Mining Town Massacre

8/25/2024

By M.P. Pellicer | Stranger Than Fiction Stories
One day in 1885, a man named Martin Nelson slaughtered seven innocent people in the town of Bonito, New Mexico. As the years passed, it became a ghost town destined to be flooded and it exists only in the depths of Bonito Lake. Like many mining town of the Southwest it has its share of ghost stories.

The mass burial plot of the Mayberry family in the Angus Cemetery, they were reinterred when the cemetery in Bonito was being flooded

California's Gold Rush in the mid-19th century spurred mining fever all over the southwest. Whenever a hint was made known that someone had made a strike, boom towns would spring up overnight.

In the 188os, the Rio Bonito Silver Mining Company was operating mines in the area near Ft. Stanton. The little town took its name from the mine, and Bonito City which started with tents, soon graduated to a general store, post office and a boarding house known as the Mayberry Hotel.

In 1884, a butcher shop and saloon were opened. J. Geo Huber was putting in an addition to his store to house the post office, since the saloon would be taking over the post office building.

Milt Carrier and Martin Nelson, which was to figure so prominently in a horrible crime a year later were doing contract work for Herman Beck, whose days were also counted.

These mining towns lured a cross section of people from the opportunistic, to the merchant to the criminal, and it was thought impolite in those times to ask too much about a person's background.

Perhaps it would have spared lives, if Martin Nelson would have been asked more about his history. All that was known was that he was a miner from Nebraska, and had been living in the area for the past four years. Described as a sane citizen, he had been elected constable in the fall of 1884. Nelson lived at the boarding house owned by the Mayberry family. He shared a room with another boarder, Dr. William Flynn, who had come to New Mexico from Boston for his health.

Earlier that night the family and their guests played cards until 10 p.m. What prompted Martin Nelson to steal a fob watch from Dr. Flynn remains a mystery that Nelson took to the grave with him.

Nellie Mayberry McGee (1874-1950)

The sound of scuffling in the room the men shared, awoke the family and they immediately came to find out what was happening.

When William Mayberry burst through the door, Martin Nelson shot him dead with a .38 caliber rifle, and then his 16-year-old son John. Dr. Flynn had already been dispatched when Nelson fractured his skull with the butt of his gun, and then shot him in the chest. Eddie Mayberry who was five years old was clubbed on the head, and then shot in the head by Nelson in his bed as he screamed in horror.

Amanda Mayberry his mother was shot twice, but not fatally and she grabbed her daughter Nellie and tried to flee. Nelson caught them as they made it out the front door, and shot once more ending Mrs. Mayberry's life. He spared Nellie when she pleaded for her life even though she was wounded in her side.

Nellie Mayberry who survived the ordeal later stated that her father, mother and brothers all begged Nelson not to kill Dr. Flynn.

Mrs. Mayberry was shot twice, but regained consciousness and tried to slip past Nelson and get downstairs taking Nellie with her. She got as far as the dooryard when Nelson shot her a third time. The bullet wounded Nellie and hit her mother in the heart.

Realizing her mother was dead she ran to the cellar of a nearby house. Nelson followed and pulled his gun on her saying 'I might as well send you to hell with balance of' em', but she pleaded so hard that he spared her on the condition she promise to 'come and see him hung.'

Bonito City, NM, post office

The sound of shots rang out through the pre-dawn silence and Pete Nelson, a saloon owner came running. He was shot dead when he arrived at the Mayberry house.

D.C. Taylor the local justice stood with the townspeople, who had gathered around the boarding house when the shots rang out. They believed Nelson was still inside the house, but he had fled to Mrs. Rodemaker's (Rhodemacher) which was a short distance away. Her husband was with the crowd in front of the boarding house.

He told the woman what he had done and ordered something to eat, which she fearfully prepared for him. He gave her a dollar and said there were other "sons of bitches" that he was going to kill, and perhaps he himself would be killed.

