Soapy Smith's first grave marker, 1898-1910

SOAPY SMITH'S ORIGINAL GRAVE MARKER
circa 1898-1910
(Note the three American flags)
Courtesy of University of Washington

(Click image to enlarge)

OAPY SMITH'S ORIGINAL GRAVE MARKER.

      At top is a photograph of Soapy Smith's first grave marker. Note the three American flags on his grave. Soapy was very patriotic, so it is possible that they were placed there by a friend. He had five known markers. I own the second one, but the first one is not believed to have remained on the grave for very long, as there are not many photos of it, and none of the known photographs show much wear, damage, or graffiti, as the second marker shows in photographs of it. That fact may mean the marker did not survive very long. The first oddity to me, is the fancy curved lettering. Soapy died pretty much a hated man in Skagway 1898. In fact, his grave was dug just outside of the cemetery grounds, out of respect to the others buried there. Those who liked him, or were loyal associates and friends, were forced to hide their feelings, lest they be accused of being in league with the confidence man/crime boss and forced to leave town. Yet, his marker is nicer than many of the others seen in the cemetery in that period, which may possibly be the result of such a short survival life for the first marker.

      The photograph was taken by an unknown photographer, probably an early tourist, sometime between 1898-1910. It is not known when this marker was taken down, removed, or destroyed. Soapy's second marker was ripped out of the ground in 1919 during a major flood in the cemetery, and placed in the Harriet Pullen House (hotel) 'museum.' It had many years of people carving their names and graffiti onto it so it can be assumed that it remained over the grave for a number of years prior to the 1919 flood. Guessing, that if it survived on the grave for ten-years, then the first marker was removed about 1907? Again, the fact that there are very few photos of the first marker, and none of those show wear or damage, indicate that it probably came off of the grave pretty early. Personally, I am guessing about 1901 at the latest.

      I made mention of the 1919 flood. This also washed away Soapy grave! If you visit Soapy's grave today, you will see a reproduction of the second grave marker planted in the ground. I had the reproduction made, as the marker on the grave at the time was a horrid looking, rusting metal marker. If you face the marker and turn your head to the right, you will see a large gully. It is within that gully where Soapy's original grave was located.

      Click HERE for more on all five of Soapy's grave markers.
 

Photo courtesy of the University of Washington

 

It is true that if you go up against his game you will certainly lose your money, but it is a process of painless extraction. I may as well acknowledge an imperfect sympathy for those who let themselves be swindled in the persuasion that they have themselves a sure thing.  [San Francisco Examiner]

—Alias Soapy Smith, p. 493.

OCTOBER 16

1701: The Collegiate School is founded in Killingworth, Connecticut. The school moved to New Haven in 1745 and changed its name to Yale College.

1829: The Tremont Hotel, considered the first modern hotel in the U.S., opens in Boston, Massachusetts. 170 rooms rented for $2 each per day, which included four meals.

1859: Violent abolitionist John Brown leads a raid on Harper's Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia).

1869: A hotel in Boston became the first in the U.S. to install indoor plumbing.

1881: Citizens of Phoenix, Arizona, Territory demand that Apache Indians in the area be removed or put to death.

1884: Armed with a Winchester rifle, Marshal Bill Tilghman forces a group of drunk and disorderly cowboys out of Dodge City, Kansas.

1890: The Indian, Kicking Bear, is escorted off the Standing Rock Agency in South Dakota by the U.S. Army.

Broadway and Bond (Fourth) Street in Skagway, Alaska, early June 1898.

Broadway and Fourth Streets
Skagway, Alaska
June 1898

(Click image to enlarge)

kagway, Alaska, June 1898.

Broadway and Bond (renamed Fourth) street, one month before the demise of the town's underworld boss "Soapy" Smith, during the Klondike gold rush. Not many people know of Alaska as being 'western history,' but towns there equaled those of their western state peers in roughness and violence.

Courtesy of the Museum of History and Industry, Seattle

 

I beg leave to state that I have no gang, and that I have not been ordered out of Skaguay, or any other place, and that I expect to live here as long as I see fit to. I have taken the side of law and order here time and time again, and all reports like the one enclosed are base falsehoods. I helped a lot of citizens stop a murderous mob from hanging a man that no one knew whether guilty or not, and thereby caused the dislike of some of the members of the murderous outfit. I acknowledge I have been in the saloon and gambling business for a number of years, and when all games and saloons were placed under strict police surveillance. And I have never had any trouble in my place of business; was never convicted of any crime in my life, and don’t think that I am being treated right. ...

