself was kind of at, let’s say, the 95th percentile of completion. The hard work of actual production and direction and all the artistic components, all of these things were in place and the show was really looking pretty good, so I think that’s what made us decide that, yes, we can carry on,” he said.

“I think we’re getting pretty settled in at this point. I would definitely say we’re almost to where we would be comfortable in saying (it’s) business as usual.”

And in a poetic sort of way, Boyce’s departure and the cast and crew persevering through the challenge of filling in the gaps he left has brought everyone even closer to the story, Barrett said.

“It’s so interesting because it’s a show which is all about overcoming adversity,” he said. “The story’s (about) the unlikely success of, basically, a farm boy from the Ottawa Valley who wound up being renowned as the greatest railway man in North America and his passion and his dedication and his ingenuity and his inventiveness which allowed him to do the things he did. I would say, we’re all taking a bit of inspiration from that right now, so that makes the show very much in the spirit of the show’s hero far more so than anybody would have ever predicted.”

Drainville agreed.

“I think it’s really giving us an understanding, a little bit, of what Michael Henney went through in terms of building the railway, in terms of now staging, making sure this gets to the stage without Conrad,” she said, laughing. “There’s an allegory there.”

Stonecliff runs Nov. 17 to 19 at the Yukon Arts Centre.

SOURCE: yukon-news

"It is said of “Soapy” Smith that he lost more money at faro than any other man in the history of Denver, and old-time gamblers do not dispute the claim."

—Rocky Mountain News, July 11, 1915

NOVEMBER17

1800: Congress holds its first session inside the partially completed Capitol building in Washington, D.C.

1856: Fort Buchanan, named for recently elected President James Buchanan, is established near the Sonoita River in southern Arizona as part of the Gadsden Purchase of 1853. The fort protects emigrants traveling through the new territory from the Apache Indians, who are strongly resisting Anglo incursions.

1863: Council Bluffs, Iowa is designated the eastern terminus of the Union Pacific Railroad by President Lincoln.

1871: The city of Boulder is incorporated in Colorado Territory.

1874: An earthquake is reported in Yuma, Arizona Territory.

1877: Outlaw Jesse Evans and his gang escape Lincoln, New Mexico Territory after jailers “forgot” to lock the cell doors the night before.

1882: Indian Chief Rain in the Face and 500 Sioux surrender at Fort Keogh, Montana.

1883: Charles E. “Black Bart” Bowles, is sentenced to 6 years in San Andreas, California prison after confessing to the November 3, 1883 stagecoach robbery.

1890: Indian uprising is reported in Mandan, North Dakota.

1896: Judge Isaac “hanging judge” Parker dies from heart trouble and dropsy. Parker had been a Congressman, appointed federal judge for the Western District of Arkansas with jurisdiction over Indian Territory. He sentenced more than 160 to death, although only 79 were actually executed.

A new Soap Gang photograph?

The auction photograph
courtesy of Raynors' Historical Collectible Auctions

(Click image to enlarge)

ew Soapy Smith related photograph?






     Soapy Smith fan and personal friend, Gary Wiggins, notified me of an auction selling some Soapy related photographs. The auction house Raynors' Historical Collectible Auctions describes lot #544 as follows:

A pair of photographs withdrawn from a scrapbook, still nestled in the scrapbook holder pages, each 6-1/4” x 4-1/2” with ID on scrap book page. To include, “Gang of Soapy Smith: Skagway 1898,” showing 19 men aligned outside in front of a building. ... plus, “Skagway 1898, * Rounding up the Soapy Smith Gang” with a large group of men in front of wood buildings. The foreground is out of focus, dark image These are period copy photos taken by the photographers Webster and Stevens, within minutes of one another, in front of the Skagway city hall where members of the Soap Gang were being held after their capture the day after bad man Soapy Smith met his demise on the Juneau Company Wharf in a shootout with the vigilante Committee of 101. Three armed vigilantes or deputy U.S. Marshals can be seen in the door way blocking the entrance. Some of the more radical vigilantes outside, seek to obtain custody of the prisoners to serve their own brand of justice. Jefferson Randolph "Soapy" Smith II (1860-1898) was a con artist, saloon and gambling house proprietor, gangster, and crime boss of the 19th-century Old West. Although he traveled and operated his confidence swindles all across the western United States, he is most famous for having a major hand in the organized criminal operations of Denver and Creede, Colorado, and Skagway, Alaska, from 1879 to 1898. When he settled in the towns of Creede and Skagway, opening businesses with the primary goal of gently robbing his customers, while making a name for himself. He died in spectacular fashion in the shootout on Juneau Wharf in Skagway.

The same exact photograph
For comparison
note the major differences in clarity and contrast
Author's collection

(Click image to enlarge)

     I can confirm that the top photo is definitely a scene from the Soapy Smith drama, but I have great reservations about the second photograph, although it is not nearly as clear as any other copy I have seen. Take note of the clarity of the white text below the photograph, which shows that this photo is very blurry. Now examine the exact same photograph I attached "for comparison."
     The lower photo of the two offered for auction is unknown to me. I do not recognize any of the men or the building. It appears to have been taken outside of Skagway as I know of no "L" shaped buildings existing in Skagway in July 1898 (see photograph below). Some of the men appear to be Indian or Mexican, which there were not known to be any in the Soap Gang in Skagway. Then there are the four children; why would they be posed alongside arrested gang members? In fact, it would be a good idea for the auction house to send me better, larger copies of these, along with any additional information and/or provenance.

Skagway, Alaska
June 1898
Note: No "L" shaped buildings

(Click image to enlarge)

I sent the photos to Alaskan historian and the publisher of Alias Soapy Smith: The Life and Death of a Scoundrel for his well sought after opinion. He had the following to add.

