The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-10-31
SOAPT SMI1H, BAD
 MAR 0F SKAGWAY He Got Too Fad Even For That Tolerant
 Place.
THEN HE BECAME DEAD
Failed to Stop an Indigna- tion Meeting With
 His Rifle.

Many versions of the dramatic end of @soapy" Smith and the subsequent clean-up of his gang in skagway have been written, but it is probable that the facts have never been brought to i light in all their details. Recently, ". H. Welsh, superintendent of the Can adian Detective Bureau, who was in- strumental in cleaning up" the gang, told the story this way;
 The chief actor in the drama was | Jeff Smith, universally known as 'Soapy." His record included almost | every known brand of swindle from -bricking to passing "phony'' pa per, although it is not known that he ever served time or was even convict cd. His strong game was to stand in with the police in any city in which he operated, When his presence proved unWelcome he would depart for pas lures new. He got his nickname as an inherent soap merchant in Denver. He was the originator of selling soap wrapped in a $5 or $10 bill for one dol lar; when the purchaser received the goods the wrapper was always miss ing. He also had trick of using the soap to make a father which he rub bed in his eyes to prove some wonder full quality he claimed for it.
 "Soapy" made an intellectual attempt to corral Cripple Creek in it's boom : days, but failed, and was driven out l of that town From one city to another he was invited to move until he I reached ,skagway. The reputation of l that city, although it numbered some honest men in it's population, was not : then very savory. The authorities = stole the land the town occupies from = William Moore, and not to this day n has he been paid for the land he pre- - empted and occupied years before l. Skagway was ever thought of. So "soapy" found the atmosphere congen- ial and proceeded to set up his king dom of loot
 tt From all over America criminals '- focked to his standard. They grafted '- on the civic administration; they y mulcted the saloons; they "buncoed" d travellers and miners; they operated ' fixed" gambling machines and rou- lette wheels; they played the three- card game and ethimble-r -rlgged" the n innocent; they damned the min N CTS who brought in dust, and, after every other scheme had been worked, they footed the banks vaults and held LID men at the point of the gun. Pokes Of dust deposited in the bank vaults | axy,fo rin icor nG claimants could never get satisfaction. It was the distrust of the local bank, engendered by "Soapy's' influence with it. that made the opening for the Can adian Bank of Commerce, of which 1t II availed itself The town marshal was J member of the gang, and the local newspaper was edited by another metn- Der, Doe" Hornby, They levied toll on every man that came to the town or passed through it. If man carried his valise across the wharf they con if troled, 1t cost him two bits; if he sci it down it cost him four bits for stor-
 age To land a trunk cost s1.
 r. "soapy's" saloon was the headquar- r. ters of the gang. There the miners anf ne strangers were "rolled" There, too, the
 famous tame eagle was kept The plact was arranged with convenient back he door for the escape of the icon" man
 when he had secured his plunder
 Things had been running with sucl SC barefaced boldness, robberies, shoot. h. ings, and holdups had become so ire ev ouent, that the towns business wal IT, being injured. Threats were made by
 business men that they would go ovel
 and resurrect the dying town of Dyea av and thus kill Skagway. The bushes
 men, in addition to paying tribute t
 "Soapy's" gang, saw that their bust rs ness was to be ruined by the men t th whom they were forced to pay tribute Public indignation was thorough,
 aroused.
 no Such were the conditions in Skag
 way when R. Stewart, a miner, arriv
 ed with poke containing $2,S00 il ms dust, which he cached in the safe 0 1t- Isadore Kaufman, a reputable bushes ct man. Stewart then started out into til
 town, and encountered Slim Jim. Stew Y art proved easy for Slim, who at one
 began to talk dust, for everything wa
 dust in Skagway then. Stewart conid
 ed to Slim that he had the $2,S0O i
 dust in Kauffman's safe, and Slim a
 once said he could sell 1t for him a
 $22 per ounce. although dust was onl
 worth SIS. Stewart. however, fell int
 the trap, and agreed to get the dus and meet Sims friends The two wen
 together to Kauffmans, but the mer
 chant was unable to give the miner
 word of warning, well knowing that t cross the plans of the gang was a
 much as his life was worth They wer
 to "Soapy's saloon, where tthar mem
 bers of the gang were ri waiting. an
 in a back room they took turns at ap
 praisiDg it while the tame eagle blink
 ed upon his perch, watching the pro |. ceedings. Called upon to notice som
 strange antic of ths bird, Stewart turn ed his head, and his poke disappeared
 A few minutes after, Tripp, one of tn
 gang, was seen running out of the bac door with the missing poke partly cor
 cealcd under his coat
 Stewards protests avaed hlm noth
 ing, and he set out to find Town Mal
 shal Taylor, who was erecting a hors
 doubtless made on the proceeds of sir liar deals to that just enacted. Tn
 marshal gave him no sst's'aCtlon, s he appealed to the business men (
 the town Ths was the last stra'
 which broke the natence of the rt
 spectable element of the town, Bus