Respectfully yours,
JEFF R. SMITH.
Called “SOAPY.” 

—Alias Soapy Smith, p. 491.

OCTOBER 15

1860: 11-year-old Grace Bedell, writes to presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln, stating that he would look better if he were to grow a beard.

1879: Bandits rob a train in Las Vegas, New Mexico Territory of $2,000 in bills and time checks.

1880: The day after their victory over Victorio's Apache Indians, the Mexican militias are cheered in the streets of Chihuahua City, Mexico, as they parade waving 28 scalps.

1883: The U.S. Supreme Court blocks part of the Civil Rights Act of 1875 which allowed for individuals and businesses to discriminate based on race.

1892: The U.S. government announces that land in western Montana is open for settlement. The 1.8 million acres were bought from the Crow Indians for 50 cents per acre.

1892: Soap Gang member, Jeff Dunbar, tries to extort money from a prostitute named Flossie Leigh, at the Soapy Smith’s Tivoli Club in Denver, Colorado. When Leigh refuses to pay up, Dunbar strikes her upon the head several times with his pistol.

Juneau Company Wharf, Skagway, Alaska 1898-1899.

SKAGUAY ALASKA 1898

(Click image to enlarge)

kagway, Alaska
Juneau Company Wharf
1898-1899.

      I came across some interesting wharf photographs from the University of Washington archives. The top photograph was taken after May 1898 by photographer H. C. Barley. He titled it Skaguay Alaska 1898. Note the original spelling for Skagway, with a "u". It was the U.S. postmaster who decided on his own, that Skaguay should be spelled Skagway, changing the "u" to a "w." Although the change was immediate, in regards to the post office, many residents refused to change over, and the Skaguay spelling can be found on documents, postcards, photographs, and letters, into the early 1900s.

Close-up

In May 1898 the White Pass and Yukon Railway tracks were being laid. Note the rails in the above photograph, going out to the wharves. Everyday, high-tide covered the rails (see photograph below).

Photograph taken in 1899 showing high tide.

 Photographs courtesy of the University of Washington, digital archives.

 










The following link will open a new window for additional research. Remember to scroll.
Juneau Company Wharf

Everything is orderly now, but there is a character there now by the sobriquet ‘Soapy Smith’ and he seems to have the gambling element completely under his control.

—Alaska Governor John G. Brady
Alias Soapy Smith, p. 523.

OCTOBER 14

1865: The stagecoach to Helena, Montana Territory is established.

1865: Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians sign a treaty with U.S. Commissioners at a camp on the Little Arkansas River, Kansas. None of the parties of the treaty abide by it.

1879: Thomas Edison signs an agreement with Jose D. Husbands for the sale of Edison telephones in Chile.

1880: Apache Indian chief Victorio and twenty-eight of his men are killed in Mexico during a battle with Mexican troops lead by Colonel Joaquin Terrazas in the Tres Castillo, Mexico. Earlier in the summer Victorio and his band had been chased out of the Candelarias by two thousand U.S. troops along with a hundred Texas Rangers.

1882: Arizona bad man Johnny Ringo, is found dead in Turkey Creek Canyon, Arizona Territory. It is reported as a suicide. Some said he was murdered.

1887: Thomas Edison and George E. Gouraud reach an agreement for the international marketing rights for the phonograph.

1889: A Wyoming grand jury fails to indict anyone for the slaying of rustlers Jim Averill and Ella Watson alias “Cattle Kate.”

1890: Future U.S. President, Dwight David Eisenhower is born in Denison, Texas.

Town of Dyea, Alaska, 1897

DYEA, ALASKA 1897

(Click image to enlarge)

yea, Alaska 1897 covered in a layer of campfire and fireplace smoke, was located five miles from Skagway where Soapy Smith went. Dyea was founded first but the docking for ships was too unmanageable and Dyea died out, along with much of its early history. I found this photograph online at the University of Washington. The original is very poor in visibility, so I took the liberty of using photoshop to "clean" it up.

      Years ago, while researching for my Soapy book (Alias Soapy Smith), I came across the name Tom Cady as being Dyea's underworld boss. Up until my book was published, several historians gave Cady's name as proof that Soapy probably had no control in Dyea, but none of them had connected Cady as a member of the Soap Gang in Colorado, where he was known as "Sure-Shot" and "Troublesome Tom." My book covers quite a bit about Cady, as well as Dyea.

Courtesy of University of Washington Digital Collections. 

