AUTHOR’S NOTE: In the first three parts of this story, William Dempsey, who confessed to killing two Alaskans in 1919, escaped from prison in Washington in 1940, alarming the Alaskan who had convicted and sentenced him to death. Part Four describes Dempsey’s first murder and the ways in which he later attempted to change his version of events.
In June 1955, Alaska National Guard Pvt. Bruce Boolowon had to stop egg hunting on St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea. He heard the unhealthy whine of a distressed plane engine pass overhead. A few minutes later, he saw a big plume of smoke rising from the other side of the hill.