History
Part 2
A
gambler is the only person who in the exercise of his profession
learns
to smile in defeat, and yet is fearful to exult in success. The first
leads to poverty, the other to jail. If he loses he is a pauper; if he
wins
he is a robber.
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- The prize soap sell swindle
- Gang rivals Sam & Lou Blonger
- The Pocatello, Idaho gun battle of 1889
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- Bob Ford (shot Jesse James)
- The Orleans Club (saloon/gambling hall)
- "McGinty", the petrified man
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- Soapy vs The Colorado Militia
- The end of Soapy's reign in Denver
The Klondike Gold Rush, 1896-1898
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- Skaguay (Skagway)
- The Telegraph swindle
- Jeff Smith's Parlor (saloon)
- The committees of 101 & 317
The Klondike Gold Rush, February-July, 1898
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- Soapy creates his own military army
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- Hero of Skaguay July 4, 1898
The Tragic Death of Soapy Smith
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- The J. D. Stewart robbery
- The gunfight on Juneau wharf, July 8, 1898
How Are You Fixed For Soap?
Cash Prizes!
Jefferson
Smith (he preferred to be called Jeff) became infamously known for his
prize soap package swindle, in which victims were thouroughly and
beautifully taken. He set up his tripe and keister (stand and suitcase)
on the sidewalk and began a spiel on the wonders of the soap he was
offering for sale. He claimed that in order to increase sales, he
offered cash prizes in several of
the soap packages. He would begin to wrap up the cakes of soap with
plain paper. Every couple of bars, he would show the crowd some
currency, ranging from $1 to $100, and wrap the bill in with
the soap. After mixing all of the wrapped packages together, he offered
them up for sale. The price started at $1 and increased from there in
auction style as the soap packages dwindled.
"Cleanliness is next to Godliness, but the feel of a good crisp greenback in the pocket is paradise itself, step up my friends and watch me closely."
From The Reign of Soapy Smith, 1935
Unknown
to his victims, mixed in with the crowd were members of the soap gang,
known as shills. Only these shills were fortunate in picking out the
lucky bars of soap that contained cash. Once opening the package and
finding money inside, the shill would let out a holler of celebration
and begin to mingle through the crowd, letting everyone within a block
or two away know that they had beat the soap salesman at his own game.
They were all too glad to offer tips on how to pick the right package.
It was all a swindle. There was no money in the soap packages to win.
No one but Jefferson's men could ever win. In the newspapers, Jeff and
his associates
became known as the "Soap gang." Jefferson Smith, the shrewd operator,
became known all over the United States as "Soapy" Smith. The name
stuck with him to his dying day. None of his friends called him Soapy,
only his enemies called him that. Jefferson sometimes used the alias to
instill intimidation into his foes.
 "We've been waiting for you"
Soapy
utilized the Prize Package Soap Sell swindle, and the alias that came
with it, for over a decade. It helped him accrue three major empires of
crime. It must be realized that according to an inflation calculator,
one dollar, the starting price on his soap in 1885 is equal to twenty
dollars today. The crimes of Soapy's organization became so well known
throughout the western United States for its extensive operations in
Denver that it was common for the soap gang to warn intended victims of
the many swindlers roaming the city. In this manner the bunco man would gain the trust of his victim and lead him directly into a web of deception.
Soapy's
bunco organization had its share of hard times. To deal with were
religious "do-gooders" and political reform movements, all aimed at
closing down the saloon and gambling elements in the city. These
attempts to clean up the city rarely lasted very long.
There were also other rival grifter organizations competing for control
of the underworld, and they used every means possible to dethrone Soapy. The main rival gang is believed to have been led by brothers, Sam and Lou Blonger.
 Shoot-out at the Pocatello train depot
At
least two attempts were made to assassinate Soapy. One attempt on his
life occurred in 1889 while sitting in a train car at the Pocatello,
Idaho, depot. A very descriptive letter in the Smith family collection
tells of the ensuing gun battle between another rival gang and some of
the soap gang. Soapy had shot two of his attackers before fleeing on
horseback, at a full run. Writing
to his wife, he talked of having half his mustache shot off. This
letter, and many more, will be fully viewable in the great grandson's
up coming biography on the life of Soapy.
