Soapy Smith |  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.
... Jeff Smith
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