     The second picture is not taken in Skaguay ... or so I'd be willing to wager. I'll tell you why I think so, but first let's address who the seller says took the photos, Webster and Stevens.
     Here's what Candy Waugaman writes about them in Alaska History, Spring/Fall 2002, p51:

Circa 1898-1906; Dawson, Skagway, Seward Peninsula; Seattle firm begun by Ira Webster and Nelson Stevens in 1903, may not have taken Alaskan photos of their own, acquired photos by Nowell, Hegg, LaRouche, and perhaps others; Seattle Museum of History and Industry; BWP [Biographies of Western Photographers]

So the photos could not have been "taken by" Webster and Stevens as they weren't even around until 1903. Rather, W and S made a copy of the photo, taken by either Hegg or Sinclair or someone else.
     I read the description on HCAauctions.com. Says there that the photos are copies. That they surely are. Muddy and fuzzy as they are, they're poor copies at that. The first photo is one we've both seen many times, in front of City Hall with many excited Skaguay citizens.

     The second photo cannot be as described, taken "within minutes of one another" [that is, the first photo]. No building on 5th street looks like that, nor could the background terrain be from that location on 5th. Next, no building in all of Skaguay in 1898 has a grass/leaf roof with small-diameter poles holding them down. One Skaguay blow [Skagway means home of the north-wind] would remove such a roof with ease. The walls appear to be stucco, not the milled lumber that predominated Skaguay then.
     To the backdrop again; those are spindly trees whereas in Skaguay, the trees are dense on steep, high cliff walls on one side and distant sloping, high hills on the other, across the Skaguay river. To the north is the interior valley with no hills, and to the south is Skaguay Bay. Now the foreground: it looks parched and hard, with dried-out vegetation in front of the line of men and young children. In the summer of 1898, every street in Skaguay had been marched into mud and then was pliant soil when not mud soup. No vegetation appears on any of the streets--except that placed there for celebrations.
     Now the people. I have searched their faces for any sign of a gang member's face, as I expect you have. None is recognizable to me. I agree about the children; none would be lined up with gang members for a photo. Some of the men appear to be Caucasian while others to be Indian and still others to be Mexican. I would guess the locale to be southwest US or perhaps even Mexico, in a high plains, somewhat desert area. The jackets on some suggest it's chilly but getting on into a late morning that's warming up. One man with an X above him is in shirtsleeves while the other with an X above him is also and wearing an apron, suggesting he is a cook.
     To conclude, the 2nd photo, in my opinion, cannot be Skaguay and certainly is not of Soapy Smith gang members. My guess would be that whoever put the album together made an assumption about photos acquired years before and placed the two together and wrote what was written without knowledge or accurate remembrance of Skaguay nor of the merchants, workers, Cheechakos, or Sourdoughs who peopled Skaguay in July 1898. Perhaps the person had never even visited Skaguay.
    A minimum bid of $400 is unreasonably high for these photos. One is a poor copy of a common photograph, and the other is certainly misidentified. However, I don't believe a scam is being perpetrated. Rather, I suspect the seller is just repeating the error of the person who built the album and wrote captions for these photos. Hope these notes help.

In the end all we can really do is repeat the words from the sign that hung at the entrance of Soapy's Tivoli Club in Denver, caveat emptor, which means "let the buyer beware." 

SOURCES:
Raynor's Historical Collectible Auctions.
Art Petersen

"In times of physical danger he could draw a pistol or knife as smoothly as he could deal aces from the bottom of the deck."

— Alias Soapy Smith, p. 15

MAY 11

1792: The Columbia River is discovered by Captain Robert Gray.

1858: Minnesota is admitted as the 32nd state.

1872: Passengers on a Kansas Pacific train protest against the senseless killing of buffalo from railroad cars.

1888: The outlaw Jack Taylor gang rob a Sonora Railroad in Agua Zarca, Mexico. Five outlaws, Jack Taylor, Geronimo Miranda, Federico Duran, Nieves Duran and Manuel Orozco Robles open fire on the train killing fireman John Forbes. The engineer jumps off the engine fleeing. The outlaws surround and fire their guns into the express car. The express car agent, Isaac Hay, is wounded with bullets to the head and shoulder. Louis Atkinson steps from the baggage car and his shot and killed. Another passenger is wounded with a bullet to the arm. The outlaws get away with only $140.

1889: Robbers unsuccessfully attempt to rob $28,000 in gold and silver in Arizona Territory. During the botched robbery eight soldiers are wounded and eight of the attackers are captured. Sergeant Benjamin Brown and Corporal Isaiah Mays (both black) of the 24th Infantry receive the Congressional Medal of Honor for their bravery.

1894: Workers at the Pullman Palace Car Company in Illinois go on strike.

1894: Three visitors to Denver, Colorado, L. B. Casebier, Solomon Corell and James Mills complain to the police about being robbed in a gambling house. Casebier was knocked unconscious, and identified bad man “Soapy” Smith as one of the men responsible, and was arrested. Police Chief Armstrong announced “’a general war on suspected poker clubs,’ which was a hollow threat and the gamblers knew it.”

1910: Glacier National Park in Montana is established.

Gold Mountain: A Klondike Mystery. Book review

OLD MOUNTAIN: A KLONDIKE MYSTERY
BOOK REVIEW







Author: Vicki Delany
Paperback: 328 pages
Publisher: Dundurn
Date published: April 23, 2012
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1459701895
ISBN-13: 978-1459701892
Price: $17.99
Vicki Delany's website
Purchase book on Amazon

Gold Mountain: A Klondike Mystery is the third and latest novel in the Klondike Mystery series from Canadian author Vicki Delany. I chose to review this book because Soapy Smith plays a minor role, while fictional character and member of the Soap Gang, Paul Sheridan, plays a major role within the story.

