SOAPY SMITH - BUNKO MAN OF THE WILD WEST

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's time for the legendary law and order stories of
the wild West. This podcast features a forensic psychologist that
looks at the history of the most infamous and famous
outlaws and cowboys of the Wild West. So sit back,
hardart and take a listen.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Start off today's episode with a quote. 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

(00:48):
no value except to back a good end. Quote Jefferson
Soapie Smith. Yesterday's character is Soapie Smith, the Bunco man
of the Old West. They say he's one of the
most well known convent of the eighteen hundreds. Jefferson Randolph
Soapie Smith operated several rackets in the American West for decades.

(01:09):
Are going to be looking at little with some of
his stories. He worked from Texas to Colorado to Alaska.
Soapie organized groups of bunco men into gangs that operated
shell games. Crooked gambling and other scams with the likes
of men such as Texas Jack Vermilion, Big Ed Burns,
and numerous others.

Speaker 3 (01:27):
It took a little bit of the history of soapie.

Speaker 2 (01:30):
He was born November second, eighteen sixty and Georgia Smith
belonged to a well educated, wealthy family. Kind of tell
by the way he wrote that that little quote we
just read. His great grandfather owned one of the finest
plantations in the area, and his father was a lawyer.
But like many Southern families, their prosperity came to an
end after the Civil War. In eighteen seventy six. Sixteen

(01:50):
years later he was about sixteen, the family moved to
Round Rock, Texas, where an eighteen year old soap where
the sixteen year old Soapi would witness the killing of
outlaw Sam Back two years later at eighteen. Sometime later,
Smith moved on to Fort Worth, where he began his
career as a bunco artist. He soon formed a small,
close knit group of rogues and thieves to perpetrate his scams,

(02:11):
becoming the King of the Frontier Convent. As the gang
moved from town to town, unsuspecting citizens practiced their games
a choice, which included the shell game, three card manti
and other short cons that could be completed quickly. Now
what I want to do before we go on is
describe what is bunco. Somebody who don't know it's a

(02:32):
swindle or a confidence trick. That's what a bunco is,
and a bunco artist is obviously somebody who does the same,
who TwixT people. To us slang, it's a parlor game
played in three teams with three dice, Originating in England,
but popular among suburban women in the US at the
beginning of the twenty first century and in this case
obviously Sobey Smith and his gang. It was popular among them.

(02:57):
By the late eighteen seventies, Smith came up with his
ingenious prize package soap Sell, whereby he could make money
from a large crowd. As from this scam that he earned.

Speaker 3 (03:07):
The nickname Soapy.

Speaker 2 (03:08):
The con began with Smith setting up a kaiser a
suitcase on a tripod on a busy street corner. In
the suitcase would be piles of ordinary soap wrapped in
plain paper. As curious passerby stopped to look, he would
begin to wrap some of the soap bars with paper
money ranging from one dollar up to one hundred dollars.
Rewrapping in the plane paper, he would mix them with
the others and then sell the soap for a dollar

(03:29):
To fight os per bar in the crowd, Soapy would
always have a shill quick to buy a bar of soap,
happily opening it to find one hundred dollar bill. The
crowd was then anxious to buy their own, which of
course held nothing but a five cent cake of soap.

Speaker 3 (03:43):
For the next two decades, Smith.

Speaker 2 (03:45):
Continued this window with great success. By eighteen seventy nine,
at nineteen years of age, Soapy and his gang had
moved to Denver, Colorado, where he expanded his operations from
not only short cons but also into large scams, including
fake stock exchanges offices. But he and his men continued
their smaller games, as Denver in It had a wide

(04:05):
open policy towards gambling, making for the perfect setting for
their deceitful games. As the money continued to roll in
for Soapie, he began to organize many of the men
operating in Denver in to such a stronghold that he
proclaimed himself the boss of Denver's Underworld crime Empire. To
continue to operate his many scams. Smith provided kickbacks to

(04:26):
saloon owners, had city officials on his payroll, and generally
didn't make the locals his target dupes instead of focusing
on travelers. He also built loyalty in his game members
by being quick to help anyone in need and securing
their quick release should they be jailed. Continuing this philanthropist attitude,
he also made charitable contributions to the churches and the
poor of the city. Savvy guy, he made his saloons

(04:48):
available to ministers for Sunday services, further endearing him to
the locals. Much of Soapie's denver action took place in
the popular to Voldi saloon and gambling hall, where over
the door a sign he had caveat em tour, which
means let the buyer beware. But for those that came
through the doors for a much needed drink of whiskey
or in hopes of making their fortune at the gaming tables,

(05:09):
they couldn't read Latin. Interestingly, the famed back Masterson.

