Friend, historian Leland Feitz passed away.

Leland Feitz sits in his apartment living room decorated
with paintings of Cripple Creek at the Cheyenne Place
Retirement Center. November 1, 2012. 

(Photo by Michael Ciaglo/The Gazette file)

I lost a longtime friend on February 10, 2013. Leland Feitz was a longtime historian focusing on Southern Colorado. My father and I cherished his books on Creede and Soapy Smith. In 1985 I traveled to Colorado and had the great pleasure of meeting Leland. He was a great historian. I am grateful and honored to have been among those he called friend.

To Mr. Jeff Smith:
      I’m sorry to tell you of the death of our friend Leland Feitz, the evening of Sunday Feb. 10, here in the Springs. Am enclosing below the link to the Colorado Springs Gazette article of February 13, outlining some of his life and legacy. Leland would have been 89 next month, on St. Patrick’s Day.
      I discovered correspondence from 1985 in his papers yesterday and learned of your friendship. This morning I found your website.
      Leland had been diagnosed Saturday evening in the ER with pneumonia. This came after a day of difficulty breathing, at Cheyenne Place Retirement Home, where he had been living for the last eight months. When we arrived at the ER, Leland was actually doing pretty well and was in good spirits while various tests were being done.
      We stayed with him there for about 3 hours, wanting to be with him until he was admitted to a room in the hospital (Penrose Main), and got into bed. He was able to walk into the room by himself.
      When I saw him again Sunday morning, he was tired from “not much sleep” as is usual in a busy hospital. I left him after an hour or so, and he seemed fine, smiling and talking, in good humor. The doctor agreed that he should stay another day, to get up and around so they could see if he was okay to go home maybe the next day. When I left, I fully expected to see him again Monday. But it was not to be. He died peacefully in no pain that Sunday evening, shortly after 7 P.M.
      Leland left specific instructions for cremation, to be placed next to his wife Evelyn at Memorial Gardens, and for no funeral or memorial services.
      Again, I am just writing to share in the loss of a friend, a wonderful gentleman and writer of The West.
      We have wonderful memories -- and I’m grateful for that.

Loyal Campbell

Jeff Smith and Leland Feitz in his office 1985

Dear, Loyal.
      Thank you so very much for letting me know of Leland's passing. My sincere condolences to you and the family.
      I prize his books on Soapy and Creede. Soapy Smith's Creede and A Quick History of Creede are listed proudly in the reference works of my own book Alias Soapy Smith. My father was the one who introduced them to me and they greatly influenced the way I approach and write about history. In 1985 I planned a two week trip to Colorado for research. Many of the towns were one day stops but when I found out Leland was in Cripple Creek I booked a hotel and stayed a few days so I could spend some time with him. He took me to where Gillette once stood, and even hiked up the hills to find the spots where the photographers took their pictures in the 1890s. I now have some great then and now photographs that I have shown many times since.
      I attached a few photographs I thought you might enjoy seeing. On my 1985 trip I brought the copies of his books to sign. The first picture is him at his desk in the Cripple Creek museum. I'm standing over him watching him sign the books. I'm so glad I had the picture taken. The other picture is one of the "then and now" photos I made from one of the pictures I took during Leland's tour of Gillette. That was a wonderful time and Leland Feitz was a wonderful historian.

 








Leland Feitz
March 1, 2012
 

Leland Feitz: page 10.

"We have lost our storyteller. The stories won’t be coming anymore."

—Loyal Campbell, a long-time friend

Soapy Smith: Number 1 outlaw in Alaska!

oapy Smith wins first place in a list of Top 10: Alaska's Most Wanted Criminals

"We die twice, the first time when our hearts cease to beat; the second time when our stories cease to be told."

