Soapy Smith's grandmother: Ellen Stimpson Peniston

(Click image to enlarge)

Jan 10, 2024

Ellen Stimpson Peniston was born in 1802. During her life she was known as the "Belle of Virginia" and "the Flower of Georgia." Unfortunately for her grandchild, Jefferson R. Smith II (alias "Soapy") she passed away in 1860 before his birth. Had she lived longer perhaps she might have been able to lead young Jefferson along a different path in life.

Ellen married Dr. Ira Ellis Smith on December 6, 1821 in Petersburg, Virginia. She gave Ira a total of 11 children.

Around 1821, Ira and Ellen moved their home to Wilkes County, Georgia, later known as Oglethorpe County, where they lived for about seven years.

On March 25, 1828, the state of Georgia held a land grant lottery for the sale of land ceded to the state in a treaty with the Creek Indians. Ira won the right to purchase land in the Sixth district of Coweta County, named for the large Coweta Indian population in the region. The land purchased was seven miles beyond the settlement of Newnan and the Smith’s were one of the first families to reside there.

Thankfully, family members saved some of the early letters written by Ellen. Following are two examples written in 1820 from Virginia.

Family member, Ellen Rafeedie, sent me the following copies in which Ellen S. Peniston is corresponding with her brother, Anthony Peniston, a physician in New Orleans, Louisiana. He co-founded the School of Medicine in New Orleans, which later became the Tulane University. His portrait hangs in Founders Hall. and Peniston Street in New Orleans was named in his honor. Online, I found a medical journal (in french)  from 1854 located at the Louisiana State University (1 Vol. Location: M:20  -  For further information see online catalog. Mss. 339).
 

Petersburg,
February 3d, 1820

Dear brother

Feeling sensibly your neglect I had almost determined on the same course of conduct but my friendship conquered that inclination, and I cannot resist the pleasure of writing though I am apprehensive that either the letter or the writer (or perhaps both) will be deemed by you unworthy of your notice. Although this conclusion is deeply mortifying, and the general tenour of your past conduct should forbid such a suspicion, the sincerity and ardour of my love, produce fears as to the perpetuity of your affection and lead me to draw from your silence the most painful inference. My mind is busied and agitated with a thousand conjectures as to the cause of offence which I may possibly have given you, but the most scrupulous and impartial retrospection of my past conduct, does not furnish me with a single instance in which I can accuse myself of having deviated from the strictest rules of a sisters duty. I entreat you not to leave me in that painful suspense attendant on your silence, but either inform me by letter in what manner I have offended you, or convey to me the assurance that my fears are groundless and that I still share some portion of your fondness.

Nothing of moment has occured since you left us. I have boarded Mary C with a lady who is capable of attending to the morals as well as deportment, Mrs Gary of Prince George. She goes to school to Mr. Branch who is sufficiently learned, as yet, she being backward in her education.

I have had the pleasure of hearing from you indirectly. The place of your residence is well known, and I am sorry you did not explain yourself explicitly, ere you left us, as you have been very much censured in this abode of friends, for the mystery which accompanied you altho' I am not acquainted with your affairs I am perfectly assured you always act from motives perfectly consistent with propriety.

Samuel has left his school and friters away his time in the street not regarding any advice which is given him by me. The other children are well. Mr. Burke will hand you this he has met with a powerful friend in Boiling Robinson, who will no doubt, advance him considerably in his literary carreer. To hear of your prosperity and celebrity in your profession is the first wish of my heart and tho' tossed about by the rude billows of adversity, I still have a sheltering port in your affection, for I cannot bids you the injustice to believe you are selfish enough to forget those whom nature and religion bids us love and cherish - it was reported you died in New York in an Oyster house. Oh! the Poisonous breath of calumny vice vegetates more luxuriantly here than in any other place I have ever known, and a knowledge of the malignity of some of our dear Petersburg friends accounts for these reports. You will perceive that in one paragraph of my letter I have taken the sisterly liberty of admonishing, and is not dread greater in use than an astronomer would receive for remarking a small spot on the brilliant orb of the sun.

Mrs A compliments and best wishes believe me to be ever yours

devotedly,
Ellen S. Peniston

In the next letter Ellen has married Dr. Ira.

