User:Spirit of Eagle/Bonito City Draft

Bonito City is a ghost town in Lincoln, New Mexico.

Early history
Bonito City originated as a mining tent town within the Bonito Canyon during the 1870s; by 1882 more permanent log cabins had started to emerge. Over the next several years, additional buildings and services opened in Bonito City including a school, multiple general stores, a post office, a blacksmith, a lawyer, and a two story boarding-house owned and operated by Mr. and Mrs. W. F. "John" Mayberry.

Mayberry hotel shooting
A mass shooting occurred during the early morning of May 5, 1885, when Martin Nelson (a laborer who lived in Bonito City) entered the Mayberry hotel armed with a rifle. He fatally shot Mr. Mayberry and his two sons within the hotel; a guest was also killed in the initial shooting. Mrs. Mayberry was injured within the hotel and was killed outside after attempting to escape; the town saloon owner and grocer were then killed when they attempted to intervene and investigate, respectively. The attack ended after Nelson was shot to death by Charles Berry (who was possibly a justice of the peace).

In the aftermath of the shooting, most of the victims were buried in the town cemetery; the body of the hotel guest was embalmed and returned to his hometown. Nelson was buried outside of