MONUMENT TO GUNMAN

Evening Star, Issue 19710, 10 November 1927, Page 5

MONUMENT TO GUNMAN

STORY OF ALASKAN FEUD His lawless word was law in the wild davs of the Klondike rush. Like any feudal baron, he ruled Skagway when it was a boom town. Ho levied tribute on tho hardboiled pilgrims of the Chilcoot Pass and Heartbreak Trad. His gambling and drinking joint was tho pirato isle of that terrestrial Spanish Main. And—“ High on the grey limestone cliff it looms, tho skull of Soapy Smith,’ writes Guy Fonshey, in tho St. Louis ‘Post-Dispatch.’ “Tourists taking the ‘ inside route ’ to Skagway arc startled to see it grinning there on tho mountain side. It glares white in the Alaskan sunshine. Late at night, when tho lung twilight ir getting dim, it is the last of the landmarks to disappear. It keeps on grinning through the deepening dusk, a mammoth, eerie death’s head, guarding the strait that separates Wrangell Island from the mainland. 1 The shipr pass almost under its leering jaw. One can easily count the rough, irregular tooth. There are 15. And that great empty eye-socket, gaping up there 25!Jit about the water, one muses, must bo at least 4ft across.” Surely one oi tho most singular monuments by w):i(T a liberated community over expressed its hatred and mockery ; mingled with grim satis!action over the downfall of its lormcr despot. Elsewhine in America eminent _ sculptor: hew statuary out of mountain sides in honor of heroes and patriots; on the Alaskan const tho brow of a cliff is wrought into a- ghastly skull to commemorate the misdeeds of a “had man.” Nervous travellers, wc arc told, exclaim: “What is the meaning of this monstrous sculpture? Who was Soapy Smith?

1: is delight of the old skippers on Alaska bound tourist steamers to tell tho story of Soapy Smith, it recalls the days of ’9B, when men battled the Arctic for its gold. It brings back the bold, bad days of Skagway. It recalls the fight at the wharf. There are others, too, who like to tell tho story. Stephen Stephens, a St. Louisan, was a newsboy of 14 selling papers on the streets of Skagway when Soapy Smith was at his high tide. He knew Soapy well. Ho saw tho fight at tho wharf, and was standing a few feet away when Smith breathed his last. Ho gives a graphic eye-witness account of the struggle._ Soapy Smith, all the storytellers wil 1 relate, was tho king of Alaska’s bad men. Into his coffers the lesser bad men paid their toll and tribute. A self-appointed two-gun _ monarch, he ruled Skagway for a time, aud hold tho road to the Klondike. Through henchmen he robbed and stole, and when the spirit moved him lie gave generously to widows and children in distress, and to broken men who came wandering back defeated. It was on July 9, 1898, that Frank Reid, killed him—and ho killed Frank Re-id, Reid, the Government surveyor and organiser of Alaska’s Law and Order League, became with that fatal encounter a national hero. Strictly, he was Skag way’s, but_ now all Alaska claims him as its patriot and defender. A monument inscribed with eulogistic legend rises above liis grave in the Skagway Cemetery. But for Soapy Smith the monument Is a skull, a great death’s head 25ft high and loft wide. At the instance of the Arctic Brotherhood it was chiselled there on the face of the cliff and painted white by qnarrymen last fall.