Mount Laurel
Dec. 24, 1821

Dear brother

Months have roll'd [sic] by, hours of anxiety have suceeded [sic] each other, with out a single line to relieve my solicitude. I wrote in answer to the letter enclosed to Mr. Sproner, but imagine you never received it, any other conclusion would be too mortifying and so then is the mood soothing to affection, I adopt it with the friends he has of the truth. How many prayers do I offer up to that throne of devine [sic] mercy, for your safety and protection. Through the toil some and diversified scenes of precarious existance [sic], no selfish [illegible] can erase my anxiety, or cause me to forget the brother, my early love, the friend who supported me through the thorny path of adversity, and lighten'd [sic] the bursting heart of sorrows devoted child. Can I forget your assiduousness to tranquilize my feelings under every affliction? or cease to be grateful for the many tender proofs I have experienced, of your steady and underacting love. Rembrance [sic] cherishes them in my bosom and gratitude shall perpetuate them -

The important era in the eventful life of your sister has pass'd [sic]. I am married!!!! The marriage was solemnized at Mr. Akins before a large and brilliant assemblage of ladies and gentlemen, the 6th of this month. I am united to a man of worth, one who is universally belov'd [sic], and, whose merits an envious world is willing to acknowledge. Dr. Smith of Dinwiddie, he is a partner of Dr. Peter Haraway and as that is the case, we reside at his house in [illegible] before we commence house hunting. Mary Catherine is with us. All our brothers are well. Samuel causes me more sorrow than any thing in the world. He is in Petersburg, but has no home. He has been refused board every where he appli'd [sic] and he is too lazy to think of any alternative himself and too headstrong to listen to my advice. if you do not send for him disgrace and ruin will attend him, for you are the only person who can manage him at all. I deliver'd [sic] your letter safe to Mrs. M, who has never condescended to speak easily to me who she [illegible sentence]
business and she spends in fashion and folly, his hard earnings, as soon as she can grasp at them - her mother has lately died, but the dear propensity can not be still'd [sic], not even by the hand of Death! It is astonishing to me how a mother can be so blind to the interests of her children, or a wife so destitute of affection for her husband! You will gratify me more than I can express, by sending me your miniature by the first opportunity - tis not impracticable and the pleasure of gazing on your features, though still and inanimate, will convey to your sister's bosom the most delightful emotions - a willing gaze on it and fancy, I see in the delicate combinations of that face the irradiations of your brilliant understanding and almost think the lips parting to give me a smile of love. Write to me brother. I entrust you to torture me no longer, By your neglect or deepen the wound it has already occasion'd [sic]. How shall I find words to express how warmly and affectionately I am your

sister, and friend.
Ellen S. Smith

August 2, 2011
May 23, 2011
May 22, 2011
April 16, 2010 

Ellen Stimpson Peniston: pp 19-21.

AUGUST
1891: Soapy’s Denver auction house is gutted by fire.

Jeff Smith

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Mountie Bob Holden and the Klondike machine guns

Cst. Bob Holden and Simpson
on the day of Queen Elisabeth's Coronation
in front of the old married quarters residence, 1952.

Back on June 28 and June 30, 2011 I posted about the two North-West Mounted Police machine guns set up on the Canadian side of the borders at the summits of the Chilkoot and White Pass trails to keep Soapy Smith and his gang out of Canada. A little over a month later, on August 3, 2011, I received a  wonderful email from Mr. Bob Holden who had served in the NWMP in the early 1950s. Mr. Holden is most likely the last man to fire one of the machine guns. I'll let Mr. Holden tell the story.

Dear Jeff Smith.

I lucked out and found your article (Canada uses machine gun to keep Soapy Smith out)

I was stationed in the RCMP in Dawson Dawson City from 1951 to 1953. A very interesting time to be there. Many of the old timers who were and still were involved in the Stampede were still there. Also several of the Gold Rush Madams and their girls kept things going in the summer time (madams like Bombay Peggy, so named because her breasts were so large she used flower sacks opened up for a brazier. Also one of the real old timers, "Zoom" and a couple of French madams and their girls from France. All of which made life interesting.