― Gay Mathis

FEBRUARY 18

1685: Robert Cavelier, Sieur de LaSalle established Fort St. Louis at Matagorda Bay, and form the basis for France's claim to Texas.
1735: Flora (aka Hob in the Well) is the first opera performed in America (presented in Charleston, South Carolina).
1841: The first continuous filibuster in the U.S. Senate begins. It ended March 11th.
1859: The Eldorado is the first hotel to open in Denver, Colorado Territory.
1861: The Texas state convention votes to secede from the Union. Sam Houston refuses to swear allegiance to the Confederacy.
1861: Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as President of the Confederate States.
1864: Horse thieves in Nevada Territory led by John Daly kill William Johnson for killing Jim Sears, also a horse thief.
1870: The Kansas Pacific railroad reaches Arapahoe, Colorado Territory.
1876: the U.S. Secretary of the Interior turns over the responsibility of Sitting Bull and his followers to the War Department after they failed to report to their reservation.
1878: John Henry Tunstall, an English-born rancher, is shot and killed in Lincoln County, New Mexico. Tunstall’s men, including a young man who came to be known as the outlaw Billy the Kid, vowed revenge thus starting the Lincoln County War.
1885: Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is published in the U.S.
1892: Soapy Smith opens the Orleans Club (saloon-gaming house) in Creede, Colorado.
1893: Soapy Smith collects funds for the family of Denver policeman, Sam Inman, who had committed suicide.

Soapy Smith, boss of a criminal organization?

ecently on a history discussion board the difference between nineteenth century criminal gangs and criminal organizations was debated. 

     The definition of a criminal gang is basically a group or band of people acting together for criminal ends. The definition of a criminal organization is a little more complex. I am relating to clans of the nineteenth century which did not have the technology of later period Mafia style syndicates to become national and even international outfits that naturally effected size differences between the earlier and later time periods. Those differences leave many people believing that the old west criminal associations are not properly defined as criminal organizations but I disagree.
      According to the definition found on the Legal Dictionary, "Modern organized criminal enterprises make money by specializing in a variety of crimes, including extortion, blackmail, gambling, loan-sharking, political corruption, and the manufacture and sale of illicit narcotics." Narcotics were not illegal in the nineteenth century so there was no interest by criminals to sell them, however, the other enterprises were sold in abundance by the Soapy Smith organization.
      The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) defines criminal organization as any group having some manner of a formalized structure and whose primary objective is to obtain money through illegal activities. Such groups maintain their position through the use of actual or threatened violence, corrupt public officials, graft, or extortion, and generally have a significant impact on the people in their locales, region, or the country as a whole.
      The justice system defines a criminal organization as having the following characteristics (among others):

• Exclusive membership - need formal admittance to join.

• Oath of silence taken by members, punishable by death if broken.

      The Soap Gang definitely had an oath of silence but I can't be sure what sort of punishment was administered to those who broke the oath mainly because there is only one example I can think of, and that was for a con man who used Soapy's name as his own.  The communication between Soapy and this man (Green) was done via letters by mail so it is unknown what form of punishment would have been dealt.

• Monopolistic intent - seeks control of an industry or business thru violence (motivated by money, profit).

• Members have common ethnic or familial background (related to each other).

      This is a point for later period organizations such as the Italian mobs of the early and mid twentieth century. Soapy did involve his brother and brother-in-law. Perhaps just as tight as family, the members of the Soap Gang kept close ties to one another even after they moved away. Letters in my collection support this.

• Organization is self-perpetuating (passing the baton to younger members, new recruits).

• Protected by police, lawyers, and courts. Intimidation and bribery of law enforcement/judicial officials as well as general population.

• Some public support due to profit motive/self-preservation.

      Considering all of the above it is my opinion that Soapy Smith and the Soap Gang were definitely a criminal organization. What say you?
 

"There was hardly a straight [honest] game in the city, and bunco steerers were deployed at the railroad depot and at hotels to steer strangers against the dishonest houses. If the victim squealed, police arrested the victim, then provided evidence to charge him as drunk and disorderly."

