A Ghastly Discovery on the Skykomish River
Two prospectors uncover a human head suspended on a wooden stake in the remote wilderness of King County.
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.
A human head, cut off and left hanging in the woods, is the story of a 'find' made by two Seattleites on Saturday morning. The gentlemen, L. W. and C. L. Gray, live at 608 East Street in the Walla Walla addition. They are prospectors, and were in search of minerals when they found the remains near the south fork of the Skykomish River, about fifteen miles above its junction with the north fork at Granite. The head was suspended horizontally about four feet from the ground, strung on a stick of wood run through the jaw and out the mouth, held in the notches of two vine maples. No trace could be found of a body. The Grays believe the head had been hanging for weeks, and the presence of scattered nails and the beginnings of a cabin frame nearby suggest a violent crime. Coroner Horton has been notified and will investigate.
“The stick was then suspended horizontally about four feet from the ground in the notches of two vine maples. And there the head hung, staring up into the sky out of amply eyes, a horrible sight.”
This grisly 1892 discovery occurred in the rugged backcountry near the Skykomish River. Today, this area is part of a protected forest landscape, but the macabre nature of the find echoes the isolation and lawlessness that often defined the frontier mining era.
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