Cold Open - The Shell Game

It’s sometime in the late 1870s at a carnival in San Antonio, Texas.

Jefferson Randolph Smith II or Jeff, a teenage cowhand, moves through the carnival crowds. He’s got a month’s earnings in his pocket, and he’s excited to explore some of the sideshows before buying his ticket to the circus. Being a cattleman is dirty and exhausting work, so today he’s ready for a diversion.

As Jeff approaches the big top, a man energetically calling out to passersby catches his attention. Jeff moves closer to see what the attraction is.

The man stands behind a table, swiftly maneuvering three half-walnut shells around and around. With a flourish, he lifts one up to reveal a pea underneath. Then he challenges onlookers to track the pea as he puts the shells back into motion.

As the man moves the shells around and around, back and forth across the table, he peppers the crowd with jokes and stories. Jeff does his best to ignore the man’s chatter and focus instead on the movement of the shell concealing the pea.

When the shells come to a stop, Jeff lays down a wager. He’s confident he’s chosen correctly. But the man grins and shows Jeff an empty shell. Jeff is shocked, but he’s not ready to give up. The man encourages him to try again and so Jeff lays some more of his money on the table. This time he’s sure he’s going to get it right.

Again, the man places a pea under a walnut shell, then begins the act all over. Jeff tracks the shells carefully as they move this way and that until they stop. Jeff then points to a shell, and once more, it’s empty.

He furrows his brow and gives a suspicious look. The man just shrugs and says it’s a simple game—but one that does require some skill. Jeff is sure he has that skill, so he puts down even more money. Again the shells begin their dance, and this time Jeff is confident he knows where the pea is. He’s wrong, again and again, until when Jeff reaches into his pocket a final time, he realizes he’s spent every dollar he has, betting on peas and walnuts.

Losing his entire month's wages in this shell game doesn't leave Jeff dejected - instead, he’ll be inspired. He’ll see that it's possible to make more money in minutes with a con trick than he does in a month on the cattle trail. So, soon he’ll quit his job and set out on the road to learn the tricks of the shell game and other cons like it. Over the course of his life, Jeff will become better known by his nickname Soapy. He will earn a reputation as one of the most notorious con men of the Wild West until his tricks make him one enemy too many and he's shot dead on July 8th, 1898.

Introduction

From Noiser and Airship, I’m Lindsay Graham and this is History Daily.

History is made every day. On this podcast—every day—we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world.

Today is July 8th, 1898: Con Man Soapy Smith is Shot Dead.

Act One: The Soap Scam

It’s the spring of 1880, on a bustling 17th Street in Denver, Colorado, just a few years after Jeff Smith lost his earnings playing the shell game.

Jeff finishes setting up a display case on a tripod, and with a flurry of practiced and enthusiastic banter, he begins addressing the passing crowds. At first, folks mostly ignore him. But then one person stops, laughing at Jeff’s jokes. That man is soon followed by another and another and it’s not long before Jeff has just the crowd he needs.

After leaving Texas, Jeff spent some time traveling around the West, learning about various cons from some of the best grifters of the time. Eventually, he landed in Leadville, Colorado where he learned about a con called the Soap Scam. Soon after, Jeff moved to the growing mining town of Denver to strike out on his own.

So now, on the corner he’s staked out for this morning, Jeff executes a by-now familiar routine. As more people gather around him, he promotes the miraculous properties of the soap he has for sale in the display case. But that’s not all. Today he’s offering customers a chance to win some cash. Some of the bars of soap are wrapped in currency, $5 bills all the way up to a hundred.

As the crowd grows, Jeff waves one man forward and invites him to try his luck. The man seems reluctant at first, but with a little more cajoling, he pays Jeff for a bar of soap. The crowd watches expectantly as he unwraps it. The man then gasps in disbelief. He’s found a hundred dollars - that’s almost two weeks’ wages. Immediately, the excited onlookers rush to snap up Jeff’s other bars of soap. And over the next few hours, Jeff will sell all of it. But no one will find another hundred-dollar bill.

When his display case is empty and the crowds have drifted away, Jeff goes to find the man who bought the first lucky bar of soap. Then they share a laugh over drinks. The man is a planned, a member of Jeff’s gang, and his misleading victory was all part of the con.

