That Fiend in Hell: Soapy Smith's Denver reign in the Haigh dissertation.

Soapy Smith in front-page cartoon
(3rd from left at the table)

Rocky Mountain News, October 16, 1892

(Click image to enlarge)

In 2009 Jane G. Haigh completed her dissertation for a PhD in history and American Indian studies at the  University of Arizona. The title of her work is Political Power, Patronage, and Protection Rackets: Con Men and Political Corruption in Denver 1889-1894.

On page 8 of That Fiend in Hell, Cathy Spude incorrectly states that Jane Haigh

dispels the notion that Smith was influential in Denver politics, concluding that he was used by the Denver politicians as a tool to buy votes. 

Spude goes on to expand Haigh's supposed "conclusion" by stating that Soapy's "infamy" came from "the pleasure Denver newspapermen took in making fun of him—and by extension the candidates that he supported—than any real influence he had in Denver politics." Spude gives Haigh a general footnote credit, which cites no page(s), and adds how "This conclusion" should be taken into account in evaluating "Smith's overall legend."

I own a copy of Haigh's dissertation, have read it thoroughly and looked back through it numerous times. I found it well written and informative, but I also found that Haigh presents a very different history than the one of which Spude writes. Nowhere in the dissertation does Haigh indicate that Soapy was merely a tool, that Denver newspapermen took Soapy's reign lightly, or that they made fun of him. On the contrary, Haigh does write that "The most well known con man in Denver was Jefferson Randolph 'Soapy' Smith..." (p. 38). To demonstrate Soapy's prominence and degree of influence, Haigh quotes numerous newspaper accounts, such as this one published on July 29, 1889, in Denver's Rocky Mountain News: 

Soapy, in the language of the fly-by-night fraternity “has” Denver…. He has it to do with what he will in so far as all professional swindling and stealing is concerned…. The city is absolutely under the control of this prince of knaves, and there is not a confidence man, a sneak thief, or any other parasite upon the public who does not pursue his avocation under license from the man who has become great through the power vested in him by those whose sworn duty it is to administer the laws without fear or favor. (Dissertation, p. 77; also see more of this article in Alias Soapy Smith, pp. 145-46. The article includes this subtitle in capitals: "HE OWNS THE TOWN.")

Haigh adds the following:

Arkins [editor and owner of the Rocky Mountain News] was correct that in addition to his personal soap game and gambling, Soapy Smith had gained control of a downtown protection racket that exercised authority over the operations of thieves and con men, and paid off the police on behalf of all. Soapy developed this practice in Denver, perfected it in Creede, Colorado at the height of the brief silver rush, and later applied it to his advantage at Skagway, Alaska at the beginning of the Klondike Gold Rush.  (Dissertation, p. 77)

An examination of the dissertation shows that the "conclusion" Cathy Spude claims Jane Haigh draws does not belong to Haigh but to Spude and Spude alone.

 

That Fiend in Hell: The deputy U.S. marshals of early Skagway.

On page 21 of her book, Cathy Spude states that U.S. Marshal John Shoup in Sitka appointed only one deputy to Dyea and Skagway, D. H. McInness, during the winter of 1897-98. The author then reasons that since McInness was stationed in Dyea and the only route to Skagway at the time was across four miles of often turbulent water, McInness probably asked for assistance from the vigilante organization in Skagway. Apparently the author forgot about the other deputy U.S. marshal assigned to Dyea and Skagway, James Mark Rowan. He was at first in Dyea with McInness but later established an office in Skagway and a home where he lived with his pregnant wife. He remained there until fatally shot in an ambush on January 31, 1898. Marshal Shoup in Sitka then appointed another deputy U.S. marshal to serve in Skagway, Sylvester S. Taylor. He remained stationed in Skagway until Shoup relieved him of duty in July 1898.