The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1873-05-16


G-GraVes not opened.
In the rear as we have said, was
a garden. This, at first, was not
examined. The front room of the
house was next carefully searched,
everv crack and crevice being min
utely looked into, and subjected to
the application of rods and levers 10
see If the flooring was either hollow
or loose. Nothing came of it all.
No blood spots appeared. The
floor was solid-the walls were
solid. Ifthere was dead men abont,
they were not in the front room.
Then came the back room. The
beds were removed.
IN HIS FLIGHT
the elder Bender had left every
thing untouched. Not even the
doors were locked, though such had
been the reputation of the she devil
that the premises stood as safe from
intrusion as If protected by a devil
in reality. After the beds had been
removed one of the party noticed a
slight depression in the floor, which,
upon closer examination, revealed a
TRAP DOOR
upon hinges. This was Immediately
lifted up, and in the gloom pit out
lined itself, forbiddng, cavernous,
unknown. Lights were procured,
and some of the men descended.
They found themselves In an abyss
shaped like q well, some six feet
deep, and about FIVE feet in diame-
ta,. Hama and fhara if4tla Damn
places could be seen as if water had
come up from tho bottom or been
poured down from above. They
CROPPED about over these splotches
and held up handful to the light.
The ooze smeared itself over their
palms and dribbled through their
fingers.
1T WAS HOOD
thick, fntid, cIammy, sticking, blood
that they had found cropping there
in the void-the blood, perhaps, OF
some poor, belated traveller who
had laid himself down TO dream OF
home and kindred, and who had
died while dreaming of his loved
ones. The party had provided
themselves with a long, sharp rod OF
iron which they drove into the
ground in every direction at the bot
tom of the pit, but nothing further
rewarded the search, and they came
to examine the garden III the rear
of the house, marked in the diagram
90 After boring or prodding, as
ii were, for nearly an hour, The rod
was driven down into the spot
marked 3D. and when it was with
| drawn, something that looked like
matter adhered to the point. Shov-
els were set at once to work, and in
a few moments q corpse was uncov-
cred. II had been buried upon its
face. The flesh had dropped away
from the legs. There was no coffiu,
no winding sheet, no preparation
for the grave, nothing upon the body
but an old shirt, torn in places and
thick with damp and decay. The
corpse was tenderly disinteired and
laid upon its back in the full light OF
the soft April sun. One look OF
horror into the CHASTITY face, Tester
ing and swollen, and a dozen voices
cried out in terror:
''MY GOD, 1T Is DIR. York;
Aud it was. He had been hurled in
a shallow hole, with scarcely two
feet of dirt over him. Had he been
murdered, and how? They ex.
amined lin closely. Upon the back
Of his head and to the left and OBJ.
liquely from his right ear, a terrible
blow had been given with q ham.
mer. The skull had driven into the
brain, and from the battered and
| N m ca ~
blood had OOzed, plastering his hair
with kind of clammy paste and
running down upon his shoulders
| Strong men turned away from the
sickening sight with a shudder
Others wept. Some even had tc
leave the garden and remain away
from the shambles and the butchers
IL seemed as if the winds carried
the tidings to Cherryvale. In al
hour all the town was at the scent
of discovery. 4 coffin was procur.
ed for DIR. York's body, and hi;
brother, utterly overwhelmed, sat
by the ghastly remains as one upon
whom the hand of death had been
laid. lie could not be comfoFted
But the
HORRIBLE WORK WAS NOT YET COM.
PLETED.
The iron rod was again put into
Tequisition, until six more graves
marked (E) were discovered, five oil
which contained corpse, and the
| sixth, that in the second row, (E)
containing two, and old man and a
little girl.
The scene was horrible beyond de-
scription. The daylight fled from
the prairies, but the search went on
with undated vigor. a fascina-
ton impossible to define, held the
spectators to the spot. The spirit OF
murder was there, and it kept them
in spite of the night and the hor-
rOrs of the surroundings. The
crowd increased instead of dimin-
ishing. Cosfins were provided for
all, and again was the search renwed.
1t was past midnight when our in
formant left, but three more graves,
marked CO. had been discovered,
each supposed TO contain corpse,
although they had not been opened.
The
WHOLE COUNTRY Is AROUSED.
sent in every direction with descrip-
lions Of the Blenders, and it is not
thought possible they can escape.
With the crowd at the grave was a
man named Brockman who was sup
posed 10 know something about the
murders. Furious men laid hold
upon him at once and strung him to
beam in the house. His contor-
tons were fearful. His eyes started
from thier sockets, and u livid hue
came to his face that was appalling.
Death was within reach of him
when he was cut down.
CONFESS! CONFESS -
they yelled, but he said nothing.
Again he jerked from his feet, and
again was the strong body cenvul-
sed with the death throes. Again
resucitated, he once more refused TO
open ais mouth. He did not APP
pear to understand what was want
ed of him. The yelling crowd, the
mutilated and bulchered dead, the
Pickering and swirling torches
spluitering in the night wind, the
stern, set faces of his executioners,
all, all passed before him as a dread
tul phantasmagOria which dazed
him struck him, speeches. For the
third time they swung him up, and
then his
HEART COULD NOT BE FELT TO BEAT,
and there was no pulse at the wrists.
He is dead" they said. But he
was not dead. The night air reviv-
him at last, and he was permitted to
stagger away in the darkness as one
who was drunken or derauged.
Six butchered human ha;u0a x,.ara