Soapy Smith and Deputy U.S. Marshal Sylvester S. Taylor, Skagway, Alaska

Sylvester Slade Taylor
Four months after Soapy's death
San Francisco Chronicle
November 3, 1898

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EPUTY U.S. MARSHAL SYLVESTER SLADE TAYLOR
(04/03/1867 – 05/12/1958)
 

The Latest On A Forgotten Lawman.

Deputy U.S. Marshal Sylvester Slade Taylor, known as "Vess" to his family, has a black mark upon his record as a lawman which appears to be one of the reasons he remains largely unknown. In Skagway, Alaska, 1898, he was under the pay of bad man Jefferson Randolph "Soapy" Smith. After Soapy's death, via vigilantes, Deputy U.S. Marshal Taylor was "arrested" by the vigilantes along with members of the soap gang, charged with negligence of duty for his lack of performance after the robbery of miner John Douglas Stewart, and held until his boss, U.S. Marshal James McCain Shoup, arrived to relieve him of his duty. Historically, this is what Taylor is most famous for.

     Other than his involvement with Soapy Smith in Skagway, not much was known of Sylvester S. Taylor previous to 2010. In that year I had the pleasure of corresponding with a descendant of Taylor (second cousin twice removed) a family historian connected with the Ancestry.com profile for the Taylor family. This descendant wished to remain anonymous for privacy reasons and I still respect her wishes to this day. At the time, the Taylor family was not certain that their Sylvester Taylor was the same Deputy U.S. Marshal Taylor of Skagway, Alaska, fame. Even today the Ancestry profile mentions neither the lawman's profession nor his connection to Soapy Smith, however, there are solid links between the two that prove the two Taylors are one and the same.

     In every empire Soapy constructed, one of the first hurdles to jump was bounding the courts and the law under his control. Large graft payments were a common necessity in order for Soapy and his men to operate in newly arrived camps and towns. In Skagway, Alaska, 1898, one of the hurdles was 31-year old Deputy U.S. Marshal Sylvester Slade Taylor, who replaced Deputy U.S. Marshal James Rowan after he was killed on January 31, 1898. There are no details of how or when Taylor was lured into the criminal side of the law and placed on Soapy’s payroll as it was kept secret until early June 1898 when Mattie Silks publicly accused Taylor of being involved with the murder and robbery of Ella Wilson as well as being instrumental in a plan to murder of Silks. All of this was according to Silks herself and is questionable. Details of her accusations and story are equally interesting and can be found in my book, Alias Soapy Smith: The Life and Death of a Scoundrel.

Sylvester Slade Taylor
Taylor and Maddox family reunion
Palo Alto, Texas, August 6, 1922
From Taylor and Bevers Pioneer Families of Palo Pinto County, Texas
by Bobbie Ross, 1996

 

     Taylor’s final fall occurred after three of the soap gang swindled some funds and then outright robbed miner John Stewart’s gold in Skagway, Alaska, on July 8, 1898, which directly led to Soapy's death at the shootout on the Juneau Company Wharf. With the collapse of soap gang rule in Skagway, the vigilantes rounded up the gang and accused Taylor of being directly involved with Soapy, of silencing the news of the robbery, and of failing to arrest the culprits in the case. Vigilantes went to the home of Taylor to arrest him, only to find him sitting in a chair holding a baby (probably Stephan Alaska Taylor, born two months prior). Taylor was ordered to stay inside his home or risk death. Later he was accused of offering the return $600 of Stewart’s gold to Alaska’s Governor Brady if allowed to leave Skagway a free man. This request was denied and Taylor was charged with “willful neglect of duty.” [1][2] 

     U.S. Marshal Shoup arrived on Thursday, July 14, and within hours fired Taylor from his position and appointed vigilante J. M. Tanner in his place. The Daily Alaskan reported “ex-Deputy Marshal Taylor” was charged with "attempted extortion from a stampeder," but as the complainant left Skaguay for the interior, that charge was set aside, leaving only the charge of “willful neglect of duty, laid by Mr. Stewart.” Taylor was brought before the Committee of Safety to answer to the charges against him on July 15, 1898. “He waived examination” and was ordered held pending posting of $5,000 bond until his trial at Sitka, Alaska. Deputy U.S. Marshal Tanner took Taylor into custody.[3] Marshal Shoup later defended his hiring of Taylor, stating that when he appointed the man, he came “with exceptionally strong recommendations, having served in a similar capacity in Idaho …, where his reputation as an officer was unassailable.”[4] From Taylor's hearing in Skagway, it was discovered that from 1891 to 1896, Taylor had been constable and deputy sheriff in Nanpa, Idaho, and during a portion of that time, he was a deputy US marshal, and from May 1896 to January 30, 1898, he had been city marshal of Nanpa.[5]

     Reverend R. M. Dickey wrote that he associated with Taylor in Skagway, had dinner with him “and his friendly wife in their snug home.” In the fictional account of his time in Skaguay, Dickey characterized Taylor as “Strange and puzzling…,” “clever,” acting “With great courage,” a man of feeling who “completely broke down” in telling of a little girl who had died some ten years before.

