On this day in US history, a disgruntled city engineer murders one of the most notorious con men in the history of the West in Skagway, Alaska, on July 8, 1898. Jefferson Randolph Smith, known better as “Soapy” Smith, was a former cowboy turned conman when he went West and realized he could make more money in clever confidence games for money. Getting his nickname from a soap bar selling scheme, Smith would come to Skagway to escape the law and continue his games. Eventually, angering the citizens of the small Alaskan mining community. Smith then tried using his conning skills to persuade the community that he meant no threat to them; he would die to one of those citizens.
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