April 22, 1920 North Dakota, Turtle
Lake
It was a
dreary, gray day in the Turtle Lake community as John Kraft drove by his
neighbor’s farmstead. A sense of dread crawled up his neck at the sight of the
laundry on the clothesline. The clothes had been left hanging overnight and he
thought it odd that they would be left out in this soggy, wet weather. His gut
told him something wasn’t quite right and he needed to check it out.
He got out
of his vehicle and made his way across the soggy earth, heading towards the
house. The sound of rooting pigs coming from the barn stopped him in his
tracks. He glanced from the barn to the house and back. He purposefully made
his way to the barn. The barn door lay open eerily beckoning John Kraft inside.
He swallowed the lump in his throat and after a brief moment of hesitation he
walked inside.
The
corrosive smell of death evaded the barn as he walked deeper inside until his
eyes focused on the oddly placed lumps on the ground. Kraft got closer and closer
and was rewarded with a dreadful sight. There on the ground were the lifeless
bodies of Jacob Wolf and 2 of his daughters Maria and Edna. Kraft gasped in
disbelief. He found it hard to digest what he was seeing. But he didn’t have
long to absorb the horror before he noticed the open trapped door. With a sense
of foreboding, he entered through the trap door which led him to the basement
of the house. There he found 5 more destroyed bodies. Kraft turned to leave but
paused when he heard the sound of a baby. There in a cradle was a lightly
clothed infant. She hadn’t eaten in 2 days and kicked and cooed weakly.
Who was Jacob Wolf and his family
Jacob Wolf
was the wealthy patriarch of the wolf family. He was well-known in the turtle
lake community. The wolf family appeared to be a happy well-functioning bunch
with a brood of six daughters whose ages ranged from 13 years old to 8 months.
Life had been good for Wolf and his family as they built their life around
their farmstead. Jacob Wolf and his family were well-liked in the community and
seemed to be unlikely victims of such a heinous crime. The police were left to
solve a shockingly bloody and callous tragedy with no suspects.
Return of a Killer
What most of
the citizens of Turtle Lake didn’t realize, was that Jacob Wolf did have an
issue with someone in their town. Wolf had expressed great fear for his safety
but the area lawman, sheriff stefferud, hadn’t gotten around to his complaints.
Now that the family had been murdered it had all of his attention. Too little
too late perhaps but the sheriff was determined to solve the murder case. The
Sheriff went up to the Wolf farmhouse and spent the night there with the bodies
still in the home. He’d sat in the gloomy house for hours with three of the
Wolf’s neighbors. As 5:30 am approached,
Sheriff Stefferud sent the three men out for coffee and breakfast while he
waited at the property. As the 3 men
drove away, the sheriff was alerted to a car making its way across the prairie and
towards the murder house under the cloak of the retreating pre-dawn light. The
lawman watched with great interest as the car pulled up on the far side of the
home. A man exited the car and purposefully marched to the house. He cupped his
hand against the glass pane of the window and peered inside. After a moment, he
strode towards the barn. The sheriff
called out to the man who stopped dead in his tracks at the sound of the voice.
Who is Henry Layer?
They say a
murderer always returns to the scene of the crime. Unfortunately for Henry
Layer, he couldn’t resist returning to the Wolf farmhouse. He’d inserted
himself into the Wolf family murders and he would only entangle himself deeper
as time went on. The observant Sheriff noticed that Layer kept his right hand
in his pocket. Henry Layer had seemed determined to muddle the investigation by
making a lot of useless suggestions and illogical hypothesis, until finally he
came up with the idea to look for eggs in the barn. Suspicious of this weird
suggestion, Sheriff Stefferud decided to humor the odd man and the sheriff along
with the other 3 men made their way to the barn to let things play out. After
sometime in the barn, Layer cried out that he found something and it just
happened to be some discharged shotgun shells that he’d found in the hay. The
sharp lawman had noticed that after finding the shells, Layer was no longer
hiding his hand in his pocket. The investigation would continue and several men
would be captured and release, but the sheriff always returned to henry Layer.
When word got back to the sheriff that there had been an incident between Jacob
Wolf and Henry Layer. Apparently, Layer’s livestock had made their way onto
Wolf’s property and Wolf’s dog had bitten one of Layer’s cows. As the funeral services
were conducted for the murdered victims, Henry Layer asked that the coffin lids
could be raised so he could look at their faces one last time, but unbeknownst
to him law enforcement were at his farm questioning his family about the crime.
As Layer as
taken away he was afforded a privilege to kiss his family goodbye something he
did not afford the Wolf family.
The Confession
The
inquisitors and lawmen brought immense pressure down on layer to confess to the
crime but he was stoic and refused until they brought in grisly photographs of
the dead members of the family. The torn, mangled bodies were displayed before
him. This was enough to break the dam. Layer broke down and confessed.
The Crime
Fury boiled
in his belly. This was the last straw. Layer marched over to the Wolf property
to demand compensation for Wolf’s dog biting his cow. Wolf demanded Layer leave
his property over the ridiculous claim, but an angry Layer refused. Wolf went into the house and when he returned
he held a double-barreled shotgun. He put 2shells in the chamber. Layer made a
grab for the gun and the two men fought for the gun. Two gunshots rang out
echoing across the sky. A scream accompanied the gun blasts when a hole tore
through the bodies of Mrs. Wolf and another blasting into a chore boy. Jacob
Wolf took off running but Wolf caught up to him and blasted him in the back.
Once Wolf was down, Layer shot him again at close range. At this point, Layer
had to tight up lose ends. He glanced up, his blood splattered face staring at
Maria and Edna who ran screaming into the barn with Layer fast on their trail. After
he’d killed those two he went running back into the house to quiet Bertha,
Lydia, and Martha, forever.
Layer
dragged the bodies of Jacob, and the two girls into the barn where he
haphazardly covered them with hay and dirt. He stowed away the other family
members in the cellar.
Layer was
given a life sentence but died in prison 5 years after his sentence.
The Lone Survivor
Emma Wolf,
the lone survivor of the massacre was raised by her aunt and uncle, only
learning at the age of six that they were not her true parents. When they died
she was given over to Emil Haas a local grocer until the age of 18.
“Every society has the criminals that it
deserves.”
―