Cst. Bob Holden at Moosehide Indian village
just north of Dawson on the Yukon River

The Norden machine gun you show being displayed in the RCMP museum was still in our storage building which was the old horse stables used by the NWMP. It was dissembled and neatly packed in various crates. I asked our Cst in charge, Ray Bradford if I could put it together and see if it still worked. After assembly, without too much difficulty I loaded it in the back of the 1947 Fargo pickup which was our only police vehicle at the time. As it was winter and bitterly cold, I filled the water chamber with boiling water, loaded up a belt with about 100 rounds of original .303 cal. bullets and drove out the the Klondike river and the gravel tail ponds left the Dredge #5 which was still working the Bonanza creek area. I was a little nervous about firing the gun while sitting on the seat, so I tied a long cord to the trigger, pulled back on the fireing lever, laid down on the ground and pulled the cord. It fired but only once as the old grease and cold weather slowed it down. After two or three tries it eventually began to repeat fire. At which time I sat down on the seat and blew away an old stump about 76 yards away. Cst Jim Simpson who was with me did not venture up off the ground until I used up all of the ammo.

Cst. Bob Holden enjoying a glass of rum
and listening to message from home on his Webcor wire recorder.
"Over proof rum was only sold in the Territories.."

We returned to the Detachment put the gun back in it's box where is stayed until some time after I left in 1953 and all the old artifacts including the machine gun were sent to Regina.

Trapper complaining to the Yukon Game Commissioner
about someone trespassing on his trapline.

To the best of my knowledge the gun had not been fired since it's return from the Chilkoot pass episode. I wish of course, I had taken pictures of that event. I do have some of myself and the other members of that period if you are interested, Let me know.

Sincerely,
Bob Holden

Dawson City looking south
Klondyke river entering Yukon River from the left above City.
Ice rotting as spring approaches.

My response...

Hello, Bob.

Thank you very much for that exciting story. I would love to see some of the old photos you have! With your permission, I would like to write up a post on my blog with your photos and the story you told of the gun.

Possibly the Casca wood burning paddle wheeler
pushing barge of supplies down river from Whitehorse to Dawson.

I found about the guns back in the 1980s when someone who lived in Regina saw one of my old ads I used to put into magazines looking for information on Soapy. In the mid 1990s a librarian in Canada was going through some old files on Sam Steel and came across his two notes to his superiors stating that the Skagway deputy marshal (J. M. Tanner) had told him that Frank Reid did not kill Soapy, but that Jesse Murphy did. This was a key piece of evidence I had been searching for in the gunfight controversy that ended my great-grandfather's life. Although he was a bad man, his history is so much fun to study and write about.

I look forward to hearing from you!
Jeff Smith

The Casca returning to Whitehorse
This is in front of the detachment
The current runs very fast making it hard and slow to make progress.
Wood for burning to make steam was cut along the entire Yukon shoreline
and stacked at intervals along the shore so the the boats
could load wood as needed.

Dear Jeff

I have had some difficulty getting some of the pics. Sorry for the quality but they do have a few years on them. Hope you find the interesting. As I said previously, I can't believe I did not take some of the machine gun.

Regards,
Bob Holden

Paddle wheeler tied up
and unloading at Dawson City

One of the main streets in Dawson
with the Moosehide landslide in the background

The photographs you see in this posts are the ones he sent me. I enlarged them and did a little clean up as I feel they are an important look into the history of the Klondike and those two machine guns. I'm sure I speak for many when I say thank you Bob for sharing these photographs and your wonderful story with us.

NWMP/RCMP graveyard
Member of the Force that
was killed during the
"Mad Trapper of Rat River"
incident is buried here

Ice breakup during spring
on the Yukon River

Robert Service's cabin
Dawson City

Gold dredge #5
working on Bananza Creek

Jeff Smith

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My favorite blog: Skagway Historical Society

(Click image to enlarge)

As much as I copy and paste from them, it's little wonder that my favorite blog is the Skagway Historical Society. I have learned so much new information, as well as confirmed much of my own research. Following are some of the interesting tidbits that have been essential in my own research on Soapy Smith.

In my book I published that the first issue of The Skaguay News on October 15, 1897 reported 11 saloons and that at the height of the gold rush the camp held 70 of Alaska's 142 saloons (p. 441). Back on July 6, 2011 The SHS blog listed 82 saloons in Skaguay during the gold rush. It is not known how many of these could have been opened later, or if I need to adjust my books figures. Here is the list.