I admit I am not a huge fan of fictional novels, but I do enjoy some "historical novels," fictional stories composed around an actual event. I can sincerely state that I positively enjoyed Vicki Delany’s vivid, yet easy to read and follow, storytelling approach. I found myself captured in each moment and anxiously awaiting each coming page to witness just how her memorable characters managed to cope and deal with one another’s predicaments and schemes, not to mention the unforgiving landscape and harsh environment in which the characters found themselves. One not need read the two previous books to thoroughly enjoy this third edition, but I so enjoyed the author’s fun, suspenseful style that I recommend reading all three books in chronological order.

Book 1: Gold Digger: A Klondike Mystery
Book 2: Gold Fever: A Klondike Mystery
Book 3: Gold Mountain: A Klondike Mystery

Vicki Delany’s story revolves around the 1897-98 Klondike gold rush and Fiona MacGillibray, the beautiful, brave mother and Dawson dance hall proprietor, and her struggles with kidnapper, Soap Gang member Paul Sheridan who has been obsessed with her since first meeting in the American boom town of Skagway.

Fiona, the main character, had hoped to open a theater in the boom town of Skagway, Alaska but she quickly discovered that the town crime boss, Soapy Smith, would not allow her to open unless she worked for him. Not willing to sell her dreams short, Fiona and her 11-year-old son, Angus move across the border into Canada, and head to Dawson in the Klondike, Yukon Territory where Soapy had no control. While in Skagway Fiona had gained the admiration of Paul Sheridan a member of Soapy’s gang. Paul later shows up in Dawson unannounced, with a plan for Fiona to marry and follow him on a wild chase for riches based on a secret treasure map Paul obtained under shadily circumstance. When Fiona proves to be uncooperative, Paul forcefully abducts her and sets out unprepared on a quest through uncharted territory with the hope that she would change her mind once they found the mysterious Gold Mountain. Does the mountain of gold really exist or is it simply another Klondike stampede myth? Or is there something else, something unexplainable and mystic?

Once kidnaped, Fiona’s son, Angus and her love interest, Corporal Richard Sterling of the North-West Mounted Police, and an odd assortment of townspeople, follow Paul’s tracks to rescue Fiona. In between all the frenzy drama, Fiona’s character fills the reader in on the details of her youth, leading up to her arrival in Alaska and the Klondike. I so enjoyed the jog of realization that I experienced when time periods changed as they related to Fiona’s physical and mental state as the transitions are cleverly disguised so that the reader suddenly realizes that Fiona has lapsed into deep thought of times passed.

“The word Chaos has been invented to describe Skagway in the late summer of 1897.”

Author Vicki Delany knows her history. I have spent over a quarter-of-a-century researching the Klondike gold rush and I found no historical mistakes on the author’s part in this book, and that is no small accomplishment. I found her adherence to history a very pleasing addition which transported me back to 1897-1898 and kept me there throughout the entire book.

“Suspense, intrigue, greed, romance, historical detail, colorful characters, and a warm-hearted tale of a single mother struggling to scrape out a living in a time and place where women had little or no rights,” Not my words but fittingly accurate.

I fully enjoyed Vicki’s description of Fiona’s arrival in Skagway. A time before the wharfs for ships to dock meant goods and animals, horses and humans were “unceremoniously dumped.” Fiona sees her arrival in Alaska as “sheer horror” and the author portrayed the scenes splendidly for the pleasure of my mind’s eye. Soapy Smith makes his appearance in chapters 7 through 10 (pages 50-71). His name pops up here and there afterward as Soapy Smith the bad man, and then as Soapy the horse she names and rides while a captive of Paul Sheridan. This book is a great read for fans of Soapy Smith as well as history buffs of the Klondike gold rush, brought to full life in a novel setting.

AUGUST 16

1777: The Battle of Bennington takes place. New England's minutemen route the British regulars.

1812: Detroit falls to Indian and British troops during the War of 1812.

1829: 18-year-old "Siamese twins," Chang and Eng Bunker, arrive in Boston, Massacusetts for exhibition. They have been joined at the waist since birth.

1858: A telegraph message from Britain's Queen Victoria to U.S. President Buchanan is transmitted over the recently laid trans-Atlantic cable.

1861: U.S. President Lincoln prohibits Union states from trading with the states of the Confederacy.

1878: Lawman John Beckwith is involved in a shooting in the home of his father, Henry, who had killed his son-in-law, William Johnson, during an argument in the ranch house located in New Mexico Territory. John had tried to intervene and was almost shot by his own father. Earlier in the year John was among those who killed rancher John Tunstall, setting off the infamous Lincoln County war.

1896: George Carmack discovers gold in the Yukon starting the Klondike gold rush.

1899: Outlaw “Black Jack” Ketchum stopped a Colorado & Southern train near Folsom, Arizona Territory. After robbing the train, conductor Frank Harrington fired at him with a shotgun but apparently missed. The two men continued exchanging shots and both men were wounded, Ketchum receiving buckshot in the chest, but he managed to escape. Ketchum was found the next day alive and propped against a tree. He was taken to Santa Fe where he was tried and sentenced to death.

1923: 20 members of the Denver Blonger gang are arrested in a raid that ends Blonger rule in the city. The Blonger’s were Soapy Smith’s successors to the underworld throne in Denver.

1924: Former Doolin-Dalton outlaw gang member Roy Daugherty, alias “Arkansas Tom,” is killed in a shootout with lawmen in Missouri.

Book Reviews

 am now reviewing fictional and nonfiction books that have a connection to Soapy Smith. I am currently reviewing Gold Mountain: A Klondike Mystery (2012), a smart and sassy fiction by Vicki Delany. A few other books are lined up, including, Denver Behind Bars: The History of the Denver Sheriff Department and Denver's Jail System 1858-1956, a serious historical look into Denver's past that I am really looking forward to reading, by Lenny Ortiz. The reviews will be published here, as well as several history forums and on Facebook.

