Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1873-05-29


the material and social interests Of the State.
FARMER.
THE KANSAS HORROR.
We have heretofore published an account
of the discovery of nine dead bodies on the
premises of man named Bender, who lived
near Cherryvale, Kansas. AS may be sup.
posed, great excitement followed the horrible
discovery, and the scene of the unnatural
crimes has been visited by thousands Of per-
SONS from all parts Of the Western States.
Robbery was the undoubted object Of the vii
aims. The Bender house was so located as to
be convenient stopping place for travellers,
either for dinner and midday rest, or a
nights lodging, and the situation being isola-
ted, fine opportunity was presented for the
perpetration of the revolving deeds which
would have disgraced the darkest and most
barbarous ages. Among the devices adopted
by the Benders to ,inveigle the unwary was
an advertisement kept prominently in the pa
pers of the West, announcing that Miss Kate
Bender, near Cherryvale, Kansas, possessed
remarkable powers as clairvoyant, and in
the usual style of impostors of this class, pro-
fessed to cure all manner of diseases and to
read the future of those who invoked her won
derful powers Many a credulous person is
now supposed to have sought the aid of this
cunning siren only to meet an untimely and
horrible death. The following account of the
bloody deeds of these incarnate Gends, copied
from the Kansas City Times, will be read with
painful interest:
The Bender house, is small, rude, frame
shanty, without lath or plaster or intervening
substance, between its floor and the rafters of
the pointed roof. In size it is 1924 feet.
Small uprights 2x4 inches are set to mark the
house into two compartments, but no wall had
ever been made other than white cotton
cloth hung in the rear apartment and against
these uprig ghts. The front Apartment had in
it a counter, over which the butchers preten-
ded to sell groceries. In the rear room was
rude bed, table, stove and three chairs.
The table, to which the guests of the fends
we're seated, was placed directly over the trap
door, so that the guests back was to and
against the white curtain. In this 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 hammer had knocked
the victim, with crushed and broken skull,
senseless and helpless to the floor, for the fe-
male fends in the back room to cut the throat.
The execution was as simple as it was dread
full, but, though it would seem resistance to
such well-planned murder of the trusting and
unsuspecting was impossible, the walls gave
silent evidence that some of the murdered ones
had not been sent to their doom without 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 relentlessly, had attempted to shoot
their murderers, but, unfortunately, the aims
had been wild, and the murderers are reserved
for the hempen halter.
With the exception of DR.. York, Henry +.
Mckenzie and G. w. Longcor and daughter,
whose families took charge of their remains
and buried them at Independence, the bodies
of those found in the garden graves we're quiz
etly taken by silent men who knew them not,
vet longed for vengeance on their assassins, to
the base of high mound about mile to the
southeast of the Bender house, and there a
second time returned to the earth to sleep un-
til the final resurrection.
The first of the eight bodies discovered were
DR.. York, of Independence, and George w.
Longcor and daug gbter. Mr.. Longcor was q
neighbor of DR.. York's, from whom he had
purchased team just before he started for
Iowa last December. He and his infant child
were buried in one grave He, as all the other
men, had the back of the skull crushed in
and broken, and his throat cut, and the body
stripped of ofnearly all clothing. The child was
placed at the fathers feet, without bruise or
a mark of violence, and with all its little
clothes on, even the hood and mittens, and
many judged that the infant had been buried
alive.
The others were L. G. Brown, w. F. Nc
Crotty, H. F. Mckenzie, Peter Boyle, and
some unrecognized.
One of the most marvellous stories ever
heard, but which is vouched for by reliable
men, is the following: One evening, about
three months ago, poor woman, foot sore and
weary, travelling to Independence without
money, stopped at the Bender den and asked
for some supper and for the privilege of rest
ing awhile. She was invited in, and being
nearly exhausted, she took her shoes and
scanty wrapping off, and laid down on the
bed in the back room. She was awakened by
a touch from the old hag Of the den, who,
pointing to an array Of pistols and double
edged knives of various sizes, lying on the ta-
BILE, said in the spirit of bellish malignity !:
"There, your supper &c 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 one, and drew her
finger along the sharpened blades, at the same
time glancing 6endishly at her intended VIC
tim. How long this terror lasted the woman
could not tell, but at last she, in the very des'
peration of fear, arose as though not alarmed,
and made private excuse for going out. She
was permitted to do so, and moving around to
the shelter of the stable, 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 frequently to
see if she was pursued, but no one followed
her, though she saw the light from the opened
doorway several times, as though the devils
inside were awaiting her return. Even this