 











The following links will open new windows for additional research. Be sure to scroll.
Dyea
Tom Cady

Dyea: pages 13, 79, 414, 430, 432, 434-35, 440, 442, 450-51, 455, 460, 466, 470, 473, 477, 481-82, 489, 492, 495-96, 499, 506, 513-14, 520, 527-28, 550-51, 562, 566, 569-70.

Tom Cady: pages 79, 210-11, 229, 250-51, 253-57, 260, 264, 362, 450.

"The only certainty is that nothing is certain."

— Pliny the Elder

OCTOBER 12

1492: Christopher Columbus, an Italian explorer, sights Watling Island in the Bahamas, believing that he had found Asia while attempting to find a Western ocean route to India. The same day he claimed the land for Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain.

1792: The first monument honoring Christopher Columbus is dedicated in Baltimore, Maryland.

1860: Inventor Elmer Sperry is born. During his lifetime he will hold patents on more than 400 inventions. The most important being the Sperry Automatic Pilot.

1870: Horace Greeley visits Greeley, Colorado, the city named in his honor.

1870: Robert E. Lee dies peacefully in Lexington, Virginia at age 63. Lee is most famous as a confederate general during the American Civil War.

1872: Indian chief Cochise and General O. Howard sign a peace treaty in Arizona Territory.

1878: Eight cowboys from Dallas County get into a shootout with Deputy Sheriff Tom Gerren in Lewisville, Texas. One of the cowboys is shot in the hip and two horses are killed.

1882: The Tombstone Epitaph reports that bad man Johnny Ringo is drunk in Galeyville, Arizona Territory.

1892: In celebration of the 400th anniversary of the Columbus landing the original version of the Pledge of Allegiance is first recited in public schools.

1895: the first amateur golf tournament is held in Newport, Rhode Island.

Young actor plays Soapy Smith

ust a short time ago, the following video appeared on Youtube. I contacted the person who published it, but have yet to hear back. I was hoping to have some details about who the young man is and why he is portraying Soapy. Obviously it is for a school project. I wanted to tell him, "well done."

 

"It is possible that … some injustice has been done to Mr. Smith which should be corrected, if only out of regard for the distinguished family to which he belongs, for the sun never sets on the Smiths." [San Francisco Examiner]

— Alias Soapy Smith, p. 493.

SEPTEMBER 16

1620: The Mayflower, with 102 passengers, departs from Plymouth, England. The ship arrives at Provincetown, Massachusetts on November 21, 1620 and then at Plymouth, Massachusetts on December 26 where the start the Plymouth Colony.

1630: The village of Shawmut, Massachusetts changes its name to Boston.

1782: The Great Seal of the United States is impressed on its first document, a prisoner of war agreement with the British.

1867: The 10th Cavalry fights Indians on the Saline River, Kansa. Two civilians are killed.

1880: Charles Earl “Black Bart” Bowles robs the Roseburg. Oregon-Yreka, California stage a mile from the Oregon border. At the conclusion of the robbery he leaves behind an unusual calling card: a poem.

1882: Bad man Soapy Smith purchases a street vendors license in Salem, Oregon in which to sell his prize package soap.

1889: Outlaw Bob Younger, age 34, dies of tuberculosis in the Stillwater, Minnesota State Penitentiary. He and his brothers were serving life sentences for their part in the 1876 Northfield, Minnesota bank robbery.

1893: The "Cherokee Strip" in Oklahoma is swarmed by hundreds of thousands of settlers seeking cheap land. Not to be confused with the Oklahoma Land Run on April 22, 1889.

2016 Reunion in Skagway, Alaska!

JEFF. SMITH'S PARLOR
Opening 2016

(Click image to enlarge)

et's get two dupes with one bar of soap!

GRAND OPENING OF JEFF SMITH'S PARLOR
AND
SOAPY SMITH FAMILY and FAN REUNION
July 4-8, 2016

      The restoration of Soapy Smith's saloon in Skagway, Alaska is set for completion in 2016. My source at the Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park tells me that they are shooting for a July 4 grand opening but there is always the chance that the date may be postponed due to unforeseen delays. What more of a perfect time to have a Soapy Smith family/fan reunion in Skagway! The park service says they can arrange a private tour if the grand-opening is delayed. The last time the family was there in force was in 1998 for the 100th anniversary of Soapy's demise. 
      This idea is in the planning stages and I am creating a site devoted to this reunion trip. It is an expensive and time consuming trip so we need to plan early. Start saving your money! This will be a trip you will not want to miss!
      Personally, I have an idea of my trip schedule, and I invite anyone to tag along. My trip includes a day trip to Seattle, Washington where McGinty (Soapy's petrified man) resides. There are also interesting places to visit, such as the building which held the Owl Saloon where Soapy has an altercation. This location also holds the famed "underground tour" and the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park - Seattle Branch museum. Next is a stop in Juneau, Alaska where Soapy was arrested for selling his prize package soap. The state museum holds a few interesting Soapy related items, including a lock of his hair, and the only two known to exist, handbills of the famed vigilante Committee of 101, and Soapy's response handbill from the Law And Order Society of 317.
      Skagway has lots to do! We will be there for the July 4th parade and on July 8 for the Soapy Smith wake (held there since 1977).

