Soapy Smith's Denver fake auction house, 1888

ONE OF DENVER'S FAKES.
Rocky Mountain News
December 17, 1888
(Article transcribed below)

(Click image to enlarge)

ake auction houses

For years there were fake auction houses operating along Seventeenth Street in Denver, Colorado, most being under the control of Jefferson Randolph Smith II, alias "Soapy" Smith. The last known fake auction house in Denver is mentioned in a letter to Soapy, dated 1896. It was run by ex-Soap Gang members, as Soapy was no longer a resident of Denver. Men who worked in Soapy's auction houses included, G. E. "Auctioneer" Roberts, James "Duke of Halstead" Thorton, John O. "Texas-Jack" Vermillion and John L. "Reverend" Bowers.

     The Denver police did their best to shut them down, with little success. At one point they even placed officers on the sidewalks in front of the dens, there to warn pedestrians not to engage the auctioneers and his shills, but after a few days the police officers were removed and placed back on regular duty because of an increase in crime elsewhere in the city, likely caused by the bunco men themselves, in order to get the cops back on the beat, and away from their shops!

     Below is the first known expose on the auction houses published in the Rocky Mountain News, December 17, 1888.

ONE OF DENVER’S FAKES.

—

THE SNIDE AUCTION SHOPS AND THEIR MEETINGS.

—

A REPORTER’S EXPERIENCE.

—

New guileless Youths and Inexperienced Countrymen Are Inveigled into Exceedingly Bad Bargains – The Steerer’s Part.

—

Wo’n ‘alf! Two ‘n ‘alf! Two’s ‘alf! Only two dollars and fifty cents bid, gentlemen, for that solid rolled gold chain. Only two and a half! Why, it is worth three times that much, if it’s worth a cent.”

     These were the words that reached the ear of a NEWS reporter the other afternoon while going down Seventeenth street in search of an item. He had heard this and many other similar cries almost every day for a long while as his daily routine takes him down Seventeenth street below Larimer, and this is the locality most thickly strewn with the auction stores of the class referred to, and they are all of the same ilk–not a very good one, either–but never before had he been attracted, beyond a mental inquiry as to whether there were many gullible enough to be taken in by the fakirs. This cry, however, was in some way peculiar and the reporter was drawn into the small circle which surrounded a be-whiskered auctioneer who sported very flashy jewelry. The principal object was to satisfy curiosity and secondly a belief that many of THE NEWS readers would like to know something about these places and their methods.

"Do I Hear Ten Dollars?"

 
     The reporters entrance was the signal for a bit of extra bustle and the crowd of steerers became extraordinarily engrossed in the examination of various watches, chains, rings and other articles in the shop, intent on making an impression of rushing business on the prospective “sucker” they thought they saw in view. To encourage them in the IDM with which they had become [illegible] THE NEWS man edged up to the counter and the auctioneer and began to manifest some interest in a very showy looking watch which was labeled:

SOLID GOLD
warranted full jeweled
guaranteed one year.

    

"What might that ‘cre [?] Timepiece be worth:” queried the reporter.
     The reply was very voluminous, setting forth the many qualities of the watch, which was declared to be a solid gold-filled case, stem winder and set her, with full set jewels. Be information was also given that all goods are sold by auction and he would put it up.“Now, gentlemen,” said the auctioneer, “here’s a man who wants to bid on this watch and will give him a chance. How much will you bid? Speak up.”
     “Five dollars,” said the reporter.
     “Five dollars? What do I hear? Say, young fellow, do you want to buy this watch? If you do, you’ll have to speak louder.”
     “I’ll give ten,” was the remark of someone in the crowd.
     “That’s more like it. I’m offered $10. gentlemen. Who’ll make it $11?” and the lusty lunged auctioneer proceeded to urge additional bids.

"Eight Dollars."