Soapy Smith was in Alaska little more than a year, but he encompassed more in the way of crime and two-gun rule and high finance than most gang leaders encompass in a lifetime. He bobetl up first in Wrangell in tho summer of 1897. Record as to his origin is not clear, hut it is known that he once operated as a gambler and confidence man in St. Louis. One of his first devices for catching “ anckers” was a soap auction game, in which lie sold soap on tho representation that each package contained money. It was from Montana that he went lo Alaska in quest of fat dividends in the gold rush. Tho boom war nearing its crest, and Skagway, which now contains onlv 500 inhabitants, war a thriving city of 15,000. with a largo population besides, when he made liis entry from Wrangell. Almost overnight lie became a power. Tho lawless element flocked to his banner, which was the black flag of piracy. Ho instructed his followers to bring in results—results being money. His saloon and gambling establishment in Skagway was one of tho most elaborate tho North-west ever saw. It had only one rival for size and nono for ferocity or double-dealing. To the smaller fry among tho gamblers he was a source of constant torment. ITc compelled them to pay a license to him to operate. Ho forced them to split 50-50 on their winnings. Ho was the empire and they the tributary colonics. They quailed at tho crack of Ins whip. Though lie always carried two big revolvers on liis hips and a small 0110 under his left armpit, and flourished them with a great show of bravado, it isn’t on record that Soapy ever killed a man himself in his life. That is, no man except Frank Reid, whom lie shot fatally after Reid had given him liis - own death wound- Met casually on the street or in the saloon. Soapy was tho most genial of men. He was intensely vain, and prided himself upon his liberality, especially to charitable causes. Far and wide ho was celebrated as “easy pickings” for tho down-and-outcr. This and his kindness to children won him many friends and defenders _ who wen loath to war against him. As Stephens tolls tho story, there were two things Soapy Smith respected and feared. They were the Canadian Mounted Police and Frank R. Reid. Ho used to say that a country which had an organisation like tho mounted police was a “ bum country ” to live in. So he kept out of Canada. He was almost as respectful of Reid. Reid was 54, and some 16 years older than Soapy, but he was a hard frontiersman. Ho could shoot fast and accurately. He had come to Alaska as a Government surveyor, and had laid out Skagway. Ilis hobby was law enforcement. Tie believed tho citizens should take the law into their own hands when the'Government authorities conldn’t_ enforce it. Trudging over the trail from Dawson one day came Alexander Stewart. Ho had played against the Arctic, and gathered up his winnings. With his poke, containing 3,000d0l of gold dust, he was on his way to tho outside. Into lawless Skagway trudged the tired prospector, and parked his gold at Soapy Smith’s saloon. There were no banks there at that time ; and it was customary for returning miners to leave their pokes at hotels or in saloons for safe keeping. That evening Stewart called for his poke. It was on July 2. Smith and his-bartenders looked at him in feigned amazement. "Who the hell are yon?” they asked. He tried to explain. . “ Wc never saw you before. Oct the hell out of hero.” Stewart got out, but ho wciß stimight

to Frank Reid. Ifc was tho third time such a, thing had happened within a week. Reid's patience was exhausted. The nest night ho called a mass meeting to organise a law and order league. What happened? Soapy Smith broke up the meeting, says Mr Forshey. With his gunmen he invaded the hall, seized the gavel, and — Rapping sharp for attention, ho addressed the gathering. “Gentlemen,” ho said, “this meeting is adjourned.” it was. if anybody loitered or grumbled he was jabbed in the ribs with a revolver in the hands of a gunman and driven out. Reid submitted rather than precipitate a, general light. On .July 4 Reid tried another meeting late at night. It was broken up in the same way. Then ho resorted to strategy. Stretching out a mile and a-quarter into the harbor in front of Skagway were four causeways leading to the steamship docks which formed a T at the end. Reid planned a third meeting, to be held on one of these docks, which could bo reached only by the causeway. It was set for the evening of July 8. Ho himself would guard the ISft approach, and if Smith attempted to force an entrv death would bo tbo consequence. On the appointed day three men stood guard at the dock approach, admitting known citizens until about 7 p.m. Then Reid, armed with two 45calibre Colt’s revolvers, took his post, and sent the other guards away against their protests. He expected a finish fight. Fifteen feet in front of the dock approach lie stretched a surveyor’s chain. It was the dead line. HELD IX CONTEMPT. During the day Smith ignored the three subordinate guards- He held them in contempt. But when his informers reported that Reid had taken his position ho went quickly into action. Gulping down six or eight drinks and arming himself with a cavalry carbine, ho started for the dock, followed closely by his gang of some 200 armed men, and followed at a greater distance by almost the entire population. Stephens saw him going, and trailed along to watch the light. On to his death went Soapy Smith, to his death and Reid’s. When he was 60ft from the dead line Reid shouted a challenge, warning him of what would happen if he crossed the chain. Soapy ignored the challenge. He was two paces from the lino when Reid shouted a second warning. It was heard 100yds away, but Smith faltered not a fraction of a second. Two paces, one pacejust as Smith’s right .foot crossed the chain two shots were heard almost simultaneously. Two bullets from Reid’s revolvers struck him in the idlest. He lurched backward at the impact, and then recovered. Sinking slowly forward on his knees, he brought the carbine up under his right armpit. He took no aim. His Mack, flinty eyes were fastened on Reid. His right knee touched the ground. As his left knee came down he fired. The bullet caught Reid low in the abdomen. A soft-nosed bullet, it spread an inch and a-half and tore an ugly wound. Both men fell. THE HONOR OF SKAGWAY. “He gave his life for the honor of Skagway,” says the legend engraved upon Reid’s tomb. Scarcely 20ft separates his graye from that of Soapy Smith. Wrapt in a Mackinaw blanket. Smith was buried in a rough' spruce box. A wooden slab was scet up to mark his resting place in the cemetery of murdered men. of murderers and men who died on Heartbreak Trail. The shots which ended ■ the life of Soapy Smith did more than rid the country.of its worst bad man, [They

also sounded the death-knell of lawlessness in general. Members'of iuS band wore speedily rounded up. Forty or 50 were sent to Federal penitentiaries for long terms, and the others were banished from Alaska. The desperate days were avcc. The great skull grinning from the limestone cliff is their monument.