And yet some people in Skaguay suspected that he was in fraternity with Soapy Smith and his league of cutthroats. We never believed that. And yet…. … Our conclusion was that he was a big-hearted man who fully determined to do right but who had in some way come under the power of Soapy and that he writhed under it. … There was something there, but whatever power Soapy had over him we never knew. It may be that he found himself powerless to enforce the law strictly and decided to follow a mediating path with the law breakers to amend their effect as best he could. Having submitted to appeasement once, perhaps he was in Soapy’s power.[6]

     On November 3, 1898, while awaiting the final results of his trial, a reporter from the San Francisco Chronicle had Taylor's likeness published (see top picture). On December 10, 1898, Taylor was acquitted of negligence. Evidence of his wrongdoing as a lawman was ample, but none of it was evidenced in court.[7] Though acquitted of negligence, Taylor’s career as a lawman was over. His name was now manacled to the legendary Soapy Smith, and no key could unlock it.

     Once able to leave Skagway, Taylor took his wife, Maud Ellen Stewart, and their five young children, including Stephen Alaska "Lou" Taylor, born in Skagway on May, 13, 1898, back to Idaho. In 1900, with the help of family member Pleasant John Taylor and an older brother or cousin, who was a "showman" and “movey projectionist,” Sylvester became manager of the show. In 1910 his occupation was still listed as “showman, vaudeville and movey projectionist." In 1919 Taylor's occupation is listed as working at the Isis Theater in Idaho.

      In the following from a Texas newspaper article from August 1922, Sylvester reminisces his early days in Texas, which includes a strong link to a career in law enforcement, considering his three older brothers were Texas Rangers.

      Early settlers will remember the three brothers of this family, who were Texas Rangers, known from border to border of the state of Texas as Ham [Hannibal Giddings Taylor], Eph [Ephraim Kelly Taylor] and Pleas [Pleasant John Taylor] (Doctor Stephen Slade Taylor’s sons). They lived in the days of Indians, and became Rangers to protect their homes, according to Sylvester Slade Taylor, of Reno, Nevada, who is in Fort Worth, visiting his son, S. J. Taylor, 1312 College Avenue. This is the second visit to Texas in thirty-five (35) years and the first time he had seen his sister, Mrs. Sarah Susan Taylor Click for thirty (30) years.
     "I went back home and went swimmin’ in the old swimming’ hole, in the nature way,’ the Texan said. ‘But the most exciting of the whole trip was when we went out to the Hart Ranch and saw a oil well brought in. They seem to bring ‘em in while you wait out there. It was the first one I’ve ever seen brought in and believe me it was some sight to these old Nevada eyes." He recounted many interesting things about the early days and the Indian raids. Remember the killing of the elder Dalton, father of Robert Dalton, owner of the Dalton Oil Tract. He saw his first train in Fort Worth, Texas.[8]

     In 1930, at age 63, Taylor is listed as a cigar salesman in Reno, Nevada. At age 73 in 1940 he is listed as an attendant at a local college in Spokane, Washington. Eighteen years later, on May 12, 1958, Sylvester Slade "Vess" Taylor passed away at age 91.

     At the time I published Alias Soapy Smith in 2009 I depended on the Taylor family tree on Ancestry.com complete with the inevitable mistakes that come with creating such a tree, for the pre and post-Skagway history of Sylvester Taylor. Thus, I was made to believe that Taylor "died comparatively young, though, in 1916 at age 49.” Since then, the information found on Ancestry.com has been updated and his actual death date, as shown in the death certificate below, is May 12, 1958, in Portland, Oregon.[9]

 

Death Certificate
Sylvester Slade Taylor
Courtesy of Ancestry.com

(Click image to enlarge)

 

 

NOTES:

1. US v. Sylvester S. Taylor. Whiting wrote that Taylor was found "with a baby on each knee, for protection and also, sympathy." 
2. Distant Justice: Policing the Alaskan Frontier, by William Hunt, 1987, p. 64. 
3. Daily Alaskan 07/15/1898, p. 1. 
4. Skaguay News, 07/15/1898. 
5. Criminal case 1028-US v. Sylvester S. Taylor. Record Group 21 – US District Courts. Box 16 – 01/01/05 (2). National Archives and Records Administration, Pacific Alaska Region, Anchorage, Alaska. 
6. Gold Fever: A Narrative of the Great Klondike Gold Rush, 1897-1899, by R. M. Dickey, Ed, Art Petersen, Klondike Research. pp. 84-85. 
7. Distant Justice: Policing the Alaskan Frontier, by William Hunt, 1987, p. 65. 
8. 1880, 1900, 1910 US Census, Taylor/Holloway Family Tree, accessed through Ancestry.com. 
9. 1880, 1900, 1910 US Census, Taylor/Holloway Family Tree, accessed through Ancestry.com.

 

 

Visit the Soapy Smith Soap Box blog

 

Sylvester Slade Taylor
Dec 24, 2010
Mar 23, 2014
Aug 13, 2017
Aug 18, 2017
Aug 24, 2017
Jan 14, 2020
 

Taylor, Sylvester S.: pages 508-12, 520, 527, 562, 575-78, 580-81.

"The Reverand Porter was fascinated with the game and firm in his belief that he could pick out the shell under which nestled the little black ball, but when the shell was lifted up the little black ball had mysteriously disappeared, as had also $52 of his hard earned wealth."

—Boulder Daily Camera, June 29, 1893

Soapy Smith arrested in Spokane, Washington July 29, 1897

SOAPY SMITH ARRESTED
Spokesman Review
July 29, 1897

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e objected to the word vagrancy."

