In 1891 when Helaman Pratt moved his family back to the Colonies in the lower valley, he leased his ranch to Hans A. Thompson, a Scandinavian, who moved there with his wife, Karren, two sons, Hyrum, age 18 and Elmer age 14, and a granddaughter, Annie, age 6.
The ranch was about 10 miles from Pacheco in the Piedras Verde Rio area.
Mr. Thompson had only left the previous day for Pacheco where he was working on the thresher. The morning of September 19, 1892 promise to be a fine one at the Thompson ranch, as ominous clouds had not yet risen above the horizon. In the absence of the father, who was working on the thresher (of which he was part owner) at Pacheco, his two sons, Hyrum and Elmer, started early to the fields, carrying a bucket a feed for the pigs as they went. As little Annie skipped back to the house with empty pails, her screams of terror alert the boys to the presence of Indians on the ranch. As Hyrum turned to look, a bullet passed through his body but he did not fall. Thinking to protect his mother, Elmer ran toward the house for the Winchester gun, calling back to Hyrum that the pistol was on the saddle in the barn. Just then two more shots were fired, one killing Hyrum who fell behind the pigpen, the other entering Elmer’s body in the left chest and passing out below the shoulder about three-fourths of an inch from his spine.
Though still able to stand, Elmer fell into a week ticket thinking thus to avoid a second bullet. When Indian, coming from behind the haystacks to loot the barn of saddles and harness straps, failed to see Elmer, he crept into the chicken coop from where he watched the proceedings. When the Indians broke open the kitchen door where Mrs. Thompson and Annie had barricaded themselves, they ran into the yard in full view of Elmer.
Bathed in his own blood and almost paralyzed with horror of seeing in Indian shoot his mother through the body and left arm and then crush her head with a rock, Elmer might have fainted except for his concern over Annie. Her savage captor amused himself by her frantic efforts to escape and protect her grandmother. When flailing him with her sunbonnet and attempting to scratch his face was not enough amusement, he turned her loose, then tripped her as she ran past by throwing a harness strap over her head and holding it to both ends as she fell he struck her with his scabbard until she began to fight. This horseplay was halted by a call which took the tormentor into the house and Elmer had a chance to beckon Annie into the chicken coop with him. Lying by the door, armed with rocks, he determined to protect her as best he could.
The Indians looted the house of everything, even taking two suits of temple clothes. They entered the feather ticks, and 1000 pounds of flour in order to use the sacks to hold the loot. Like ants they hurried back and forth carrying the plunder to be strapped onto pack animals. They also took a new wagon cover, two saddles, and cut the harnesses for straps. They found considerable money hidden in one of the trunks. When Annie’s captor returned from the house he brought some cheese, which he threw to his companion, and began looking for the child. When she was not to be found and Elmer had also disappeared from where he had fallen, the Indians left hastily, driving 15 valuable ranch horses with them.
When the savages had gone, the children began the trip to the G. C. Williams’ ranch for help, but Elmer soon faded from loss of blood. The little girl ran to the stream and cupping her hands, carried water until he revived. She left him under a tree and ran alone with her dog. Soon she met a horseman, Sullivan C. Richardson, who heard the story, took her to the Williams’ ranch and hurried to Cave Valley to give the alarm.
The news had quickly spread. Kind friends from Cave Valley, four miles away, took care of the dead and administered to Elmer. A posse of men went in pursuit of the Indians, but was not able to catch up to them. Following the strategy every man carried a gun, even to church.
The following is told by Sullivan C. Richardson:
“I left her (Annie) at Williams’ ranch and hurried to Cave Valley to give the alarm. While brother Heaton got in touch with Hans Thompson at Pacheco, I and brothers Robert Vance, P.S. and John Williams, N.H.Perry and James Mortensen went with team and wagon and on horseback to the Pratt ranch. On the way we found Elmer under the shade of the pines where he had fallen during his attempt to reach Williams’ ranch. He was made as comfortable as possible on a coat in the wagon and afterwards, with the care of brother Mortenson and the blessings of the Lord, got well. We went on to the ranch and then to Cave Valley with Elmer and the bodies of his mother and brother. There Bob Vance and I hurried on to Dry Valley. Some may realize my joy and thankfulness, when, from the timbers across the valley, I saw Eliza come to the door of the cabin—all right and unaware of any trouble.”
That night coffins and burial clothes were made for the dead bodies. One sister who helped, wrote: “For years after, whenever I closed my eyes, I could see those awful scenes at Thompson’s ranch, and that woman’s bashed in head, and feel my fears when I thought the Indians were upon us and would take our children.”
The next day at sundown, the bodies of sister Thompson and her son, Hyrum, faithful members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, were interred side-by-side at Cave Valley.
Taken from the book Heartbeats of Colonia Diaz from the compilation Pacheco History and Stories by Sylvia Lunt Heywood.
There have been many versions of the massacre told over the years and the above version of the massacre is pretty jazzed up, with a lot of details our family as never heard before and we think some of it was added to make the story a little more alive, so to speak. The following are the stories told by Peter Elmer Thomsen/Thompson, himself, who was the 14 year old boy that survived and was my husbands grandfather.
