
The infamous Soapy Smith was a 19th century American confidence man and gambler par excellence.
He is known as the "king of the frontier confidence men." As a crime lord Soapy organized a large and powerful
gang of talented grifters and rogues in order to assume control of the criminal underworlds in Denver and Creede, Colorado,
between the years 1884 and 1895, and in Skagway, Alaska, during the Klondike gold rush of 1896-1898. In the latter he was
known in the newspapers around the nation as the "uncrowned king of Skagway."
Soapy
Smith was the last of his kind, an old west crime figure who refused to give up the old ways for a constantly changing, modernizing
nation. He was shot dead in a horrific gunfight while facing angry vigilantes on July 8, 1898. Four days prior, he had been the man of the hour. He had led Skagway’s
first Independence Day parade as its grand marshal, and he stood on stage along side Alaska Territorial Governor John Brady.
Four days later he died, labeled a criminal outlaw.
This is the story of
a very complex criminal. Although a bad man, he was also a self-styled patriot and a charitable man, strikingly generous
to those in need. He was known to his peers and enemies for his bravery and loyalty to his gang, friends, and family. His
motto was "Get it while the get'in's good." In the days of the old west, no one proved more slippery.

In Association
with The Soapy Smith Preservation Trust "One owes respect to the living, but to the dead, only the truth."


Help us keep this site
running as well as help repair and provide upkeep for Soapy's gravesite, the Skull memorial, and other
important Soapy projects.


"Hey You!..What's New?" (Click on my picture and see) Last
Updated: July 19, 2008 (site creation date May
1, 2005)
|