 

When the Excelsior docked in San Francisco on July 14, 1897, excitement spread quickly when each passenger disembarked with a reported average of from $30,000 to $90,000 in gold. The same occurred on July 17 when the Portland docked in Seattle. I have always felt that Soapy Smith was in Seattle at the time, perhaps even down on the docks welcoming the Portland and all that gold to Seattle. That he caught the first boat to Alaska. 

 

Although he may still have been in Seattle on July 17th, he was in Spokane on July 28, 1897, where he was arrested. This arrest may have been the reason Soapy did not leave for Alaska until August 14, 1897.

 

Yesterday's arrests included Charles Ross and Jeff ("Soapy") Smith, both charged with vagrancy. At the latter's request he was booked for disorderly conduct as he objected to the word vagrancy.

 

"The safest way to double your money is to fold it over once and put it in your pocket."

—Ken Hubbard

Artifact #77: Soapy Smith Gunfight at the Pocatello, Idaho train depot

Artifact #77-A
Jeff Smith collection

(Click image to enlarge)

 

 

he smoke of the pistol blinded me for a moment, but I returned the fire and shot both my assailants"

 

 

The gunfight at the Pocatello, Idaho train depot, August 30, 1889, is one of several moments in which Soapy Smith came very near of losing his life. The is the fire-fight in which Soapy had famed Earp gunman, John O. "Texas Jack" Vermillion at his side, as a member of the Soap Gang. Also there John "Fatty Gray" Morris, G. E. "Auctioneer" Roberts, J. W. Allen, and Soapy's younger, hot headed brother, Bascomb. This is my favorite letter in my collection. It is the original letter Soapy wrote to his wife telling her some of the details of the shootout. The letter is transcribed below.

September 2, 1889

Dear wife,
      I am all safe and with friends. I had a narrow escape but came out all right. Was sitting in the car at the depot at Pocatello and a man came up and shot at me without any warning through the car window. The smoke of the pistol blinded me for a moment, but I returned the fire and shot both my assailants, one through the thigh, and the other through the calf of the leg and the heel. Five shots were fired at me in all and how I was missed I can’t tell. It looks like providence helped me out. I fired three shots, all of which took effect. The men shot were switchmen and were working for the railroad. The railroaders tried to mob me but we stood them off and got a few good citizens to help and escaped to Blackfoot. We returned the next day. I had my trial and was acquitted. Write to me at Spokan Falls, Washington, Territory.
      Bascomb is in Dillon, Montana. Kiss little Jeff & Eva for me. Give all my friends my best wishes and don’t be afraid. Will let you know about other things in my next. I rode 25 miles on a horse in 45 minutes and I am very sore on my sitter. I also lost my mustache as one of the bullets cut half of it off (say nothing about that!) Write me who were my friends. I had to use the money in Pocatello or I would have been there yet.

God bless you my dear wife,
Jeff
p.s. address plain
Jeff R. Smith
Spokan Falls, Washington Terr.

The man that shot at me was one of the men who got licked at Logan Park.

 

Pocatello, Idaho train depot

(Click image to enlarge)

 

Artifact #77-B

Jeff Smith collection

(Click image to enlarge)
 

In 1889 Soapy was entrenched in the underworld and back-room politics of Denver, Colorado. There was no getting rid of him. However, occasionally he had skip town for a short time in order to let legal troubles subside. So what caused the gunfight? There's quite a back-story. 

     In July 1889 an outdoor picnic excursion that was attended by Soapy and the Soap Gang, there to swindle guests, turned into a brawl. The Rocky Mountain News reported on the affair and decided to continue reporting on Soapy and the Soap Gang. Managing editor of the newspaper, John Arkins, made the mistake of mentioning Soapy's wife and children and how it's not so good to be a Smith. Soapy went ballistic, ending with the physical assault on Arkins. Previously, the RMN had declared war on all bunko men working within Denver city limits, but now it centered on Soapy himself, and it was decidedly time for Soapy to "skip town" for a spell, until the attacks subsided. 

     "Moving on" was a normal hazard in Soapy's line of work, so he was always prepared to move to another town and start over. On August 4, 1889, Spokane Falls lost thirty-two blocks of the main business district in a horrific fire. Conceivably, in this prime location Jeff saw special opportunity in the aftermath of the fire. Further, there were all the towns between Cheyenne and Spokane to look over and operate in until it was safe to return to Denver, so Soapy grabbed a few of his gang and set off for the north. 
      On Friday, August 30, 1889, Soapy’s train made a scheduled stop at the Pocatello depot. During the wait, a man in railroad switchman clothes came up to the window of the railroad car where Soapy sat and fired at him five times, point blank. All but one bullet missed injuring him. It came so close that it mutilated half Soapy’s mustache as it whizzed by. Soapy drew his pistol and returned three shots, all striking their targets, two in one fleeing assailant and one in another. Next, railroad personnel “tried to mob” him, as Soapy put it, but “we stood them off,” and Soapy and his party, with the aid of “a few good citizens,” fled Pocatello on a hasty, twenty-five-mile horseback ride north to Blackfoot, Idaho. The newspaper there gave the shootout only two sentences:

―――

"Pocatello had a shooting scrape last week. Nobody killed however."

