Page 4 - Soapy Smith News Today

HowStuffWorks takes a look at six famous outlaws of the Wild, Wild West, how they lived and how they died.

The Blonger brothers even outdid Soapy Smith.

4 minute read The name Jefferson Randolph “Soapy” Smith is well known amongst magicians, Old West historians and cheating aficionados. Soapy evolved from being a street swindler to a full-time racketeer with dozens of bad men and ladies of negotiable affection on his payroll. But it all started with a simple little scam that not only gave Jefferson Randolph Smith his nickname, it seeded the future of a criminal enterprise that ended, inevitably in disaster. Soapy Who? Be...

‘Our fates are going to be the same.’ In 2019, Larry Persily, owner of the Skagway News, announced that he would give away his local Alaskan publication to a person or a pair demonstrating journalistic skill, self-motivation, grit, and—above all—affectionate dedication to the quirks and quiddities of rural small-town reporting. Nationalnewsoutlets picked up the story as a sort of lark, emphasizing the remote and small-town nature of Skagway, the rarity of the giveaway, and then, in a f...

What It Was Really Like Gambling In The Wild West By Jan MacKell Collins/Jan. 26, 2021 3:34 pm EDT/Updated: Jan. 26, 2021 3:36 pm EDT With casinos sprinkled all across America today, most people think they have a grasp on the fine art of gambling. During the 1800s, however, gambling in the Wild West was quite different. Especially in the Wild West, the California Gold Rush of 1849 brought thousands of prospectors who enjoyed trying their luck at games of chance in places like San Francisco. ...

Larimer Square, Denvers first historic district, made some history of its own this week, when the property — which includes nearly 250,000 square feet of space on Larimer and Market streets between 14th and 15th streets — was sold to Asana Partners, an outfit out of North Carolina, for $92 million. The seller was Jeff Hermanson, whod bought Larimer Square from the Hahn Company in 1993; Hahn had purchased it from Dana Crawford in 1986. Crawford was the visionary developer who saved the Victo...

Larimer Square may never be the same. On December 15, Asana Partners closed a deal to purchase 25 properties with nearly 250,000 square feet of space on Larimer and Market streets between 14th and 15th streets. The seller was Jeff Hermanson, who has owned Larimer Square since 1993 and has been one of the driving forces in making the block one of Denvers top restaurant destinations over the decades. (The sale price was $92 million, according to BusinessDen.) Even before Hermanson took over, Lari...