This soap scam isn’t the only scheme Jeff operates in Denver, but it’s the one that he’ll be associated with for the rest of his life. Jeff is eventually arrested - not for conning people, but for selling soap without a license. When he’s being booked, though, the police officer cannot remember Jeff’s name, so he writes down “Soapy” on the form instead, and the nickname sticks.

But Soapy knows there’s a limit to how much he can earn from his namesake scam. So, when he’s not hustling on 17th Street, he works under Doc Baggs.

Doc is the grifter boss in Denver. He oversees a wide network of schemes from his office across from the train station. And working for Doc, Soapy learns all the ways to identify well-off men and separate them from their money.

It’s an education that Soapy will put to full use. In 1885, Doc is run out of Denver by the sheriff, and Soapy takes over his operation. Within a few years, he’s overseeing crooked card games as well as a fraudulent lottery. His gang also runs a fake diamond and watch auction and sells stocks for nonexistent businesses.

With his increased earnings, Soapy buys properties which he uses as fronts for his scams. He opens up a ticket office across from the railroad station and advertises train tickets at a discounted price. But as always, there’s a catch. Potential customers who wander in are told that the ticket agent is away, but they are welcome to pass the time with some games of chance. Of course, those games are rigged and the customers’ money always ends up in Soapy’s pockets - they never get the train tickets they were after.

As Soapy’s crime empire grows, law-abiding citizens desperately look for ways to reclaim Denver. But it’s hard with Soapy using his wealth to pay police and elected officials to look the other way.

Eventually, though, Soapy’s criminal network becomes too big to ignore. In 1893, a new government is elected in Colorado - a group of reformers who want to root out corruption in the state, and especially in Denver. This leads to a standoff between the new governor and the city officials on Soapy’s payroll. When it’s all over, the Governor stands victorious and Soapy’s comrades are thrown out of office. Many of Denver’s gambling halls and saloons are closed. Soapy himself will continue to evade justice, but he’ll realize his time in Denver has come to an end. There are plenty of other cities in America ripe for his exploitation, though. So, Soapy will get back on his horse, and head for a new city to to swindle.

Act Two: The Uncrowned King of Skagway

It’s the evening of January 31st, 1898, in Skagway in the District of Alaska, four years after Soapy Smith left Denver.

Laborer Andy McGrath pounds his fist on the bar at the People’s Theater. After a long night of drinking, his head's reeling. But he’s also angry. Earlier in the day, he came to the tavern to enjoy some liquor and the company of one of the saloon’s working girls. Now, though, he claims his drink was poisoned and he’s been robbed of $140.

It’s not much of a stretch to believe Andy’s story. In recent years, Skagway has undergone some significant changes – and not all of them good. In 1896, gold was discovered in the Klondike River. Since then, tens of thousands of so-called “stampeders” have come to Alaska in search of riches. And many others have followed them north hoping to take advantage of the Gold Rush in other ways. Among those opportunists is Soapy Smith. Just as in Denver, Soapy has set up numerous businesses, almost all of them fronts for ripping off hapless travelers like Andy.

Andy knows that someone like Soapy is behind what’s happened to him, and he shouts it at the top of his lungs. The bartender John Fray, though, is unmoved and warns Andy to get moving. But Andy has no intention of leaving without his money. And when he threatens to use force to take back what's his, John orders the saloon’s workers to toss him out.

Andy stomps belligerently through the snowy Skagway street. Determined to reclaim his money, he finds the town’s U.S. marshal. The marshal is on his way to fetch a doctor for his pregnant wife, but when Andy explains what’s happened, the marshal agrees to accompany him back to the bar to act as a mediator.

Things don’t go too well. When Andy and the marshal re-enter the People’s Theater, Andy immediately takes a swing at the bartender who pulls his pistol and shoots Andy. The marshal then reaches for his weapon but John the bartender shoots him too. Bleeding from his stomach, the marshal retreats to the street to find help. And realizing the mess he’s gotten himself into, the bartender John flees out the back of the saloon.

Soon after both Andy and the marshal die from their wounds. John is arrested and a group of citizens is appointed to guard him before he can be put on trial.