Soapy and his gang flee for their lives
Soapy
was overlord of Denver's underworld from 1887 to 1895. In the mid
1890's he slowly began to lose his crown partly due to his rivals but
mostly due to his own bad temper, causing him legal problems, ranging
from simple public disturbances to attempted murder. When Soapy mixed
his temper with alcohol, he became a very dangerous man. He was simply
becoming too well known for his criminal activities. The local city
officials could no longer look the other way, as they had done for
years. The police and city hall were openly being accused of working in league with the bunco gang, which was not the least bit an exaggeration.
CREEDE
1892
Soapy's Saloon and gambling hall
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Creede, Colorado: June, 1892
In Denver's numerous reforms of the 1880's, saloons and gamblers were temporarily put out of business. They often wandered off to towns close by to wait out the rarely long lasting reform movements. Once the reform wave receded, a signal was given and the business men of pleasure would return to Denver, often times opening up their operations in the very locations they were forced to close.
During one of the heavier attempts to close saloons and gaming in 1892, Jeff organized his friends and associates into a sort of union and set out for the new silver camp of Creede, Colorado.
"I'd do ANYTHING for some leases on Main Street"
Soapy cleverly obtained numerous leases for low rents along the main street at Creede, with the help of some Denver female associates of the soiled dove persuasion. It was in Creede, known at the time as Jimtown, that Soapy began to build the second criminal empire of his life. He quickly declared himself the town boss with the ranks of the underworld and gambling dens controlling much of the main business. Creede ran wide open, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. The blazing lights coming from the saloons and night time businesses bounced off the steep walls on each side of the canyon in which the town was nestled. The brightness gave Cy Warman, a newspaper man, the idea for a poem about the silver camp, the main Chorus being, "It's day all day in the day time and there is no night in Creede."
It's day all day in the day time
...and there is no night in Creede.
There was plenty of wild life, hell raising, and general disorder at first glance. Yet there was little violent crime relative to other similar boomtowns of the era. Some historians state that it was Soapy's control over the underworld that helped keep the peace. Trouble makers were sent packing. Even Bob Ford (killer of outlaw Jesse James) and soap gang member Joe Palmer were banned from the town for going on a drinking binge and shooting up the town. After a short period, Soapy had a hand in allowing them to return to the town.
An attempt to kill Soapy occurred in his saloon, the Orleans Club, in which Soapy came out unscathed, but friend Joe Palmer had his thumbs shot clean off. Palmer followed Soapy to Skagway and remained there after Soapy was killed, no one apparently ever knowing he was a member of the soap gang.
It was in Creede that Soapy produced one of his more bizarre methods of obtaining wealth and fame. He introduced "McGinty," the petrified man, claiming to have purchased him from some miners who had unearthed him in the outskirts of Creede.
McGinty was placed on exhibit for only one dime. Soapy's profits did not come from the little dimes paid by the curious, but rather from the shell games and three-card Monte operators who entertained the paying public while waiting in line to see McGinty. The photograph to the left is not McGinty, but the real one does still exists. Photographs of the original McGinty, along with the location will be disclosed in Jeff Smith's up coming biography.
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McGINTY
THE PETRIFIED MAN
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The petrified man discovered near Creede, Colo., April 9, 1892, is now on exhibition.
A marvel of wonders; every muscle, the pores of the skin, the finger
nails and toe nails all complete, in a perfect state of preservation,
as natural as life.
Skeptics, chemists, sculptors and all wise men are especially invited.
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Admission 10 cents,
914 Seventeenth street.
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A thin dime was all one needed to see McGinty, the Petrified Man...Games played while waiting in line cost extra. McGinty was in Creede camp for only a short time, and then moved to Denver. Soapy and the other sporting and saloon men recieved word that Denver was relaxings its restrictions on drinking and gambling. It appears that Denver suffered more from imposing the reforms when so many of the businesses that produced city revenue had left for Creede. The only way to get them all back was to allow them to operate as they had done in the past, without restrictions. Soapy was welcomed back to Denver as the city fathers knew he would bring most of his associates back with him. It was perfect timing for the gamblers and saloon men to leave Creede because on June 5, 1892 the entire main business district of Creede was destroyed in a horrific fire. Soapy's Orleans Club was one of the buildings lost in the fire. Creede did attempt to rebuild, but never again reached the status it had when Soapy Smith ran the town.