If you are an author or publisher that would like to have your book reviewed please visit the following link.

Soapy Smith: Dirtiest Crook In Skagway. A review.

A tourist or an old pal?
poses with Soapy Smith's first grave marker
circa 1898-1905

y good friend, Bob "Buckshot" Bradley sent this 1966 article to me for a review. Bob has been kind enough to send me a number of these old magazine articles from his private collection. I collect anything Soapy Smith related. If there is something you want reviewed feel free to contact me. 

The following is entitled, Soapy Smith: Dirtiest Crook in Skagway by J. N. Kelly and published in the November 1966 issue of The West magazine. Below the story is my review, which is more of a correction list in my opinion.

Soapy Smith - Dirtiest Crook in Skagway

My review

Everything is in chronological order, based on the magazine page numbers and paragraphs. I am always open to comments and questions.

Page 25

Photo at top of page 25: The arrow points to Soap Gang member, William Saportas but incorrectly identified as Soapy Smith. This is a very old mistake but even today some authors make this mistake. I saved Alaskan historian, Professor Jean Haigh from making this same mistake in her little 100 page book, King Con (2006).

Paragraph 1-6: I enjoyed the authors description of Dyea and Skagway. There were attempts to settle the town from the very start but the gamblers and saloon proprietors were all seasoned pros in handling new camps and "do-gooders." They knew that once civilization took over the control of a town, their days of big money and low overhead were numbered. They knew that their best chance to make the most money was to keep "law and order" at a minimum in order to keep it from interfering with their enterprises.

Paragraph 7: The author spells Soapy's middle name wrong. It should read Randolph, not Randall.

The author claims that friends told Soapy about Skagway. Considering Soapy was up in Alaska scouting for a location over a year prior to the founding of Skagway, and arrived there within 2 weeks of its founding, I tend to believe he found out about Skagway on his own.

The author states that the family lived in South Carolina but it should read Georgia.

Paragraph 8: The author writes that "Everybody called him 'Soapy,' ...." Not everybody. In fact, only his enemies and the newspapers called him "Soapy." His friends called him Jeff. He did not like the name "Soapy" as that alias was synonymous with crime and Soapy did not see himself as a criminal. In Denver he signed his name and added "Alias Soapy" on only two known letters and that was in the line of sarcasm or perhaps even intimidation.

Page 25-41

Paragraph 9: "Smith had pulled this little trick in the fading gold towns of Colorado." This little trick, being the prize package soap racket and Soapy pulled it in many many small towns, as well as large cities all across the nation. The fact is, the only locations we currently know of are the ones in which he made the newspapers, which are quite a few. We do not have all those little mentions of a soap man down on third street because that involves a lot of work looking through microfilmed newspapers through the years of 1879-1897. One day it will be done but probably not in my lifetime. Hell, I'm still working on the Denver newspapers!

Page 41

Paragraph 3: The author states that in 1897 Soapy bought a saloon from a Dawson (Canada) businessman named Ed Kickock. I wish there was a source for this. My files, the Skagway name index, and Google contains no information on this name.

Paragraph 4: The same holds true for supposed Soap Gang member, "Tom Galbraith," the Scotsman who had beaten a murder rap in McCabe, Arizona. Googling the name I found a John Thompson Galbraith and brothers but according to his biography he was up in Canada, along the Wala Wala trail in 1864 when Soapy was but 4-years-old. If John was 16 when he went to Canada that would make him at least 53 in 1897. There is no birth year for John, however, he and his brothers were up there apparently into the 1900s so anything is possible. Perhaps John had a son he named Thomas? Unfortunately the author I am reviewing today did not source anything for the article.

Paragraph 6: "He was probably incapable of feeling honest emotion." Do I really need to address this?

Paragraph 7: The author talks of women and romance but never mentions that he was married. The ONLY mention in a newspaper of Soapy being with another woman other than his wife was published in the Skagway News after Soapy was killed. I'm not trying to imply that Soapy was always faithful, I just stating a current fact. It is also stated in this paragraph that his eye color was "green-speckled," but according to his wife his eyes were blue-gray.

Paragraph 8: The author numbers the Soap Gang at 100-300. Although there is no count of the gang these numbers are commonly used. I have a gang list in the works but it is no where near completion so I hesitate to post the numbers I have. The list will include names that are supposed; such as Tom Galbraith whose name was added today.

Page 42

Paragraph 9: "On one occasion, a school function, several persons booed Soapy and one courageous old man in the audience threw a rotten egg at him." I have never heard of this incident and I doubt it happened. There is no source, and what with sourced stories about egg prices in Alaska and the Klondike I doubt it even more.

Paragraph 10: Ed Kickock's name pops up again but this time the author spells it with an "H," as Hickock, which forced me to go back and research Ed Hickock as I had done for Ed Kickock. I found no information in Dawson of this businessman, or in Skagway. The vigilante organization leaders in Skagway are known and his name is listed no where. Not knowing which spelling is correct, if in fact it is real, I left in both spellings for this review.

According to sourced history of the vigilante meetings that took place on July 8, 1898 they did not meet at the town city hall, which was basically just a small cabin. The first location was the warehouse on the end of Sylvester's Wharf. This was the location that was decided to be too small. The vigilante's then decided to move the meeting over to the larger warehouse on the next wharf over, the Juneau Company Wharf.

The author makes the common mistake of naming Frank Reid as a vigilante leader. He was not a leader. He was appointed as one of four guards to man the entrance of the wharf while the meeting was being held.