―――

It appears that the group rode as far as Blackfoot, before splitting up. Some of them, including younger brother, Bascomb, kept riding north to Dillion, Montana, while Soapy and some of his men returned to Pocatello to defend his "good name," declaring that the shooting was in self-defense, which worked. It was one less "bridge burnt." Once exonerated on September 1, Soapy and the others left. The Idaho News noted the departure: “The smell of gunpowder has been wafted away and the fightists are all gone.” It appears that Soapy and the group went back to Dillion, Montana and picked-up Bascomb and those with him, and traveled north to Butte, Montana where three days after the affray, on September 2, using stationary imprinted with the design and address of the St. Nicholas Hotel in Butte, Montana, Soapy made time to record in a four-page letter to Mary, the details of the event and assurances of his well being. It is very likely that Soapy stayed the night at the St. Nicholas Hotel, I could find little on the Hotel. It advertised a dining room that could seat 100. It was on East Broadway, straight across from the site of the 1890 City Hall, and bragged that it was the largest hotel in Butte. It was gone, possibly destroyed by fire, by 1891.

 

Butte, Montana
1887

(Click image to enlarge)

 

 

Artifact #77-C

Jeff Smith collection

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The Denver News printed the following on the evening of August 30:

Arrested in Idaho.

――

The following dispatch was received at police headquarters last evening:

POCATELLO, Idaho., Aug. 30.—Police Headquarters, Denver, Colo.: Is Soapy Smith and gang wanted there? All arrested here. SIMPSON.

      According to Soapy, though, in his letter to Mary, he and the men with him returned to Pocatello the next day, August 31, 1889. The police put them in jail while figuring out just what had happened and while waiting for a reply to a wire to Denver about whether Soapy was wanted there. Denver declined the offer to have Soapy returned.

Drawing by Jeff Smith
circa 1985

(Click image to enlarge)

Details of the shootout reached The Denver Times the day after the event, and the story appeared the next day. It was based on a dispatch from Pocatello.

JEFF SMITH SHOOTS A MAN

――

The Result of a Feud Between Rival Gangs
――

“SOAPY” PROVES TO BE GAME
From All Accounts the Shooting Was Justifiable Pocatello Toughs Attempt to Drive Denver Experts Out of Idaho.
――

      Jeff Smith, accompanied by “shoot-your-eye-out Jack,” Fatty Gray and others, left Denver last Monday night [August 26], ostensibly for the mountains. It appears now, however, that they did not intend going on a pleasure trip, as they stated, but that they were going to Ogden and other cities to “work.” It will be seen by the following dispatch that the party has not had smooth sailing since leaving Denver:
      Special to The Times. POCATELLO, IDAHO, August 31. On the arrival of yesterday’s train from Ogden a shooting affray occurred, in which Samuel Belcher of Ogden was shot through the left leg and right ankle. Jeff Smith of Denver has been arrested as the party who did the shooting. From all facts that can be learned it seems that Smith was justified. A notorious gang at Pocatello, who have been “working” Ogden and other cities, attempted to kill Smith and his companions, but Smith was game and refused to quit the territory which the other gang claimed….
     Three guns were drawn on Smith, but he, instead of running, pulled his own gun, shot Belcher and put the others to flight. He was immediately afterwards arrested and will be given a hearing to-day. Another statement as to the effect that the affair grew out of an old feud in which the gang headed by Smith was opposed to a gang being led by “the Rincon Kid.”
     It has been well known among “fly” people that an attempt to kill Smith would be made as soon as he left Denver. The “Kid” and his gang are especially bitter against the smooth soap man and in frequent letters to people in Denver the “Kid” has expressed himself as determined to “do” any member of the Smith gang that he might meet.
     A number of dispatches were received to-day by friends of Smith’s in which “Soapy” declares that he was justified in shooting Belcher. However, one dispatch from another source states that Belcher was an innocent man whom “Soapy” did not know and did not intend to shoot.
     The following dispatch was received this afternoon by a citizen:
    "I was honorably acquitted. Show this to my wife. Will write particulars. Jeff Smith.”

 

Artifact #77-D

Jeff Smith collection

(Click image to enlarge)

 

     Major discrepancies occur between Soapy’s version and the Denver dispatch. Soapy wrote that two men attacked him while the dispatch reported three guns (three men?) drawn against him. Soapy claimed Belcher was a beaten man at the Logan Park brawl, yet the dispatch wrote that Belcher was a member of a rival bunco gang attempting to rid his turf of encroachers. (Both reports could be true. Keep in mind that few of these men were obliged to tell the truth to the police and newspaper reporters) The dispatch reported that Soapy had been arrested immediately following the gunfight while Soapy wrote that he and his men escaped and returned the following day to sort out what had happened with authorities. The money he spent in Pocatello likely went to attorney and enhanced fees to ensure his freedom. The local paper did not publish statements from Soapy about the attack because probably Soapy was gone, immediately having resumed his journey.

Pocatello Depot
(red "X" marks the location)

 (Click image to enlarge)

 

     The man Belcher is not listed in the 1889 Denver City Directory, but perhaps he and some of the others “who got licked” at Logan Park had been part of a Utah bunco gang that had come over to “work” the well-publicized event. Word was out that Soapy and some of his men were leaving Denver, on holiday. Belcher and the man or men with him could have been waiting for Soapy to come through Pocatello. On the other hand, they might have been from the environs of Denver and as disgruntled victims of Logan Park, were riding the same train, shadowing Soapy, gotten off in Pocatello, changed into railroad work clothes, and closed in on Soapy from outside to gun him down. Still another scenario is that Soapy and the men with him were “working” Utah towns and were being tracked by a rival local gang. If Soapy were going directly to Spokane from Denver, it would not have taken from Monday, August 26 (per the Times story), to Friday, August 30, to reach Pocatello. Moreover, the Denver Times reported Soapy had been on a train arriving in Pocatello from Ogden, which is south of the route from Denver to Spokane. However the true circumstances, clear is that a person or persons wanted Soapy dead.

