Mercer Island Killing Suspect Caught on Fraser River
An Italian fisherman confesses to the killing of a logging partner, detailing a gruesome fight and a body dumped in Lake Washington.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Mattei Leon, the Italian fisherman who killed Leon Richards on Mercer Island April 26, has been captured and is now safe in the county jail. He has confessed, but claims that he killed the man in self-defense. He defends Joe Puccio, who has been in jail since June 6, and says that he was not present when the killing took place, although he afterwards aided in concealing the body. Leon was captured on the Fraser River, 200 miles from Vancouver, B.C., at 1 o'clock Monday morning by Deputy Sheriff Jack McDonald. The deputy arrived in this city with his prisoner last evening at 6 o'clock. Leon says that for several years he had been engaged at fishing on Lake Washington, near the city pumping station. One day he met Leon Richards, or 'Andy,' as he was called, and they went into partnership to catch logs. Eventually, the men fell out and quarrels were frequent. On the morning of April 26, after an argument, 'Andy' grabbed a butcher knife, but Leon seized it and stabbed his assailant. When 'Andy' pursued Leon with an ax, Leon fired a shot, killing him instantly. Leon and Puccio later returned to the cabin, dragged the body to the lake, and weighted it down in deep water. After a search involving canneries in Oregon and British Columbia, Sheriff Woolery successfully tracked Leon to B.C. and brought him back to Seattle to face charges.
“Leon says that for several years he had been engaged at fishing on Lake Washington... and 'Andy' proposed that they go in partnership and catch logs.”
This 1892 murder case highlights the rough-and-tumble nature of the logging and fishing economy on Lake Washington, an area now largely residential and highly gentrified. The narrative of 'the lake' as a place where bodies could be hidden reflects a wilder, less policed version of the shoreline that Seattleites enjoy today.
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