The Con King of Skagway Soapy Smith’s deception and demise

BY MICHAEL ENGELHARD

AVING WRESTLED THE WIN- CHESTER FROM A SEVERELY WOUNDED “SOAPY” SMITH, the Irish employee of the new HWhite Pass and Yukon Railway, Jesse Murphy, shoots the uncrowned “King of Skagway.” Soapy dies on the spot, the final slug lodged in his heart. The date, July 8, 1898, marks one of the last shootouts, the end of a most notorious con man’s reign. “I beg to state that I am no gambler. A gambler takes chances with his money, I Andy Thomas’s The End of don’t,” Jefferson Randolph “Soapy” Smith Soapy Smith, a meticulous declared four years before his dockside recreation of the Juneau death. After running gambling and Wharf showdown. prostitution rings in Denver and Creede, , he had moved his operations to the towns of Dyea and Suave, soft-spoken, and smartly dressed, the “Skaguay.” As head of a band of about 20 native Georgian had earned his nickname by “heelers, rounders, and cappers” he set up shell games and other scams. His hawking soap bars to Colorado miners. By sleight bunko-men hoodwinked rubes freshly disembarked or robbed them at folding of hand, the 20- to 50-dollar bills with which he game tables on the trail to the Yukon’s wrapped prize packages as bait always made it headwaters lakes. Suave, soft-spoken, and smartly back into his, not the buyers’, pockets. dressed, the native Georgian had earned his nickname by hawking soap bars to Colorado miners. By sleight of hand, the ers of their grubstakes. Smith thought the became known as “the real City Hall.” 20- to 50-dollar bills with which he cheechakos were better off losing their When the Spanish-American War wrapped prize packages as bait always belongings in port rather than inland, broke out that April, Smith formed his made it back into his, not the buyers’, where they’d perish anyway or be a own volunteer army, approved by the pockets. burden to fellow stampeders. War Department, commended by Soapy’s rogue gallery featured muggers Jeff Smith’s Parlor (still standing) President William McKinley. During the and pickpockets, burglars and prostitutes served as a fake telegraph office and gang Fourth of July parade four days before his —“Soiled Doves.” Yeah Mow (“Wildcat”) headquarters. Miners paid dearly for wire demise, Smith led his company from a Hopkins was a bodyguard during San messages, but the line ended a few feet gray horse and afterward met with the Francisco’s Chinatown wars. “Big Ed away, in the wall. Fleeced targets or governor. His thug army, calculated Burns,” a companion from Smith’s Denver “marks” raising a ruckus were either charity, and bribery of the sheriff and city days, chomped whole cigars as chaw. The recruited or else silenced with steamer officials ensured that for a while, the cogs

benign-looking “Reverend” Bowers, fare home. Smith was adept at political of his mini-empire turned smoothly. THOMAS ARTS FINE ANDY COURTESY (THISPAGE) PARK, HISTORICAL NATIONAL RUSH GOLD KLONDIKE SERVICE, PARK NATIONAL COURTESY PAGE) (OPPOSITE 04.08.01.01.041 KLGO COLLECTION, WHITING T. ROBERT dressed as a preacher, relieved newcom- machinations also, and his oyster parlor Eventually, concerned citizens

46 ALASKAMAGAZINE.COM SEPTEMBER 2018 opposed the gang’s depredations with a vigilante “Committee of 101.” A posted notice urged all “objectionable characters” to leave or “prompt action” would follow. Th ings came to a head on July 7 when John D. Stewart tried to exchange his heavy gold poke for cash. Posing as a helpful Sour- dough, “Old Man Tritt” lured the prospector into Soapy’s parlor. A shell game out back quickly derailed. It was a setup. In the ensuing confusion, one swindler bumped into Stewart and fl ed with his nest egg. Next day, informed of the miner’s grievance, the vigilantes gathered on Juneau Wharf ’s boardwalk. After downing a whiskey, Smith stormed to the harbor to uphold his reputation and sway. Th ere, the lantern-jawed Indian fi ghter and former schoolteacher Frank Reid Soapy riding confronted him. Two close-range With the help of the Army sum- Michael Engelhard is the author of Ice in Skagway’s shots from Reid’s pistol felled moned from Dyea, Smith’s henchmen Bear: Th e Cultural History of an Arctic 1898 Fourth Soapy, but return fi re from Smith’s were quickly imprisoned or exiled Icon and of American Wild: Explorations of July parade Winchester wounded the vigilante from town. Th e king was dead. Th e from the Grand Canyon to the Arctic (gray horse on left). guard mortally in the leg and curtain had dropped in a drama Ocean. His only experience with gambling groin. worthy of a bard. is watching Bingo in Nome.

SEPTEMBER 2018 ALASKA 47