In the town I grew up there's a mountain side
That shows painted devotion to "Bulldog Pride"
Got to say the grafitti here
Shows more talent and historical cheer
From the moment we docked we enjoyed the view
Each rock and angle a colorful view.
This is a riotous memorial to ships, captains, and the infamous varmint, Soapy Smith.
Do unto others, what they'd like to do to you...But do it first! --Jefferson R. Smith
Like Al Capone, Bonny & Clyde, Billy the Kid... Darth Vader... a certain brand of irascible captures the public imagination. So we meet Jefferson Randolph "Soapy" Smith, "King of the Frontier Con Men," "Boss of the Bunco Brotherhood." "With whom the manipulation of the shell game, decks of cards and the trigger spelled art." -- The Reign of Soapy Smith, 1935 "Upon the world he made his mark, and from him we learn how not to be one."
His moniker, Soapy, comes from one of his main cons -- selling soap, bars of which supposedly had bills under the wrappers. Unlike Willy Wonka's Golden Tickets, this game was rigged: only Soapy's gang uncovered the cache. But those greenhorns off the ships fell for the con again and again -- and I bet Soapy reused the discarded bars of soap! But he was more than a con game -- he was a crime boss. If you were on his side, life could be good. But don't cross him, as Mollie Walsh discovered after helping some prostitutes escape the cribs and return to the lower States. Mollie ended up hightailing it out of Skagway, to set up a cook tent VERY near the RCMP station up White Pass... but that's stuff on another Skagway Citizen Memorial (Waymark Code: WM8WEV)
(
visit link) "The infamous Soapy Smith was a late 19th century American confidence man and gambler par excellence. Known as the 'king of the frontier confidence men' he was beyond comparison the most artful grifter of his time. As a crime lord Soapy organized a large and powerful gang of talented soundrels and rogues in order to assume control of the criminal underworlds in Denver and Creede, Colorado, between the years 1884 and 1895, and in Skagway, Alaska, during the Klondike gold rush of 1896-1898. In the latter he was known in the newspapers around the nation as the 'uncrowned king of Skagway.'
"Soapy Smith was the last of his kind, an old west crime figure who refused to give up the old ways for a constantly changing, modernizing nation. He was shot dead in a horrific gunfight while facing angry vigilantes on July 8, 1898. Four days prior, he had been the man of the hour. He had led Skagway’s first Independence Day parade as its grand marshal, and he stood on stage along side Alaska Territorial Governor John Brady. Four days later he died, labeled a criminal outlaw.
"...a very complex criminal. Although a bad man, he was also a self-styled patriot and a charitable man, strikingly generous to those in need. He was known to his peers and enemies for his bravery and loyalty to his gang, friends, and family. His motto was 'Get it while the get'in's good.' In the days of the old west, no one proved more slippery."
I find him particularly bemusing, as he was born in Round Rock, Texas (where we now live) -- supposedly getting his start down the trail to infamy by witnessing the deadly shootout between bank robber Sam Bass and the Law. Then he worked the mine fields of Colorado, where we spent around a decade. And now we found ourselves at the end of his trail -- with his ginormous skull staring into our stateroom.
About halfway down the cliff, a natural skull-like formation on the cliffs above Skagway's Railroad Dock has been painted up so you can't miss its gristly likeness -- including, lest you wonder, the words "Soapy Smith's Skull." The original dedication is believed to have been done in the fall of 1926 -- and it's clearly kept in fresh paint. Alaska's grim memorial to its most celebrated gangster even made the induction into Ripley's Believe It or Not fame in 1937.
But Soapy isn't the only 'memorial' on this Skagway visual treat.
In the late 1800s it became a tradition that the first time a ship arrived at this port, the captain would paint the flag/logo and name of his ship on the cliff at dockside. This tradition continues even today. Look hard to see if your ship's registry (if, like us, you came by sea) appears.... or just enjoy the colorful panorama of Skagway port history.
Definitely a memorial of many citizens!
Further Reading:
Friends of Bad Man Soapy Smith: The Soapy Smith Preservation Trust (
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Jefferson (Soapy) Smith Directory (
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Messages in rock: Skagway cliff face serves as an unofficial registry of visiting ships - Historical Snapshot
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