——Governor Davis Waite, Colorado

FEBRUARY 16

1741: Benjamin Franklin publishes America’s second magazine The General Magazine and Historical Chronicle.

1804: After pirates seize U.S. Navy frigate Philadelphia, Lt. Stephen Decatur leads a raid to burn the ship.

1857: The National Deaf Mute College (later renamed Gallaudet College), in Washington, DC is incorporated. It is the first school in the world for advanced education of the deaf.

1857: Fort Des Moines in officially becomes Des Moines, Iowa.

1862: Around 14,000 Confederate soldiers surrender to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant during the U.S. Civil War at Fort Donelson, Tennessee.

1868: The Jolly Corks organization in New York City changes its name to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks (BPOE).

1878: The silver dollar becomes U.S. legal tender.

1881: Outlaw Dave Rudabaugh is sentenced to 99 years for stealing the U.S. Mail after pleading guilty in New Mexico Territory.

1883: Ladies Home Journal begins publication.

1898: Sylvester Scovel of The World distinguishes himself with tireless coverage of the Maine disaster and its aftermath. He becomes a friend of Soapy Smith while living in Skagway, Alaska.

King, from Challenge of the Yukon, meets Soapy Smith

he 1930s-40s radio series show Challenge of the Yukon explored the adventures of Sergeant William Preston of the North-West Mounted Police and his lead sled dog, Yukon King, as they fought evildoers in the Northern wilderness during the Klondike gold rush. The show had at least one episode involving Soapy Smith. The title is King Meets Soapy Smith and it aired March 23, 1944. In November 1951 the show changed it's name to Sergeant Preston of the Yukon and in 1955 it was made into a TV show. The show ended in 1958 and it is not known at this time if Soapy's character was used in any of the those episodes.
      The episodes are hard to come by as many did not survive the passage of time. Lucky for us King Meets Soapy Smith is one of the shows that survived. For your listening pleasure of radio days long gone, hear once again Sergeant Preston's mighty catch phrase "On, King! On, you huskies!"

King Meets Soapy Smith
CLICK HERE

To learn more about Challenge of the Yukon click here.

 

"Hi Jeff!
I just got your book 4 days ago, still in the first chapter, its very interesting so far, I didn't know there was a photo around of Soapy as a child [very historic]. It's amazing how writers and historians alike get important facts mixed up! In your book there is a photo in which a bunch of Soapy's fellows are standing in a row detained and ready for being shipped out of skagway, and the one fellow in the center of the line wearing a black wide brimmed hat, who looks a bit like Soapy, has very often been described as being your grandfather, such as in the Time-Life series of books ..of alaskans. I always thought he was Soapy, but now I know who he is! the book is great so far, and I'm impressed with the indexes and refrences."

—Clyde Vongrad

FEBRUARY 14

1778: The United States flag (“stars and stripes”) is carried to a foreign port, in France, for the first time, flown aboard the American ship Ranger.
1803: Moses Coats receives the patent on the apple pare device.
1849: The first photograph of a U.S. President, James Polk, is taken while in office by Matthew Brady in New York City.
1854: Horace Smith and Daniel Wesson receive the patent for the repeating revolver (The Volcanic).
1859: Oregon is admitted to the Union as the 33rd state.
1862: New Mexico and Arizona Territories are admitted into the Confederacy as territories.
1876: Alexander Graham Bell files a patent for the telephone. It is officially issued on March 7, 1876.
1882: Samuel “Doc” Cummings is shot and killed by Jim Manning at the Coliseum Variety Theatre. Drinking heavily, Cummings pulled a gun on Manning, but Manning and bartender David King were able to pull their revolvers and shoot first. Cummings staggered out of the saloon and died.
1884: Theodore Roosevelt's wife and mother both die within a few hours of each other.
1884: Soapy Smith is arrested in San Francisco for operating the prize package soap sell racket.
1889: Oranges from Los Angeles, California are shipped back east for the first time.
1899: The U.S. Congress approves voting machines for use in federal elections.
1903: The U.S. Department of Commerce and Labor is established.
1904: The "Missouri Kid" is captured in Kansas.
1912: The first diesel engine submarine is commissioned in Groton, Connecticut.
1912: Arizona is admitted to the Union as the 48th state.

