Daniel E. Soper

Daniel E. Soper (June 3, 1843January 1923) was an American politician. He served as Michigan Secretary of State in 1891, before resigning amid scandal. He later was involved with the Michigan relics fraudulent archeology scheme.

Early life Daniel E. Soper was born on June 3, 1843, in Saratoga Springs, New York. In January 1844, his father died. In 1854, his family moved to Lenawee County, Michigan. On May 22, 1865, Soper married Mary A. Howell of Hillsdale County, daughter of William T. Howell.

Career After his marriage, Soper started a drug business at Newaygo village. In July 1885, President Grover Cleveland made Soper the postmaster at Newaygo.

In 1890, Soper began to seek the office of Michigan auditor general. On September 10, 1890, Soper was nominated by the Democratic state convention at Grand Rapids as Michigan secretary of state. In the general election on November 4, Soper was elected with 180,855 votes, defeating Republican nominee Washington Gardner. In December 1891, a petition was filed to Governor Edwin B. Winans by Lansing Mayor Frank B. Johnson. It included a number of charges against Soper, including purchasing an unnecessarily large amount of supplies, demanding a portion of Assistant Secretary of State Louis E. Rowley's salary under threat of dismissal, and misappropriation of state funds for himself. Upon receiving this petition, Governor Winans called Soper to his office. Soper acknowledged the charges against him, and he resigned on December 19.

Archeological interest and fraud

Soper had been a collector of artifacts from Native American mounds. After resigning as secretary of state amid scandal, Soper moved to Arizona. There, he attempted to be credited with the discovery of Native American artifacts, by planting some he had already owned, and uncovering them in front of local archaeologists. However, the archaeologists could tell the artifacts were not of Southwestern origin, and Soper's attempted fraud was revealed. He then returned to Michigan.

By 1907, Soper had gotten involved with James O. Scotford, who in 1890 announced the discovery of Native American mound artifacts with written language on them in Montcalm County. The artifacts are widely considered fraudulent, as they had several indicators of recent creation, as well as an inconsistency with authentic human language, among other reasons. Scotford had since been involved with other fraudulent archeological discovers of a similar nature. By 1911, Scotford, Soper, and a Catholic pastor, James Savage, had opened over 500 mounds, and the "discovery" of many false artifacts from them. Soper and Scotford were involved in the sale of the artifacts. In January 1923, Soper died in Chattanooga. He was interred at Forest Hills cemetery.