Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1873-05-23
THE KANSAS HORROR.
The MGfderers' Den-Trap ard
. INarnTner-DeviIish Work of the
Bender EamiIy-PrOcess by which
they Secured their Victims.

. INanlner-DeviIish Work of the
Bender FamiIy-PrOcess by which
they Secured their Victims.
We have heretofore published &C
counts of the discovery of nine dead
bodies on the premises of q family
named Bender, who lived near Cherry
vale, Kansas. The fight of the muir
derers, and the great excitement that
followed the horrible discovery. The
following particulars of the process by
which the Bender family deceived their
victims, is copied from the Kansas City
Times OF the 18th Inst, and viii be
read with painful interest:
THE DEVILS KITCHEN,
otherwise the Bender house, is small,
rude, frame shanty, without lath or
plaster or intervening substance, be-
tween it's floor and the rafters of the |
pointed roof In size it is 16x24 feet.
Small uprights 2x4 inches are set to
mark the house into two compart-
ments, but no wall had ever been made |
other than white cotton cloth hung |
i'll the rear apartment and against these |
uprights. The front apartment had in |
it a counter, over which the butchers |
pretended to sell groceries. In the |
rear room was a rude bed, a table, a
stove and three chairs.
The table, to which the guests of the |
tiends were seated, was placed DIRECTLY |
over the trap door, SO that the guests |
back was to and against the white cur
tain. In his position it was an easy |
thing for the male villains in the |
front apartment to strike the form
clearly lined and resting against |
the white cloth, and when the blows |
of the edge and the hammer had
knocked the victim, with crushed
| and broken skull, senseless and help
less TO the floor, for the female fends
in the back room to cut the throat.
The execution was as simple as it was
dreadful, but, though it would seem
resistance to such well-planned murder
of the trusting and unsuspecting was
impossible, the walls gave silent evil
dence that some of the murdered ones
had not been sent to their doom with
out an effort to defend their lives No
/ less than a dozen bullet holes in the
sides and roof of the house attest that
armed men, when struck down SO re-
lentlessly, had attempted to shoot
! their 'murderers, but, unfortunately,
! the aims had been wild, and the muir
! derers are reserved for the hempen
halter
WHERE THE MURDERED NOW SLEEP.
| With the exception of DIR. York,
! Henry F. Mckenzie and G.. w. Long
cor and daughter, whose families took
| charge of their remains and buried
! them at Independence the bodies of
! those found in the garden graves were
! quietly taken by silent men who knew
them not, yet longed for vengeance on
! their assassiHs, to the base of Il high
mound about a mile to the southeast
! Of the devils kitchen and there
second time returned to the earth to
| sleep until the final resurrection.
! WHO THEY WERE.
The first of the eight bodies discov-
cred was DR., York, of Independence.
GEORGE W. LOSCOR AND DAUGHTER
Mr.. Loncor was neighbor of DIR.
Iork's from whom he had purchased
! team just before he started for Iowa
/ last December. He and his infant
child We're buried III one grave He
as all the other men had the back of
the skull crushed in and broken, and
! his throat cat, and the body stripped
OF nearly all clothing. The child was
placed at the fathers feet, without a
bruise OF a mark of violence. and with
all It's little clothes on, even the hood
and mittens, and many judged that
! the infant had been buried alive
! The others We're l.. G. Brown, ". L.
. McCrotty, H. F. Mckenzie, Peter
Boyle. and some unrecOgniZed.
PISTOLS AND KNIVES TOR A SUPPER.
One of the most marvellous stories
ever heard, but which is vouched for
f hE t1iIaiain &c thA fDilnu-Ip,r.
One 6 allng, about three months ago,
Il poor woman, footsore and weary,
travelling to Independence without
money, stopped at the Bender den and
asked for some supper and for the
prlve!edgc OF resting awhile. She WAS
invited III. and being nearly exhausted.
she took her shoes and scanty wrap
ping of. and laid down on the bed in
the back room. She was awakened by a
touch f.om the old bag of the den,
who, pointing to an array Of pistols
and double-edged knives of various
sizes, lying ON the table. said IN the
spirit of leilish malignity: There,
your supper is ready" The woman
was mOtionless and breathless with
terror, and, as she sank back on the
bed. the devil dame picked the knives.
one by tile, and drew her finger along
the slarpened blades, at the same time
glancing fiendishly at her intended
| victim. How long this terror lasted
the woman could not tell, but at last
she, lit his Very desperation of fear,
arose as though 2ot alarmed, and made
Il private excuse for going out She
was permitted to do so, and moving
around to the shelter of the stable.
I barefoot and scarce half clad, she
darted off on the wings OF fear. and
ran for two miles to her shelter. As
she was running away she turned fire.
Quently to see II she was pursued, but
no one followed her, though she saw
the light from the opened doorway
, several times. as though the devils in
| side were awaiting l.ef ietI.rG.
Even this story seems not 10 have
aroused more than the before existing
! suspicion that the Bepders were not
exactly the right kind of people.
! A BUNGLING BUSINESS.
Although for the past three years
{ this section has been infested with
! horse thieves and murderers. and this
| known to every one about the country,
it is probable the same state of affairs
| might have continued for an indefinite
period had not the murder of Dr.
York, Il man of family. friends and
| reputation, led to the exposure. Men
have been missed and bodies found of
murdered men for three gears past,
and vigilance committees ~ have
| hunted and driven some men from the
country but it would now seem as
though the leaders of the REGULATORS
were themselves the villains, and hon
est men had been falsely aaa fQully
suspected and driven from their homes.
Known villains have for that time been
sent to tAe penltertiafs, only to be
pardoned out by Governors.
And even the band of seventy-tive
armed end honest men who secured the
country in search of DIR. York, when it
was learned he was missing, seem to
have had xcrv!ittle jul yment or discre-
| ton. 4
| On the 2Sth of March last, Colonel
York and Mr.. JohnsGn visited the Ben