Outlaws have a tendency to grow in stature with the passage of time, and the badder they are, the better! Robin Hood, Billy the Kid, Butch Cassidy, The Sundance Kid, Bonnie & Clyde and India's Bandit Queen, Phulan Devi have all taken centre stage in film, print and theatre productions.

The billboard at Eagle Hall on Skagway's Broadway is no exception. It features a show about the town's most notorious citizen, Jefferson Randolph "Soapy" Smith, an out and out scoundrel who, in the space of a century, has assumed larger than life proportions.

Soapy earned his nickname in Denver, Colorado, where he sold 5 cent bars of soap for $5 each on the assurance that $10, $20 or even $100 bills had been inserted at random within the packages. An accomplice in the audience would throw down his $5 select a bar, and feverishly tear it open. Hey-presto…out would pop a $100 bill! Needless to say, none of the suckers jostling one another to slap down their $5 ever unwrapped so much as a dime. Before long resentment oozed to the surface and Soapy was "persuaded" by the cops to leave town. The officer handling the case couldn't recall Smith's first name so his log entry read "Soapy" Smith. The moniker stuck.

Soapy surfaced in Skagway in 1897. Typical of the boom towns of its time, it was thronged with prospectors en-route to the fabled Klondike Valley. The town boasted illicit bars, gambling dens and makeshift one-room clapboard cribs (which today have been transformed into trendy little curio shops) where hookers enticed customers in by flaunting their red petticoats. For many gold-struck transients, this was their first trip away from home. They were exhausted, homesick, hungry for diversion and often astonishingly naïve.

Smith lost no time in setting up a saloon called "Jeff's Place". He enlisted a group of "helpers" (whom he called his 'lambs'-presumably because they were professional fleecers) to keep excitable customers in check. Over the next few months, he established a range of nefarious "business" establishments the most notable of which was his Dominion Telegraph Service which purported to relay messages from the stampeders to their families back in Seattle or San Francisco. Responses from home were prompt, and most of them involved requests for money, which Soapy obligingly "remitted" on behalf of his customers. Few realised that the telegraph wires ran only a few hundred yards from his backdoor, before vanishing beneath the waters of the inlet.

Other scams included a non-existent freight line, and an "army enlistment" tent (at the start of the Spanish Civil War) where victims' clothes and possessions were stolen during a physical examination by a "doctor". His gang, in the guise of freight agents, newspaper reporters, knowledgeable old timers, or clergymen, hung around the docks and after taking note of the size of a newcomer's wallet, they would direct him to one of Soapy's fraudulent businesses or stake him out as prospective robbery victim.

Within a year Soapy Smith had the town and its officials in his back pocket. With the support of his mobsters, he assumed the mantle of Grand Marshall, led a Fourth of July parade with a brass band in attendance, and made a show of setting up a benefit fund for Skagway's widows-some of whose husbands had been permanently 'silenced by the lambs'! Four days after the Parade, however, matters came to an abrupt climax.

Triggered by the vociferous indignation of a gold miner whose $2,800 poke had been stolen by Soapy's thugs, a ripple of alarm went through the town. Skagway had already been branded as the most lawless town in Alaska, and residents decided it was time to confront Soapy. A vigilante group - the Committee of 101 - was hastily formed with Frank Reid, a town engineer and surveyor, as its leader.

On July 8, 1898, Soapy after several drinks at Clancy's Bar met Reid at a muzzle to muzzle shoot-out at the dockside. Soapy's last words were a boozy, panic-stricken, "For God's sake man, don't shoot!" Too late. He was killed instantly, while Reid, also mortally wounded died twelve days later in hospital. Reid has an elaborate granite memorial in the Skagway cemetery, where the inscription reads, "He gave his life for the honour of Skagway". Soapy, aged 38, lies buried just beyond the cemetery boundaries in unconsecrated ground.

Today, however, hardly anyone in Skagway remembers much about Frank Reid. Soapy, however, has attained legendary status-to the extent that a ceremonial wake for him is held in Skagway each year on July 8th.

IF YOU GO:
While several cruise ships ply the Alaska coast, World Explorer Cruises offer a unique experience. Relax in an informal atmosphere aboard the S.S. Universe Explorer, a smaller ship which offers a huge selection of shore excursions, a great reference library, absorbing lectures on anthropology, history, biology and astronomy, a series of light classical concerts and a variety of fun-filled interactive shipboard events 8, 9, and 14 day cruises run through the summer (from Vancouver, British Columbia) until August 20, 2002. In addition, two 18-day cruises are scheduled through the Panama Canal and Central America. The first one (December 12th -30th ) starts in Nassau and ends in Ensenada Mexico; the second (December 30th 2002 - January 17th 2003) goes from Ensenada, to Miami.