  
     The watch was finally knocked down to one of the “gentlemen” in the crowd for $17.50, but not until the reporter had discovered by a close examination that the watch was one of the best deceptions to be found. It was an alloy case, not even filled gold, and the works were of a kind once described to the reporter by a jeweler friend as “the five-dollar-a-[illegible] watches.” The man who “bought” the watch appeared to be very proud of his acquirement, but if one could have watched him later on he would have seen another transfer of the watch back to the case, the gentlemen standing around being merely figureheads to deceive and help [illegible] in the unsuspecting countryman or the [illegible] youth who has not yet learned that all that glitters is not gold.
     In another place a similar watch was put up. There was a “hayseed” who evidently wanted something to tell him when to eat, and all sorts of inducements were made to draw him into a deal but he bought shy and the watch was sold to the original bitter for $8. The bitter, who was only one of the “dummies,” made a noise that he didn’t have quite enough cash at hand but wanted to leave a deposit until he could get the money. This wouldn’t go and the watch was handed back to the auctioneer, who did his best to get the farmer to bid, and finally the old man said he would bid $8. Then others bed and finally the farmer found himself bidding $15. Then he apparently remembered what he had promised to buy his [illegible] and wished he [illegible]. But the wish was [illegible two paragraphs] spider and fly game and it works quite as often as the fabled “come into my parlor.”

A Shy Granger

  
     The auction rooms are, in fact, considerably, if not wholly, on the fake order. Cheap jewelry, watches, and even clothing are put up and bid on by the [illegible] fakirs to prices far above what they are worth. There are some things sold that are of good quality, but they are not given away by any means, and a good profit is always made. But the bulk of the goods are of the conceivably cheap order and not worth having at any price.
     From the fact that so many of these fakirs gain a living in this city is evident that there are a great many green individuals in Denver every day and it is to be believed that they are not all the unsophisticated countrymen who come in to spend their hard-earned cash and see the sights, but that quite a number of Denver’s population have not learned to steer clear of such joints. The man who gets “bit” by such means generally makes no complaint, as he is averse to revealing himself as a rank sucker, and therefore these places keep up their robbing shops simply because no one complains to the police. A few arrests or the charge of false pretenses would have the wholesome effect of ridding the city of “joints” of this character. But of course no such action can be hoped for from the present force.

—

Auction House: pages 15, 43, 75-76, 88, 90, 92, 120, 129-32, 138, 162-63, 180, 188, 190-91, 242, 294, 360, 421-22.

"It is difficult to account for the action of people who fall victims to such bare-faced bunko games; it must be the result of the inherent love of the American people for being humbugged."

— Aspen Daily Chronicle, July 30, 1889.

APRIL 12

1782: The British navy wins its only naval engagement against the colonial navy at the Battle of Saints, off Dominica, during the American Revolution.

1799: Phineas Pratt patents the comb cutting machine.

1811: The first colonists arrive at what would later be named Cape Disappointment, in the future state of Washington.

1812: The War of 1812 begins when President Madison declares war on England.

1833: Charles Gaylor patents the fireproof safe. 

1861: Confederate forces fire on the U.S. at Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina, starting the Civil War.

1862: Denver, Colorado passes its first anti-prostitution law.

1864: Confederate General Nathan Forrest captures Fort Pillow, in Tennessee and executes the black Union troops there.

1865: David “Big Dave” Updyke, stagecoach robber, murderer, and onetime sheriff of Ada County, Idaho Territory, is hung by vigilantes, along with cohort Jake Dixon, 30 miles west of Boise, Idaho. He led the July 13, 1865 stagecoach robbery that left four dead. A note pinned to his body read “aider of murderers and horse thieves.”

1867: General Hancock, at Fort Larned in Kansas, tells Cheyenne Indians to abide by the treaty of 1865 and stay on their lands south of the Arkansas River or risk starting a war.

1872: The outlaw Jesse James gang robs a bank in Columbia, Kentucky, killing one person and getting away with $1,500.

1877: A catcher's mask is used in a baseball game for the first time.

1883: Charles “Black Bart” Bolton robs the Lakeport-Cloverdale stage a second time, this time about 5 miles from Cloverdale, California. At the conclusion of the robbery he leaves behind an unusual calling card: a poem.

1884: Con men Tom Daniels, J. B. Parmer, Bill Kelly, Con Sullivan and George Millsap are arrested in Denver, Colorado for armed robbery of a man ($150 and a pistol), after the man would not play a sure-thing game operated by Charles “Doc” Baggs. Some of the cons would later work for Soapy Smith’s Soap Gang.