Jeff Smith's article on Soapy Smith in Wild West magazine

WILD WEST MAGAZINE
April 2013
On sale now!

he April 2013 issue of Wild West magazine is on sale now at larger bookstores near you. This is the issue that published my article Soapy Smith's Showdown with the Vigilantes (page 44-51). This is a condensed version of the research explored in my book Alias Soapy Smith: The Life and Death of a Scoundrel. I am very pleased with the layout the magazine used for it. See the entire article online HERE.

      Starting on page 1, the contents page, readers are greeted with a half-page photograph of Soapy at his bar inside Jeff Smith's Parlor. Page 4 is designated as the Editor's Letter (Gregory Lalire) and this issues letter title is Soapy Smith Was the Most Famous Con Man On the Frontier, But Was He Significant? The first half of editor Lalire's letter is devoted to my views of Soapy and the second half explores author Cathy Spudes beliefs that Soapy was little more than a "petty criminal." Lalire adds my counter in her section of the letter that she "ignored solid facts he [I] provided, and that many of her interpretations miss the mark."
      See Gregory Lalire's complete Editor's Letter HERE.  
      An added pleasure in this issue is the Wild West review of Cathy Spude's new book "That Fiend in Hell:" Soapy Smith in Legend. Although it is a review of Spude's book my book is actually the main topic. Best of all is the last sentences.

"It was clear," Spude writes, "that more than one man had been involved in bringing Smith to his end, just as many more than one would be involved in creating a legend out of the death of a petty confidence man." Author Smith would no doubt argue that's like calling Jesse James a petty train robber.

See the review of Cathy Spude's book HERE.

Anyone wishing to purchase a copy of this magazine issue may do so HERE.

 

"It was clear," Spude writes, "that more than one man had been involved in bringing Smith to his end, just as many more than one would be involved in creating a legend out of the death of a petty confidence man." Author [Jeff] Smith would no doubt argue that's like calling Jesse James a petty train robber. 

—Gregory Lalire
Wild West magazine editor

FEBRUARY 13

1635: The first public school building in the United States, the Boston Public Latin School, is established.
1741: The American Magazine, the first magazine in the U.S., is published in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1862: Jeff Pelkey is the first known white person born in Hellgate, Montana Territory.
1866: Outlaws Frank James, Cole, Bob, and Jim Younger and possibly Jesse James, hold up their 1st bank in Liberty, Missouri. $60,000 is said to have been taken. The Liberty raid is also the first daylight bank robbery in the U.S. by an organized band of robbers. (The first U.S. bank robbery was committed by lone postal employee Edward W. Green, who held up a bank in Malden, Massachusetts, on December 15, 1863).
1875: Mrs. Edna Kanouse gives birth to the first quintuplets in the United States. All five of the baby boys pass away within two weeks.
1879: The first passenger train arrives in New Mexico Territory.
1880: Thomas Edison observes what became known as the Edison Effect for the first time.
1889: Norman Coleman becomes the first U.S. Secretary of Agriculture.

Was Jeff Smith's Parlor in the plural?