5th Ave Hotel and Saloon
Alert Saloon
Al-ki Saloon
Annex Saloon
Arctic Hotel
Arctic Saloon
Astoria Hotel
Balmoral Saloon
Bay View Hotel
Beer by the Quart Saloon
Bloom & Korach
Board of Trade Saloon
Brady's Saloon
Broadway Saloon
California Pack Train Saloon
City Brewery
Clancy's Saloon
Club Saloon
Colosseum
Comet Saloon
Comique Variety Hall & Saloon
Commerce Saloon
Cosy Saloon
Cripple Creek Saloon & Peoples theatre
Dewey Saloon
Everyman's Saloon & Douglass Lodging House
First and Last Chance Saloon
Gem Saloon
Hannah Marr Bar
Hoff & Gem Saloon
Horseshoe Saloon
Hotel Chilkoot
Hotel Grand Bar
Idaho Saloon

Jeff's Place*

Jewell Saloon
Jimmy Ryan Nuggett Saloon
Klondike Saloon
La Fiesta Saloon
Little Star Saloon
Lobby Music Hall or Libby Saloon
Log Cabin Saloon
Louvre Saloon
Merchant Saloon
Midway Saloon
Miner's hotel
Mint Saloon
Mirror Saloon
Montana Saloon
Monte Carlo Hotel
New Brewery Saloon
Owl Saloon
Pack Train Saloon
Palace Hotel Bar Bennett
Palace of Delight
Pantheon
Hot Scotch Saloon
Payne & Peterson saloon
Picture Saloon
Pioneer Saloon
Princess Saloon
Pullen House Hotel
Rainier Saloon
Red Onion Saloon
Seattle Bar
Seattle Saloon or the Gentleman's Saloon
Skagit Saloon
Smug Saloon
Summit Roadhouse
Surprise Saloon
The Bank
The Kentucky House Saloon
The Monogram Saloon
The Monte Carlo Bar
The Office Saloon
The Palace Royal
The Peerless Saloon
Theatre Royale
Victoria House Lodging & Saloon
White Navy Saloon
Wonder Saloon

*Note that Jeff Smith's Parlor is called Jeff's Place.

 

Those who have read my book know about the controversial murder and robbery of the Skagway soiled dove, Ella Wilson and how Denver madam, Mattie Silks, blamed Soapy and U. S. Deputy Marshal Sylvester Taylor for the horrendous deed. My book goes into great detail about everything known about Wilson's death and Silk's later accusations. The facts don't add up that Soapy would murder. To protect criminals who murdered, yes, but to instruct and play out a murder has to be wondered. Marlene McClusky of the SHS blog wrote the following on August 2, 2011. 

The New York Times of March 22, 1898 reported that a black prostitute had shot and killed a laboring man at the entrance to her cabin in the saloon district in Skagway. According to the captains of the Alki and the Hueneme the murder started as a result of trouble which began early on Monday evening over the disappearance of the man's watch.

Apparently nothing was done to investigate this, but on May 28, 1898 - only two months later, Ella D. Wilson, a black prostitute or laundress, was strangled in her bed and her belongings stolen. Her house was on Holly Street, the same neighborhood. Perhaps the murder of Ella Wilson was simply retribution or frontier justice for the earlier murder. Although it was widely rumored that she had $3000, it is highly unlikely that a poor black prostitute could have amassed that much money. Even the high priced call girls made little money. Anyway I will check the local newspapers and see if there is a connection....

Camp of the duped
George B. Winter Jr and Dr. Josiah Jones(Click image to enlarge)

The last entry actually has nothing to do with Soapy, except to show that he was not the only one taking advantage of people's pocket book. Marlene posted the following on August 4, 2011.

Ok, two more good citizens duped into investing hundreds of dollars in the "Evanston Klondike Gold Mining Company". The so called promoter convinced both George B. Winter Jr., a successful grocer and Dr. Josiah Jones, a physician and surgeon, both of Evanston Illinois to give him the money up front to purchase supplies and set up camp for them. He was also supposed to help them stake gold claims. When they arrived in Alaska, the promoter and their money was no where to be found. Shocking!

Seen above is their camp at Sheep Camp.