ALL IDEAS AND SUGGESTIONS ARE WELCOME!

 

      "I never knew anything about Jeff Smith only what my husband had said [about] his being the king of the gamblers, and that naturally made me afraid of him. Well, you remember that night when Parson Uzzell was giving out loaves of bread to all the hungry people? I went to the [People’s] Tabernacle one night, but I got there too late. Every loaf of bread was gone, and not a penny in the house. I don’t know what I was doing only standing alone when a gentleman came close up to me and … pushed a piece of paper in my hand, and before I could even talk, he said: Take that, lady, it will get you all the bread you want.
     I turned to say thank you, sir, but he was gone…. I am only a woman, but I have got a vote and so has my husband, and anybody who does an act like that for us shows that they have hearts that are in the right place, and I think that they are better than the people who abuse them."

— Alias Soapy Smith, p. 329.

SEPTEMBER 13

1878: Outlaw, James “Frank” Towle, of the Sam Bass Gang is shot dead during a stagecoach robbery. His body was hidden by the other unknown accomplices, and was found 3 months later by stage driver, Boone May, who cut off Towle’s head for evidence in order to claim an outstanding reward. Bad man Soapy Smith had witnessed the death of Sam Bass 2 months previous.

1884: Soapy Smith purchases a street venders license in Del Norte, Colorado to hawk his cash prize package soap.

Four confirmed Soapy Smith playing cards.

SOAPY SMITH'S PLAYING CARDS
Jeff Smith collection

(Click image to enlarge)

HOCKING DISCOVERY.
SOAPY SMITH CHEATED!

     Of course he cheated, and one of his most steady methods was the crooked poker game, called "big mitt" and "big hand" by the Soap Gang. There was nearly always a fake game going on in some back room, ready for the victim to enter into and lose. The period newspapers cover this swindle for the 17-years Soapy ran it in Denver.

     Years after Soapy's demise, Mary, Soapy's widow, handed out a few cards from Soapy's deck of cards, to the children and grand-children. My father received six cards, of which were passed down to me (see lower cards in pics). All the cards I have are different, but I always wondered if the deck was one set up for "big hand." Very recently I got my answer.

SOAPY SMITH'S PLAYING CARDS
Close-up
Note the duplicates
Jeff Smith collection

      A cousin of mine received her cards from her father, and offered them for sale to me before going to other members of the family. I purchased them and now I have ten cards from Soapy's deck. However, I was not prepared to receive what I did. I was floored to find out that this deck contained three Jack of spades and two five of diamonds! These came from the one deck Mary had of Soapy's, so obviously, the deck was set up to bunco unwary victims. I could not be more pleased!

 

"There is no such uncertainty as a sure thing."

— Robert Burns

AUGUST 21

1831: Nathaniel "Nat" Turner, a black slave, begins the bloodiest slave uprising in American history, resulting in 60 white deaths and at least 200 black deaths. He is apprehended in Southampton County, Virginia on October 30, 1831, convicted, sentenced to death, and hanged on November 11, 1831.

1863: Quantrill's Raiders consisting of 450 guerrillas, raid Lawrence, Kansas, killing 183 men and boys. They looted the town, robbed the banks and then burned Lawrence to the ground.

1879: Sgt. Samuel H. Gatchell, 4th Cavalry, was killed by a band of outlaws that he was in pursuit of near Little River, Chickasaw Nation. His body was brought back to Fort Sill and buried in the Post Cemetery.

Soapy Smith's shoulder holster

SOAPY SMITH'S SHOULDER HOLSTER
Jeff Smith Collection

(Click image to enlarge)

oapy Smith's shoulder holster is another artifact that I plan to take to the Wild West History Association Denver roundup in July. The story of this holster and how I came to possess it, is a story in of itself.
      After the Klondike gold rush had passed and Skagway settled down, some of the residents started collecting up some of the early artifacts. Hotel entrepreneur, Harriet Pullen, collected and displayed artifacts in her Pullen House. When there were enough people lodged in the hotel she would give a talk in the hotel parlor amongst some of her treasured artifacts and tell the story of Skagway, Soapy Smith, and the gold rush.

