“Hacked to Pieces”: Murder of John McGill 1920

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

By Nancy Bowers
Written July 2011

Despite its brutality, the vicious murder of 28-year-old Sioux City resident John McGill in mid-September 1920 attracted very little attention or even coverage by the media.

A few Iowa newspapers ran the same meager details as these in the Nashua Reporter:

“John McGill, Negro, of Sioux City, was murdered by unknown persons. His body was found in the rear of a business man’s home when police investigated the source of groans reported by the owner of the residence. McGill had been literally hacked to pieces with a knife, many of the wounds being in the back, indicating he had tried to escape his assailants.”

John “Johnie” McGill was born in Texas in November 1892 to former slaves John and Liza McGill, who farmed in Hopkins. He had four siblings: Maggie, Joel, Mary Hattie, and Ollie McGill.

In 1920, he lived with his 34-year-old wife Ruth at 1211 Grand Street in Sioux City and was a laborer in a garage. The couple had no children.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Please note: Use of information in this article should credit Nancy Bowers as the author and Iowa Unsolved Murders: Historic Cases as the source.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

References

• ☛ “Iowa News – Items of Interest Summarized for Busy Readers,” Nashua Reporter, September 30, 1920.
• ☛ “Iowa News,” Lytton Star, September 16, 1920.
• ☛ U.S. Census.