Show big dig skull Is bad K mans memorial emerial er erected cited in memory of soapy smith once terror of alaska skagway Sk agway alaska tourists in alas ka shudder its s they gaze up ut at it s skull perched per clied high on A gray limestone OW on the inside route to Sk skagway agway it Is a symbol of indies lawlessness aness in alaska and memora demoralizes lizes soapy smith in skagway cemetery tit alie grove grave of frank iteld held government surveyor and organizer of alanskas law find and order league Is marked with a seem ly monument eulogist trally inscribed but dedicated to UK tit memory of it smith there Is only ON huge dentius dentils den hend head 25 feet high 11 ir 1 feet wide it was cl chiseled ilse led at tile instance of the arctic brotherhood A y ago it wits painted white hy by an 11 inscription rends reads soapy smiths skull tSu ardIng tit strait that separates wrangell island floru the mainland tile lie mammoth Il lalli 11 skull grills down nn billes that pass almost tinoi its jiw jaw it glares lit in tile the smi sunshine shine gleams ill hi deepening dusk although it is I 1 io feet above the lie willer one lie can count the teeth of if them kingpin king pin of alanskas bull bud men inen soapy smith might have stepped out of a llwin novel in ill tile lie days of W ili when Shag wiY WIs was wild with men seeking gold mid and there apte tragedies in ill chilcoot pass lidid heartbreak T trail ill 11 smith held tile lie rond to ill the lie klondike when he deemed it wise lie would rob his con game it Is 14 reported thih like rollin hood lie wils chu Altho although ligh aie lie was tin nn organizer of lawlessness lie ile frequently gave generously to cliff dren uno am widows to ruen men who ciline cn pie hack back from the trull broken and EvI delilly lie ile balile calile front from st louls where lie he hud Is as it coliat dence limit and gunil iler lie he was wont to in inveigle V V 1 1 ile ili prey i ey with a esoup mollp alic ion ilon asserting ertIng that ach o ol 01 boap contilli contained fed it ioney thump aroh ably ally lie he his fits arrested se ahm times s lie left st louls and wits was litter hiter driven drivere out of ill ver i at this thile the lie gold rush to alaska ivas in motion and smith tippen appeared red in Sling wily its in file the full tit of IS H the rhe place then with lation now it has only about AM itt he soon lenila i over it a gang gan g of it desperadoes directing thecil front from ills ornate saloon will and gom gambling bling aliouse Ill illse in skit vav ay iy smaller gillil gambling billig operators wele vie sat fixed hy by ona n WW W W 14 hasis of their winnings when trade was dull lie he would ordet tits his gun nim to tare forth and briny bring in ells cus tomer a tit n alie be point of a rp revolver volver lie ile carried two int inage ge revolvers revolve vors rs on his 11 hl 1 1111 anil 1 a we on m der his fit left lit ai milt vill lia he taevee buei killed a n ninn inn n excepting frank reul reid 54 years old was about sixteen years year a older than smith held was a straight shooter ile he hod had laid out and tin d lie ile believed that when the authorities thorit ties les quit enforcing the law citizens should take charge Dic disagreed agreed on law and order oddly reid slid and smith were cro antes they disagreed only on the lie subject of law and order sometimes they would dine and drink together bogett er smith said only one man in alaska could get him film it if he was ever slain it would be by reid conditions in skagway were such that hut in july 1898 citizens were contemplating tem plating measures of retaliation against the lawless element A prospector alexander stewert one day came over the trail from dawson en route to the outside with tits his winnings from the arctic in gold god dust ile he deposited tits fits poke at smiths until lie he was ready to leave lu in tha absence of blinks banks prospectors used saloons and hotels as de repositories depositories deposit post to ries ories same night ste stewart wart called for hla hist gold hut smith and tits his bartenders pretended they did not know him lie he tried to explain they ordered him out rt appen appealed led to reid held this wits the lie third time such thefts had occurred lind held decided that such banking must be ended i IQ culled called a mass tue eting for the next nest night MOIL Son soapy py entered the hall rapped for order and declared the meeting adjourned lie ile meant that hint ills ilia gunmen prodded un believers in the ribs with revolvers mid and told ilein to skip long along it hold ile he did not wont want to arouse gun play tit nt that time little ile he called another meeting ine eting which was broken up in the same way reids dead ura iea reid nt at last natio I 1 I 1 maed a hinss meeting of of tile the ry to be held field on one of the four steamship piers in the harbor they could bo be up preached pro ached cd only by causeways which formed a IT at the end call the loca strategic reid would guard tile the causeway cause lending leading to the appointed pier if smith and ills his henchmen attempted to negotiate the eighteen foot approach there would be ba tion tho the day ot of tile the meeting reid held relieved three men who hat haq been stationed nt at the pier approach till all day ile eie had two 4 45 15 calibre colt revolvers lie ile stretched a surveyors sur vea chain fifteen feet to in trout front of the tha pier a dead line when informed that held was guarding the approach to tile the meeting place smith gulped down several drinks armed himself with a cavalry c carbine and went for them two hundred bundred armed men followed him film and behind then the populace the leader was tipsy when he staggered ills men would urge him on frank told held saw them coming lie ile stood cooly one man against nga sixty feet away from the dead line smith halted areld shouted to him film that ho he must not hot cross the chain smith ignored tile the warning ano and plunged on reid yelled a second warning but smith did not falter just juit as lit his right foot crossed he fab chain reid areld fired twice smith lurched backward struck in the chest the tha differing rewards recovering lie he sank on his knees and placed the carbine under his right armpit arm pit without aiming he fired the bullet caught reid low in tile the abdomen inflicting a mortal wound smith was forsaken by his erstwhile followers ile he died with out comfort beating the ground with ills hh orals arms held unconscious was rustled rushed to a hospital president mckinley sent sen t him a message of cheer his room was filled with lowers flowers ile he died after three and tits his funeral was ns tile the largest alaska had seen on his tomb there Is this legend ile he gave his life tor for tile the honor boner of skagway Sk agway smiths body wrapped in a maikl macki naw blanket was burled buried in a rough spruce box A wooden slab marked the grave it was only about twenty feet away from felds grave the smith gang of outlaws was quickly dispersed following the death of their leader AM all were banished from alaska and some were senti to federal prisons 1 I that Is the story behind the huge spectral skull that leers from th the limestone cliff with empty eye sockets |