1888: John Billee and Thomas Willis rob and murder W. P. Williams and bury his body in a ravine in the Kiamichi Mountains, Oklahoma Territory. They would eventually hang for the crime.

1889: Buffalo Bill's Wild West leaves New York for a tour of France.

1892: Voters in Lockport, New York are the first to use voting machines.

1892: Before becoming a member of the Soap Gang, Jeff Dunbar shoots and kills a black man named Lewis Adams during a card game in a saloon in Casper, Wyoming. Dunbar shot four times, three of the shots taking effect, killing Adams instantly. Dunbar is arrested, tried and acquitted. He leaves for Denver and joins the Soap Gang.

1898: Soap Gang member Harry Green signs his name as “Jeff Smith” on the register of the Hotel Northern in Seattle, causing newspaper there to falsely report that Soapy Smith was in their city. The real Jeff Smith, aka “Soapy,” was in Skagway, Alaska, is mad as hell at Green for pretending to be him.

1900: Corteze D. “Cort” Thomson, Denver Colorado gambler and husband of brothel madame Martha A. “Mattie” Silks, dies of ptomaine poisoning from eating spoiled oysters. Thomson had been involved with bad man Soapy Smith in the shooting death of Cliff Sparks.

1905: The Hippodrome opens in New York City.

Mary Eva Smith, Soapy Smith's widow: "She looked her trouble in the face and did not hesitate to go into the camp of his enemies."

Entire article
Seattle Daily Times
Aug 19, 1898
(transcribed below)

(Click image to enlarge)

he looked her trouble in the face and did not hesitate to go into the camp of his enemies."

      The following is an interesting newspaper clipping discussing Mary Smith's (Mary Eva Noonan) trip to Skagway, Alaska to settle her husband's (Jefferson Randolph "Soapy" Smith II) estate. She knew that "Soapy" was wealthy. Decades later she told her son and grandchildren that she figured Soapy was worth around $40,000,000. What she didn't know was that much of the money was in the hands of friends and associates along the west coast, San Francisco, etc. After his death, these "friends" just kept the money, using it to build their own business empires. What was left in Skagway was stolen. She did come back with personal effects, letters, the rifle, etc.

Seattle daily Times
August 19, 1898

     The steamer Rosalie, which arrived here early Sunday morning, had two passengers of more or less interest. One was major Walsh, retiring Commissioner of the Yukon, the man who had more absolute power than any other that ever went into Alaska, and the man who nearly all of the Dawson miners hate bitterly. The other was a woman, Mrs. Jefferson Randolph Smith of St. Louis Mo., the wife of “Soapy” Smith, who represented all that was lawless at Skagway until two months ago, when his career was suddenly ended by a bullet through the heart from the gun of City Engineer Reid. Both these personages were seen yesterday by a Times reporter.
     Major Walsh was found at the Butler Hotel shortly before his departure for the East yesterday afternoon. He was courteous and had many things to say. He was eager to justify the course taken by himself and other Canadian officers in the interior. He considered it foolish for the papers to pay any attention to the complaints of miners who came out. He thought they would not be satisfied with anything. On all these subjects Major Walsh had an ax to grind.
    Asked regarding the permanence of the Klondike as a mining district major Walsh said:
    “The Klondike will be a good district for many years to come. The output this year was about $11,000,000, but that was mostly from Bonanza and Eldorado Creeks. The claims on these creeks are not nearly worked out yet. Then there are miles of new creek bed, recently located, that have not been worked at all. I think the output next year will be 20,000,000. The royalty will not stop work next season to any extent, as I believe the miners have no intention of quitting work on that account, although they will try a bluff.
    “Dawson is woefully overcrowded just now. Why is it that all the thousands that went into that country came direct to Dawson? There are not too many people in the interior for the country if they were properly distributed, but more than nine-tenths of them are at Dawson. There will be trouble next winter if the newcomers do not spread out to the other districts.”

