Historic Homicide:
The Kjer Family Tragedy
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The Kjer Family Tragedy Hans Hansen Kjer and Helene “Lena” Kristena Kjer were born in Denmark, Hans in 1848 and Lena in 1858. Information about their lives in Denmark is incomplete and vague. Still, it is clear that by 1882, they had married and immigrated to the United States, eventually settling in Union (later renamed Arcata). The family moved to Dows Prairie and purchased a plot of land where Hans Sr. built the family home. The couple had five children: Matt H. Kjer (1884-1953), Christian “Chris” Kjer (1887-1970), Hans Kjer Jr. (1886- ?), Anne Kjer (1890-1984), and Cecilia Kjer Wynn (1893-1964). The family worked and farmed in Dows Prairie for many years before the tragedy. On the evening of September 14, 1914, darkness descended upon the Kjer family home. While the family was spread around the property doing evening chores and getting ready for dinner, Hans Kjer Jr., then 18 years old, picked up a .38-55 Winchester rifle and began to calmly and systematically attack his family. He started with his mother, Lena, who set the table for the family’s dinner that evening. Hans entered the room, and his mother did not turn around. With her back turned, he shot her in the head, killing her instantly. Hans Sr., who had returned from McKinleyville, entered the house and was met with his son, who was holding a rifle. Hans Sr. fled, but Hans Jr. pursued him, and his body was found 15 yards from the door with a gunshot wound “through the brain.” The coroner reported that Hans Sr. fought his son before fleeing. He had intense defensive wounds on his arms and legs, including a gunshot to the arm. The gunshot wound to the head had powder burns around the entry point, indicating that the shot was fired at close range. It is likely that Hans Sr. engaged in a struggle with his son, fought him hard, received numerous defensive wounds, and then attempted to flee before falling to the ground, where Hans Jr. caught up with his father and shot him at close range while he was still on the ground. Chris Kjer was returning from working in the fields and was unhitching the horses when his brother Hans Jr. emerged from the home completely calm with no indication of what had transpired. He assisted Chris with the horses. The two lead the horses to the stalls and Chris was in the haymow about to toss down some hay when Hans Jr. opened fire on his brother. Chris instinctively held up his arms to protect himself and was shot twice, but the wounds were not fatal, and he ran for his life. Matt Kjer, who had just returned home from working in the fields, entered the home unaware of what had happened. He discovered his mother’s body and immediately began to run, reaching for the door when Hans Jr. shot him in the right shoulder, shattering it. Matt ran to the Record Ranch, where he found Perry and Lloyd Record. The three then returned to the Kjer family home. Upon returning to the house, they found Chris “engaged in a death struggle with his insane brother. The latter kicking, biting and clawing like a wild animal” (The Ferndale Enterprise, Sept. 18, 1914). The three men were able to overpower Hans Jr. and subdue him with ropes before police officers arrived and took him to the county jail. After arriving at the county jail, officers interviewed Hans Jr., probing for a motive for the attacks. Hans Jr. attempted to explain the deaths by stating that robbers shot his mother and father, and in an act of self-defense, he shot his brothers, thinking they were the robbers. This story, however, was quickly proven to be false, and newspapers remarked that it was “plainly the imagination of an unbalanced mind” (Ferndale Enterprise, Sept. 18, 1914). |
Ferndale Enterprise, September 18, 1914
It is interesting to note that the murders took place on September 14th and locally this is the first article covering it News coverage of the case from San Francisco to Idaho and Montana
All articles shown above were published on September 15, 1914, earlier than any local news coverage. Someone in Humboldt County would have had to share the tragic news via the telegraph for it to spread so far within a day of the murders. |
The Napa State Hospital for the Insane, c. 1870s
The Napa County Historical Society
The Napa County Historical Society
 Ferndale Enterprise, September 25, 1920
Hans Jr. Declared Criminally Insane
September 22, 1914, Hans Jr. was declared insane after an examination by six doctors in the superior court. He was sent to the Napa State Hospital, where he was held in the criminally insane ward (Ferndale Enterprise, Sept. 25, 1914). The Napa State Hospital for the Insane was initially constructed in 1875 to house a total of 640 patients, most of whom were suffering from alcoholism or homelessness. By 1891, the hospital had 1,373 patients, more than double what it was designed for. This resulted in attics and other spaces being converted into makeshift patient wards. The overcrowding was a huge problem. By 1920, a typical ward had the capacity for 26 patients, but 64 patients would be crowded into it. Hans Jr. experienced the overcrowded conditions at the asylum along with medical treatments such as forced drugging, isolation, restraints, or ice baths, which were typical in asylums of the time. 