Suddenly the townspeople heard a shot from the rear of the Mayberry house, where Herman Beck the grocer had been guarding. They found Beck was dead after being shot in the back. They saw Nelson reloading his Winchester and yelling out "Take to the brush, you sons of bitches."

Taylor gave the order to fire, and Nelson was stuck in the breast and in the side. Inside his pocket was Dr. Flynn's watch.

The only survivor of the massacre, Nellie Mayberry, moved to Iowa to live with her maternal grandmother and two uncles. She went on to marry, had children and died in 1950 at the age of 75.

LIke many boom towns the hotels served as boarding houses as well

Prior to the murders there had been a string of unsolved robberies in the area, including a previous one at the Mayberry house, which were now attributed to Nelson.

The Mayberry family and the other citizens were laid to rest inside the perimeter of the small cemetery perched on a hill overlooking the town. Dr. Flynn's body was shipped to his family in Boston. Examination of his body showed where he had been savagely beaten about the head with the pistol butt, before being shot in the chest.

The town might have been cheated of hanging Nelson, so they exiled him in death. A plain wooden coffin was hastily put together for him, and he was buried outside the cemetery in unconsecrated ground at the bottom of a hill.

By the end of June, 1885 less than a month after the murders there was a public sale ordered by the probate court to sell the Mayberry property, which was described as a house, lot and household furniture, three mules and one wagon. Peter Nelson's bar along with his buggy, and Martin Nelson's house, lot, two horses, one saddle, one revolver and two Winchester rifles were part of the sale.

At about the same time a rumor started to circulate that two brothers of Martin Nelson were planning to come to Bonito City, and find out why Martin was shot down in the street.

In response the local newspaper published:

Wouldn't it be a good idea for the citizens of Bonito, when they learn they are coming to meet them outside the town and give them a hearty welcome? That's about what they'll get if they come in with a grand hurrah.

Bonito Lake, New Mexico

Despite the horrible crime, Bonito City continued as a trading post for miners, some who worked in the famous Parsons gold mine in Tanbark Canyon, which operated from 1887 to 1933.

In 1902, the Eagle Mining and Development Company purchased all the mining claims along the Rio Bonito, which comprised about 6,000 acres of mineral lands. Plans were made to build a dam for a 500-horse power plant. It would be used to draw power for a big cyanide plant and crusher to grind up ore for treatment.

By 1908, business in Bonito City had slowed down so much that J.M. McNeil had plans to relocate his saloon to San Angelo, Texas. Then the post office closed in 1911, and by 1920 all that remained was a store and eight houses.

The years passed, and eventually the mine closed. With it went the remaining inhabitants and soon Bonito City had become a ghost town.

In the late 1920s, the Southern Pacific Railroad dammed the Bonito Creek to create a reservoir that would fuel its steam engines.

In 1933, the tombs in the graveyard were disinterred and moved to Angus Cemetery in Alto, New Mexico. The Southern Pacific Railroad bought the water rights, and a dam was built which would result in the flooding of the entire area.

It was rumored that Nelson's body when exhumed was face down in the coffin, with his body pointing west. He was wearing the same bullet-riddled clothes he had died in.

Present day the few structures of the one-time mining town are under 75 feet of water, below Bonito Canyon Dam in what is known as Bonito Lake.

In the 1950s the railroad sold the lake to the City of Alamogordo, which needed a reliable water supply to provide the town's drinking water.

Eerie sounds and lights have been reported around Bonito Lake. Rife with abandoned mines and an entire ghost town beneath the lake, the haunting is sometimes attributed to Nelson Martin and his victims, but no doubt many unsavory things happened that were never documented in the newspapers. Such was the nature of frontier mining towns. So perhaps the ghost of Martin keeps company with others who came seeking gold, but found death instead.

As of June, 2024 the lake remains closed due to the Blue 2 Fire. There had been damage from the 2012 Little Bear Fire.