OLD WEST LEGENDS

Whispering Smith's Adventures

By Allen P. Bristow

Whispering Smith, as James L. Smith was to become known, served in the U. S. Navy during the Civil War aboard an ironclad gunboat in the Mississippi River campaign. After the war he remained in that area as a Plantation Inspector for the Freedmen’s Bureau and investigated crimes committed against former slaves. When the New Orleans Metropolitan Police were formed, Smith was appointed as a detective and served for several years until he was involved in a shooting that resulted in a scandal. He and his wife fled to Omaha where he was employed as a Union Pacific railroad detective and later served in the Cheyenne and Black Hills area. During this period he was involved in the shooting of two adversaries and implicated in the lynching of two others. It was during this period that he acquired the nick-name, “Whispering Smith.”

James L. Smith, artist's rendition from the cover of

 Whispering Smith: His Life and Misadventures

 by Allen P. Bristow

Train tracks running outside of Castle Gate, Utah,

1900, photo by William Henry Jackson.

The Castle Gate area was infested with outlaws and the Carbon County Sheriff, Gus Donant, was thought to be corrupted. When Donant tried to have C. L. “Gunplay” Maxwell, a known rustler, appointed as his deputy, Whispering Smith launched a campaign to have Donant removed. The effort was eventually successful but placed Smith into a continuing conflict with two local attorneys, J. W. Warf and M. P. Braffet.

In April, 1897, The Pleasant Valley Coal Company payroll was robbed by Butch Cassidy and members of his gang. Smith and his friend Cyrus “Doc” Shores were involved in the investigation but without success. 

The verbal feud between Smith, Warf and Braffet continued throughout the year and was climaxed by a gunfight at the Denver & Rio Grande Railway station in Price, Utah. Whispering Smith was arrested for attempted murder and tried during February, 1898. He was acquitted but his employment with the Pleasant Valley Coal Company ended.

Smith then became a resident of Denver, Colorado, and was hired by a newspaper editor to drive William “Bat” Masterson out of town. Following this confrontation, and at the age of 72, Smith became a prison guard at Buena Vista, Colorado, where he shot and killed an escaped prisoner. This incident closed Whispering Smith’s adventurous career and he retired to Denver in poor health. Destitute and ill, Smith conspired to be jailed in the Denver County Jail to receive medical aid. He committed suicide there on August 27, 1914, and was buried at the Riverside Cemetery, Section 2, Lot 205, Block 12.  Efforts are underway to obtain a Civil War headstone for his unmarked grave.

Frank H. Spearman, an unknown author, determined to write a novel about the heroic adventures of a railroad detective. He had heard the name “Whispering Smith” but knew nothing of his life. To obtain background for his story Spearman arranged to confer with two prominent railway detectives, Timothy Keliher and Joe LeFors. Based on their stories Spearman crafted a novel. His hero was named “Whispering Smith” but this fictional character was a composite of Keliher and LeFors. Spearman never met James L. Smith and the real Whispering Smith seems to have had no knowledge that his title was used.

The novel, Whispering Smith, was published in 1906, became the best-seller that year and continued in popularity for many years. Hollywood pounced on Spearman’s catchy title and repeatedly obtained filming rights. Over five motion pictures were made plus a television serial as late as 1961. Neither the novel nor the films based on it relate to the actual adventures of Whispering Smith.

© Alan P. Bristow, July, 2007