Paragraph 11: Frank Reid had left Illinois for Oregon, not Minnesota. There are no sources anywhere that I have seen that state Reid was "... a sharpshooter with his rifle and went about Skagway armed at all times." Newspaper accounts in Skagway the following day of the gunfight said that earlier in the day Soapy had accosted Reid in the street and verbally abused him, stating that at the time Reid was unarmed.

"He always carried two knives concealed on his person as an added precaution." Sources, where are the sources!

Paragraph 12: "He had spies everywhere and one of them carried news of the meeting to him. 'They're comin' for you Soapy,' was the spy's warning. The note was written and handed to Soapy by Soap Gang member, William Saportas, who worked for the Daily Alaskan as a reporter, thus able to get into secret meetings being held by the vigilantes. If you are reading this review closely then that name should ring a bell (quickly scroll to the top of my review for page 25 - Saportas is in the photograph identified incorrectly as Soapy). The exact wording of the note handed to Soapy read as follows, "The crowd is angry, if you want to do anything do it quick."

Paragraph 15: The author erroneously has Soapy going to the door of the warehouse where the meeting was being held. Actually, the four guards were about 60' inward on a wharf that stretched out into Skagway Bay for about half-a-mile. Soapy never made it passed the guards before he was shot and killed.

It is known that Soapy and Frank Reid argued before they began shooting at one another, but no where have I read that Reid told Soapy he was "under arrest." The general consensus is that Reid told Soapy he "couldn't go down there" (down the end of the wharf where the meeting was being held).

Paragraph 16: "Soapy quickly brought up his gun—just as Reid did." This is how this author starts the gunfight. In actuality, Soapy had his rifle resting on his right shoulder. He brought his rifle DOWN to strike Reid in the head. Reid raised his arm and the rifle barrel struck it. At this moment the firing began. At least five shots were fired (counting wounds each received) so the fight involved a little more than the author describes. For a quick look at the shootout I suggest going to the following link: Shootout on Juneau Wharf. For a much more thorough and detailed accounting I strongly suggest reading, Alias Soapy Smith: The Life and Death of a Scoundrel.                

MAY 6

1851: The mechanical refrigerator is patented by Dr. John Gorrie. 

1851: Linus Yale patents the clock-type lock. 

1856: U.S. Army troops from Fort Tejon and Fort Miller ride out to protect Keyesville, California from an Yokut Indian attack. 

1859: John Gregory finds gold at what will be called Gregory's Gulch, on the North Branch of Clear Creek near the new city of Denver. Horace Greeley calls the area “the richest square mile on earth.” 

1861: Arkansas became the ninth state to secede from the Union. 

1868: The U.S. government begins payments of annuities to Crow Indians, Montana Territory 

1877: Chief Crazy Horse surrenders 900 warriors, women, and children to U.S. troops at Fort Robinson, Nebraska. 

1877: Sioux Chief Sitting Bull leads 1,500 of his followers into Canada to ask protection from the Queen. 1882: The U.S. Congress passes the Chinese Exclusion Act. The act bars Chinese immigrants from the U.S. for 10 years.

There Was No Night in Creede, by Cy Martin: A review.

Soapy Smith's saloon

Today I have the pleasure of reviewing another magazine article sent in by our good friend, Bob "Buckshot" Bradley. This one comes from the October 1973 issue of Real West and is entitled, There Was No Night in Creede by Cy Martin. Enjoy the article and then beneath it I give a review, but more accurately I correct the mistakes made by the author.

There Was No Night in Creede Real West Oct 1973

At the end of the article Cy Martin has a bibliography of the books and newspapers used as the "reference sources." This is more than most do. The newspapers are good choices, however, the books he chose to rely on either had no footnotes and sources, or were merely copied from previous authors who did exactly what I am accusing this author of doing.

like so many magazine and book authors he felt the need to guess and/or add fiction to his article, perhaps to make it more interesting. There is nothing inherently wrong with hypothesizing the missing facts, but the reader must be made aware of the fact in each case. It is not irregular for an author of history to write, "I believe this is what took place..." and then jot down those ideas based on the known facts. The problem is that most authors don't do this. They include their beliefs in with the story as if they were fact. I don't know whether it is ego, in that they believe their hypothesis is correct and therefore needs no introduction, or that the authors pride, that his subject he chose, really has little in the way of embellished excitement on its own accord, and must include some extra added pizazz. The problem multiplies when another kindred author adds even more fiction to the story, until eventually, if not corrected, a whole new story evolves. So although my reviews may seem to some to be putting down past authors, or a braggart's forum, in reality my efforts are merely to correct the mistakes and get the story back to step one where historians can add new research to an authentic version of the history without any confusion or mistakes.

My review utilizes the existing magazine page numbers thus it starts on page 40 and moves forward in a chronological fashion. Please, if you have any questions or comments I would love to hear them as I thrive and learn from others just as much as from my own research.

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Page 40

Text under photograph: "It's day all day in the daytime, and there is no night in Creede." The coined phrase from the poem, Creede has always been attributed to Cy Warman. However, in chapter 9 of my book, Alias Soapy Smith I show that the Denver Times credits Soapy Smith with coining the phrase two years before Warman published the poem in one of his books. Soapy was indeed handy with words and is known for several published poems in Denver newspapers. Soapy and Warman were good friends who continued to correspond with one another well into the late 1890s. Warman wrote the poem Creede and perhaps borrowed the phrase from his friend, "Soapy" Smith.

Paragraph 2: Mr. Martin misses a few interesting camp name changes, perhaps due to space. He left out Jimtown which remained long enough as the name to be published on maps, postcards, court records and newspapers. It was named Lower Creede before the whole area was finally named Creede.

