The Shootout on Juneau Wharf was a gunfight between Jefferson Randolph "Soapy" Smith, Frank H. Reid, and Jesse Murphy that took place on Friday, July 8, 1898, at approximately 9:15 p.m. in Skagway, District of Alaska, in the United States.

The founding of Skagway, a port town on the Inside Passage in Alaska's panhandle, in December 1897, attracted western crime boss Jefferson Randolph "Soapy" Smith and his gang of confidence men, as the town was the primary American starting point leading to the White Pass Trail and ultimately the Klondike gold fields, which had been discovered in 1896 and triggered a massive gold rush in the region.

[1] Smith had been well known as a streetside confidence trickster and racketeer in Denver and Creede, Colorado, where he was threatened with imprisonment as a criminal in 1895 and fled the state.

When interest in the gold rush peaked, he set up his swindle operations in Skagway and quickly became the region's underworld boss, just as he had done in Denver and Creede.

[5] When that proved too slow, they took matters into their own hands and posted handbills around Skagway ordering the "bunco men"[note 1] to leave the town or face the consequences.

[7] On July 8, 1898, John Douglas Stewart arrived in Skagway, returning from his claim in the Klondike with a canvas pouch containing $2,600 (equivalent to $95,222 in 2023) worth of gold and $87 in cash.

Stewart placed his gold in a local store safe and rented a room to wait for passage on an outgoing steamer.

[citation needed] Around 10:00 AM, Stewart was met by John L. "Reverend" Bowers and W. E. "Slim-Jim" Foster, two members of Soapy Smith's gang.

Stewart complained to anyone who would listen, including U.S. Commissioner Charles A. Sehlbrede, who was stationed in the neighboring town of Dyea.

[citation needed] Learning of the unrest over the robbery, Smith took to the streets, mingling with the residents and merchants, and claiming that no one had been robbed.

[9][page needed] In contrast with the Alaskan, Smith told several businessmen he would make amends.

In the presence of the marshal and a Daily Alaskan reporter, Sehlbrede demanded that the gold and the men responsible be turned in.

[citation needed] At the first meeting of the Citizens Committee, Thomas Whitten of the Golden North hotel had been elected chairman.

[13] He appointed four men "to guard the approach to the dock in order that no objectionable characters might be admitted to disturb the deliberations of the meeting."

They were Frank H. Reid, Captain Josias Martin Tanner, Jesse Murphy, and John Landers.

[15][page needed] Reid, a 54-year-old resident of Oregon, had worked as a bartender in the Klondike Saloon, a gambling den under Smith's control.

With six or seven of his men following at a distance, he walked west on Holly to State Street and turned south toward the Juneau Wharf six blocks away.

[21] At this point Reid is generally believed to have still had his revolver tucked away and that Smith still had his Winchester shouldered, but about what happened in the few seconds before gunfire erupted, accounts differ greatly.

It struck and cut his arm, but he managed to grab the barrel and yank it away from the general direction of his head and press it downward.

[24] Reid grabbed the rifle barrel with his left hand and pressed it down, and with his right he drew his revolver (if not already drawn) and pointed it at Smith.

[29] Seconds after the initial exchange of gunfire, Smith's men began running toward their wounded leader, weapons drawn.

This is another moment believed to have been the time that Smith hollered out, "My God, don't shoot", but Murphy pulled the trigger, killing him instantly with a bullet to the heart.

This, coupled with the rapid approach of men from the Citizen's Committee, who had prematurely ended their meeting with the sound of gunfire, perhaps convinced Jackson not to fire his pistol at Tanner.

"[34] On July 14, 1898, six days after the robbery and gunfight, John Stewart's gold was found by vigilantes inside Soapy's trunk located in an outbuilding behind Jeff Smith's Parlor.

This event used to take place at Soapy's graveside in the gold rush cemetery, but is now held in the downtown area at the Eagles Hall.