| Show ba big g skull Is bad mans ans memorial mem orial erected in memory of soapy smith once terror of alaska skagway Sk agway alaska tourists in alaska shudder as they gazo gaze up nt at a skull perched high on a gray limestone clift cliff on the inside route to skagway Sk agway it Is it symbol of lawlessness in alaska und and memora demoralizes lizes soapy smith in cemetery tile the grave L frank hold it government surveyor ivna gunj organizer of alanskas law and order league Is marker marked with a seem scorn 4 ly ay monument eulogistically inscribed hut dedicated to the memory of smith there Is only this huge deaths liend hend 25 feet high 15 feet wide aldo it wits chiseled nt at tile the instance of tile the arctic brotherhood A year ago it was painted white by quarrymen an in reads soapy smiths skull guarding tho be strait that separates island from tile the inal mainland tiland the nia mai ninoth skull hull grins down on ships that pass almont its jaw it glares in the sunshine gleams in flee dusk although it Is feet above the water one can count the file teeth lif fifteen teen of thom hing pin of AIn alinskas bad men soupy soapy smith might have stopped stepped oil out of a dime diate novel in tile the days daya of 13 when Slin gway was wild with men seeking gold and there dally d illy tragedies tru gedles til in chilcoot lass and heartbreak trail soapy smith held halo the lie road to tile the klondike when lie he deemed it wise tio lie would rob his con game it Is reported that like robin hood lie he vas charitable although jio ho wits was an organizer of lawlessness lie frequently gave generously to calill doln und tind widows and to nion men who came linck from the lio trail broken brohen and defeated derea ted f evidently vi dently tie he came from st loula louis where lie he had operated as a n conal dt dence nce man und and gambler lie was vas wont aront to inveigle prey with n soap buc tion assorting that each ol 01 pimp contained money thus ably lie he required red ills nickname ar greeted several times tie lie left st louls louis slid and was latr r driven out of denver at this time tha gold rush to alaska ans tit in motion and smith appeared in in the fa tny 1 l of 1807 tile the place then hummed with population now it line lias only about MK lie soon boon established leadership over a gang of desperadoes directing them front rm tits cornute saloon und and gambl gambling hig house home in Sini smaller tiler operators were taxed by smith on a S 50 basis of their heir winnings when trade was lull dull tie he woul dorder ills his gun well men to fare forth and bring tit in cus bomers tit at the point of a revolver lie ile carried two large revolvers on his hip and a smaller sinn ller one under lila ills left arrit pit hut but lie never killed a imin excepting frunk iteld iteld 64 54 years old was about sixteen years older than linn sinith areld was a straight strul glit shooter tie lie had laid out SU suwim wiy and lie fie believed that nolen when the nu au thor liles quit aul the law aitt two should raould inae charge disagreed on law l aw and order oi auy reid unil and vere cro int alra chev ali v only on tile he st tull it 04 ft vt ul tit taw tind order Sonic n wd ibi nikl avink toge er swill wild I ty title ann in in 1 I w him hilo if lie hi wn 14 ever slain ti 11 vill v ill f ly by li allt telI ll s tu in were aaili i that in july 1898 citizens were ft ere contemplating tem tern plating measures of retaliation against tile the lawless element A prospector alexander stewart ono one day canie came over ner tile the trall from dowson dawson en route to tile he outside ills winnings from the arctic MOW in gold dust lie ile deposited ills his puke poke at smiths until lie he was rendy ready to leave in ah the absence of banks prospectors used saloons and hotels as depositories repositories deposit ories that same night stewart called rot for ills gold but smith and tits his bartenders pretended they did not know him lie fie tried to explain they ordered him out stewart tip appealed pealed to held this was the lie third time line such thefts had occurred and iteld held decided that such lian hanking king most be ended lie he called a moss meeting for the next night soapy smith entered tile the liall hall rapped for order and declared the meeting injecting adjourned lie ile meant that ills gunmen geninen prodded un believers in the lite rills ribs with alth revolvers and told them to skip along held acquiesced he lid did not want to arouse gun play at that time ne fie called another meeting which was broken up tit in tile the same saine way relda reids dead line livid held at last announced a mass meeting of tile the citizenry to be held field on one of the four steamship piers in the harbor they could bo be approached pro ached ched only by causeways which a IT T tit nt the end the loca don was strategic rold would guard tile the causeway leading to the appointed pier if smith and his henchmen attempted to negotiate tinte the eighteen foot approach there would bo be oppose tion ion tile the day of the lie meeting held re head three men inen vw who had been PM honed nt at the pier approach nil all day lie had two 4 45 11 callero colt revolvers lie fie stretched it surveyors chain nt fit teen feet in front of file lie pier a dead line aheu informed that told held was guarding the at approach to the meeting place panco smith gulped down several drinks armed himself with a cavalry carbine and went for thein two hundred armed men followed liliie and behind them tile populace the loader leader WAS tipsy when he fie staggered led lila ills in men en would mould urge film on frank held saw them coming lie stood cooly ono one tuan man against sixty feet awtry froin tile lead dead line halted held shouted to hll n that he must not cross the chain ignot ignored ed tile the warning and plunged on hold held yelled a second warning but smith d did I 1 d not falter just as tits ills right foot c crossed the lie chain hold held fired twice smith lurched backward struck in the chest the differing rewards Re warda Recover hig lie sunk slink on his file knees unit mul placed tile the carldine cur lilno under its his right linn pit without alling lie tired fired the bullet caught held tow low in the abdomen inflicting a mortal wound smith was forsaken by his erstwhile followers lie ile died without comfort benting beating the ground with ills his arins anns iteld held unconscious wits was rustled rushed to a fl hospital resident president mckinley mckenley sent him it message of cheer its hla room was tilled with lowers flowers tie he died daei it after three weeks and tits funeral was the largest alaska had seen been on his tomb there la Is this legend ue ile gave ills his life for the honor of skagway Sk agway smiths body wrapped in a markl blanket was urns burled in a rough spruce box bol A wooden stab slab barted the grave it was only about twenty feet away from reids holds grave the smith t gang of outlaws ua WAS quickly dispersed following tile the death of their lender all were banished from alaska and some were sent seat to ra federal prisons that Is the story behind the huge spectral skull that leers leera from the limestone clift cliff with empty eye sockets |