Jeff. Smith's Parlor annex?
Royal British Columbia Museum
archives: ZZ-95359

here has always been speculation as to the exact number of legal and illegal businesses Soapy actually owned and operated in Skagway, Alaska. In Denver and Creede, Colorado he operated several saloons and gambling rooms, as well as numerous side businesses including cigar stores, auction houses, and fake stock exchange firms. In the early days Soapy was often listed as the owner of his businesses but as his criminal empire and personal reputation grew he strategically began to remove his name from proprietorships, placing associates names in its place, in order to protect business profits and himself.
      When Soapy made Skagway, Alaska his home the town was new and "wide open." The law was very lax so saloons and gambling flourished. By 1898 Soapy's name was well-known across the US. He must have known that sooner or later his reputation would catch up to him in Skagway. To offset this eventuality and to be successful he continued the method of keeping his name off most of his business transactions, especially the gambling houses. Soapy had made seemingly few changes in his business methods so there can be little doubt that he opened numerous and varies businesses around town, just as he had done in Denver and Creede, Colorado. He did so well in hiding his name from what he owned and operated that today there is little known about them. Much of what we know about Soapy's saloons in Denver is because of the Rocky Mountain News and their war with him. They published every bad thing they could get on him and his businesses. In Skagway there was no newspaper war against him. He surely paid the editors well to keep it that way. So we are left knowing little of what actually occurred there. The conditions in Skagway were perfect so I cannot imagine him not opening at the very least, one gambling house, and it seems likely he would have opened and controlled several.
      Jeff. Smith's Parlor, sometimes referred to as Skagway's "real city hall," was much too small for gambling and photographs confirm that there were no gaming tables inside. The Parlor, with Soapy's birth name spread across the front facade in large letters, was not a gambling hall, nor was it much of a saloon. The Parlor was more Soapy's Skagway office, his podium to shine socially and politically. Next to the Parlor, to the east was a small one-story cabin of a building that had no business signage on it while Soapy operated the Parlor. I believe this was an annex to the Parlor and possible one of Soapy's gambling traps.

The newspaper ads for Jeff Smith's Parlor(s)
clearly indicate there were more than one.

      There are no known records and but a few testaments that the annex was part of the Parlor business. John McCawley and Royal Pullen were newsboys in Skagway who witnessed first-hand some of the Soap Gang activity that involved the annex.

We kids selling newspapers on the street, we got to know all the men, and we would see them with some captured fellas…. They’d walk them up the street and take them to Soapy’s place. We’d start to follow to see what was going to happen. There would always be side men, and they would say, “You kids get on back, get out of the way, get away from here.” We were afraid to follow them up. They would take them up to Soapy Smith’s. He had a long building…. They had a barroom next to the street where they served the liquor. Next to that was a gambling room where they had five tables. Roulette and faro and different kinds of games. I wouldn’t remember now just what they all were.  —Alias Soapy Smith, page 479-80.

Next door was a small restaurant “in connection” with the Parlor. It was remembered by Royal Pullen, son of Skaguay Pioneer Harriet Pullen. He was ten years old in 1898 when he worked as a newsboy for the Seattle Post Intelligencer. In a tape-recorded interview with members of the Smith family, he described what he remembered of Jeff and one of his saloons, possibly Jeff Smith’s Parlor. 

It didn’t have anything very plush. … There were red curtains in the saloon, but not in the restaurant. There were just tables with oils cloth on them. … He had a little restaurant in there, and then the gambling hall and saloon was right next to it, and that’s where he entertained us newsboys. He had little tables. … I guess there must have been 25 or 30 of us news kids, and an oyster dinner was really something. He had a backroom that was his office, where they carried on. I was never allowed back in there. ... We were 10- and 11-year-old kids. They don’t allow you around. They’d say, “Sonny, go on, this is no place for you.” … He was a good guy as far as we were concerned. He liked us kids, and we liked Soapy. He wasn’t mean. There wasn’t anything about Soapy that was mean. He always would pay us. The boy who got to him first with the news from the states got a silver dollar because it took the papers anywhere from a week to two weeks to get there. Those old gamblers and panhandlers were really nice. I had a lot of friends amongst them, I really did. I might as well tell you that I had a lot of friends among the prostitutes too. Some of those were really fine women. They were really good friends.  — Alias Soapy Smith, page 483-84

Clancy's saloon also used the annex
Alaska State Archives

(Click image to enlarge)

After Soapy's demise Frank Clancy took possession of Jeff Smith's Parlor. Photographs and an ad clearly show that the annex was a part of the Parlor at this time.