Speaker 3 (05:13):
Worked as a dealer at the Tavoli for a time.

Speaker 2 (05:16):
During this time, Soapy was joined by his younger brother, Bascombe,
who operated a cigar store which was a front for
crooked card games and other swindles. The gang was also
running a fake stock exchange, lottery shops, and bogus diamond auctions.
For several years, Smith settled down, making Denver his home.
Though Denver newspapers published that he was in complete control

(05:37):
of the criminal and gambling underworld in the city and
rightly accused him of being cahoots with city politicians, including
the police chief. His operations continued to prosper, though his
primary operations were in Denver.

Speaker 3 (05:50):
Soapy finally started.

Speaker 2 (05:51):
To expand in eighteen eighty five, now at the young
age of twenty five, he was working with another con
artist in Colorado.

Speaker 3 (05:59):
His name was old old Man Taylor.

Speaker 2 (06:01):
The two operated a successful shell game upon the many
unsuspecting miners.

Speaker 3 (06:06):
In eighteen ninety.

Speaker 2 (06:07):
One, Soaphie talked to his otherwise law abiding brother in
law from Texas.

Speaker 3 (06:10):
Into joining his criminal empire.

Speaker 2 (06:12):
William cap Light, who served as a deputy marshall in Belton, Texas,
changed his.

Speaker 3 (06:16):
Colors when he joined Smith. Light was with Soapie when the.

Speaker 2 (06:19):
Gang attacked a glass and detective agency. Yes Allegedly, the
agency had attempted to force a confession from a pretty
young girl, and upon hearing about it, Smith and his
men raided their offices with pistols in hand. This further
led to Sophie's reputation as a.

Speaker 3 (06:34):
Hero with many of the locals.

Speaker 2 (06:38):
However, by eighteen ninety two, polite society in Denver had
begun to the demand anti gambling and saloon reforms, so
Sophie also had begun to lose his crown as the
Denver Boss, partly because of rival gangs such as the
Blonger Brothers, which we'll be looking at in future episodes,
but also due to his bad temper and drinking problems.
He had also become so well known that it was
becoming difficult for his paid politicians to conntinue to turn

(07:00):
a blind eye, as that had done for so for
so many years. Finding many of his operations restricted and
seeing opportunity in the booming mining camp of Creed, Colorado,
Soapi and his gang moved their empire. He soon opened
the Orleans Club, gambling hall and saloon, which operated similar
to Tiboli Club in Denver.

Speaker 3 (07:20):
At his new club, Soapy.

Speaker 2 (07:21):
Briefly displayed a petrified man for a price of ten cents.
The petrified man affectionately called McGuinty, was also a hoax,
as there was nothing more than cement over skeletal remains. However,
the oddity brought customers into the saloon and made a
small profit. The objective was that once they were inside,
the Dukes would take advantage of the crooked card games.
In the meantime, he had convinced his brother in law,

(07:43):
the former lawman, to accept the position as a deputy
marshal in the camp. Once he had wielded his influence,
he claimed himself as the camp boss. As such, he
protected his friends and associates and expelled violent troublemakers.

Speaker 3 (07:57):
Again.

Speaker 2 (07:57):
He indued himself to the camp by using his money
to build churches helped the poor. But Creed's boomtown days
would not last, and Soapy soon returned to Denver again.
The gambling reforms had relaxed once again in this city.

Speaker 3 (08:10):
And Soapy took up operations.

Speaker 2 (08:11):
At the Tivoli, which never closed, though organized crime continued
rampant in Denver, and the new state governor had been
elected and running on a platform or social reform, Davis
Bloody Bridles Weight took office in January eighteen ninety three
and immediately began to look into corruption in Colorado. By
the following year, in March, he was ready to take
on Denver's politically corrupt machine. He began by firing three

(08:34):
members of the Fire and Police board, who he felt
were the main instigators of corruption. He further demanded the
city immediately clean itself up or he would do it
for them, replacing the corrupt men with his appointees. The
current commissioners refused to leave when the new man arrived. Interestingly,
the state charter allowed the governor to make appointments, but
then that granted the power to force.

Speaker 3 (08:52):
The municipal government to accept the appointments.

Speaker 2 (08:55):
The other corrupt city officials, fearing their positions, backed their
bosses and collected refused to abandon the power. The city
also took the matter to the district court, which issued
a temporary injunction forbidding the governor from interfering with the
city's appointees.

Speaker 3 (09:09):
However, this did not deter Governor Wait and.

Speaker 2 (09:11):
His attorneys insisted that the state's chief executive was not
subject to review by a district court. Continuing the demand
of the commissioner step down, Weight threatened to call out
to state.

