U.S. Deputy Marshal Isaac Evans, 55, was shot and killed in Seward on Sept. 1, 1919, while trying to arrest a man wanted for murder. He became the third (known) U.S. Marshal killed in AK. His killer was convicted of murder and sentenced to hang but his sentence was later commuted to life in (federal) prison by President Woodrow Wilson. The events that led to the murder of Deputy Evans began in the early morning hours of Tuesday, Aug. 26, in Anchorage when William Dempsey, 19, a "drifter," decided to rob someone whom he thought would be carrying a lot of money. He thought that some "woman from the underworld" (i.e., a prostitute) would be a suitable target as they usually carried a lot of cash. He asked several people about likely targets and had asked at least one other woman to "go to his cabin" (a euphemism for "purchased" sex) but was turned down.
Dempsey finally "lured" Margaret Lavor, 44, from her cigar store (a common "front" for prostitutes) in downtown Anchorage to his cabin on East B. St. between 6th and 7th avenues by offering her $30 for sex. She was reputed to carry a lot of cash and also wore a "diamond dragon pin, a diamond ring and a gold watch." She was also described as an "habitue of the former redlight district."
After spending one hour (for sex) in his cabin Dempsey told Lavor that he had a "cache of whiskey" hidden nearby that he wanted to sell cheap so that he could leave town. He planned to "knock her out" and rob her at the cabin and then flee town with her money. When the two arrived at the cabin, Dempsey hit her over the head with a wrench but she refused to fall and instead began to scream. He then hit her again, crushing her skull, killing her.
At this point Dempsey seemed to have panicked and forgot about robbing Lavor and instead became focused on getting rid of the body before the murder was discovered. With great difficulty he drug the 210 lb. Woman to a nearby well and threw her body down the 18 ft. deep well and then covered it with rubbish. He then fled town.
When Lavor did not return to the cigar store by the next morning her friends called the U.S. Marshal's office and a search was immediately begun. The focus of the investigation soon fixed on Dempsey who was known to have had an "appointment" with her the night of her disappearance and had apparently fled. As an alert went out for Dempsey an intensive search was made for the body of Lavor.
The body was not found for two days even though the well was searched several times. The body was not discovered until after Deputy Evans was killed and until a dog named "Rowdy" was employed to "track the body." The dog indicated that the body was in the well and a man crawled down inside the well and found the body buried under the trash. Lavor was later buried in the Anchorage Cemetery.
On Sept. 1, Deputy Evans was in Seward when he spotted Dempsey near the train depot and recognized him as the man wanted for investigation of a murder in Anchorage. He placed him under arrest in front of several witnesses. Dempsey made no effort to resist and "quietly accompanied" the marshal to his office. As Dempsey entered the office he dropped a "bundle of clothing" he had been carrying outside the office and went inside where Evans "examined him for weapons." No weapon was found.
As the two left the office for the federal jail which was only 25 ft. away, Dempsey reached down and picked up the bundle and then took a .38 caliber "automatic pistol" he had hidden inside and told Evans to put his hands up. When Evans ignored the command and "charged," Dempsey fired four shots at close range at the marshal. The Valdez Miner reported that Dempsey shot at the marshal: while in the stooping posture..., the first bullet going thru the deputy's hat close to his head. The deputy backed off attempting to pull his own weapon, an old-style double-action, from his hip pocket, Dempsey in the meantime jumping behind the building and shooting around the corner. Deputy Marshal Evans backed around and sidewise trying to get Dempsey in the open, when the accused fired the fatal shot, which entered the breast, penetrating the lungs, grazing the liver, and emerging from the back a few inches from the spine, causing hemorrhage from which death ensured in a short time. (Valdez Miner, 11291919)
Evans, though "practically paralyzed" by the bullet from Dempsey's gun, "pulled his revolver" and fired two shots at the fleeing Dempsey. He then "sank to the ground unconscious and bleeding badly." Evans was rushed to a local hospital where there was at first hope for his recovery "on account of his splendid physical condition." Evans lived for two days and died on Sept. 3 (Monday) at 4:42AM. He was "conscious until the last flutter of his heart." His death certificate indicated that he died of a "gunshot wound of right chest---homicidal."
Testimony later presented at trial indicated that the killing of Evans was more premeditated that the defendant claimed (by suggesting that he fired quickly while "on the run" and just to get away) in that Dempsey "steadied himself against the wall of the office, took deliberate aim, and fired the fatal third shot that killed Marshal Isaac Evans."
A posse of 25 "sourdoughs" was quickly formed and, "well armed, started in pursuit of Dempsey" who had run down the railroad tracks and jumped on a railroad handcar ("a speeder") and "pumped frantically" north toward the Resurrection River. One man seeing that Dempsey was fleeing from the law, tried to stop the handcar by throwing a plank across the track but the handcar jumped the obstruction and "held to the rails." The fugitive pulled his gun on the man but did not shoot him.
Dempsey later came across another man and robbed him of his .45 Colts automatic pistol. With the posse hot on his trail, he abandoned the handcar and "broke for the densely wooded country." Out-of-town newspapers reported that the search for Dempsey concentrated "on the area around the head of Resurrection Bay."
A reward of $200 was offered for the capture of Dempsey though most thought "he would be shot on sight." The "bulletin" on the fugitive also suggested he may have been involved in the "murder of Babe Brown in Juneau last December."
However, Dempsey fooled the posse (and apparently the dogs) by doubling back to Seward where he hid near the water tower and watched the activity of those searching for him (who thought he was miles away heading for the Resurrection River). Dempsey had no food or shelter from the cold and so made a fire for warmth during his third day of hiding (near Seward). Two members of the posse saw the fire and arrested Dempsey without resistance. He was taken to to the jail.
The Anchorage Daily Times suggested in a story (headlined, "Citizens Thoroughly Disgusted With Way Marshal Brenneman Handled Pursuit of Dempsey") that the posse organized and directed by Marshal F.R. Brenneman had been off "chasing a wild goose" for three days while Dempsey was only a few yards away from their "command post." Furthermore, the newspaper noted that the Marshal and his deputies themselves never left the city. Seward citizens believed that Brenneman "never once placed his own skin in jeopardy nor allowed his deputies to expose themselves." If Dempsey had not been captured on the third day of the manhunt there would likely have been "open mutiny" against the command and direction of Brenneman.
John Sturgus was among the deputy U.S. Marshals involved in the search for Dempsey. Two years later, Sturgus, Anchorage's first police chief, was shot and killed in the line of duty. Sturgus was praised by the Anchorage Daily News for having taken "finger impressions" (i.e., early "fingerprints") in Anchorage in the investigation into Lavor's murder.
There was apparently some concern that an attempt might be made to lynch Dempsey since Evans "was the best known of any of the territorial officers and there is widespread grief and indignation over his untimely death." Marshal Brenneman "placed a strong guard around the jail to frustrate any attempts the infuriated citizens" might make to lynch the prisoner. Dempsey's preliminary hearing was later held inside the jail due to fear that he would be taken and lynched if taken outside.
The feeling against Dempsey was partly due to the "tone" of the newspaper coverage. For example, the Anchorage Daily Times described him as "the Satanic brain and the degenerate mind which conceived the fiendish crime of doing away with Margaret Lavor solely for the gain of spoils so painfully earned." Another article suggested that Lavor was robbed of "money so harshly earned by the bodily wage of the first sin." The Daily Times also editorialized that hanging was "entirely too lenient" for the "twice-murderer" who "shot down in cold blood Ike Evans, An Alaskan known, loved and respected from Nome to Anchorage as a man 'without fear and above reproach' and possessing the soul of honor."