Contact your local travel agent, or obtain details of schedules and costs from:
World Explorer Cruises Inc.,
555 Montgomery Street,
Suite 1400,
San Francisco, California 94111-2544
Tel: (415) 820-9200; Fax: (415) 820-9292
e-mail: info@wecruise.com
Website: www.wecruise.com

Alaska's Villains, Vamps and Vagabonds

Part II
Dolly Arthur

Dolly's House, Ketchikan

Unlike Skagway, Ketchikan doesn't have a "Soapy" Smith lurking in the shadows of its past. It does however pay affectionate tribute to its most celebrated hooker, Dolly Arthur.

Thelma Dolly Copeland was born in Idaho in 1888. She had an unhappy childhood and left home at thirteen, moving to Montana and then to Vancouver, B.C., where she worked as a waitress. A Junoesque beauty, she soon collected a retinue of male admirers and candidly admitted, "By the time I was 18 or 19, I realized that I could make a lot more money from the attention of men than I could waiting on tables." She moved to Ketchikan, changed her name to Dolly Arthur, and set up her establishment at 24 Creek Street in 1919.

Every night was party-time on Creek Street. Miners, fishermen, loggers and townspeople gathered to carouse, drink and visit the clapboard bordellos built along the boardwalk. Music floated out over the water and lights glowed from the windows, while the girls paraded, titillating and semi-nude, behind lace curtains. Although drinking was against the law (no one paid much attention to this) prostitution was legal, and the "sporting women" of the red light area of Creek Street, registered their businesses with the city police. Creek Street-set against wooded slopes of Deer Mountain-its hookers, and Ketchikan itself, roared through the '20s, '30s and '40s.

Creek Street, Ketchikan

Creek Street still thrives, but today its boardwalk brothels have been transformed into curio and souvenir shops. All of them that is, except Dolly's House which is now a museum crammed with memorabilia of her life and times. The rooms are much the same as when she lived there, and visitors can be forgiven if they feel her presence beside them as they peer at old black and white photographs standing on her bedroom dresser, or run their fingers over the cool brass railings of her queen-size bed. Does her shadow pass fleetingly over the birdcage standing to one side of the room, or pause in front of a favorite Victorian painting in the hallway? Can one hear faint echoes of the rumble of her old sewing machine or the stutter of the keys on her typewriter? Do the faded brocade-covered sofas and armchairs in the parlor still carry a whiff of her perfume in their folds? Perhaps.

Dolly's Boudoir

Other than the facts concerning her origins and career, not a great deal has been written about the personal life of Dolly Arthur. June Allen in her book "Dolly's House" provides a tantalizing glimpse into Dolly's personality - her thoughts, opinions and emotions - as revealed in the course of several interviews in the early 1970s. Allen mentions that while still in her early twenties Dolly had an unhappy love affair in Vancouver. Perhaps a poignant reminder of that ill-fated romance was the words to a 1915 song found among her mementos: "I want you when I'm bright and cheery, need you when I'm sad and weary, Always to be near me dearie, for I want you all the while." The last man in her life was a longshoreman named "Lefty" who lived with her on Creek Street on and off over a period of 26 years. He was a charming rake who flitted about town surrounded by a coterie of admiring women. "He fooled around," Dolly is reputed to have said, "but he always came back." She bailed him out of financial scrapes on several occasions, not out of blind infatuation, but because she genuinely liked Lefty, and considered him a good buddy.

Dolly continued to live in her house at 24 Creek Street, even after the brothels were closed down in the late 1950s and the area assumed a mantle of respectability. She grew increasingly frail as she aged and spent the last year and a half of her life in a nursing home. When she died on July 1975 at the age of 87, all the major newspapers on the West Coast carried her obituary, paying tribute to a woman who indomitable spirit exemplified the tough, roistering years of Ketchikan's early history.