Attic Wards, c. 1900
The Napa County Historical Society |
Investigation Into Hans Jr.'s Mental Health
August 2, 1916, The Recorder, a San Francisco newspaper, reported on the case of Hans Hansen Kjer Jr. The article went into significantly more detail about the timeline of the attack on the Kjer family and expanded on the mental state of Hans Jr. The article describes Hans’ mental state in the months leading up to the tragedy as depressed, “blue,” and apprehensive. The Humboldt County District Attorney and various physicians were called upon to interview Hans Jr. but could not get him to confess. At the trial (to determine his sanity), Hans would only answer with “yes” or “no” and remained “practically emotionless.” It is noted in the article that “insanity has been evident in a sister, a paternal aunt, and a grandmother,” indicating that mental illness had run in the family. He was then committed to the Napa State Hospital for the Insane. There, he was further interviewed, and after two weeks of questioning, officials got a few answers from him. Hans indicated that he had felt unhappy and apprehensive for the past four months, fearing that some accident would befall him. “He mistook tree stumps for ghosts and was frightened by voices (imaginary) which call him home at odd times of the day.” Now, at the asylum, Hans Jr. denies even being home during the murders of his parents and claims that they died of disease. He expressed how much he loved and cared about his parents. However, when confronted with the violence of their deaths, Hans Jr. displayed no emotion. After some time in the asylum, doctors were impressed with Hans Jr.'s improvements. He expressed remorse and grief over the deaths of his parents, and some even found it difficult to believe that the man before them had carried out the events of that night. This brought them to question if Hans Jr. should be resentenced for the crime: “The man of 20 years was undoubtedly insane when he committed the crime. He has improved to such an extent that recovery of a temporary character is very apt to result. The difficult question in connection with the case providing a remission extends over years is: ‘Should he be returned to the sheriff for a new trial which would lead to a verdict of not guilty at the time of the commission of the act and which would liberate him or should the law not regulate a State hospital detention for a limited number of years and after that a leave of absence under parole-surveillance?” |
Overcrowding, c. 1935
The Napa County Historical Society
The Napa County Historical Society
Napa State Hospital Facilities and Farm
Kirkbridebuildings.com
Kirkbridebuildings.com
The Escape
September 7, 1920, The Solano-Napa News Chronicle ran the headline “Youthful Maniac Flees From Napa.” Hans Jr. had escaped the Napa Insane Asylum while working “with a gang of inmates” about a mile away from the institution on a ranch. It took about fifteen minutes for officials to realize he had escaped. Locals with automobiles searched the area for the inmate, but no trace was found. This article also indicates that there were warning signs that Hans’ mental state was deteriorating years before the tragedy. Humboldt County officers were alerted of the escape if Hans Jr. attempted to return to the family home.
September 7, 1920, The Solano-Napa News Chronicle ran the headline “Youthful Maniac Flees From Napa.” Hans Jr. had escaped the Napa Insane Asylum while working “with a gang of inmates” about a mile away from the institution on a ranch. It took about fifteen minutes for officials to realize he had escaped. Locals with automobiles searched the area for the inmate, but no trace was found. This article also indicates that there were warning signs that Hans’ mental state was deteriorating years before the tragedy. Humboldt County officers were alerted of the escape if Hans Jr. attempted to return to the family home.
