Henry Layer, The Man Who Murdered A Family Of 8 Because Of An Injured Cow
A horrible mass murder in North Dakota allegedly occurred because of a very bizarre reason
Unfortunately, the fragility of human emotion and psyche can lead to some truly appalling moments. The worst are those that turn violent, especially over trivial or inconsequential matters. That’s what made the crimes of Henry Layer all the more shocking, as more than a century ago he murdered a family of eight in a dispute that stemmed from one of his cows being nipped by a dog.
Layer was born Heinrich C. Layer in 1884, in Eigenfeld, Russia. As a toddler, he emigrated to the United States with his parents, and the family settled in North Dakota. As an adult, he married twice; first to Mathilda Miller in 1904, with whom he had two children, and later to Lydia Brokofsky Hinzman in 1912, with whom he had an additional six children. He and his second wife moved to Turtle Lake and began farming.
Unfortunately, Layer became best known for the brutal murders he committed of the neighboring Wolf clan. The two farm families first came to bad terms when one of Wolf’s dogs bit one of Layer’s cows in the leg. The typical complaints about properties and boundaries led to a feud of sorts, which finally erupted in unspeakable violence.
