Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1873-05-30

HORRORS or TIE BENDER TAyERN-A DOZEN
INITIATED BODIES ENHuNED.

Correspondence of the New York Times.
KANSAS CITY. No, Friday, May 3, 1873.
The accidental discovery Of vacated
house in the vicinity Of Cherryyale, Kansas,
has led to a search which has finally resulted
in the disclosure of series of the most
horrible crimes on record, 1t being clearly
evidenced that wholesale system ofr0hbery
and murder has been going on within a
short distance of that town for some time
a system of bloodshed and plunder unequal
cd except in the extravagant stories of sem
satiOn novels
Ii is well known in this vicinity that dur
ing the past year a number of persons have
disappeared in a very remarkable manner,
and all traces of many of them have been
lost in the vicinity of Cherryyale. The
cause Of their disappearance could not be
definitely ascertained, and the inquiries of
friends were always fruitless.
For SCme time past family, consisting oil
two men and two women, of the name Of
Bender, occupied one-story frame house.
or rather cabin, on the south side of the
Usage Mission road, about two miles or less
from the town of Cherryyale, in Labette
county. The house is on the open prairie,
and not at all concealed by timber. The
Bendcrs kept this house as n sort of wayside
tavern, and close to the road is a building
that was used as a stable. Attached to the
house in the rear Is a garden, and the land
on which the property is located is about
two acres in extent. The Benders were not
visited by the natives to any great extent,
as they did not bear good reputation,
especially one of the women, supposed to be
johanna Bender, but better known by the
name of Katie Bender, who is described as
a red-iaced, unprepossesslng young woman.
She professed TO have power to cure all
diseases, although her general reputation
was that she had more of the devil in her
composition than any saving qualities.
The other woman is described as being
about forty-two years old, with iron gray
hair, ragged at the ends, and thin over the
temples, hard and sinister-lOOking, steel
gray eyes, tall, angular form, and repulsiye
features She also pretended to be spir-
itualist, and engaged extensively in the dis
| tillatiOn of charms from the boiling of roots
and herbs The people for miles around
dreaded her. The two men were brothers,
and bore the names of William and Thomas
Bender. Katie was reported to be the wife
of Thomas, while the other woman was sup
posed to bsar the same relationship to Viii
liam, the elder brother. Both brothers are
said to be bad characters, and the neighbors
kept them at distance.
The yrst disappearance that attracted
| public attention here was that of an old
man and his grandaug ghter, who left Cherry
vale, about three months ago, in a two
horse wagon, TO go to Fort Scott, but who
never reached that place. All inquiries
failed to elicit clue to the cause of their
disappearance, until about the beginning Of
March, Dr. William Ii. York, brother of
Senator York of this State, recognized the
team and wagon at Fort Scott. DR.. York
ascertained that the wagon, &c, had been
purchased at the fort from some person vino
came from Cherryvale, and he resolved to
ferret out the mystery. For this purpose he
left the fort on March Q, and went in the
direction of Cherryvale but he, in like
manner, disappeared, and all aftersearch for
him by his brother and hosts of friends was
frnitless, Notwithstanding the fact that a
large reward was offered tor any intelligence
of his fate. The search, however, for DR..
York led to the finding of the bodies of the
old man and child in the ravine near Drum
Greek, with their throats cut from ear to
ear.
While making the search for DR.. York,
the house OF the Blenders was visited by sew
eral parties but to all the answer was re-
turned that no one had seen the missing
man. The persistence with which these in
qulries were made, and the constan. adyer-
tIsing through the papers Of this State of
the strange disappearance of DIR. York,