Eight Murdered in One Household

Brutal Slaughter at Midway on Turtle Lake Farm Most Terrible Yet Recorded

A heinous murder, unparalleled in brutality and pitiful circumstances in the state, occurred at Turtle Lake last Thursday when a father, mother, five girls and the hired hand were killed with a shotgun or a hatchet. An eight-months-old infant is the sole survivor of the prosperous family.

The father, Jacob Wolfe, aged 41, Mrs. Wolfe, aged 35; Bertha, 13; Maria, 10; Edna, 8; and Lydia, 6, were all shot, and Martha, 3, was killed by a blow from a hatchet. Jake Hofer, the chore boy, aged 13, was shot through the back. Emma, the surviving baby, scantily covered and in a heatless room near an open window, was found Saturday, slowly starving to death. She is now sole owner of the well equipped farm valued at $30,000.

Slope County News, 4/30/1920