JW Heacock's Gold
by Dick Heacock
Thursday, November 29, 2007
"Joseph Wilson Heacock was a 19-year old farm boy in Iowa when he learned about the Klondike Gold Rush. Acquiring a guidebook (now in the Skagway Museum), he quickly gathered the required supplies and boarded a train for Seattle. There he joined a crowd of adventurers on board a ship to Dyea & the Chilkoot Trail to Canada and Dawson City.
After moving his ton of supplies from the dock where they were unloaded to a safe place above high tide, he hiked the trail to Skagway to see what he could see. A building with an odd sign - something like "Racket Store" - caught his attention and he went inside to find a large round table with men playing poker. One of the men said, "Come on, son, get in the game!" When J.W. said he had no money, only a cashier's check, the man said: "Well come with me and we'll get it cashed."
Fortunately, this Iowa farm boy had heard rumors of a dangerous character named Soapy Smith and his gang. So he hastily left that building and made good use of his high school track training to make a speedy getaway down the street.
Many others who became victims of Soapy and his gang were not so lucky. One of them named J. D. Stewart made it back to Skagway with 2800 worth of gold dust. Two of Soapy Smith's henchmen convinced Stewart that he could get the most money for his gold if he took it to Jeff Smith's Parlor. So he did, and that was a big mistake.
In a short time, Stewart was thrown out onto the street and his gold disappeared. Because Stewart refused to go quietly but complained loudly to everyone he saw about what had happened to him at Smith's Parlor, it became the event that alerted the people of Skagway to the corruption in their town. Previously at least half the people thought Soapy Smith was a generous and benevolent citizen. He was kind to women and children, and he even paid to build a church in the community.
But when a large crowd gathered on the dock to decide what to do about Soapy and his gang, the stage was set for a dramatic and violent conclusion to their corrupt and brutal activities.
Soapy Smith made his fatal mistake in deciding to arm himself and confront the crowd on the dock. Frank Reid, former school teacher, Indian fighter, surveyor and, now, Skagway city engineer was also armed and blocking the way to the dock. A duel occurred in which Soapy and Frank shot and killed each other. Soapy died quickly and Frank lingered a couple of days.
For the most part, the people of Skagway celebrated the demise of Soapy and the breakup of his gang. Both the Methodist and Baptist preachers refused to hold funeral services for Soapy. The Presbyterian preacher did, but his text was "The way of the transgressor is hard."
Visitors to Skagway even now can read on the marble grave monument to Frank Reid: "He gave his life for the honor of Skagway."
Years after my three brothers and I listened to our grandfather Joseph Wilson Heacock's stories of his adventures in the great Klondike Gold Rush, the lust for gold was replaced by the lust for something else here in Alaska – oil & gas.
By the way, J.W. never panned or dug for gold. He got his double handful of nuggets by playing his cornet in dance bands from Skagway to Dawson City. I remember when he sold the last nugget to buy grandmother Fanny Knowles Heacock a pair of shoes in Edinburg, Texas, where he had opened the first hardware store after moving his family from Iowa around 1915." .....
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