The account given in this story is one given by my father, Elmer Thompson, to me his daughter Nathala. As his daughter, I remember him telling it many times. Dad told about “playing dead” and then going to the Thomsen chicken coop, which was across a small stream, had an opening which was so small one had to stoop to go in. He got rocks and positioned himself by the door so he could hit an Indian on his head as he attempted to come in. When the Indians saw he was gone, they tracked him as far as the stream and then left hurriedly.
Elmer’s son, Floyd said his father told him that the house was in an L shape and that his mother was shot in the stomach. Elmer also related the following about the massacre to his son Floyd: It was the year of 1892, September the 22nd. It was on the day that Reuben Naegle was born. Hans Adolph Thomsen had gone with some of the older boys to thresh the grain on a ranch down the river. They were living on the Pratt ranch. They had been up and had done some of the chores. It was in the fall of the year when they were making a lot of cheese. Grandmother used to wrap it up in cheesecloth and season it with butter and keep it in the cellar until after a certain stage when it was cured, she would set it back. Elmer and Hyrum were carrying the whey to the hog pen. They had a boiler type tub made out of copper which they were carrying between them out to the hog pen. Annie, the niece, was to follow them to the hog pen to bring back the container. The boy’s instructions were to go on to the field to pull corn and work in the fields. They had just poured the whey and were leaning on the pen talking and looking at the hogs. Annie picked up the tub and started back to the house. She just got started and she screamed. The boys turned around to see what was the matter and one of the buck Indians stepped around the corner of the house.
This Indian, when they looked up raised his rifle and shot Hyrum and hit him in the right breast and Hyrum started begging the Indian not to shoot him anymore. Elmer told Hyrum not to act afraid but to be brave. He started running for the house and got about half-way to the house when another Indian stepped around the house and leveled his rifle on him and he stopped and squared himself because his dad had told him that if he took a deep breath it would have less chance of killing him. When he was shot he said it felt like a little twist and had a burning sensation. He didn’t know anything to do but fall down and play dead. He said Hyrum was behind the pig pen on his hands and knees looking through the bars of the pig pen and the Indian that shot him first shot him again and shot him through the left breast. The Indians then went into the house.
Elmer started crawling off. He went by the chicken coop and through the fence to the wash. On the other side of the wash was a small hill, steep and cliff like with lots of rocks. He looked up and saw a squaw sitting on the hill watching. He turned back and thought he would go into the chicken coop but the Indian buck came from the house teasing Annie by whipping her around the legs with a leather tug and making her fall down. She would come at him and fight him with her bonnet, and he would laugh.
He started to the other end of the chicken coop to go around it and, as he came around the end of the coop, he saw an Indian riding along the fence coming toward him.
Annie was calling for Elmer and was running toward the spot where he fell and, when the Indian and Annie reached the spot and the Indian saw that he was gone, he followed the trail of blood to the fence by the coop and looked through the fence and saw the blood go into the wash so he turned and called to the Indian riding up along the fence and then ran toward the house. Elmer had been going back and forth along the side of the chicken coop wondering which Indian would see him first but when the Indian turned back toward the house and called to the Indian on the horse and he stopped, Elmer came around to the front of the chicken coop and motioned to Annie and they went into the coop. Inside the coop there was a metate and he sat down on it and got a large rock and his knife determined that, if an Indian started through the low door, he could hit him on the back of the head with the rock.
The Indians decided that he had escaped so hurriedly departed. One brought two large cheeses to the Indian with the horse by the fence and they left.
Elmer went to Hyrum who was lying on his back with his hat over his face and asked how he was and Hyrum lifted his hat and nodded to him. Then he and Annie went to the horse pasture and he whistled for his horse and the horse came to him but smelled blood and ran away. Then they started walking to the nearest ranch which was the Williams’ ranch on which the Mortenson family were living but got so weak he told Annie to go on without him. Annie was afraid but said she would go on if she could take the dog with her, so she went for help.
The first person Elmer saw was Johnnie Mortenson who came riding on his horse with his gun poised for shooting if he saw an Indian. The horse came almost to the foot of the large tree where Elmer was sitting and Johnnie looked down at him and asked Elmer how he felt. Elmer said he felt all right so Johnnie said his father was coming with a wagon and was off hunting Indians again. The Mortenson’s came with the wagon and took him to their home where he recovered.
On a side note for the readers of this story, James Mortenson who came and took Elmer in his wagon is also my husbands great-grandfather on his mother’s side of the family. The families knew each other for some time, but it was not until 1941 when Hans Thomsen’s grandson Floyd and James Mortenson’s granddaughter Elnora were married and so the two families became intertwined even more.
Thanks for filling in some of the missing pieces Vickie. This is a very harrowing story no matter how you look at it.
I put the 22nd but I meant the 19th was the day of the massacre.
Vickie Thompson mentions that the Thomsen and Mortenson families were later joined in marriage, but in fact the two families were already joined at the time of the massacre. Hans and Karen’s son James Adolph Thomsen had married James Mortenson’s daughter Sarah Etta Mortenson. Another of James Mortenson’s daughters, Anna Boletta Mortenson, was married to George Calvin Williams at the time (the marriage later ended in divorce). Thus the decision to flee to the Williams’ ranch and the Mortensons was probably not just a matter of what was closest, but also to be near the care of family.