Page 41

Paragraph top: The author lists Bat Masterson as a camp boss but there is no provenance what-so-ever that he worked as such. The author also lists Lou Blonger of Denver as a boss in Creede but I have yet to see any source that he even went to Creede. Martin mentions "the famed gunman John Light up from Texas to become chief of police." He misses that Light's name was William Sydney Light, not John and that he was hired on as a deputy marshal, not chief of police. Something else he missed is that Light had married Soapy's sister, Eva Katherine, making the two men brother-in-laws.

Paragraph 1: In every history on Creede I have read mention of Poker Alice Tubbs being in Creede, yet not one has a reliable source and I have yet to see contemporary mention of her, let alone "Calamity Jane," "Creede Lily," "Kilarney Kate" and "Mattie Creek."

Paragraph 2: The only prostitute the author mentions that I recognize ever seeing her name is "Slanting Annie," whose name appears in the newspaper upon her death when a subscription was being passed around to bury her remains. Very little is known of her yet the author felt the need to invent that she walked with a "stoop" hence her name. Being the only known prostitute ever mentioned in the Creede newspapers, the author propelled her to "most popular" status. Before his death Bob Ford signed over $5 to the Annie's burial subscription. Later her name was used to indicate where “Gambler” Joe Simmons was buried.

Paragraph 3: Cy writes that Bob Ford’s Exchange saloon was the largest saloon in Creede. This is the first time I have seen that it was said to be the largest in Creede. I have seen that it was said to be a saloon and dance hall. Although numerous books mention that Ford had a saloon prior to tent saloon he opened after the June 5, 1892 fire there is no provenance. No such saloon is mentioned in the newspapers and Ford, when mentioned, is not listed as a proprietor as other men are. It is my belief he did not have a saloon except for the one he was killed in on June 8, 1892. Judith Ries, in her book, Ed O'Kelley: The Man Who Murdered Jesse James' Murderer,  writes that Ford opened up his first saloon on May 29, 1892 but gives no source. I contacted her about this question and she is trying to find where the date comes from. May 29 is just 7 days previous to the fire that destroyed most of the business district. If Judith is correct then at the very most Ford was proprietor of a saloon in Creede, if not destroyed by the fire, is 10 days.

Page 42

Paragraph 1: Author Martin makes a common mistake in naming Ford's killer as Ed O. Kelly. This is a mistake that can be forgiven as this article came out in 1973 and there was an ongoing debate about the killer's real name until 1994 when O'Kelley descendant Judith Ries came out with the first biography of the man. His real name is Edward Capehart O'Kelley. Every time I talk about him I'm reminded of the time I responded in the letter to the editor's column of a magazine in which I, having Ries' book, corrected the spelling of O'Kelley's name in a recent article that had been published. Naturally, I credited Ries' book and believe it or not the author responded to my letter by publishing that the family did not know how to spell it's own name! That was nearly 20-years ago and I still get a chuckle thinking about the ego of that article writer.

Paragraph 2 and 3: Anyone who reads just about anything on Bob Ford is told stories of a coward's life of hardship, fear, cold stares, being booed off stage, and always expecting to be executed by remnants of the old James gang for the shooting death of Jesse James. What is common with all these Ford stories is that none of them list footnotes or provenance. Everyone just assumes it's true I guess. Seemingly, many of these Ford stories come from authors writing about Jesse James, who, in my opinion, wish to show what a horrible person and life Ford led because of his murdering James. Because Ford was a member of the James gang for a time I believe people tend to think that Jesse James historians have studied Ford's life, however, because Ford had a loose connection to Soapy I tend to save what I find on Ford and I have found that books and articles centering on Jesse James are the ones that make the most errors when writing about Ford.

Apparently there are no biographies on Bob Ford. I think people assume his life was not exciting, but I beg to differ. From the few newspaper articles I recall about him, two were about recent gun battles he had just been in, and was reported as a cool, calculating opponent as well as an excellent shot. Anyone looking for an interesting and overlooked old west gunfighter to write about would do good to consider Ford as a subject. I would do it myself if I wasn't so involved in Soapy Smith.  

Paragraph 5: Being there is no contemporary account of Ford’s attitude or dress in Creede, let alone his spouse or lover, this paragraph is pure fiction.

Paragraph 6: The author, apparently confused by facts he saw somewhere, has Ford visiting Pueblo, Colorado after he had been to Creede. In reality Ford was in Pueblo before he came to Creede. It was in Pueblo where Ford and O’Kelley, a Pueblo policeman, had a falling out over an accusation of theft.

Another falsehood found mostly in Jesse James books is that O’Kelley was a relative of the Younger’s, of the James-Younger gang. This is not true and was probably made up to give the "revenge" ploy more credence. According to the O’Kelley biography Ed had no ties or connection to the James-Younger gang. The reasons for shooting Ford had nothing to do with Ford's killing of Jesse James.

Page 43

Paragraph 2: "When Bob Ford turned, he raised the ugly weapon and let go with both barrels." The fact that the author used the word ugly tells me he read the 1892 newspaper account of Ford’s death published in Creede. This article interviewed and quoted the ONLY witnesses to the shooting. The woman who saw everything as it happened, used the "ugly weapon" phrase. It baffles me why this and other authors insist on adding additional fiction to the story knowing, but apparently not caring, that it would change history. He had a chance to tell his readers what really took place, yet chose to fictionalize it. Why?

Paragraph 3: Soapy may or may not have been in Creede when O’Kelley shot and killed Ford. Soapy had left Creede and returned to Denver in April 1892 but still owned properties as well as ownership of the Orleans Club which were destroyed in the fire of June 5. With the Denver newspaper reporting of the fire Soapy claimed to be returning to Creede to check out the situation. There is speculation, but no provenance, that Soapy talked O’Kelley into killing Ford. One important question left unanswered is why. It is known from friends that Soapy and Ford did not like one another but is that enough of a reason to have a man killed. It remains a mystery with missing information. There is no provenance that Soapy protected O’Kelley from a lynch mob. No doubt authors got this story from a like incident that occurred in Skagway, Alaska six years later when Soapy protected John Fey from vigilantes.