      Soapy also wrote that he could be reached in Spokane. He did not, however, travel northwest from Butte to Spokane, at least not by rail. The Great Northern would not have a railway through the Cascades until 1892. Traveling the steep Cascades in 1889 would have been arduous. Clear, though, is that Soapy intended on going to Spokane. In his letter to Mary, he asked her to address her letters “plain Jeff R. Smith, Spokan Falls, Washington Terr.” This means of address was not uncommon, at least for Soapy. A number of letters in the Smith family collections are addressed in a similar manner. It was not wise to advertise a specific place of residence, even on an envelope in the US mails. That would be to invite another Pocatello-like threat to Soapy's life! Soapy suspected someone in Denver, perhaps even a friend, had given out his itinerary and destination. Near the close of his September 2 letter to Mary appears this cryptic sentence “Write me who were my friends.” It seems likely that in an off-hand way, Jeff is asking who might have been told of his whereabouts and/or route, who might have been inquiring after him, or who might have been inquiring about what had happened in Pocatello. After all, for the attack to be so direct, it must have been known that he was a passenger on that train.
      Mary left the children with her mother and hurried to be with her husband, probably at Spokane Falls. While with him, she tried to fix his perforated mustache but without success. Soapy may have resorted to shaving his face smooth and regrowing the beard and mustache that are known in all post 1889 photographs.

Pocatello, Idaho

August 1, 2011

 

Pocatello, Idaho: pages 75, 88-89, 92, 166-70, 172, 366.

"The racetrack is a place where windows clean people."

—V. P. Pappy

Soapy Smith meets Capt. of Detectives John Fitzgerald, Tacoma, Washington.

Video game police officer

(Click image to enlarge)

he Captain advised Soapy that it would be in the best interest of his health if he were to vacate Tacoma no sooner than yesterday.

D. H. M. Meyers writes

     My Great-Grandfather, John Fitzgerald, was Captain of Detectives in Tacoma, WA. during the 1890's and early1900's. According to my grandmother, Catherine McGeough (nee Fitzgerald), who was a girl at the time, Soapy Smith made a stop in Tacoma while on his was to Skagway [Alaska]. At some point during his visit there he was confronted by Capt. Fitzgerald, who was known to one and all in Tacoma simply as "The Captain." The Captain advised Soapy that it would be in the best interest of his health if he were to vacate Tacoma no sooner than yesterday. Soapy, apparently being no one's fool, took The Captain's advice to heart and immediately left Tacoma for better climes (probably to Seattle where the steamships left for Alaska). In a nutshell, my great grandfather, according to my grandmother, ran Soapy Smith out of town. As stated, this is all anecdotal - stories my grandmother told me many, many years ago in the 1950's when I was just a dumb kid and didn't have sense enough to press for details. I wish I had! I had no idea, at the time, that Soapy Smith was, or would become, a historically significant character. I do recall that grandma McGeough did make mention of the "soap bar scam" and have always assumed that this was the reason for his confrontation with "The Captain." Who knows? Grandma also acknowledged the fact that Soapy had a "gang," but not while he was in Tacoma. As an aside; I have a solid gold, six point badge that was, according to the engraving on the backside, presented to "The Captain" by his fellow detectives on December 25th, 1901.

Mr. Meyers wrote to me,

     Jeff, I would assume, by your name and photo, that you are "related." I have no way of verifying any of the stories that my Grandmother told me. Unfortunately I was quite young when they were told to me and didn't have the sense, or curiosity, to press for details. Damn my youth! I have, however, done a bit of research into the history of my Great-Grandfather, Capt. John Fitzgerald. Apparently he was one tough little Irishman who didn't back down from anyone. He was quite well respected in Tacoma because he was, in his day, "relatively honest." My only other "Soapy" story comes again, from my Grandmother. She told me that sometime in the very early 1900's a man came to call, socially, on "The Captain." Grandma was somewhat taken aback by the man's appearance because, according to her, he looked like some one had "hit him in the face with an axe." After his departure she asked her father who the man was and he told her that he was once part of "Soapy Smith's gang." Wish that there was more that I could tell you but that is pretty much the extent of Grandmother's "Soapy Smith" tales.

Was it THE Soapy Smith that Captain John Fitzgerald warned to leave Tacoma?

     History records that Soapy operated in Spokane and Seattle, Washington, but it is not known if he went to Tacoma. As Tacoma was an important port, and just 34 miles from Seattle, it seems likely that he did, but perhaps never got caught or arrested. However, another "Soapy" Smith did get arrested in Tacoma.

     A Skagway, Alaska member of the Soap Gang, named Harry Green was aboard a steamer heading for Seattle with a number of fellow confidence crooks. They found out that a newspapers reporter was onboard too, so they concocted a joke on the newsman. Each member of the gang pretended to be someone else, and Harry Green made the mistake of choosing to be "Soapy Smith." When the real Soapy discovered the deception he did not find it very humorous. Soapy wrote and sent a threatening letter to the Green, of which Green replied on April 12, 1898, the day he checked into the Hotel Northern, signing the register “Jeff Smith."