THE DENVER CITY HALL WAR
1894
Soapy faced two Gatling guns and two canons during the City Hall War
Soapy resumed business at the Tivoli Club in Denver and it was business as usual, as if nothing had ever changed. This open attitude caught the eye of the new Colorado governor, a member of the newly formed Populist Party, whose platform was based on social and political reforms. The Governor decided to use the capital of Denver as an example of his electorial might and the party platform. He started with city hall, firing three members of the fire and police board. The other corrupt city officials, fearing for their positions, banded together and refused to obey the governor's orders to abandon their power. The furious governor ordered the eviction of all who ignored his orders and threatened to call out the state militia to force them out if need be.
Soapy says, "You are under arrest"
Denver's corrupt city officials fortified city hall against attack and called on Soapy and the underworld to aid in their cause. Soapy knew that if the hands of power changed in Denver, he might be forced to leave the city. So aid their cause he did. Soapy was sworn in as a special deputy, and with a handful of his men, he directed part of the defense of Denver City Hall and entrenched himself in the upper floors of the center tower. He had with him, homemade dynamite "torpedo" bombs, that were meant to throw down upon advancing troops. The lower floors had armed policemen, sheriffs and firemen ready and willing to open fire on the state militia. Crowds of Denerites dangerously flooded the streets around city hall and waited for the war to begin.
The state militia arrived, bringing with them two cannons and two Gatling guns. Commanders deployed the weapons of destruction in the middle of the street and awaited the order to fire on city hall. That order was given and reversed numerous times throughout the day, and there was grave concern that many bystanders might be killed. In the end, the governor was convinced by cooler heads that no blood should be shed, and so the city hall war ended peacefully. Soapy and the combatants inside city hall celebrated their victory, but it would prove to be short lived. Denver was tired of criminals running city hall. Gambling was eventually shut down within city limits. It did not go away, it just went underground, hidden away from the eyes of the lawman.
 Raid on a gambling den
Soapy was not a man to let an opportunity slip by him. He used the deputy sheriff commissions and badges given to him during the city hall war, to stage fake raids on his gaming dens. The raids would take place just as Soapy's victims lost what money they had in a "sure-thing" hand of poker, or other game of chance. Victims, usually out-of-towners, would be "arrested" and taken towards the jail. Victims invaraibly would plead that they were from out of town and did not know it was illegal to gamble. The "officer" would feign sympathy and allow their victim to go free, if they promised to leave the city immediately, naturally leaving their lost money behind. Most victims were all to happy to do so, rather than face a night in jail and the fines that accompany it.
There
isn't a man in this town, who gives
more to the poor than I do. What
if I do take
a few tributes from the other fellows? Don't
these guys
come here to the city to lose their
dough? Guess the roulette wheel
would get it
Jeff R. Smith, Denver Republican, 1/20/1896
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 One last game amongst friends
Soapy Smith's decade reign of corruption and power were coming to an end in the mid 1890's. Soapy and younger brother Bascomb were constantly being reported in the newspapers, getting into saloon brawls that sometimes led to gunplay. In 1895 Jeff and Bascomb severly assaulted John Hughes, a rival saloon proprietor.
 Bascomb's Home for One Year
Bascomb was apprehended on a charge of attempted murder and sentenced to one year in prison. Soapy skipped town to keep from enjoying the same fate. Soapy made several unsuccessful attempts to beat the rap, and get Bascomb out on bail, but the courts would not conduct his trial without Soapy's presence. When Soapy refused to show up in court for his hearing, he became a fugitive from justice. Several times, it was reported that he had snuck back into the city on business, but he left as quickly as he had arrived for fear of arrest. The crown of Denver's underworld was passed to Jeff's rivals, Sam and Lou Blonger.
  
 
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