Paragraph 5: The fire that destroyed Creede's business district started in Kinneavy’s not Kirmeary’s. I can just image that this mistake was one of reading a poor Xerox copy of a Creede or Denver newspaper.

Page 62

Paragraph 4 and 5: The petrified man hoax was NEVER exposed. The author mentions the name of Bob Fitzimmons. This comes from an interview where a person claimed to be a witness but it is my belief that the person had read the book, The Reign of Soapy Smith by William Collier and Edwin Westrate, 1935 and pretended to have been there in Creede. The name of Bob Fitzimmons shows up in the larger biographies, but as a victim in Denver, not involved in any way with the petrified man. There are many assumptions made by early biographers and writers, one being that the Petrified man was made of cement. Actually it was a real human corpse and my book has great detail on the factual history. With the mention of J. J. Dore I can tell that the author viewed the Creede newspaper article about it. It baffles me why he did not use the information in the newspaper rather than the fictional babbling of authors who did not see the newspapers.

Paragraph 6 and 7: Another example of the author unwisely not following the newspapers involves the name of the corpse. Soapy named it McGinty and the authors mentions this, but then goes with the "Colonel Stone" name given to McGinty by fictional authors. Pretty much everything the author writes regarding McGinty is fiction.

Page 63

Top: I have seen the P. T. Barnum reference several times over the decades. Obviously some 2nd rate historian writer knew that P. T. Barnum had a petrified man (The Solid Mudoon) and when they saw that Soapy had one they just assumed it was the same one. Actually, history has numerous petrified men and women being reported in newspapers all across the west.

Paragraph 1: Yes, Creede's first church was held in a tent, but it was loaned for Sunday morning services by one of the saloons. This is reported in the Creede newspapers.

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Bob Ford
July 26, 2011
September 16, 2010
February 7, 2010
September 20, 2009 
October 14, 2008

Creede
March 4, 2011
September 28, 2010
September 16, 2010
June 20, 2010
June 3, 2010 
March 18, 2009

Ed O'Kelley
December 29, 2009

Creede: pages 200, 207, 218-19, 226, 229, 231, 234, 394, 424.
Bob Ford: pages 216, 218-21, 246, 273.
Ed O'Kelley: page 246.

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Tombstone Epitaph reviews Alias Soapy Smith.

The October 2011 Tombstone Epitaph had the following review of my book by historian and author, Gary Ledoux. Below is the complete text.

Alias Soapy Smith: The Life and Death of a Scoundrel – The Biography of Jefferson Randolph Smith II
by Jeff Smith
Published by Klondike Research, Juneau AK
Copyright 2009 628pp. $26.00 paperback only

Reviewed by Gary Ledoux

I first “met” Jefferson Randolph “Soapy” Smith while doing research about the gold-rush era town of Skagway, Alaska. In the summer of 1898, Soapy Smith held sway in Skagway’s underworld. He was portrayed as a con-man, swindling miners, robbing the unwary, and allegedly going so far as to pick the pockets of the victims of an April avalanche. He was portrayed as one-dimensional – and it was all bad. One of Soapy’s contemporaries, former Tombstone Epitaph editor John Clum, also in Skagway during that period specifically noted in his diary that Soapy was… “a leader in the shell-game racket.”

What I didn’t know, and great-grandson Jeff Smith covers in exquisite detail in his book, Alias Soapy Smith – The Life and death of a Scoundrel, is that Soapy was a most charismatic underworld leader in Denver and Creede Colorado way before Skagway. But most intriguingly, Soapy had a very soft side, helping the poor, the indigent and having an especially soft spot for children. In his twenty or so years as a con man and hustler, Soapy Smith made an outrageous amount of money, even by today’s standards, and either gambled it away or gave it away to those less fortunate. Sometimes, after he had swindled a man out of his last nickel, he would feel sorry for his “victim” and give him enough money to buy a boat or train ticket out of town.

Jeff Smith has done an outstanding job showing the many sides, the many adventures, and ultimately the controversial death of his ancestor with an incredible amount of primary sources including unpublished family records and transcripts from recordings made in the 1970’s of people who saw and knew Soapy in Skagway. Letters, documents and even newspaper clippings kept by Soapy himself bring this fascinating story to life with vivid accounts of the sometimes seamy, and sometime illustrious life he led during some turbulent times.

One thing that I didn’t know until reading this book, and I am sure few people know, is that more than anything, Soapy wanted to be viewed as a legitimate businessman – to be seen as a benefactor to the community. He wanted the legitimacy, but he also wanted to act politically on his own behalf to make sure the laws regarding his real profession remained lax and their enforcement even more so.

Whether he was trying to raise an army of American mercenaries in Denver to fight rebels in Mexico, or trying to raise a company of Alaskan soldiers to fight the Spanish in Cuba, or just running a quick game of three-card monte on a Denver street corner, Soapy Smith was certainly one of the most interesting and captivating personages of the-then disappearing frontier of the 1890’s.

“My God – don’t shoot” were reportedly Soapy Smith’s last words. Alias Soapy Smith is certainly the last word on the life of one of history’s most colorful characters and the times in which he lived. Jeff Smith is now counted among the ranks of those writers and historians who take the time to seek the truth, and then display it in a most compelling fashion.

Alias Soapy Smith belongs on the book-shelf of anyone interested in the old west, the Klondike/Alaskan gold rush, early Alaskan history, Denver political history, or the study of “consmanship” and gambling at the turn of the 20th century.

