17. Soapy’s telegraph office gave him working capital in Skagway
There were telegraph wires strung inside the telegraph office, though there was no power to them, and in any case, they weren’t connected to a telegraph system. Soapy’s scam was to take an outgoing message from a transient prospector and explain the distance involved would make a wait for a reply a lengthy one. The message would be dutifully taken, along with the customers’ money. When they returned for a reply, the message would invariably be from a loved one or business associate asking for money. Soapy would offer to wire the money, and being the only telegraph in town, he usually got an affirmative reply.
Into his pockets, it went, and the prospector went on to the fields. Though there was a newspaper in town, and other papers arrived in Skagway via the steamers, Soapy simply paid them off to keep his telegraph operation secret. When some people protested, Soapy insisted that he was doing his victims a favor. Others noted that Skagway’s reputation as a den of thieves would deter legitimate businessmen from setting up shop in the town. Soapy and his henchmen decided that they would set up a legitimate business, in the form of a bar and gambling house, which he named Jeff Smith’s Parlor.