____

    Mrs. “Soapy” Smith, dressed in deep black and leading a little boy by the hand, trudged down to the overland yesterday afternoon at 4 o’clock and sought the seclusion of a sleeper.
    She had just returned from Skaguay, where she visited the grave of her husband, tried to settle up his tangled business affairs and solve the scene of Alaska’s greatest riot.
    It was a sad trip for Mrs. Smith for, it is said, with all his faults she loved her husband dearly. She looked her trouble in the face and did not hesitate to go into the camp of his enemies. Her seeming refinement of manner made the way easy for her at Skagway and she received every courtesy. She finally decided not to try to remove his body to St. Louis.
    Instead, she brings home the trusty Winchester, a shot from which finally killed Smith’s slayer. She thinks a great deal of the relic and it is seldom out of her site. Just in what shape she found “Soapy’s” business affairs Mrs. Smith declined to say. They were badly tangled up and it is doubtful if she got much from his interest.

Mary Eva Noonan (Smith)
Mar 17, 2009
May 5, 2010 
Jun 18, 2010
Sept 4, 2010 
May 21, 2011
Aug 1, 2011
Dec 25, 2011
Apr 12, 2012
Apr 27, 2012
Sep 14, 2012
Aug 9, 2013
Aug 13, 2013
Aug 20, 2013 

Mary Eva Noonan (Smith): pages 7, 19, 52, 104-08, 124-25, 139, 146-47, 167, 169-72, 197, 202, 281-82, 379, 407, 410-11, 417-18, 425, 428, 436, 442-44, 448, 451, 486, 495, 498-99, 503, 543-46, 554-55, 584-87, 592, 594.

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

— Boulder Daily Camera, June 29, 1893

APRIL 6

1789: Congress begins regular sessions in New York City.

1830: Joseph Smith organizes the Mormon Church in New York.

1830: Mexico disallows further emigration into Texas by settlers from the U.S.

1862: The Battle of Shiloh during the Civil War begins.

1862: The explorer, John W. Powell, loses his right arm during the Battle of Shiloh.

1865: One third of Confederate General Lee’s Army is cut off by Union forces during the Battle of Sayler's Creek.

1875: Alexander Graham Bell is granted a patent for the multiple telegraph, which sends two signals at the same time.

1875: Indian Chief Black Horse and 10 others are killed, and 19 soldiers are wounded near the Cheyenne Agency, Indian Territory.

1881: Luther King is lynched by cow-boys for snitching in the botched Benson stage robbery.

1886: The Anti-Dude Club of Newton, Kansas is formed and sets fines for various infractions, which include carrying a cane, wearing kid gloves and a plug hat, and parting one's hair down the middle.

1892: The Blonger brothers gambling house in Denver, Colorado is closed. The Blonger’s are a rival bunco gang of the Soapy Gang run by bunco artist Soapy Smith.

1897: Special Deputy Sheriff Bat Masterson forcefully enters a voting polling booth at Eighteenth and Larimer Streets in Denver, Colorado. Masterson shot off his pistol to clear the booth of vote counters. Tim Conners pulled out his revolver but it was shot out of his hands by Masterson. C. C Louderbaugh is shot in the hand.

1900: George Scarborough, a peace officer and a cattle detective, dies from gunshot wounds received during a gunfight with four suspected rustlers near San Simon, New Mexico Territory. Scarborough was known as the man who killed the man (John Selman) who killed Wesly Harden.

1909: Americans Robert Peary and Matthew Henson claim to be the first humans to reach the North Pole.

Con man "Big Ed" Burns arrested in Cincinnati 1891

"BIG ED" BURNS
The Wichita daily Eagle
February 14, 1891

(Click image to enlarge)

trong Arm Workers in Trouble.

"Big Ed" Burns

      Confidence man "Big Ed" Burns has a history all his own, but is just a shadow to most historians. Most know him as Ed Byrnes(sic), leader of the Top and Bottom Gang in Benson, Arizona. Burns was one of the men who warned Wyatt Earp that the "cow-boys" were out for blood, just before the gunfight behind the OK Corral. Later, Burns joined bad man "Soapy" Smith in Denver and Creede, Colorado, and followed Soapy north to Skagway, Alaska in 1898.

     Today's post centers around an 1891 newspaper clipping regarding the arrest of Burns in Cincinnati, Ohio. Of interest is the artist rendition of Burns, which is the only known likeness I have ever seen. Below the newspaper clipping I transcribed the text for ease of reading.  

Copy of original article
(transcribed below)
The Wichita daily Eagle
February 14, 1891

(Click image to enlarge)

The Wichita daily Eagle

(Wichita, Kansas)

February 14, 1891

“Strong Arm Workers” in Trouble.

