The Record, Not the Verdict
Friday, August 7, 1936
The death of Marion Zioncheck. The record deserves another reading.
Marion Zioncheck was a U.S. congressman from Washington. His death in Seattle on August 7, 1936 was reported as suicide following a fall from his fifth-floor office.
This project challenges that account. Its collected analyses question the reported movements inside the office, the interpretation of photographs, witness accounts, and the surrounding institutional history.
Five volumes bring together photographs, newspaper reports, personal records, and an argument for re-examining what happened in Seattle on August 7, 1936.
Inquiries of the Record
Twenty-three questions on Pg. 3 · Inquiries of the Record. Jump to a boxed inquiry.
- 01Why was Marion sent from Washington, D.C. to Seattle, Washington?
- 02Why do archive records conflict with the official narrative online today?
- 03Why was Marion trying to stay in the media and spotlight?
- 04What can photographs establish?
- 05Why does Nadeau’s account not match the setup of Zioncheck’s office — and why did his account change?
- 06Where are records to his “Who’s Crazy Now” speech?
- 07Why did Marion dress up for a speech — then decide to “jump”?
- 08Why did his wife never give a statement as the most prolific witness?
- 09Why did Rubye hide testimony in her art for a later generation to find?
- 10Why did Rubye relentlessly sue the Nadeaus after? Was it spite, or was she silenced too?
- 11Why are the injuries inconsistent with a five-story fall?
- 12Why were so few witnesses named — and why was one of them the person who broke the story?
- 13Why was the janitor unnamed — and why would he have walked away during the event?
- 14How and why did the record get meshed between the old Arctic building at 501 3rd Avenue and the new Arctic building at 3rd Avenue and Cherry Street?
- 15Where are his dinner-party speech papers?
- 16Why does his “suicide note” read like part of a speech — and why was it folded if he had just written it?
- 17Why was cousin “Vic” in the area to witness at all if he worked in another building — and why do minimal records of Vic or his cigar shop exist today?
- 18Does Marion’s work and background — from Naval Intelligence to fighting the Alaskan Highway Bill and being backed to establish a third political party — play a role?
- 19Is it a coincidence that Illinois statesman John Bolton died suspiciously less than one month before?
- 20Why are most of Nadeau’s records missing? Was he naval intelligence too?
- 21Why are FOIA requests on Marion denied to this day?
- 22Why was Marion’s mother never informed of his death — and is this why she died of Involutional Melancholia?
- 23Was Marion Zioncheck a threat to the establishment that couldn’t be silenced?