Clancy's saloon ad (also plural)
Skaguay News
September 23, 1898

 

"He had the reputation of being afraid of neither man nor devil. No one was ever more ready to draw his gun and fight to the death; death mattered little to him if while he lived none dared to dispute his courage and his readiness to do, dare and die."

— George T. Buffum,
Smith of Bear City and Other Frontier Sketches, 1906.

FEBRUARY 9

1825: No candidate received a majority of electoral votes so the House of Representatives elects John Quincy Adams president of the United States.

1836: David Crockett and the 14 Tennessee Mounted Volunteers ride into San Antonio, Texas.

1859: Texas Ranger Major John Ford engages the Mexican guerilla Cortina in battle that began when the Mexicans fired on the Rangers' steamboat the Ranchero. Ford landed the boat and with forty-five men attacked the Cortina stockade. Cortina was able to make his escape under cover of darkness on horseback.

1861: The Congress of the Confederate States of America elected Jefferson Davis as its president.

1864: Union General George Armstrong Custer marries Elizabeth Bacon in Monroe, Michigan.

1867: Nebraska becomes 37th US state.

1870: The United States National Weather Service is authorized by Congress.

1874: In Colorado Territory Ute Chief Ouray unsuccessfully dissuades the gold stampeders led by Alferd Packer from continuing their journey during a blizzard. He warned them that they had too few provisions and that their journey “would end in death.”

1877: Alexander McSween buys the Murphy store building Lincoln, New Mexico Territory to convert it into a house for his wife.

1884: Thomas Edison and Patrick Kenny file a patent application for a chemical recording stock quotation telegraph.

1892: Soapy Smith uses Denver prostitutes to convince lease holders to sign over 11 lots in Creede, Colorado to him.

1895: Volley Ball is invented by W.G. Morgan.

1895: The first college basketball game is played as Minnesota State School of Agriculture defeated the Porkers of Hamline College, 9-3.

Why the Smith's (Soapy Smith's parents) moved to Texas.

(Click image to enlarge)

hy did Soapy Smith's parents move them all to Texas?

In my book I describe the horrific conditions the Smith family endured with Reconstruction in the decade after American Civil War. From the start the father immediately lost his law practice about 1866 with Reconstruction and never successfully regained it due to his growing problem with alcoholism. The family survived working their own farm fields but slowly lost nearly everything. It was in 1876-77 that the father chose to migrate his family to Round Rock, Texas. The state

was a haven for Southerners after the war. Laws were lax, and growth was everywhere. Round Rock had become a prosperous frontier-trading center for ranchers and farmers since arrival of the railroad in 1876, which turned Round Rock into a railway terminus. Round Rock was home to the Smith family for almost five years, but records of Smith activities there are few. The father attempted to resurrect his law practice but without success.  —Alias Soapy Smith, p. 26.

      Before publication of my book I could not find much more regarding why the father chose Texas over other states.

      At the bottom of each post on this blog I publish a section called ON THIS DAY. One day while researching material for that section I came across the following event for January 17, 1874: “Armed Democrats seize Texas government ending Radical Reconstruction.” I found this very interesting and hoped that perhaps I might gain better incite on the situation in Texas at that time. I googled and found the following information on the Coke-Davis Dispute at Lone Star Junction. Apparently in 1874 Texas was the first state to forcefully cease Reconstruction. No doubt this news reached every southern household and many probably expected other states to follow. 

Coke-Davis Dispute
(January 1874)

      Austin was a landmine in early 1874. People from all over the state had gathered to witness the inauguration of Democrat Richard Coke as its next governor. At long last, this would mark the end of Reconstruction and radical military rule in Texas.

      The mood was far from festive, however. Despite a Coke victory over incumbent E. J. Davis by a margin of more than two-to-one, Davis refused to relinquish his office. By proclamation on January 12, he cited a trumped-up ruling by the state supreme court, and declared the election invalid.