      Three men were arrested at Newport, Ky., recently who have turned out to be the ringleaders of a gang of sneak thieves who have committed a number of bold depredations in the neighborhood of Cincinnati. They were Frank Hayes, alias Lang; Frank Thompson, alias McCarthy, and James Williams. Upon investigation it was found that Hayes is none other than the notorious Big Ed Burns, of Chicago, whose specialty has been “strong arm work.” He recently served a term in the Stillwater penitentiary for robbing a room at the Fischer house, Minneapolis. Subsequently he was arrested on suspicion at Chicago and given time to leave town. He then visited Cincinnati, and in conjunction with Thompson and Williams, committed a series of robberies of the “strong arm” type, which means the spoliation of the victims by main strength. Williams was recently a drug clerk, and new to the business. He made a full confession, and the whole gang will soon be under lock and key.

"Big Ed" Burns
Nov 13. 2009
Feb 10, 2010
May 20, 2010
Apr 7, 2011

"Big Ed" Burns: pages 43, 77-79, 101-02, 120, 176, 210, 405, 487, 489, 571.

"Gambling in itself is bad enough even when the game is square (honest); but your professional gambler never plays the game that way. He is an expert with cards. His seemingly innocent shuffle of the pack gives him a full knowledge of where every card is located. He deals you a hand good enough to induce you to make dangerously high bets, but not high enough to win. He lures his victim by small winnings to destruction in the end. He uses cards so cleverly marked on the back that he can read the values of your hand as well as if he were looking over your shoulder, and governs his play accordingly."

—Harry Houdini, The Right Way to Do Wrong, 1906.

APRIL 4

1812: The territory of Orleans becomes the 18th state and will be known as Louisiana.

1818: The U.S. flag was declared to have 13 red and white stripes and 20 stars and that a new star would be added for each new state.

1841: President William Harrison dies of pneumonia at the age of 68. He is the first president to die in office.

1848: Thomas Douglas is the first San Francisco public teacher.

1850: The city of Los Angeles is incorporated.

1862: The Civil War Battle of Yorktown begins as Union General George B. McClellan closes in on Richmond, Virginia.

1873: Bad man John Wesley Hardin shoots and kills Deputy John B. Morgan in a saloon at Cuero, Texas.

1878: Dick Brewer, ranch foreman of John Tunstall's horse ranch, is shot dead by Jesse “Buckshot Roberts” Andrews, at Blazer's Mill, New Mexico Territory.

1878: Outlaw Sam Bass and his gang rob the Texas and Pacific railroad at the Eagle Ford, Texas station, getting away with about $233.95. Soapy Smith later witnessed the shooting death of Sam Bass in Round Rock, Texas.

1887: Susanna M. Salter is elected as the first female mayor in the US, of Argonia, Kansas.

1895: William "Tulsa Jack" Blake of the Doolin-Dalton Gang is killed by Deputy Marshal Will Banks in a gun battle in Major County, Oklahoma. Blake took part in numerous bank robberies and train robberies, including the battle with US Marshals in Ingalls, Oklahoma in 1893.

1930: Denver, Colorado policeman Sam Howe dies. He had been with the Denver police for 48-years, starting in 1873. His name and a monetary figure grace the pages of one of bad man “Soapy” Smith’s notebooks.

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

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

(Click image to enlarge)

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

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

Hi,

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

     Thanks

Karen Hendricks

I responded immediately,

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

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

Mulgrew writes,

82 Haight St.

May 27, 1897

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

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

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

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

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

     Yours truly,

F. B. Mulgrew

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

San Francisco,

Nov. 29, 1897

Jeff R. Smith, Esq.:

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

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

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

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

     Yours truly,

H. B. [F. B.] Mulgrew

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

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

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

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

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

Karen Hendricks

Grave marker
Felix B. Mulgrew
Find-A-Grave

(Click image to enlarge)

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

Attention Smith family members!

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

Unknown Smith?
Sheridan, Missouri
Karen Hendricks collection

(Click image to enlarge)

SOURCES:

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

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

Felix B. Mulgrew: pages 432-433.

