State Commissioner Murdered in Olympia Office
A fatal shooting in the state industrial insurance commission office leaves a high-ranking official dead.
John Vandell of Bordeaux, Wash., who shot and killed E. W. Olson, chairman of the state industrial insurance commission, in the commissioner’s office at Olympia last Thursday, declares he had no relatives or friends, except an aged mother. He refused to tell where she lived, saying he did not want her to know of the shooting. He said he had no money.
“He refused to tell where she lived, saying he did not want her to know of the shooting.”
Then · 1917109 years apartNow · 2026
The tragedy in the state office highlights the personal stakes involved in industrial insurance administration during the era, an office that held immense power over the livelihood of workers.
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