Heritage Society Plans Crime Tale Fundraiser

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Created on Wednesday, 22 January 2025 15:41

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By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
    The third annual Sitka Maritime Heritage Society murder history fundraiser on Thursday is sure to draw fans of true crime, Alaska history and local desserts.
    Alaska writer Betsy Longenbaugh will present the program “Death of a Rum Runner: True Crime in Prohibition-Era Alaska,” about a murder that took place in Juneau, and the trial that followed.

Betsy Longenbaugh. (Sentinel File Photo)

    “This was a very brazen shooting of a bootlegger in a downtown restaurant on the Fourth of July,” said Longenbaugh, the author of “Forgotten Murders from Alaska’s Capital.” In the story, a man pulled a gun and shot the unarmed bootlegger, and shot him again as the bootlegger lay on the floor.
    The suspect was indicted on first degree murder, and held for trial, “And then interesting things happened,” Longenbaugh said.
    The fundraiser is 7 p.m. Thursday at Centennial Hall, and includes dessert.
    Longenbaugh grew up in Sitka, graduated from Sitka High, and worked as a newspaper reporter, contract writer and editor, nonprofit administrator, and social worker for the U.S. Coast Guard. For the past eight years, she and her husband, retired public radio reporter Ed Schoenfeld, have delved into the world of true crime.
    “My interest in true crime is better described as my interest in historic true crime,” Longenbaugh said. She and her husband became interested in the topic through research they were conducting for the Juneau Douglas City Museum. From that research they put together a historic walking tour in Juneau.
    “We started with a walking tour and then I inventoried murder stories in Juneau,” Longenbaugh said. “It was very laborious research, and it took me about four months, and I came up with 80 murders that happened in Juneau between 1900 and 1959.”
    The inventory helped expand the walking tour and provide material for her book “Forgotten Murders from Alaska’s Capital” featuring 10 of the murders she had researched.
    Longenbaugh and Schoenfeld have made wintertime presentations based on their research the past six or seven years. The presentations are fundraisers for such organizations as the Juneau Douglas City Museum, their church Holy Trinity, and the Sitka Maritime Heritage Society. They always donate the proceeds.
    Longenbaugh’s second book is a novel, “Death in the Underworld,” that came out just last week. It is loosely based on a historic murder that happened in Douglas in 1917. Both books are published by Epicenter Press. Longenbaugh is finishing a third book as well.
    Besides her longtime ties to Sitka, Longenbaugh is the cousin of SMHS board member Rebecca Poulson, who organizes weekly work parties to restore the historic Japonski Island boathouse.
    Poulson said the last two talks by Longenbaugh for Heritage Society fundraisers have drawn enthusiastic audiences.
    “We’re really pleased with how they’ve gone,” Poulson said. “Betsy’s presentations are excellent, and they really take you right into that time and place.”
    Poulson said the desserts are another highlight of SMHS fundraisers; this year’s dessert will be pie from the Backdoor Cafe, and a gluten-free option.
    “It’s a good way to raise funds, eat some good desserts and just be in a gathering of people who are really interested in history,” she said.
    The main project of the society, which this fundraiser will go toward, is the rehabilitation of the boathouse into a maritime heritage center, with active programming, classes, lectures, and tours. The remains of a railway boat haulout can still be seen on the boathouse beach, and plans are to restore it so people can fix their boats there, Poulson said.
    “We just put in a big viewing window so you can see the central part of the building, the part where boats will go,” she said.
    SMHS has programs throughout the year, with the annual meeting slated for February 26, highlighting the community of Mt. Edgecumbe, which no longer exists.
    Tickets to the fundraiser are $35, and available online at https://www.sitkamaritime.org/ and at Old Harbor Books.