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

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

MARCH 30

1822: Florida becomes a U.S. territory.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Pistol balls sped in all directions." Soapy Smith's brother, Bascomb Smith

THEY ALL HAVE "PULLS"
Denver Post, November 11, 1896
The contents of the article
can be read below

(Click image to enlarge)

istol balls sped in all directions

      When Soapy Smith left Denver, Colorado for the final time, Bascomb remained in Denver and thereafter in the West, never again to work with with his older brother. He continued to find trouble as revealed in a November 18, 1896, letter to Soapy from friend William “Bat” Masterson. He begins gently with salutations, commiseration over hard times, and works up to news of deep concern over Bascomb’s doings:

... I have not seen Bascomb since he was released after completing the year’s sentence. I hear of him, however, and always in some kind of trouble. He has been arrested twice of late for disturbance and discharging firearms down in the neighborhood of 20th and Market streets, and you know the kind of people who frequent that locality. If I were you I would advise him to leave here, as it is only a question of time until he will get a “settler” and every time the papers speak of him they generally say the brother of “Soapy” Smith, who was last heard of skinning suckers in Alaska. So you see you are not getting any the best of it. ... [1]

Masterson was not exaggerating Bascomb’s troubles. The Denver Evening Post lists five charges against him, including vagrancy, drunkenness, disturbing the peace, carrying concealed weapons, and discharging firearms. He was fined a total of $153 and had his “elegant, silver-plated, highly engraved revolver confiscated.” [2] On November 5, 1896, he was in court for stealing a woman’s expensive diamond-encrusted jewelry. [3] According to the Post, Bascomb still had some friends in the current administration and received an order to leave town rather than face fines still owed from his October melee. [4] Bascomb left for an unidentified destination.

Following is the Denver Post, November 11, 1896 article in it's entirety.

THEY ALL HAVE “PULLS”

—

BASCOM SMITH, THE BROTHER OF “SOAPY,” IS FREE AGAIN.

— He Was Not Obliged to Pay $125 Fine Nor Was He Made to Serve a Term In Jail – Rosa Lee had a “pull” and Said So and Then Proved It – The Disgraceful Condition of City Hall Affairs.

—

     Bascom Smith has made a record for paying $125 in fines to the police court as easily as any “bad man” ever arraigned in that tribunal. He is the brother of the celebrated and smooth fingered “Soapy” Smith, said to be now working the verdant population in the Northwest. Bascom, to some extent, banks on his more astute relative’s reputation and apparently retained the influence which that peculiar Smith family always had on Denver politicians, and he worked the old “pull” to get out of the clutches of the law as recently as November 1.

     A few days preceding the recent election he filled up with Larimer street whiskey, and failing to discover enemies on the thoroughfare he repaired to his apartments. He there commenced a warfare that aroused the neighboring roomers. Pistol balls sped in all directions and some narrowly missed occupants of adjoining apartments. Bascom enjoyed the fight for a while, but was finally arrested by the officers who had been called in by frightened roomers. When the arraigned for trial (illegible) charges continuance was easily secured for several days, while the Smith powers were working with the political machine that controls the police department to settle the affair at small cost and in a manner that would not compel Bascom to pay for his fun like other men. The machine worked in the desired manner after the necessary oil had been applied.

     After several continuances, Bascom stood trial and pleaded guilty and was assessed $25 each for vagrancy, drunk, disturbance, concealed weapons and discharging firearms within the city limits. Men without a “pull” would likely have served the full term required to liquidate the aggregate punishment in the city jail or paid the money over to the police clerk. At best the ordinary lowly carouser who stood convicted on so many charges would have been compelled to do penance to some degree. But Bascom did nothing of the kind. He secured suspension of all the sentences on condition that he would leave town. Before departing if he has gone, he waited until election day arrived and put in on that occasion yeoman service for the Adams ticket. He earned in the one day perhaps $150 for himself, whatever he did with the other fellows.

—

SOURCES

[Bascomb's birth name did not have the last "b" as most newspaper reported]. 
[1] "Correspondence of a Crook," Alaska-Yukon Magazine (Jan 1908) p. 330-331.
[2] Rocky Mountain News, November 3, 1896, p. 8, and Denver Evening Post, November 2, 1896, p. 10.
[3] Denver Evening Post, November 5, 1896, p. 8.
[4] Denver Evening Post, November 11, 1896.