Mr. Ledoux, thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed my book, and that you shared that enjoyment with the world. If you just read the review and think you might like your own copy of Alias Soapy Smith, or perhaps would like to read what others have said then follow the links.

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He Died To Save Skagway (part 2): A review.

Jeff Smith's private Soapy Smith museum

Back on January 20, 2012 I posted part one of my article review, He Died To Save Skagway. I do this thanks to Bob "Buckshot" Bradley who has supplied me with the pdf format pages from his personal collection. I have to admit that this article has been the 2nd most pleasurable article to review. Author, Cy Martin published several books on the White Pass & Yukon Railway and Skagway so he had pretty good access to some of the older books on that history and nearly all of them included something on Soapy Smith. Please enjoy part two.

He Died to Save Skagway (Part 2) Real West April 1968


Page 38

• (Text above photograph) "Frank Reid is forgotten but his headstone is still unblemished. That tiny stone marker is the only reminder of a man who sacrificed his life to save Skagway." With all the books and articles that author Cy Martin has written on Skagway I find it hard to believe that he never paid the cemetery a visit, if not the town. Anyone who has been to that cemetery since 1900 will see that Frank Reid's memorial (see page 41 in this article above) is huge!
• Paragraph 1: Cy writes that Soapy was a "small-time bad man from Colorado mining camps." Soapy was definitely not small-time. My book, Alias Soapy Smith: The Life and Death of a Scoundrel, gives a ton of provenance that Soapy was big-time. In fact, another post on this blog (January 23, 2012) shows that Soapy was more well known than Wyatt Earp while the two men were alive. I know of no small-time bad men, or good men for that matter, that can claim the same!
• Paragraph 3: There is no provenance that the man was a member of the Soap Gang.   

Page 39

• Paragraph 9: I would like to credit Cy for correctly naming Soapy's opposing organization to the 101, as the 317. So many early biography's made the common mistake of calling it the 303 (exactly three times larger than the 101). This article was written in 1968 but even the well researched 1961 biography, Soapy Smith: King of the Frontier Con Men by Frank Robertson and Beth Harris made the 303 mistake. As a side note, the number 317 is the address of Jeff Smith's Parlor, one of Soapy's saloons.
• Paragraph 11: The July 4 parade is still somewhat of a mystery as there are no known newspapers existing that cover the event. Many old residents said that Soapy led the parade as grand marshal. Newspapers previous to the parade list him as grand-marshal of the 4th division. There are no accounts from old-timers stating Soapy was at the end of the parade and there are several theories that he made his way to the front, but that is a post for another day. No matter, in the parade he was followed by the volunteers of his private army, the Skaguay Military Company, as well as a float containing a caged live eagle named "Gen. Lee Fitzhugh" after the famed Spanish-American War general.
• Paragraph 15: John Douglas Stewart, the man robbed by the Soap Gang had $2,600 in gold dust, according to the court trial records. That amount is the equivalent of $84,832.79 in today's market!
• Paragraph 16: The two gang members who befriended Stewart were John L. Bowers and "Slim Jim" Foster. They took Stewart towards Jeff Smith's Parlor where they met up with gang member Van B. Triplett who introduced the three-card monte game that was played and lost by Stewart previous to having his gold poke stolen away from him.
• Paragraph 17: The robbery actually took place outside the Parlor in an adjacent alley.   

Page 40

• (Photograph of Soapy's grave marker) This marker shown was metal and hideous. In 1997 I had a reproduction of the original grave marker (in my possession) made and placed on Soapy's grave.
• Paragraph 1-9: The details that Cy wrote differ a little, but not my much, to what actually occurred. What actually took place can be found, with plenty of provenance, inside the pages of my book.
• Paragraph 10: There is no other mention anywhere that I've seen that Frank Reid went to Jeff Smith's Parlor to see Soapy. Reid was only a guard the night of the shootout. He was not a leader of the vigilante organization as many old versions like to portray.
• Paragraph 14: The "I've got 500 men behind me" speech is actually credited to the incident five months previous when bartender John Fay shot the deputy U.S. marshal (another great story).
• Paragraph 16: Soapy was not a "rare drinker." There are numerous accounts in Colorado in which he indulged a little too much and caused a little hilarity and sometimes trouble.
• Paragraph 19: Although Samuel Graves added interesting facts to the shootout on Juneau Wharf (Wikipedia page about the fight) his words are far from "the most accurate and factual account..."
• Paragraph 25: "Reid was the only man Soapy Smith ever feared." Not one piece of provenance covers this statement.
• Paragraph 26: Reid and Tanner were not known as the leaders of the vigilante movement, except in later published articles and books.

Page 41

• Paragraph 10: Soapy's partner, John Clancy also was at Soapy's grave. There is no information on "Soapy's mistress" as this is the only mention of her.
• Paragraph 11: The amount missing from Stewart's gold was $600, believed to have been the amount paid to Deputy U.S. Taylor as graft, not to take action in regards to the robbery.
• Paragraph 12: There is no accounting as to how much Soapy had on his corpse when he died. He was obviously robbed of that amount. What is reported is that his assets were worth $148.60 after subtraction of inquest fees. There is numerous information that Soapy had made millions in Skagway during his reign, most of it being robbed by those he had keeping it in Skagway, Seattle, and San Francisco.
• Paragraph 13-14: Although his marker gives the age of 38 Soapy was born November 2, 1860 which makes him 37 at the time of his death.
• Paragraph 20: Soapy has had a total of 5 markers over his grave. The history of those markers can be viewed on the main website here.

JANUARY 26

1883: “Big Ed” Burns, member of the Soap Gang, is arrested in Denver. Burns eventually followed Soapy to Alaska in 1897-98.

Jeff Smith

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