| Soapy Smith |
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Soapy's birth name was Jefferson Randolph Smith, II. He was born 1860 in Newnan, Georgia to a family of education and wealth. His great grandfather was a plantation owner. His father, a southern lawyer, was financially ruined after the American Civil War . In 1876 his family moved to Round Rock, Texas , and then on to Austin, Texas . It was in Texas that young Smith began to work as a con man. In Fort Worth, Texas He formed a small gang of Shills and Thieves to work with him, and soon became a well known underworld crime boss. This "''king of the frontier con men,''" spent the next 22 years as a professional gambler, bunko man and leader of criminals. The gang moved around from town to town, plying their trade on their unwary victims. THE SOAP SELL SWINDLE Sometime in the late 1870's, early 1880's, Smith started using a swindle called the "Prize Package Soap Sell." It is unclear whether he invented the scam or learned it from an associate named Taylor, as described in early biographies. Smith would set up a folding table on busy street corners, on which he would set up his scam. Piling cakes of ordinary house soap onto the table, he began espousing the wonders of his soap. As he spoke to the curious onlookers he began wrapping money, ranging from one dollar, on up to a one hundred dollar bill, inside a bar of soap. After doing this several times, he would toss the money enriched packages onto the table among other bars, containing no money. The cakes of soap were then placed on sale to the crowd for one dollar each. Shills (members of the "''soap gang''") placed among the crowd, would buy a bar, unwrap it, and loudly hollar that they had won, showing their winnings for all to see. This enticed the onlookers to buy a bar of soap, and often times, several bars, in the hopes of winning their share of free money. The sale was a pure and simple swindle. Through manipulation in the wrapping process, closely related to a magic trick, It was assured that the only money "won" went to members of the gang. Smith used this swindle for two decades with great success. He became known as Soapy Smith, and along with other scams, he was able to build three major criminal empires during his lifetime. DENVER, COLORADO'S UNDERWORLD In 1879 Smith moved to Denver and began to build the first of his empires. As his gang grew, so did his power at city hall. By 1887 Soapy reputedly had a hand in most of the underworld activities in the city. Newspaper editors in Denver openly wrote that Soapy Smith was in complete control of the criminal and gambling underworld in their city, and that because of the corrupt city politicians and police force, nothing could seemingly stop him. In the mid 1880's he opened a saloon and gambling hall, calling it the ''Tivoli Club''. Story has it that above the saloon door was a sign that read " Caveat Emptor ," which is Latin for "''Let the buyer beware''." His younger brother, Bascomb Smith, joined in with the gang, running a cigar store that had non-stop rigged poker games and other swindles going on in a back room. His political clout was so powerful that many of the crooked police officers patroling the streets would not arrest him or his gang. When members of the gang were arrested, he easily arranged their quick release. The Denver city election results of 1889 became the focus of a trial which showed corrupt ties and payoffs between Soapy, the mayor and the chief of police. His own businesses included fraudulent Lottery shops, Fake Watch es and Diamonds and false stocks of nonexistent businesses. He opened an office in the prominent Chever building from which to run his operations. Smith was not without trials that would try to take his position in the Denver underworld. He faced many assassination attempts and shot several of the assailants. Soapy became increasingly known for his black temper and heavy drinking. As bad as Soapy Smith was he was also known as a charitable giver, donating to several organizations and churches that helped the poor on a regular basis. Smith also cooperated with the law when it suited him and bribed many of the police officers. TAKING OVER CREEDE, COLORADO In 1892 Denver was going through one of several anti-gambling and saloon reforms, in which the city restricted many of Soapy's enterprises. Smith and many of the Denver gamblers and saloon owners moved to Creede, Colorado (first known as Jimtown), a camp boomtown that had formed around a silver strike. He moved the ''Tivoli Club'' to a more hidden location, keeping it open while he took a number of his men to check out Creede. He acquired leases along the main street of the town and rented them out to his friends. Once Smith had gathered enough money and gained enough friends and allies, he announced that he was going to "run" Creede, as the camp boss. Soapy Smith opened a gambling hall and saloon named the ''Orleans Club.'' With a friend, Joe Simmons, as manager of the club and John Light as camp sheriff, Soapy began his second empire. He purchased and briefly exhibited a Petrified Man nicknamed McGinty for a price of ten cents per viewer. The gimmick was to get the suckers (victims) to come to him. While customers were waiting in line to pay their dimes to get a glimps of McGinty, Soapy's shell games and three-card Monte tossers were winning the dollars out of their victims pocket-books. Soapy Smith provided an order of sorts, protecting his friends and associates from the town's council and expelling violent troublemakers. Many of the influential newcomers were sent to meet him. Soapy grew rich in the process but also was known to give money away, using it to build churches, help the poor and bury unfortunate prostitutes. Creede's boom very quickly waned and the corrupt Denver officials gave word that the reforms there were coming to an end. Soapy took McGinty back to Denver and his ''Tivoli Club''. He left at the right time as Creede lost most of its business