Welcome to Dolly's House, circa 2000

IF YOU GO:
While several cruise ships ply the Alaska coast, World Explorer Cruises offer a unique experience. Relax in an informal atmosphere aboard the S.S. Universe Explorer, a smaller ship which offers a huge selection of shore excursions, a great reference library, absorbing lectures on anthropology, history, biology and astronomy, a series of light classical concerts and a variety of fun-filled interactive shipboard events 8, 9, and 14 day cruises run through the summer (from Vancouver, British Columbia) until August 20, 2002. In addition, two 18-day cruises are scheduled through the Panama Canal and Central America. The first one (December 12th -30th ) starts in Nassau and ends in Ensenada Mexico; the second (December 30th 2002 - January 17th 2003) goes from Ensenada, to Miami.

Contact your local travel agent, or obtain details of schedules and costs from:
World Explorer Cruises Inc.,
555 Montgomery Street,
Suite 1400,
San Francisco, California 94111-2544
Tel: (415) 820-9200; Fax: (415) 820-9292
e-mail: info@wecruise.com
Website: www.wecruise.com

She is Juneau's most beloved vagabond, and her larger-than-life statue stands on the wharf of Gastineau Channel. Not only is she commemorated in bronze, but her picture adorns T-shirts, coffee mugs, postcards, and she is the heroine of a paper-back novel. In fact, she even has her own web-site.

What's more she is also a grand dame with a distinguished title. Back in 1934, Mayor Goldstein proclaimed Patsy Ann the "Official Greeter of Juneau", and granted her "diplomatic immunity" from collars and licenses.

Dog collars and licenses that is. For Patsy Ann was - and still is - Juneau's favorite canine. And she was quite a gal too.

Born in Oregon in 1929, she arrived in Juneau on board ship-a chubby bull-terrier puppy-destined for adoption as a family pet. Patsy Ann, however, had other ideas. A free spirit, she preferred to spend her time gadding about town, schmoozing with saloon customers, lounging at the Longshoreman's Hall or dropping by the lobbies of posh hotels. Best of all, she enjoyed hanging out at the docks.

Like most bull terriers, Patsy Ann was deaf from birth and couldn't hear the whistles or horns of boats approaching Juneau, but that didn't matter. Some inner radar-like instinct, would send her off at a business-like trot to the wharf, as a steamer made its way up Gastineau Channel. She was never mistaken. On one occasion when a crowd collected at the wrong dock, Patsy Ann stared at them, seemingly shook her head in disbelief, and promptly took off for the correct landing pier. As time went by, folks in Juneau learned to follow her lead, as mail boats, tourist ships and package steamers nosed into view along the Channel.

The town eventually instituted dog licensing laws, and one of Juneau's residents bought her a collar and license. Patsy Ann would have none of that nonsense. A "lady" of her distinction and breeding could hardly be expected to submit to the indignity of a collar, and she managed to divest herself of a series of them. The issue, of course, vanished when Mayor Goldstein conferred celebrity status on Juneau's Official Greeter.

Patsy Ann lived up to her title with diligence, never failing to arrive on the wharf well ahead of time and to extend an affectionate welcome to ships' visitors and crew. As she grew older, she developed rheumatism, possibly as a result of unscheduled dousings in the icy waters of Gastineau Channel. She also became a rather stout old lady, having lived off the bounty of restaurants, ships' kitchens, and treats handed out to her by hundreds of captivated tourists.

Patsy Ann died on May 30th 1942, while sleeping in her favorite spot at the Longshoreman's Hall. The next day, a crowd of mourners watched tearfully as her small coffin was lowered into the waters of Gastineau Channel.

Fifty years after her death, the 'Friends of Patsy Ann Society' commissioned Anna Burke Harris, a New Mexico artist, to craft a bronze statue of their faithful companion of bygone days. It is a spirit piece which incorporates many different clippings of dog hair (added at the time of casting) so as to symbolically unite the spirit of dogs from all over the world.

The sculpture also keeps alive the spirit of Patsy Ann, as she once again waits at the waterfront, head turned to look down Gastineau Channel-forever the Official Greeter of Juneau.

Patsy Ann

Note: To browse through photos of Patsy Ann, read the story of how her statue was crafted, and find out how to obtain "Dogstar" the novel which has endeared her to thousands of readers, visit www.patsyann.com Five percent of the proceeds of the sale of the book is donated to the Patsy Ann Fund under the auspices of the Gastineau Humane Society. The web site also offers visitors a memorial page (text and photos) dedicated to their own pets whose spirits have moved on to inhabit Sirius, the Dogstar. The service is free, but donations which help with the cost of site maintenance, are greatly appreciated.

IF YOU GO:
Several cruise ships ply the Alaska coast from Vancouver, B.C. Call your local travel agent for details of schedules and costs.