      Davis was supported by members of the Radical faction of the Republican party. Further, Davis and his Radicals claimed to have as an ally President U. S. Grant, and threatened that federal troops would be called in if necessary to maintain peace. In fact, unknown to the Democrats, Grant had already declined federal support. But Davis continued to believe that federal military backing would come, especially if the Democrats used force to make their case.

      By mid-January, the situation seemed grave indeed. Davis and his Radicals took control of the lower level of the old capitol building. Tensions among the city's armed citizens were strained to the point that any violence might easily trigger an uprising that could result in the deaths of hundreds of people.

      The newly elected members of the Legislature ignored Davis' proclamation. In short order, they organized and gained control of the legislative chambers on the second level of the capitol--one floor above Davis and the Radicals. They confirmed Coke as Texas' new governor, and Coke was inaugurated late the night of January 15. Texas now had two governments. And both of them were "holed up" in the same building. A violent showdown seemed unavoidable.

      The standoff continued. Then on January 17, Davis received a telegram from Washington in response to his second appeal for military assistance. The answer came via U. S. Attorney General George Williams. Williams stated bluntly that President Grant:

"...is of the opinion that your right to the office of the Governor at this time is at least so doubtful, that he does not feel warranted in furnishing United States troops to aid you in holding further possession of it, and therefore declines to comply with your request." [Wooten, vol. 2, p. 207]

With his options now severely limited, Davis finally gave in. With this action, Reconstruction in Texas was at long last ended. Further, Governor Coke began a Democratic reign in Texas that would last without interruption for more than 100 years.

      Other southern states did not follow Texas' lead as surely hoped. The Smith's waited two years before deciding that Georgia, their home state, would not follow suit, so they migrated to Round Rock, Texas where they lived for about five years. Soapy Smith moved out on his own as all young adults eventually do, but the Smith family stayed in Texas, the father dying there in 1902, and daughter (Soapy's sister) Eva in 1952. 

Smith family in Texas
July 21, 2009
Aug. 30, 2009
Sept. 25, 2009
Sept. 28, 2009
April 5, 2010
May 11, 2010
May 22, 2010

Smith family in Texas
Too many to list here 

"I think you hit him"

—said to Texas Ranger Richard Ware after shooting outlaw Sam Bass.
Round Rock, Texas July 19, 1878 (Alias Soapy Smith, p. 31).

JANUARY 2

1788: Georgia is the 4th state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

1867: 14 Arizona Rangers led by Tom Hodges attack Apache Indians at Rock Springs, killing 21.

1871: Golden, Colorado is incorporated.

1872: Brigham Young, the 71-year-old leader of the Mormon Church, is arrested on a charge of bigamy. He has 25 wives.

1879: Thomas Edison begins construction on his first generator.

1889: In a fight over which town will be the seat of Gray County, Kansas, the town of Ingalls hires Dodge City men, including Jim Masterson and Bill Tilghman, to raid the Cimarron courthouse for the county records. Residents of Cimarron open fire and capture four of the raiders including Masterson. His brother “Bat” Masterson sends a telegram asking Cimarron to free his brother or else he will “hire a train and come in with enough men to blow Cimarron off the face of Kansas.” The four are freed, and later tried and acquitted for the death of J. W. English.

1890: Alice Sanger became the first female White House staffer.

1893: The first commemorative postage stamps are issued.

Pencil safe for Soapy Smith?

Pencil safe
Jeff Smith collection

(Click image to enlarge)

t  is well-established that Soapy Smith wrote an enormous amount of letters during his lifetime. He also kept daily notes in notebooks and made notations on business cards he collected. Some of these scribblings are in ink (another post for the future) but many are in pencil, away from home and sometimes from civilization. It seems rather logical to assume that he carried a pencil on his person, rather than constantly asking and hoping others had one he could borrow. Today, we take pencils and writing paper for granted as most households have drawers filled with them. Looking at the Soapy Smith collection of documents there is one known surviving sample of business stationary for the Tivoli Club in Denver but the greater portion of the letters are written on the business stationary of other firms, justifying the fact that Soapy was probably not at home when writing the many of his letters.