Shoulder holster close-up
Note the nice stamp-work
Jeff Smith Collection

(Click image to enlarge)

      The pictured holster was most likely given to Harriet Pullen. for her gold rush museum, by J. M. Tanner, one of the vigilantes who was on the wharf the night Soapy was shot dead. Tanner became a deputy U.S. marshal, handling Soapy's belongings so it makes sense that he would have this, although he was supposed to have logged it with Soapy's estate for auction. He also donated other artifacts to the Pullen collection which will be discussed at a later date.

Shoulder holster close-up
Note the inked signature (center) "HSP" [Harriet S. Pullen]
Jeff Smith Collection

(Click image to enlarge)

      In 1954 the threat of losing an important historic jewel galvanized the community as residents rallied together to save the endangered Pullen Collection. Harriet Pullen had run her grand hotel until her death in 1947, and in more than 40 years of operation she had collected an enormous treasure trove of gold rush artifacts. Pullen's granddaughter reopened the hotel in 1950 but the collection had already begun to deteriorate. Bruce Black, park naturalist at Glacier Bay National Monument (GLBA), visited the Pullen House and found the hotel in a state of disrepair - he was particularly concerned with the artifact collection. Since the NPS had no official role in the city, all he could do was urge the Territory of Alaska or some other entity to take possession of the collection and care for it properly. His plea and those of many other concerned citizens were unheeded - the Pullen House closed for the last time in 1959 and the collection went to Lynnwood, Washington with its owner. Pullen's treasures were eventually sold piecemeal at auction, and the collection was lost to posterity.

- Legacy of the Gold Rush pages 53-55.

      From 1959 until the early 1970s, the Pullen collection was on display in a building adjacent to a food pavilion. The owners of the property wanted to do some improvements and so evicted the Pullen collection. The owner of the collection at this time was Mary Kopanski, a great-niece of Harriet Pullen. Knowing the importance of the collection to Alaska, she gave the state the first option to purchase it for $200,000. They turned down the offer, which upset a whole lot of people in Alaska. The price was very fair. In fact, Mary made more than the $200,000 she offered to sell it for. In July 1973 a five day auction in Seattle, Washington sold off the collection piece-by-piece.

Shoulder holster
Jeff Smith Collection

(Click image to enlarge)

      My uncle Joseph Jefferson Smith, was the first in my family to learn of the action plans. He contacted his brother, my father, John Randolph ("Randy") Smith about it, and my father, my mother, and I made the trip to Seattle and attended all five days. The adventures I had attending that auction are a story in itself. My father passed on the shoulder holster as he had spent $6,000 already, just for the roulette table and there was the grave marker still awaiting sale. The holster, handcuffs, saps, and a few other Soapy Smith related items went to one high bidder, and that was the last time anyone had seen those items since. Who would guess that these items would once again surface for auction, and that the Smith family would be given a second chance to obtain them? In case the thought may have crossed your mind, yes, these items are the very same items that sold in 1973. The auction house tags and catalog numbers all match up with the ones I have in my collection.   

Shoulder holster
Jeff Smith Collection

(Click image to enlarge)

      I still need donations to cover the costs of my trip to Denver to put this item, and many other items, on display. You can read the story of this planned trip, as well as donate if you choose.

 

At scheduled intervals the Guards would exercise a neat maneuver and fire a volley into the air as Jeff would lift his hat and acknowledge the plaudits of the crowd. It was Soapy’s greatest hour.

— Rev. John Sinclair (Alias Soapy Smith), p. 522

MAY 6

1835: James Bennett begins publishing the New York Herald.

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

1851: Linus Yale patents the clock-type lock.

1856: The Army from Fort Tejon and Fort Miller ride out to protect Keyesville, California from attacks by Yokut Indians.

1859: John Gregory discovers gold (Gregory's Gulch), “the richest square mile on earth,” near the city of Denver, Colorado.

1861: Arkansas is the ninth state to secede from the Union during the Civil War.

1868: The U.S. begins paying annuities to the Crow Indian tribes of Montana Territory.

1877: After defeating General Custer’s 7th Cavalry at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Indian Chief Crazy Horse surrenders his people to the U.S. at Fort Robinson, Nebraska, whereas, Sioux Chief Sitting Bull leads 1,500 of his followers into Saskatchewan, Canada to ask protection from the Queen.

1882: Congress passes the Chinese Exclusion Act, which bars Chinese immigrants from the U.S. for 10 years.