The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1873-06-05
The Kansas Horror.
How the Victims were Slaughtered I'm
Che Hender Den.

|
che Bender Den.
As time passes, says a Kansas cor
respondent, and new light is thrown
upon the murderous deeds of the Ben
der family of hends, the horror deepens
and the crimes committed by these
monsters assume even darker hue.
New facts are almost daily developed
which show that these people were not
| alone in the section of the State in
which they live in their plots against
the lives of wayfarers. Already twelve
arrests have been made Of people living
in the neighbofhood, and who, there is
good reason to believe, were the accom-
plices of the murderers in disposing of
the horses and vehicles of the victims.
1t is thought that there are other bodies
i'll addition to those that have been
found, concealed in the orchard, only
one part of which has been explored.
| 1t is the purpose of the county authori-
| ties to continue the search. On Sunday
two special trains were rtin to the scene
of the murders. One went from Inde-
| pendencc and the other from Cof1ey-
vile. They took fully 900 sight-seers,
who went about, peering into the holes
whence the bodies had been taken, and
on their return carried away with them
pieces of the wretchcd shanty which
has rcsoundcd with the moans and
| groans of SO many murdered men.
The Bender den is admirably situated
for the purpose to which the iends put
! it. 1t is i'll tho northwest corner of
Labcttc county, and is SO placed that
/ it commands f;;li view of the APP
! prorchcs To it for distance of half II
mile i'll all directions. Woe, then, to
tho single traveller who is seen from its
doorways or its windows approaching,
for then was the hammer placed i'll po-
sition and the knife sharpened to finer
edge against his coming. Parties of
two or three might escape, but the soli-
tary stranger was doomed. The house
is nothing but mere shanty, twenty
four feet long and sixteen feet wide.
The roof is painted, and not a sign OF
lath, plaster, or whitewash is to be seen.
The interior is one long room, and while
the Benders occupied it it was divided
off into two apartments by white cot
ton cloth which hung across the whole
length of it. In the front room was a
small counter, and across this counter
the Benders made a pretence of selling
groceries. On the other side of the
curtain was table, q stove, three chairs,
and miserable sort of bed. In the
floor, near the cloth partition, in this
rear room, was trap-door. Over this
trap-door was placed the chair of the
victim who stopped at the den for food
or refreshments. He was SO arranged
that in leaning back the impression OF
his head and back was made in the
/ Il ALI e,,l
the two male Benders-on the othel
side of the curtain, holding the heavy
sledgG-hamm in their hands, waited
until the guests form was thus outlined
Then with one terrible blow the victims
skull would be crushed in, and as the
murdered man would fall forward heavily
on the table the trap-door would bt
sprung and the helpless body would fal
into the cellar or aperture below. Thel
would come the work of the women
which was to descend, and, with a sharI
knife, to cut the throat of the uncon
scious man. This was the probabl,
, course of events that accompanied tn,
commission of the crimes of the Ben
ders. Here and there in the walls o
the shanty are visible, however, hole
made by pistol bullets, and it is clea
that some of their victims at least mad,
attempts, however ineff ctual, to aveng,
their murder before consciousness lef
them.
1t is related as among the incident
connected with this death-hole that on
) night about three months ago poo
: woman on her way on foot to Inde
I pendence, about fifteen miles distant
; stopped at the shanty and asked it's in
, mates for food and shelter. She lay o.
the rude bed for while and droppe,
i into an uneasy sleep. Suddenly sh
t was awakened by q tap on her shoulder
l She opened her eyes and saw befor
5 her the old hag of the place. the wife @
E the elder Bender, who pointed to til
L table on which lay a glittering array G
: knives and pistols, and said sardoniC
!; ally, "Look there at your supper; it
ready" The poor woman, seized wit
mortal fear, yet managed to dissembl
) her true feelings. Making an excuse t
5 leave the house, her fright being intens
" fed by the sight of the beldame passin
$ her finger over the keen edges of til
e knives, she passed into the yard. Ono
q ont she staggered away in the darkness
i and so escaped but, looking back {
. intervals, she could see the door opel
o ing and shutting as the intended mu
derers came to it, expecting her return