Soapy Smith came to Skagway to get rich—like everybody else in the Gold Rush years. But Jefferson Randolph Smith had no intention of mining gold. Soapy came to mine miners.
Link to another story “Fascinating Skagway”
A confidence man up from Georgia, dressing and presenting like a southern gentleman, Soapy took his name from one of his cons. Gathering an audience he would auction off bars of soap. Some bars he proclaimed contained a $100 bill. And, indeed, some lucky customers found such a bill in their soap, inspiring others to try their luck. The lucky customers, of course, worked for Soapy.
Soapy sold soap and ran other scams in Skagway, searching high and low for victims and getting a lot richer than any miner. Occasionally a victim caught on. Tried to get his money back. But Soapy and his gang ran Skagway, brutally enforced Soapy’s law.
On July 4, 1898 one man in Skagway had, had enough.
Frank Reid collected a posse and stood at the edge of the harbor, at the end of the dock. Soapy and his gang approached. As Soapy unslung his Winchester and strode toward the posse, Reid stepped out to meet him. The two men stopped, nose to nose. Snarling, Soapy brought his Winchester up. Reid grabbed the rifle barrel, pushed it aside with one hand and drew his pistol with the other.
The pistol misfired. The Winchester did not. Smith’s bullet hit Reid in the groin. Going down, Reid fired again. So did Soapy, but Reid’s bullet hit Soapy in the heart, and Soapy died instantly.
Reid lingered for a few days.
Life isn’t fair. No one remembers Frank Reid. The legend of Soapy Smith lives on.