Thank you Marlene!

Ella Wilson: pp. 507-512.

Mattie Silks: pp. 258-59, 355, 505, 507-13.

Jeff Smith

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Did Soapy Smith murder gambler Cliff Sparks?

Perhaps one of the most controversial actions by Soapy Smith was the shooting of gambler Cliff Sparks in 1892. This is one of the few unsolved cases of murder in Denver history and it is believed that Soapy held so much power in the underworld that he and those involved with the shooting went unpunished. There is a lot of information on this gunfight, here is a little bit just to wet the appetite. The following content comes direct from my book, Alias Soapy Smith: The Life and Death of a Scoundrel. 

It was the evening of October 11, 1892, when Jeff used his gun and a gambler named Cliff Sparks died on a barroom floor.

Cliff Sparks, a gambler, was killed in Murphy’s Exchange at 11:50 last night. He was shot through the body by either Jim Jordan, another gambler, or by Jeff Smith, known more familiarly as “Soapy.”

The tragedy was the culmination of a row between Jordan and Tom Cady. Cady is a shell game fakir, working for Smith. Sparks fell and died in a few minutes. The abdominal aorta was severed by the bullet which passed through him. Smith and Cady escaped from the rear of the building. Jordan was arrested by Officer Hunt, who met him as he was going out of the side front entrance of the saloon. Jordan had a hot revolver of heavy caliber in his hand…. All he would say was that it was an accident.

Earlier in the night Jeff Argyle, proprietor of the Missouri gambling house, and Tom Cady had trouble in the exchange gambling room, next door above the scene of the homicide. They had a quarrel over poker chips. Cady sprang to his feet and struck Argyle in the face, knocking him off his chair. Argyle rose and pulled his revolver. Special Officer Gardiner seized Argyle’s arm as the latter fired. The bullet, through this move, struck Cady’s chair. Both men were arrested and Cady was subsequently released. Cady went directly to Murphy’s Exchange again and was joined by Jeff Smith and Cort Thomson.

“Troublesome Tom” Cady had the altercation with “The Black Prince” Jeff Argyle in the upstairs gambling room of Dale & Company above Murphy’s Exchange, and both had been arrested. However, the Denver Republican states that the row between Cady and Argyle started in the Missouri Club, in which Argyle was actually the manager, not the proprietor as stated in the News. Argyle, a noted killer, a year before had gunned down a bricklayer playing at one of his Missouri Club faro tables. Upon learning of Cady’s arrest, Jeff posted bail for his friend at the jail, and together they went to Murphy’s Exchange. In the first-floor saloon were Clifton Sparks, James B. “Gambler” Jordan (aka Henry Gilmore), and Corteze “Cort” Thomson, a friend of Jordan’s and not known to be on good terms with Jeff or Cady. As Jeff and Tom

entered the bar-room of the saloon Jordan met them. They drank together and the affair earlier in the night came up. Jordan said to Cady that he was sorry for it. “Yes, you are, you ___ ___ ___ ___” responded Cady as he instantly struck Jordan in the face.

The News published what it could learn of the details.

Jordan drew his pistol. Smith drew his. Mart Watrous grabbed Jordan and carried him toward the front of the bar-room near the lattice work partition.

In a statement, Watrous said he grabbed Jordan and threw him down in an attempt to keep him from drawing his gun. As he did, Jordan said, “Let me go, or we’ll be killed.” …

Murphy pushed Cady, Smith, and Thompson back toward the rear of the room. The two principal combatants were fully thirty feet apart. Cady started for Jordan again and Murphy struck him. Cady said to Smith: “Shoot him,” meaning Murphy.

Sparks, who had been standing back from the bar, midway between the front and the rear, stepped forward to protest against the shooting and Murphy jumped back out of range and Jordan and Smith shot at almost the same instant. The bullet from Smith’s pistol crashed through a plate glass … partition leading to the front, an elevation of seven and a half feet from the floor. Jordan’s bullet was not found up to 2 o’clock this morning. Which hit Sparks has not yet been determined. Jordan intended to kill Cady, and Smith meant to kill Murphy, without doubt.

When the patrol wagon arrived the doors of the place were closed and an eager crowd surged outside in the pouring rain, vainly endeavoring to see through the drawn curtains.