Speaker 3 (09:20):
Militia to force them out if need be.

Speaker 2 (09:23):
Denver's mayor then began to recruit a special police force
to defend city Hall against any militia. A political force
backed by the money and support of the organized crime,
including Soapie Smith and Lou Blanger, was soon stocked stacked
with two hundred unsavory deputies led by none other than
Soaphie Smith, who had now earned the name Colonel Smith.

(09:43):
As armed characters guarded city Hall, Governor wait ordered to
Colorado State militia to remove the commissioners forcibly. By mid March,
the governor had declared martial law and Denver was an
armed camp Waite's military force for about two hundred men,
along with two gatling guns and two twelve pound care cannons,
pointing to their large weapons. Directly at city Hall, they
faced a special police force assembled by Soapy also known

(10:07):
as Colonel Smith. At the help the police force dared
the militia to fire on them, threatening to use dynamite
if they attacked. The two sides faced off out of sandstills.
Thousands of civilians looked on. In the meantime, the Chamber
of Commerce and other citizens were working feverishly and a
compromise that would prevent the opening of hostilities. Finally, it

(10:29):
was agreed that the issue woud be left up to
the state Supreme Court. The governor withdrew his military forces
to awake the decision as the city of Denver breathe
a sigh of belief. In eighteen ninety four and April sixteenth,
the Supreme Court decided a conclusive victory for the governor
and the Border Commissions was replaced. The next day, the
political machine was smashed and new policies began to be developed. Soon,

(10:50):
gambling was made illegal in Denver, and the new authorities
cracked down hard on other activities as well, including prostitution
and bunco activities. One of their priorities is they run
Sophie Smith out of town.

Speaker 3 (11:02):
That Soapie took.

Speaker 2 (11:02):
His operations underground. However, he and his brother Bascombe were
soon charged with the attempted murder of a saloon manager.
Bascombe was arrested in jail, but Soapi managed to escape
and a wanted man in Colorado, he soon wandered westward.
The Blogger brothers then took control of the Denver underworld.
When the Klondike gold Rush began in eighteen ninety seven.

(11:23):
Now Sophie, being about thirty seven, saw all sorts of
new opportunities and soon made his home in Skagway, Alaska.
Like other mining camps, that didn't take him long to
claim himself as boss of the town, which he ran
with an iron hand. Working from his saloon named Jeff
Smith's Parlor, Soapie's cons began once again in earnest. His
saloon soon became known as the real city Hall, even

(11:44):
though Skagway had an official one.

Speaker 3 (11:47):
But some of the Skagway.

Speaker 2 (11:48):
Citizens were not so impressed with Soapie, whose heavy drinking
and black and bad temper had begun to get entirely
out of hand. Soon several Skagway citizens got enough of
the man, and a vigilantic group called themselves a Committee
of one oh one, threatened to drive Soapi and his
gang out of town. However, Soapi retaliated by forming his
own group that he had had more than three hundred members.

(12:12):
When the Spanish American War began in eighteen ninety eight,
Soby formed his voluntary militia with the approval of the U. S.
War Department, called the Skagway Military Company. Soapi became its captain,
strengthening his control of the town Sharp Cookie. Meantime, the
Vigilanti group did not like what they were seeing, and
when Soapie's gang took some twenty six hundred dollars in

(12:32):
cold from m Klondike miner in an illegal three card
manti game, the vigilantes re emerged and demanded that Soapi
give him his money back. Sopi, of course refused, claiming
that the miner had lost the gold fairly in a
sporting game. The next night, on July eighth, eighteen ninety eight,
the vigilantes organized the meeting of Skagway, Alaska. Hearing of
the meeting, Soapi decided to attend, arriving with a Winchester

(12:55):
rifle traped over his shoulder. When he was barred from
entering the meeting, he argued with one of the guards,
a man by the name of Frank Reid. Before long
a gunfight erupted. When the smoke cleared, both men lay dead.
Soapie's last words were reportedly, my God, don't shoot. Later,
it was found that one of the guards had shot Smith,

(13:15):
not Frank Reid. Three other members of Soapie's gang who
were involved in robbing the miner received jail sentences. The
rest of the gang soon drifted apart. Soapie Smith was
buried just outside the city cemetery. His grave and his
saloon which have since been moved from their original location
but can still be seen in Skagway, Alaska. We One

(13:39):
of the last quote from Soapie is I considered Bunko's
steering more honorable than the life led by the average politician.

Speaker 3 (13:47):
I might not disagree too much with that.

Speaker 2 (13:49):
There's your fascinating story, hopefully of the week of the
While West with Soapie Smith.

Speaker 3 (13:54):
Classic individual indeed,