Mr. Smith:
     Your letter of the 28th just received by chance. I happened to drop in to Seattle today.
     When I left Skaguay on the 21st Mar, I left on the boat Ning-Chaw, and there was no one on that boat but a lot of your friends, such fellows as Luther Woods, Johnnie Miller, Bill Toregdy, and Big Down, a lot of Arizona and Texas friends of yours and mine. This talk that was made to the reporter was made all through a josh, they named on the boat to the reporter. Luther Woods’ name was supposed to be Jerry Daily, my name was supposed to be Jeff Smith’s brother. Big Down [was] supposed to be Harry Green, Roberts’ partner. They asked for Harry Green on the boat running from Victoria to Seattle. They referred the reporter to Big Down that was supposed to be Harry Green, the man that come back from fish creek, with a lot of gold nuggets, a wealthy man. Now you can see the crowd on that boat was doing it more for a josh on the reporter than anything else. You have never known me to be a knocker on no body living. I don’t like to have the name of being a knocker. I am not making any apology to anybody if I would of done it. You know I don’t like a reporter or policeman any how. The reporter in Victoria had it that Soapy Smith’s gang got run out of Skaguay and we were supposed to be the gang…. In regards to making it pretty warm for me when I return [to Skaguay], I never intended to go back when I left…, and if I ever happen to get back, I’ll not hide from nobody. I have not done it yet, and I never will. There is as good a blood in me as there is in anybody there. You will find me at Seattle or Spokane any time. I am sorry I have to write this kind of a letter because I have a lot of friends amongst you fellows, such as Agerman Daily and all others that I know. I don’t want them to think for one moment that I was to fault for any josh like that. No more news.

Remain yours, Harry Green.

Harry Green used Jeff’s name again in Tacoma, on May 1, 1898, when the newspaper there mistakenly reported “Soapy” Smith arrested there.

TACOMA, May 2.— Eight tough gamblers from Seattle came over to the campground of the First regiment of Washington volunteers yesterday, and attempted to open up a nutshell and other flimflam games. The commanding officer was advised of their presence, and at once sent a detail to drive them off the premises. Two of the gamblers drew revolvers, but they were overpowered before they had time to use them and placed in the guard house … until civil officers could be summoned.

     The prisoners were taken to the county jail, where four of them gave bail in the sum of $500. The other four are still in jail. It is understood that “Soapy” Smith, of Skagway, was at the head of the gang.

The real Soapy in Skagway was furious. Not known is if he ever made it “warm” for Green for stealing his name and damaging it. With opportunity, doubtless he would have.
     So, did Captain John Fitzgerald warn Soapy Smith out of Tacoma, or did he warn Harry Green, believing it was Soapy Smith? Perhaps both, but with a span of time in between? 

Harry Green: pages 497-98.

"I do not know just how many men “Soapy” had killed, but I understood there were a good many notches on the butt of his revolver."

—Saunders Norvell, Forty Years of Hardware, 1924

JUNE 21

1788: The Constitution goes into effect when New Hampshire becomes the ninth state to ratify it.

1834: Cyrus McCormick patents a practical mechanical reaper for farming, which allows farmers to double their crop size.

1859: Andrew Lanergan receives the first rocket patent.

1867: Two soldiers are killed in a fight with Indians near Fort Wallace, Kansas.

1876: Aboard the steamship Far West Lieutenant Colonel George Custer meets with General Alfred Terry to discuss strategy against the Indians in Montana Territory.

1878: Charles Earl “Black Bart” Bowles robs the LaPorte-Oroville stage three miles from Forbestown, California. At the conclusion of the robbery he leaves behind an unusual calling card: a poem.

1887: Leavenworth, Kansas burns, causing $200,000 worth of damage.

Felix B. Mulgrew: newspaper man, entrepreneur, Klondiker, friend of Soapy Smith

Felix B. Mulgrew
7/30/1854 - 5/30/1915
Karen Hendricks collection

(Click image to enlarge)

ELIX B. MULGREW
friend or victim of Soapy Smith's?

Karen Hendricks is the great-great-granddaughter of Felix B. Mulgrew. Mulgrew was a newspaper man, entrepreneur, Klondiker, and had some running correspondence with his friend, Jefferson Randolph "Soapy" Smith. Through Karen we learn a little more about one of Soapy's many associates, or was he a victim? On February 16, 2008 Karen wrote.

Hi,

     I wrote a few days ago regarding my gg-grandfather Felix B. Mulgrew and his correspondence with Soapy Smith. I would still like to know where this correspondence could be found or microfilmed or photocopies or anything! I am more than willing to pay for them!
     I also misquoted my information on his champagne sale. That should have been to Swiftwater (not Wild) Bill Gates!

     Thanks

Karen Hendricks

I responded immediately,

Hi Karen,
     Here is what we have right now. We know that the two men knew one another, but the only existing correspondence is between May and November 1897. Soapy had just returned to St Louis to be with his family when on May 13, 1897 he wrote a letter to Felix B. Mulgrew in San Francisco. There is no record of that first letter Soapy had sent.

     It is believed that Soapy had contacted Mulgrew for some financial assistance in his quest to build an empire in Alaska during the start of the Klondike gold rush which he knew was coming. Two months after writing Mulgrew, the steamer Excelsior arrived in San Francisco and the steamer Portland arrived in Seattle, each with over a ton of Klondike gold on-board. Soapy was financing an empire building trip to Alaska, which was not going to be cheap. In order to set up his operations correctly and as fast as possible, Soapy was looking to borrow money, taking on partners in his venture. I believe Soapy sent word out to potential financiers regarding his intentions of profiting from the stampede. Mulgrew had some money and was more than willing to financially back Soapy's plans. From San Francisco, Mulgrew took a trip up to Spokane, Washington and loaned Soapy $3,500. But within a couple of months Mulgrew got into an economic bind and needed his loan paid back.

