Tragedy in Olympia: A Brutal Killing of a Chehalis Man
Chehalis man John Heo was found in Olympia with his head half severed; two drinking companions were blamed.
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.
John Heo, a Chehalis Indian, was found this morning in the west side division of Olympia with his head half severed from his body. An inquest resulted in a verdict that Heo was murdered by his companions, George Slocum (or Slickam) and George Williams, following a night of drinking. Slickam confessed to the killing, claiming he acted after Heo spoke indecently about his partner. The violence extended to the animal of the victim, as Slickam reportedly cut Heo’s horse before fleeing. Heo himself had a history of violence, having previously served time in the territorial penitentiary for a past killing.
“Slickam was still so bloodthirsty that on coming to a place where Heo's horse was tied that he cut the animal in several places.”
Historical reporting of crimes involving Indigenous people during this era was often reductive and framed through a lens of 'tribal violence' or drunken depravity. While these accounts document the event, they reflect the biases of the 1890s press, which rarely humanized victims from Indigenous communities.
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