Close-up of pencil safe relief
Race-horse and wine bottle
Jeff Smith collection

(Click image to enlarge)

      Did Soapy carry a pencil? If he did he probably picked up, or was given, a "pencil safe" like the one shown above. The safe protected the sharpened pencil lead from breaking, as well as protected the clothing, other documents, and the body itself, from puncture. I had never given Soapy writing utensils much thought until I saw and purchased the one shown. Any opinions on this?

Close-up of pencil safe relief
Dancing girl (belly dancer?) and playing cards
Jeff Smith collection

 
(Click image to enlarge)

 

“No one should be ashamed to admit they are wrong, which is but saying, in other words, that they are wiser today than they were yesterday.”

—Alexander Pope

First bill issued by The First National Bank, Creede, Colorado, 1892

First bill issued by The First National Bank
Creede, Colorado March 29, 1892
Auctioned off for $101,790.
(courtesy of Bonhams auction firm)

(Click image to enlarge)

 
thought I had lost that, may I have it back please?

                                                                - Soapy Smith

      Ok, Soapy really didn't say the above quote but I bet he would if he were alive today! Perhaps some of these same bills, if not this very one, passed through his fingers?  I would not mind having a few of these stashed somewhere, especially considering the price ($101,790.) it fetched at auction just two weeks ago! 

      Follow is part of the description from Bonhams auction firm.

New York – Bonhams is pleased to announce a stellar result for its December 13 auction of Coins, Medals and Banknotes in New York. During the winter sale, the auction house was privileged to offer several rarities including "Property of a Gentleman: An Important Collection of English Coins," an exquisite collection of 45 lots English coinage struck between the 14th and 19th centuries and a newly discovered $5 Series 1882 "Brown Back" National Banknote from Creede, Colorado that sold for $101,790.

      The previously unreported note was the first bill issued on March 29, 1892 by The First National Bank of Creede, Colorado on its first day of charter, the date of issue on this note. The institution only existed until December 31, 1895 when it was liquidated. In addition to the fact this is the only known example from Creede, it presents with bank serial number 1 and is accompanied with a paper envelope stating: "FIRST BILL ISSUED AT THE FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF CREEDE. SIGNED BY JOHN MCDONOUGH PR J.W. MERRITT CASHIER." All currency from this bank, Charter 4716, was issued as $5 notes in vertical sheets containing four subjects. As of 1910, only $255 face appraise (total) was still outstanding making this issue virtually unobtainable, even then.

      Creede is a small town in Colorado with a population of only 290 people in 2010, located in Mineral County in Southwestern region of the state. It became a "boom town" in 1889 when large amounts of silver were discovered in nearby Willow Creek. Creede's boom lasted until 1893 when the Silver Panic overtook mining towns in Colorado. The price of silver plummeted and many of the silver mines were closed. Colorado is a popular Western state for National Banknote collectors; many of the charters are considered scarce or rare. There are a number of unreported (unknown) issues, Creede previously being one. Collectors and connoisseurs alike will pay close attention as this note becomes available at Bonhams in December.

      Paul Song, Director of the Rare Coins and Medals Department at Bonhams, said of the banknote: "We were pleased to offer such a rare example in our winter auction. The previously unreported $5 banknote is 120 years old and holds a storied place in American history."

 

"Soapy Smith, bunco steerer, thief, gambler, desperado, holdup, marshal of the town of Creede in its early days, a big man in Skaguay, and who has played numerous other roles during his eventful life, has at last handed in his checks and passed over the snowy range with a cigar in his mouth, a curse on his lips still wet with the firey liquor, and his thick-soled boots tightly on his feet."

—Denver Times, July 17, 1898.