It’s protection he’ll need. Skagway has a reputation as a town “short on law, and long on gold dust,” but for many people, this latest act of violence crosses a line. The marshal's wife gives birth the next day - meaning the city’s criminals are now responsible for the widowing of a new mother. The community demands retribution and it seems likely bartender John will be lynched.

This put Soapy Smith in a tricky situation. His success relies on keeping Skagway’s legitimate business leaders happy. That’s meant he’s promised that violence in his establishments will be kept to a minimum. The deaths of Andy and the marshal have broken that assurance. And Soapy knows he’ll have to do something to win back the town’s trust. But at the same time, his men have certain expectations of him too. Part of the reason they work for Soapy is the protection from the law that he can offer them in return. So, Soapy has to walk a fine line and somehow try to placate both sides.

He volunteers to raise money for the family of the dead marshal and collects over $350. But old habits die hard, and he skims $50 off the top before delivering the rest to the widow. Meanwhile, to protect his man, John, he arranges to have the bartender extradited to another jurisdiction to stand trial. There, John argues the shooting was self-defense and is acquitted.

Soapy hopes that these efforts have managed to square the circle. But when news of John’s acquittal reaches Skagway, some of its citizens only renew their commitment to ending the town’s growing crime problem. 

They petition the federal government to enforce martial law, and in March 1898, troops arrive in Skagway to shut down the town’s saloons and gambling halls. But Soapy is not ready to relinquish his lucrative territory. Even without gambling halls, there’s lots of money to be made in Skagway. So the swindles continue through spring and into the summer of 1898 with apparent impunity. Only when a prospector is blatantly robbed in broad daylight will things change as a committee of concerned citizens will take matters into their own hands and finally bring a bloody end to Soapy Smith’s reign.

Act Three: Soapy is Shot Dead

It’s the evening of July 8th, 1898 in Skagway, Alaska.

Soapy Smith marches through the ramshackle streets of the town, heading toward the wharf. He has his rifle slung over his shoulder and he walks with the swagger of a man utterly convinced of his own untouchable power.

Yesterday, members of Soapy’s gang robbed a prospector passing through town of over $2600 - more than three hundred thousand today. It was the final straw for many locals. An organization calling itself the Committee of 101 has been campaigning against Soapy’s gang for some time. After the robbery of this prospector, the Committee confronted Soapy to demand that the gold be returned. But Soapy either couldn’t or wouldn’t do as they asked. So, today, the Committee of 101 has convened another meeting at the town docks to figure out how to put an end to the crime wave destroying Skagway.

Soapy hasn’t been invited to the meeting, but he’s heading there anyway. Throughout his career, he’s relied on his rhetorical gifts to charm his way out of trouble, and he hopes he can use these skills once more to convince the townspeople that he’s a valuable member of the community, or at the very least disrupt the meeting so no clear action can be taken.

But the Committee of 101 has anticipated this. Guards have been posted on the wharf, with instructions to stop any member of Soapy’s gang from entering the meeting. So, when Soapy himself walks up the dock with his rifle over his shoulder, there’s a member of the Committee blocking his way. Frank Reid is a city engineer and the only one of the meeting’s guards who is armed. Soapy sneers at Frank and the two men exchange insults, and then shots ring out.

When the commotion is over and people from the meeting rush outside, they find Frank slumped against a door, badly wounded. But Soapy Smith lies motionless on the ground, shot through the heart.

In the wake of Soapy’s death, his associates flee town or are rounded up. 12 days after the shooting, Frank Reid dies. An enormous parade is held in his honor and his tombstone will be later inscribed with the words, “He gave his life for the honor of Skagway.”

Soapy Smith won’t be remembered so fondly in the town. But his reputation will live on elsewhere as one of the most prolific con men in the Old West, whose brazen acts of deception were only brought to an end by his violent death in a shootout on July 8th, 1898.

Outro

Next on History Daily. July 9th, 1762. Catherine the Great becomes Empress of Russia following a coup against her husband.

From Noiser and Airship, this is History Daily, hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsay Graham.

Audio editing by Muhammad Shahzaib.

Sound design by Mollie Baack.

Music by Thrumm.

This episode is written and researched by Ruben Abrahams Brosbe.

Edited by Joel Callen.

Managing producer, Emily Burke.

Executive Producers are William Simpson for Airship, and Pascal Hughes for Noiser.