John Sturgus

Death by Force

John “Jack” Sturgus, a 60-year-old white male, died on February 20, 1921, in Anchorage, Alaska. In a city still shaking off its frontier edges, he had only recently been sworn in as Anchorage's first police chief, a one-man department charged with bringing order to a restless railroad town. That winter night he was found down an alley off Fourth Avenue, near the back entrances of downtown storefronts, mortally wounded by a single shot from his own sidearm.

The city's response was imme ...Read More

Chief of Police John J. Sturgus

Who killed Anchorage's first police chief? Nearly 100 years later, it's ...

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