Inside was confusion. Policeman Hunt … held Jordan by the collar with one hand, while in the other he held the smoking revolver taken from his prisoner. … At the other end of the bar lay the innocent victim of the evening’s quarrels, breathing his last. The bullet, fired either by Jordan, his friend, or Jeff Smith, his enemy, had entered just over the left hip, passed clear through the body, severing the abdominal aorta, and came out an inch above the right hip bone.

The cutting of the artery caused death before Surgeon Wheeler had time to examine the wound. A dozen men stood about … gaping at the dead body and the hole in the partition made by the other bullet. Murphy was applying ice to a huge contusion under his left eye, caused by the blow from Cady’s cane in his attempt to arrest the latter and Jeff Smith. …

Mart Watrous, the proprietor…, saw the quarrel leading up to the shooting and had just released Jordan when the gun, or guns, went off. … “I was standing in front of the bar,” he said, “and Cady and Jeff Smith had just finished drinking. Jordan was standing near them at the time and as Cady turned around, he said to him: ‘Tom, I’m sorry you got into trouble.’”

“’You’re a liar, you ____ ____ ____ ____, said Cady, and he hit Jordan in the face. Jordan reeled back, and drew his gun as he did so. I jumped and caught him and ran him against the bar in the corner near the folding door. I saw a gun in Jeff Smith’s hand. I let go of Jordan, and as I did so I heard a shot go and saw Sparks fall.

“There may have been two shots—I think there were, judging from the course the bullet must have taken that went through the glass—but I only heard one report.”

“As soon as Cady had been bailed out after his trouble with Argyle, he returned to my place, accompanied by Jeff Smith. Jordan, Sparks and the others were there, and Smith proposed the drinks. In the conversation that followed, the latter accused Watrous and myself of acting unfairly in not trying to get bail for Cady as well as Argyle.

“In the heated discussion that followed, Cady called Jordan a ____ ____ ____ ____, and struck him. The men were separated, Thompson and Mart hauling Jordan back to the front of the room, while I pushed Cady the other way.

“As I made for Cady he cried to Smith, “Shoot, Jeff; shoot the ____ ____ ____ ____, I called to Sparks, who was behind me, to stop the row, and he stepped forward. At that instant I heard two shots in close succession and saw Sparks stagger. As he reeled toward the bar Cady ran at him and felled him with a blow on the head. … “Just then I heard Smith cry, ‘Tom, let’s get out of this,’ and he and Cady started for the rear room. I followed … and knocked Cady down, and turned toward Smith. As I did so Cady picked up the cane I had dropped and dealt me a blow under the eye. Both … ran out the back door and disappeared. …

“Sparks was facing Cady and Smith when he was shot, and I can’t tell which shot him.”

Thompson’s statement corroborates that of Murphy in all its details. He helped pull Jordan back and held the latter until he had drawn his revolver and threatened to shoot him, when he let go. He heard two shots and saw Smith shoot, but couldn’t say which it was that shot Sparks.

Smith gave himself up at 1:30 o’clock this morning. He had a heavy revolver, with all the chambers loaded, and Thompson and Murphy were arrested and jailed as witnesses.

The police restrained people from entering the saloon, but outside, within ten minutes, there were fully 300 men.

Sparks has been a gambler in Colorado and Denver for fourteen years. He was 40 years of age and unmarried. He was dressed finely and wore good jewelry. His father is a physician in St. Joseph.

Cliff Sparks: pp. 79, 250-259, 263, 268, 289, 291-92, 502, 507, 529.

Jeff Smith

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John Gilbert Peniston writes about the duel of 1820.

Ellen Stimpson Peniston
1802-1860

Jan 10, 2024

On Wednesday August 9, 1820 a duel between James Bowe Boisseau and Robert C. Adams took place in which both men were killed. The reason involved Soapy Smith's grandmother,  Ellen Stimpson Peniston, who died before he was born. The details of the duel can be had at the links listed below. Today's post involves a letter written in 1903 by Ellen's brother, John Gilbert Peniston, pertaining to his sister and the duel. The letter was deciphered and transcribed by family genealogist, Ellen Peniston Rafeedie.  

