What a Way To Be Remembered

[Subdeacon Joe]

 

 

From Wikipedia:

 

Smith operated confidence schemes across the Western United States, and had a large hand in organized criminal operations in both Colorado and the District of Alaska. Smith gained notoriety through his "prize soap racket," in which he would sell bars of soap with prize money hidden in some of the bars' packaging in order to increase sales. However, through sleight of hand, he ensured that only members of his gang purchased "prize" soap. The racket led to his sobriquet of "Soapy."

The success of his soap racket and other scams helped him finance three successive criminal empires in Denver and Creede, both in Colorado, and in Skagway, Alaska. He was killed in the shootout on Juneau Wharf in Skagway, on July 8, 1898

 

 

https://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-soapysmith/

 

 

Soapy Smith – Bunko Man of the Old West

Soapy Smith

Jefferson “Soapy” Smith

 

“A gambler is one who teaches and illustrates the folly of avarice; he is a non-ordained preacher on the vagaries of fortune and how to make doubt a certainty. He is one who, in his amusements, eliminates the element of chance; chance is merely the minister in his workshop of luck; money has no value except to back a good hand.” — Jefferson R. Smith

[Will Kane]

I guess Soapy Smith eventually became Snuffy Smith. 🤷‍♂️

[Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474]

Skagway tour guides will regale their customers with tales of Soapy's scams.

I liked the one about the "telegraph" service he provided, with wires that led no where, but could send and receive messages for the lonesome miners!!

 

Frank Reid's tombstone reads: "He Gave His Life For the Honor of Skagway"