Mulgrew writes,

82 Haight St.

May 27, 1897

Friend Jeff:
     Your letter dated 13th inst., reached S. F., where myself and wife were temporarily out of town, so I did not get it until yesterday. I fear this may not reach you in St. Louis but trust it will be forwarded O.K. We were both glad to hear from you, but sorry you were sick. Possibly too much Tennessee, Virginia Scedlers and other Spokane beverages was the cause of your undoing. Hope you are well again and have regained your cherry laugh.

     I hope for our mutual sake you will strike oil soon. I am getting close to cases. I’ve dealt out $6000 since I met you. If I was able I would lease a building on Third st., just off Market, for a term of years for a saloon. Capt. White had his faro game on the 3rd floor for years. It is a small 3-story building, adjoining the old Nucleus Bldg., now being demolished for the new Examiner office. It will thus adjoin the Examiner building, and across Third St. will be the Call building, while across Market will be the Chronicle building. An all right place, with hot lunch from 2 to 4 a.m., will catch the printers (if the right people have the place), and there are two floors above for club rooms and games. It is a great opportunity and I only wish you and I could grab it.

     I can get police indulgence if anybody can; but it is not necessary for me to tell you that, as you know it already.

     This is one of the best opportunities I have had for some time and if we can pull it through we would find the money coming pretty easy.

     Best regards for you and hopes for your prosperity, I remain

     Yours truly,

F. B. Mulgrew

Little is known of their association, but the fact that Mulgrew started off his letter with "Friend Jeff" indicates they knew one another pretty well, as close associate confidence men and members of the Soap Gang addressed Soapy as "Friend." Soapy was just starting to set up his empire at Skagway, Alaska and visited Seattle to spend the winter of 1897. One newspaper account reported that Jeff had returned from Skagway with around $15,000. Mulgrew sent his last known letter to Soapy after hearing of his return.

San Francisco,

Nov. 29, 1897

Jeff R. Smith, Esq.:

     Dear Sir – “A friend in need is a friend indeed.” I’m busted- up a stump, and about as desperate as you were when we first met. That Spokane trip cost me about $4,000, in all, including $3,500 I advanced you. When I got back and paid some debts, helped along some poor people, I soon found myself down to cases, or within a few hundred of being so. It was a case of “dig up,” again, so I started for the Klondike. A party here agreed to pay my wife and children $50 a month for a year, in consideration of a half-interest in what I located. Well, I didn’t get there. Our river boat broke down and we were frozen in at the mouth of the Yukon. I had to borrow money to get back to Frisco.

     I don’t know which way to turn. As I had about $7,000 only a few months ago, those who knew me naturally think I ought to have money now. I don’t know anybody I can borrow of, and I must raise at least $200, but actually need $300. Hell is to pay all around. If I had $200 to $300 I would get on my feet and pull out. I have a chance to book 100 people for Dawson at $300 each, including 1,000 lbs. of provisions, besides transportation. That would give me $30,000. I can get a 150 ton boat, to carry 100 passengers, delivered at St. Michael, for $20,000. Such a boat would give 100 tons freight capacity, aside from the 50 tons allotment to passengers, and at 5 cents per lbs. I can take in $10,000 from freight. Thus I would take in about $40,000, while $30,000 would pay for the boat, grub, etc. That would clear the boat and give about $10,000 in cash, and to that could be added what the boat would earn next year on the river. I would let her freeze up somewhere near Dawson and use her for a hotel for 8 or 9 months. I have two or three capitalists on the string for this plan, but that is for the future. I’m dead broke now, and I want you to be my friend if it breaks a leg – or breaks somebody else.

     My wife often speaks of “Dr.” Smith and always says: “Jeff will pay you when he prospers.” I feel sure you will too, but a little now is an absolute need.

     In Seattle recently I heard you had been in town and was flush. I met Mr. Thompson, who told me you had gone to Nashvill (sic). I wired you there, to the track. I am sending this letter to Mr. Thompson to forward, as he probably knows your address. For the gods’ sake do not disappoint me. My wife sends best wishes for your happiness.

     Yours truly,

H. B. [F. B.] Mulgrew

Soapy's response to Mulgrew's plea for help is unknown, as there are no further (known) letters between the two men. As Soapy was well-known for paying off his debts, it is hoped that he paid this one.
     In Mulgrew's last letter there are detailed plans to head to the Klondike. It has to be wondered if he stopped in Skagway to see Soapy? His name does not appear on the list of names from the Skagway Historical Society, but the list is lacking.
     The above letters by Mulgrew were found in Soapy's personal effects after his death in 1898. They were published, along with a number of other letters in an article entitled, "Correspondence of a Crook," January 1907 and February 1908. It was later republished in Alaska-Yukon Magazine, October 1908. p. 385-386. The spelling of Mulgrew was published in the magazine as "H. B. Mulgrew" but Karen Hendricks showed me Mulgrew’s signature and it is clear that the “F” could easily be mistaken for an “H.”
     Famed Canadian historian, Pierre Berton mentions the letters in his book, Klondike Fever, listing Mulgrew as a "political fixer" because of the comment, "I can get police indulgence if anybody can." Mulgrew does write to Soapy about saloons and gambling operations so it does appear that there was more to her great-great-grandfather than Karen Hendricks realized, as seen in her description of Mulgrew.

