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Photo courtesy of the Knackstedt Collection Charles “Windy” Wagner was an adept gardener who liked sharing his produce and telling stories about its quality.

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Windy Wagner: Breath of fresh air or just a blowhard? (Part 2)

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Former longtime Kenai resident Charles Wagner was a memorable character. After living for about a decade…

Windy Wagner enjoyed entertaining company at his home along the Kenai River. (Photo courtesy of the Knackstedt Collection)

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Windy Wagner: Breath of fresh air or just a blowhard? (Part 1)

Most folks seemed to enjoy Charles A. Wagner. They appreciated his hospitality and generosity, his stories and good…

Photos courtesy of the Brennan Family Collection This photo of John Floyd King was taken during his U.S. Army service during World War I. Written beneath the photo was “Some soldier, eh!”

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The Separate Lives of the Man Who Fell — Part 3

Alec Hardin MacDonald appeared in the census count as a resident of Takotna Village in Interior Alaska

John Floyd King served in the elite Rainbow Division during World War I. By the end of his tenure, he was a machine gunner fighting in France. (Photo courtesy of the Brennan Family Collection)

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The Separate Lives of the Man Who Fell — Part 2

John Floyd King disappeared from the record and Doc MacDonald came into being

When Takotna resident Alec MacDonald registered in February 1942 for the military draft, he falsely claimed to have been born in 1900 in Chautauqua County, Kansas.

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The Separate Lives of the Man Who Fell — Part 1

Even now, with much more of the truth laid bare, mysteries remain

Photo #1.628 courtesy of the Seward Community Library Association Dr. John Baughman’s wife, Mina (left), poses in this circa 1905-10 photo with Mrs. E.E. Hale on a Seward city sidewalk near the Alaska Central Railroad and Seward’s first school.

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Dr. Baughman’s Unusual Second Job, Part 2

Dr. John A. Baughman also filed a lot of paperwork.

(Photo from a lantern slide courtesy of Gary Titus This 1904 Baughman Collection photo shows two hunters—Dr. John Baughman (left, holding girl) and W.H. Case—with four mountain goats they killed near the summit of White Pass and brought back to their home in Skagway later by train.

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Dr. Baughman’s Unusual Second Job, Part One

In the late 1990s, Michael Hankins and two of his pals were treasure hunting near Old Knik when…

Photo courtesy Fair Family Collection The date is Oct. 19, 1957. The place is an airport in Kokomo, Indiana. The occasion is her departure from the Midwest. Her ultimate destination is Whittier, Alaska.

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Jane’s Story

I imagine my mother’s inability at this moment to truly understand the change her life is about to…

After 18 years at Leavenworth prison in Kansas, William Dempsey was returned to McNeil Island federal penitentiary in Washington in April 1939. He would escape from McNeil nine months later. (Photo courtesy of the University of Alaska Fairbanks archives)

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A Nexus of Lives and Lies: The William Dempsey story — Part 9

On Jan. 30, 1940, nearly eight months later, Dempsey, while on a road gang in a heavy fog,…

Photo courtesy of the University of Alaska Fairbanks archives Murder suspect William Dempsey is pictured shortly after he was captured on the outskirts of Seward in early September 1919.

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A Nexus of Lives and Lies: The William Dempsey story — Part 8

Dempsey spent more than a decade attempting to persuade a judge to recommend him for executive clemency

Photo courtesy of the University of Alaska Fairbanks archives After Pres. Woodrow Wilson commuted his death sentence to life in prison, William Dempsey (inmate #3572) was delivered from Alaska to the federal penitentiary on McNeil Island, Wash. These were his intake photos.

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A Nexus of Lives and Lies: The William Dempsey Story—Part Seven

AUTHOR’S NOTE: William Dempsey killed two Alaskans in 1919 and was sent to prison in 1920 for his…

In 1914, Pres. Woodrow Wilson appointed Charles Bunnell to be the judge of the Federal District Court for the Third and Fourth divisions of the Alaska Territory. (Photo courtesy of the University of Alaska Fairbanks archives)

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A Nexus of Lives and Lies: The William Dempsey story — Part 6

Prosecution lawyers were fortunate to have a fallback plan: witnesses to the crime.

Photo courtesy of the University of Alaska Fairbanks archives Murder suspect William Dempsey is pictured in handcuffs shortly after he was captured on the outskirts of Seward in early September 1919.

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A Nexus of Lives and Lies: The William Dempsey story — Part 5

Although William Dempsey didn’t know it as he fled for his life, several things were working against him