Can you Ignore Error Response Code in HttpUrlConnection?

Question

I have a problem with a HttpUrlConnection object throwing an IOException when it gets an HTTP Error Response code. Especially when there is an actual response from the server sent back that has more details in it that are actually helpful.
I would like to just tell the HttpUrlConnection ot ignore HTTP error responses and just pass along the page or data that was returned instead. I need to handle this myself.
The reason if it matters, is I am sending SOAP Envelopes, and if the Web Service doesn't like it, it will send an HTTP 500 Response Code, but it also sends a response SOAP Envelope that tells me exactly what is wrong.
Right now to get this response I have to use a Sniffer, or worse since it is HTTPS (ssl) i have to use the jvm's SSL debug mode, and pull the response out of the hex code.
I couldn't find anything about this, so I am afraid I am SOL, just hoping that there might be an obscure "feature" or "property" that can deal with this, that I can't find.
** 10 Duke Dollars to first person to provide a solution that works **

Answer 1

Just call the getErrorStream() method to read the error response. Eg.
HttpURLConnection conn = null;
try {
  conn = (HttpURLConnection)
    new URL("http://www.google.com/givemea404").openConnection();
} catch (Exception e) {
  InputStream in = conn.getErrorStream();
  int i = in.read();
  while (i != -1) {
    System.out.print((char) i);
    i = in.read();
}