(Click image to enlarge)

*Please take note of the correction links*
The duel: April 16, 2010, May 22, 2011, May 23, 2011, 

Ellen Stimpson Peniston: pp. 19-21.
The duel: pp. 20-21.

AUGUST 2
1882: Soapy purchases a street vendors license in Portland, Oregon.
1885: Soapy acts as timekeeper during a boxing match in Rawlins, Wyoming.

Jeff Smith

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Gunfight at the Pocatello Train Depot 1889

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This month marks the anniversary of the gunfight at the Pocatello, Idaho train depot on August 30, 1889. The is the fire-fight in which Soapy Smith had famed Earp gunman, "Texas Jack" Vermillion at his side. Also with Soapy were Soap Gang members "Fatty Gray, " G. E. "Auctioneer" Roberts, J. W. Allen, and Soapy's younger, hot headed brother, Bascomb. It also is one of the closets moments in which Soapy nearly lost his life. In my private collection is the original letter Soapy wrote to his wife with the details of the gun battle. The letters content is recorded below.

Much of the following comes direct from my book.

Pocatello, Idaho train station 1885
(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. 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.

... On the other hand, it may have been as the Denver Times surmised, “that they were going to Ogden and other cities to ‘work.’” Then an explosive event occurred that caused Jeff to pick Spokane, Washington as a destination.

On Friday, August 30, 1889, Jeff’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 Jeff sat and fired at him five times, point blank. All but one bullet missed injuring him. It came so close that it mutilated half Jeff’s mustache as it whizzed by. Jeff drew 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 Jeff put it, but “we stood them off,” and Jeff and his party, with the aid of “a few good citizens,” left Pocatello on a hasty, twenty-five-mile horseback ride north to Blackfoot. The newspaper there gave the shootout only two sentences:

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

Three days later, on stationary imprinted with the design and address of the St. Nicholas Hotel in Butte, Montana, Jeff made time to record in a letter to Mary the details of the event and assurances of his well being.

Original letter from Soapy Smith to his wife
describing the gunfight
(Click image to enlarge)

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 train depot 1885
(Click image to enlarge)

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 Jeff, 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 Jeff was wanted there. Denver declined the offer to have Jeff returned.

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.

Looking east towards the depot
June 1886
(Click image to enlarge)

Major discrepancies occur between Jeff’s version and the Denver dispatch. Jeff wrote that two men attacked him while the dispatch reported three guns (three men?) drawn against him. Jeff 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.) The dispatch reported that Jeff had been arrested immediately following the gunfight while Jeff 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 Jeff about the attack because probably Jeff was gone, immediately having resumed his journey.

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 Jeff and some of his men were leaving Denver, on holiday. Belcher and the man or men with him could have been waiting for Jeff 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 Jeff, gotten off in Pocatello, changed into railroad work clothes, and closed in on Jeff from outside to gun him down. Still another scenario is that Jeff and the men with him were “working” Utah towns and were being tracked by a rival local gang. If Jeff 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 Jeff 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 Jeff dead.

Once exonerated on September 1, presumably Jeff and the others left. The Idaho News noted the departure: “The smell of gunpowder has been wafted away and the fightists are all gone.” Just where Jeff went next is not exactly clear. He could have gone north into Montana to Butte. That could be where he came by the stationary from the St. Nicholas Hotel in Butte, on which the next day, September 2, Jeff wrote Mary his four-page letter. For certain, Bascomb did go north toward Butte; Jeff wrote that Bascomb was in Dillon, south of Butte. Jeff also wrote that he could be written to 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.

Train depot
circa 1910

Clear, though, is that Jeff 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 Jeff. 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! Jeff 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. Jeff may have resorted to shaving his face smooth and regrowing the beard and mustache that are known in all post 1889 photographs.

Pocatello, Idaho: 75, 88-89, 92, 166-70, 172, 366.
"Texas Jack" ("Shoot-Your-Eye-Out") Vermillion: 75, 88, 91-92, 162-63,165, 170, 175.
John H. "Fatty Gray" Morris: 33-35, 75, 85-86, 88, 92, 100, 113, 153, 156-58, 165, 170, 173, 179, 594.
G. E. "Auctioneer" Roberts: 88, 162-63, 165.
J. W. Allen: 75, 88, 92, 162, 165, 203.

Jeff Smith

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