509 4th Ave E
Olympia, WA 98501
USA
Northwest author Bill Lindstrom will talk about his popular new book, “Villain or Victim?: The Untold Story of the Wildman of the Wynoochee”.
The book is an historical fiction about John Tornow, better known as The Wildman of the Wynoochee. Tornow allegedly killed six men (including his two nephews) on September 3, 1911. This triggered a 19-month manhunt, the longest in Northwest history at the time, that ended with Tornow being killed in a shootout on April 16, 1913. Tornow was dubbed The Wildman of the Wynoochee because he roamed the Wynoochee River valley on the Olympic Peninsula, subsisting in the region for two bitter winters, a feat that astonishes those who know the area.
The John Tornow the author portrays is a far more compassionate individual, who only wanted to be left alone in the solace of the woods he so much enjoyed. Was he a “Villain” or a “Victim”? The book considers whether Tornow was truly guilty of the murders. (He was never charged with a crime, though a $5,000 warrant was on his head.) The book attempts to find the truth through the examination of newspaper articles, trial transcriptions and interviews with descendants of friends and neighbors who knew him. It is a novel based on actual events, portraying actual people who knew him and befriended him. “Villain or Victim?” leaves readers to decide for themselves, providing them with details behind the numerous conspiracy theories that have kept this story alive for more than a century.
