Alexander Graham Bell: The Spirit of Invention

I have always been curious about the preposterous stories of the Klondike gold rush. This wild period in history features gold fever lunacy -- a desperate stampede -- boom-town lawlessness -- wilderness hardships -- gambling -- hard work -- hard drinking -- hard women -- and shattered dreams -- all the ingredients for some light adventure reading. You will be introduced to colorful gang members: Old Man Triplett, Fatty Gray, Canada Bill, Doc Baggs, Slim Jim Foster, Reverend Bowers, and Red Gibbs. Of all the determined characters of that frantic period, their leader, Soapy Smith is the most engrossing. Stan Sauerwein is the author of Amazing Stories' "Soapy Smith: Skagway's Scourge of the Klondike", the entertaining biography of this legendary boomtown crime boss. Jefferson Randolph Smith Jr. as a teenager tried his hand in a cattle drive to Abilene, Kansas, where he acquired a life long taste for cards, liquor, and loose women. Once back in San Antonio, Smith was soon cleaned out by Clubfoot Hall, playing the shell game. Smith was hooked and begged Hall to teach him all he knew. Smith was sent to Leadville, Colorado to learn under the master: V. Bullock "Old Man" Taylor. It was in Leadville, Smith first saw the infamous soap bar game, and fell in love with it. Soapy moved through the west, building his gang and adding new scams. Hearing about the gold strikes in the Klondike, Soapy and six members of his gang sailed to Skagway, Alaska -- the jumping off point to the gold fields. Here, Soapy quickly set about fleecing the thousands of stampeders pouring into Skagway. He first opened a high class bar with gambling in the cozy back room -- customers routinely were robbed on their way to the outhouse, behind the building. Soapy's gang operated numerous phony businesses such as barber shops, information booths, map sales, a freight line, phony US Army recruiting center, and weather forecasting, all with one purpose -- size up the suckers and rob them blind. At the height of the gold rush, Soapy hit upon the idea of a phony telegraph station in Skagway. "For only five dollars for 10 words, every stampeder could send home news of this safe arrival." Often the miners received urgent pleas from the miner's families back home for money (actually sent by Soapy's gang). "Soapy's men, of course, accepted the miner's money for transfer -- not back home, but directly to Soapy's strongbox", relates Mr. Sauerwein. Soapy had always limited his targets to new comers -- never preying on the locals. Soapy explained that robbing newcomers was really a community service by preventing amateurs from being stranded in the wilderness. Soapy sometimes paid their passage back home -- mainly to get rid of complaining victims and to make room for new suckers. In "One Poke Too Many", the reader will find out the ultimate fate of Soapy Smith. Mr. Sauerwein tells his story in a clear, informal, entertaining style complete with dialog that brings a stage