Bascomb Smith 
October 4, 2009
August 1, 2011 
May 4, 2012
September 20, 2015
September 22, 2015
March 23, 2019

Bascomb Smith: pp 22, 41-42, 67, 75-76, 88-89, 92, 120-22, 139, 143, 162-63, 165, 167, 169, 176, 178, 182, 214, 247, 264, 273-75, 336, 340, 352, 355, 361, 363, 367, 370-77, 381-86, 391-99, 403-05, 408-09, 412, 420-23, 519, 554-55, 584, 588-89, 594.

“I will cast as many fraudulent votes as I want to.” Said he, “and there is no — — law can prevent me.”

—(Rocky Mountain News)
Alias Soapy Smith, p. 264.

MARCH 18

1541: Hernando de Soto observed the first recorded flood of the Mississippi River.

1673: Lord Berkley sold his half of New Jersey to the Quakers.

1692: William Penn is deprived of his governing powers.

1766: Britain repeals the Stamp Act.

1813: David Melville patents the gas streetlight.

1818: Congress approves the first pension for government service.

1834: The first railroad tunnel in the U.S. (Pennsylvania) is completed.

1842: Nashville Franklyn Leslie, more well known as Frank “Buckskin” Leslie, is born near San Antonio, Texas. medical student, Confederate soldier, scout, Indian fighter, barkeeper, shootist, saloon proprietor.

1850: Henry Wells and William Fargo founded The American Express.

1852: Wells Fargo, a subsidiary of American Express, begins operations in the California gold fields.

1859: Cadet George A. Custer receives two demerits for throwing food in the West Point mess hall.

1863: Mexican outlaw Felipe Nerio Espinosa brutally murders prospector Henry Harkens with bullets and an ax. He claims to be seeking revenge for the deaths of relatives killed during the Mexican-American War. Other family members join him, becoming known as “the axe-men of Colorado.” They killed about 32 individuals. Espinosa’s brother is shot and killed by the Colorado Cavalry on April 27, 1863 but Espinosa escapes. On October 15, 1863 Espinosa and a nephew are tracked and shot dead, their heads cut off as proof.

1865: The Congress of the Confederate States of America adjourns for the last time.

1874: Hawaii signs a treaty giving exclusive trading rights with the islands to the U.S.

1878: The outlaw Sam Bass gang robs the Houston and Texas at Hutchins, Texas. Henry “Heck” Thomas, a noted lawman, serving as the express agent at the time, managed to hide $4,000. The robbers got away with a total of $232.80. Soapy Smith later witnessed the shooting death of Sam Bass in Round Rock, Texas.

1879: Lincoln County War combatants, William Campbell and Jesse Evans escape from Fort Sutton, New Mexico Territory.

1880: The Southern Pacific Railroad of Arizona and New Mexico is completed to Tucson, where it connects with the San Francisco and Pacific systems.

1881: Barnum and Bailey's Greatest Show on Earth opens in Madison Square Gardens.

1882: Morgan Earp is murdered, shot in the back, while playing billiards a few minutes before midnight on the 17th.

1882: Lincoln County Sheriff Pat Garrett, finally collects the $500 reward for killing outlaw Billy the Kid in New Mexico Territory.

1883: The Cheyenne Daily Leader (Cheyenne, Wyoming) reports the total number of executions is 37 by the "gunny-sack brigade" and 2 by legal authorities.

1892: Soap Gang member and manager of the Orleans Club, Joe “Gambler Joe” Simmons, dies of pneumonia in Creede, Colorado. The saloons and gaming halls in town close for the funeral.

1898: Formation of Soapy Smith’s private militia, the Skagway Military Company in Skagway, Alaska.

1901: Outlaw Ben Cravens and Bert Welty robbed the B. F. Swartz and Company store at Red Rock Oklahoma. During the robbery postmaster Alvin Bateman is killed. While escaping, Welty is shot and killed by Cravens, whether by accident or on purpose is unknown. Cravens is tracked to the home of Isom Cunningham, northeast of Pawnee, and when a posse confronts him, he shoots and kills Deputy Tom Johnson, then escapes.

1910: The first opera by a U.S. composer is performed at the New York Met.