The Solano- Napa News Chronicle, September 7, 1920
The Ferndale Enterprise, September 10, 1920
September 7, 1920, The Sacramento Bee reported on Hans Jr’s escape with the headline “No Trace of Escape.” Dr. G. W. Ogden of the Napa State Hospital indicated that Hans Jr. had “practically recovered from his mental trouble, and the hospital doctors are not apprehensive of his future actions,” which is why he had been given the privilege of working outside the institution.
September 9, 1920, the Woodland Daily Democrat out of Woodland, CA, provided an update on the escape in a much more sensationalized manner with the headline “Yolo Officers Search for Escaped Maniac Who Murdered Parents,” this article described Hans as dangerous. In contrast, The Sacramento Bee reported that Hans had largely recovered from his “mental trouble.” The Woodland Daily Democrat made the case that “escaped maniac from Napa, who has a penchant for murdering all he sees,” along with a series of reported sightings of Hans Jr. in Woodland, CA.
September 9, 1920, the Woodland Daily Democrat out of Woodland, CA, provided an update on the escape in a much more sensationalized manner with the headline “Yolo Officers Search for Escaped Maniac Who Murdered Parents,” this article described Hans as dangerous. In contrast, The Sacramento Bee reported that Hans had largely recovered from his “mental trouble.” The Woodland Daily Democrat made the case that “escaped maniac from Napa, who has a penchant for murdering all he sees,” along with a series of reported sightings of Hans Jr. in Woodland, CA.
A Suspicious "Suicide"
September 14, 1920, the Petaluma Argus-Courier ran the headline: “Suicide at Healdsburg.” The body of a young man matching the description of Hans Jr. was discovered alongside railroad tracks near the Healdsburg Cannery. Upon the coroner’s preliminary examination, it was found that the individual had taken strychnine and then “stabbed himself in both breasts.” However, no weapon was discovered at the scene, which would be highly unusual for a suicide. Officials suspected this to be the body of Hans Jr. due to the similarity in age and that the railroad line he was found near was a direct line to Eureka.
September 14, 1920, the Petaluma Argus-Courier ran the headline: “Suicide at Healdsburg.” The body of a young man matching the description of Hans Jr. was discovered alongside railroad tracks near the Healdsburg Cannery. Upon the coroner’s preliminary examination, it was found that the individual had taken strychnine and then “stabbed himself in both breasts.” However, no weapon was discovered at the scene, which would be highly unusual for a suicide. Officials suspected this to be the body of Hans Jr. due to the similarity in age and that the railroad line he was found near was a direct line to Eureka.
Petaluma Argus- Courier, September 14, 1920
October 1, 1920, the Ferndale Enterprise indicated that “Kjer Still at Large” and that the Kjer family had not been contacted since the unidentified body of a young man was discovered in Healdsburg the month before. Because of this, it is likely that the body did not belong to Hans Jr. and that he is still missing.
Ferndale Enterprise, October 1, 1920
This is where the story of Hans H. Kjer Jr. comes to an unsatisfying conclusion. The body was never identified as belonging to him, and the public lost interest in the escaped patient as his name did not show up in newspapers again. The Kjer family is buried at Greenwood Cemetery in Arcata, and geological records rarely mention Hans H. Jr. in the Kjer family tree.
The Kjer Family Home on McKinleyville Ave.
(According to Loberta Gwin's book Dow's North of Mad River)
(According to Loberta Gwin's book Dow's North of Mad River)
Today, the Kjer family home on McKinleyville Avenue is known for its paranormal activity and heavy energy. People who have lived in or near the house have noted ghostly sightings and a dark lingering energy.
Sources:
Findagrave.org
Gwin, Loberta 2000, Dow’s North of Mad River
Ferndale Enterprise, September 18, 1914
Napa Historical Society, A Brief History of Napa State Hospital
Study.com, Insane Asylums in the 1800’s
Petaluma Argus-Courier, September 14, 1920
Findagrave.org
Gwin, Loberta 2000, Dow’s North of Mad River
Ferndale Enterprise, September 18, 1914
Napa Historical Society, A Brief History of Napa State Hospital
Study.com, Insane Asylums in the 1800’s
Petaluma Argus-Courier, September 14, 1920