     My gg-grandfather was born in San Francisco in 1854. About 1856 the family moved to Healdsburg, but did live for a time in San Francisco after that. In 1876 he and his brother John F. Mulgrew started the "Healdsburg Enterprise." They sold the newspaper a few years later and Felix went on to dabble in real estate, being a newspaper reporter and served a term as a representative for Sonoma county. He and his brother John didn't seem to be able to settle down in one town or job, they were always on the go! We know that Felix was involved in the Klondike gold rush as his name appears on the Klondike rolls and on the 1900 census, his name appears on board ship in Alaska. After 1900 though, it is hard to track him. We know he was involved in the Alaska Transportation Company from the article about his dealings with Swiftwater Bill Gates. In 1906 he was touring the gold mines of Nevada and was involved in the sale of the Esmeralda mine. He died in 1915 at one of his daughter's home.

     He had two daughters, Flora and Louise and one son, Martin. Flora is my great-grandmother. The wife referred to in one letter, would be his second wife, Blanche.

     I have attached a few files. One is of a letter written to one of Flora's sons. As you can see from the signature, it is very easy to mistake his "F" as an "H." So I whole-heartedly believe the H. B. Mulgrew is really F. B. Mulgrew. There is no one in California with the surname Mulgrew at that time that has a first name that begins with the letter "H."

     I look forward to your replies and will look over the Friends of Soapy Smith info. I have been to Skagway a couple of times and have friends who live in Alaska so have always felt a connection to that area.

Karen Hendricks

Grave marker
Felix B. Mulgrew
Find-A-Grave

(Click image to enlarge)

Karen sent me a photograph of Mulgrew (at top), and also included another photograph (at below) found among the belongings of Felix Mulgrew, by his daughter Louise. For some unknown reason and proveance, it is believed to be a member of the Smith family from Sheridan, Missouri. Soapy's wife lived in St. Louis, Missouri, so it is, at the very least, possible to be a family member.  

Attention Smith family members!

Do you recognize this Smith?
Please notify us here if you have any information

Unknown Smith?
Sheridan, Missouri
Karen Hendricks collection

(Click image to enlarge)

SOURCES:

(1) Karen Hendricks, great-great grand-daughter of Felix B. Mulgrew.

(2) Find-A-Grave: Felix B. Mulgrew

Felix B. Mulgrew: pages 432-433.

"I consider bunco steering more honorable than the life led by the average politician"

— The Road (Denver newspaper), February 29,1896

MARCH 30

1822: Florida becomes a U.S. territory.

1842: Dr. Crawford W. Long performs the first operation using ether for surgical anesthesia.

1848: Niagara Falls stops flowing for one day due to an ice jam.

1854: Sixty Dragoon soldiers are tricked into an ambush by several hundred Jicarilla and Ute Indians in a canyon near Taos, New Mexico. Called the Battle of Cieneguilla, 22 soldiers are killed, and more wounded, before they were able to retreat.

1855: Thousands of "Border Ruffians" from western Missouri invade the territory of Kansas to force the election of a pro-slavery legislature.

1858: Hyman L. Lipman of Philadelphia patents the pencil.

1860: John Rooker shoots and kills Jack O’Neil in ambush while hiding inside the Western Saloon in Denver, Colorado. O’Neil escaped justice on a fast horse.

1867: U.S. Secretary of State William Seward reaches an agreement with Russia to purchase the district of Alaska for $7.2 million (two cents an acre), a deal ridiculed at the time as “Seward's Folly,” and “Seward’s icebox.” It would be the final resting place for outlaw "Soapy" Smith.

1870: Texas is the last Confederate state readmitted to the Union. Six years later it will be the new home state for the parents of Soapy Smith.

1870: The 15th Amendment to the Constitution, guaranteeing the right to vote regardless of race, is passed by Congress.

1889: Robert Leroy “Butch Cassidy” Parker, Tom and Bill McCarty, and Matt Warner rob the First National Bank of Denver, Colorado of $20,000. According to one account, Tom McCarty approached the bank president and stated, "Excuse me, sir, but I just overheard a plot to rob this bank." Obviously upset, the bank president asked, "How did you learn of this plot?" To which McCarty replied, "I planned it." Pulling out his revolver he exclaimed, "Put up your hands!" Four men, Cassidy, Tom and Bill McCarty, and Matt Warner rode out of Denver with $5,000 each from the robbery. Soapy Smith has an account there.

1890: Fire destroys a major portion of the business district in Flagstaff, Arizona Territory.

1903: U.S. troops are sent to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic to protect American interests during a revolution.

1905: President Theodore Roosevelt is chosen to mediate in the Russo-Japanese peace talks.

1909: The Queensboro Bridge in New York opens, linking Manhattan and Queens. It is the first double decker bridge.

1909: Seminole Indians in Oklahoma revolt against meager pay for government jobs.

1909: The Army abandons Fort Washakie in Wyoming. The fort was built in 1871 and originally named Camp Brown, but its name was changed in 1878 to Fort Washakie to honor Shoshone Indian Chief Washakie, who had made peace with the white people. The Shoshone were given tracts of land in the Wind River Reservation. The fort was established not for protection against Indians but for the protection of the Shoshone Indians from the Sioux, Cheyenne, Crow, and Arapahoe Indians. The fort was a military outpost for almost 40 years and never saw any battles. The fort and many of the original buildings are still in use today by the Shoshone tribal government.