district in a huge fire. Buildings lost included the ''Orleans Club''. BACK TO DENVER Back in Denver, Smith opened new businesses which were nothing more than fronts for his many Short Cons . One of these sold railroad tickets to Chicago for a cheap price. Potential ticket purchasers were told that the ticket agent was out of the office, but would soon return. They were then invited to take a chance at winning even more savings on their ticket by playing a game. No ticket agent existed, nor did the cheap ticket. It was all a ruse to steal the victim's money in a rigged game. Colorado governor David H. Waite was elected on a populist platform that included the demand that the elected officials of Denver clean up the city. The governor's first act was to fire three city officials that he felt were the main instigators of corruption. The officials at city hall backed their bosses and refused to vacate the building as ordered. The Governor called out the Colorado state militia to force the men out. They brought with them, two cannons and two gatling guns and were ready to use force if need be. Soapy was called to assist the corrupt policemen, firemen and office holders in their fight. He was commissioned as a deputy sheriff and with some of his men, he climbed to the top of the center tower with rifles and Dynamite bombs to fend off the attackers and dared the militia to fire at him. Thankfully, cooler heads prevailed and orders to fire on city hall were not given. Governor Waite agreed to withdraw his militia to allow the Colorado Supreme Court to decide the case. The Supreme court decided that the governor had authority to fire and replace the commissioners but he was reprimanded for bringing in the militia, what became known as the "''city hall war''." Waite began to clean up Denver and ordered the closer of all gambling dens, saloons and houses of ill repute. Soapy exploited the situation, using the acquired deputy sheriff's commissions he had received from the "''city hall war''," to stage fake arrests in his own gambling houses, to coincide with the moment when his victims had just lost a large sum in a rigged poker game. They were just glad to leave when the "officers" allowed them to walk away from the crime scene rather than face arrest, naturally without recouping their losses. Eventually Smith and his brother Bascomb became too infamous for their crimes and even the most corrupt city officials could no longer protect them. Their influence dwindled. When they were charged with attempted murder, in the beating of a saloon manager, Bascomb was jailed, but Soapy managed to escape. He left Denver, and became a wanted man in Colorado. Lou Blonger and his brother Sam, rivals of the soap gang, took control of the underworld and made sure Soapy never returned to the city. Before leaving Soapy finished up a swindle started down in the country of Mexico. There he tried to convince Mexican president Porfirio Diaz that the country needed a foreign legion. He had managed to organize a recruiting office before the deal collapsed. SKAGWAY, ALASKA & THE KLONDIKE GOLD RUSH When the Yukon Gold Rush begun in 1897, Soapy Smith moved his operations to Skagway, Alaska (then "Skaguay"). He set up his third empire in much the way he had in Denver and Creede. He put the Deputy US Marshal in his payroll, opened a fake Telegraph office, in which the wires went as far as the wall, and no further. Not only did the telegraph office obtain fees for "sending" messages, but cash laden victims soon found themselves losing even more money in a poker game with new found "friends." Smith opened a saloon, and named it ''Jeff Smith's Parlor''. There was no gambling inside, as it was used as his office in which to run his operations from. Although Skagway had a city hall building, Soapy's saloon became known as "''the real city hall''". When a group of vigilantes, the "''Committee 101''", threatened to drive Soapy Smith and his gang out of the area, he formed his own "''law and order society''," that advertised 317 members. With the sinking of the battleship ''Maine'', and the start of the Spanish-American War in 1898, Smith formed his own volunteer army with the approval of the U.S. war department. It was called the ''Skaguay Military Company,'' and he was captain. Smith used this army to strengthen his grip of the town. On July 4 1898 , Soapy was the hero of the day. As grand marshal of the city parade he led his army on a grey horse. On the grandstand, he sat beside the territorial governor and other officials, and seemed to be unstopable. HIS LAST DAYS On July 7 1898 a returning Klondike miner (John Stewart) came to Skagway with a sack of gold, estimated to be worth US $2,600. Three of Soapy's men met up with Stewart and convinced the miner to place a large wager in a three-card Monte game. Stewart balked at having to pay up his losses and the three men grabbed the entire sack of gold and ran. The Vigilantes re-emerged and demanded that Soapy hand over the gold. Soapy refused to return any gold, claiming that Stewart had lost it fairly in an honest game. On the evening of July 8 1898 , the vigilantes organized a meeting on Juneau wharf. Soapy went down to the wharf with a rifle draped over his shoulder. At the entrance to the wharf Soapy was stopped by four guards blocking his way. He begun an argument with one of the guards, a man named Frank Reid. A gunfight erupted and both men were fatally wounded. Letters from J. M. Tanner (made marshal of Skagway after the gunfight), one of the guards with Reid that night, clearly show that another guard, other than Reid, also fired shots, and was the man who fired the last shot that killed Soapy. Soapy died on the spot with a number of bullet holes in his body and Reid 12 days later. The four gang members who robbed Stewart received jail sentences and the rest of the gang was dispersed. Soapy Smith was buried several yards outside of the city cemetery. EXTERNAL LINKS
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