Juniata sentinel. [volume] (Mifflintown, Pa.) 1846-1873, 1873-05-21

right of the dwelling house was an out
house and in the rear was an enclosed
garden of possibly two acres. hsa1
The search seemed to end suddenly at
Cherryyale. Suspicion, if ever enter
tanned, fell upon no one. There were
various ,surmises, comjec:ures and ex-
pressions Of opinion but for the life of
any man he could not say what had be-
come Of DIR. York. 9,Ss a qu
One day, early inl is, some men
from Cherryvale rode over to the Bender
house-a tavern too, it was, where en-
tertainment was furnished to travellers
to inquire concerning DR. York, and
to learn. if possible, some tidings Of his
fate. They learned nothing, however.
None of the Benders had seen him. nor
heard Of him, nor his mysterious disap-
pearance, nor anything that pertained to
him. Very well, the men said and, they
rode back again as fully informed as be-
fore. .. ..,a .a;.5 r... a...- -.'i. -.-
a. VIM Bender, the eldest of the broth
crs, had wife who was Spiritualist.
The balance of the Benders called her a
medium. The neighbors, a she, devil.
She was forty,two, with iron gray hair
ragged at the ends and thin over her
temples Her eyes were steel gray and
hard. All the household feared her
dreaded her, obeyed her, and, ,.as the Sc
quel proves, did the devils work for her
beyond all the atrocious devils work
ever done in Kansas. -af.t -.t re. g..
Time went slowly by, and man rid
ing in one day from the prairie saw no
smoke arising from Bender's chimney
The windows were down, the doors were
closed, there was no sign of life any.
where. These evidences of emigration
did not even interest him. So absolute
was the stupor over the disappearance Of
DR. York that an awakening had to de-
pend upon an absolute discovery. This
man. however, III riding by a pen to the
left of the house, saw dead calf in thc
lot. and, upon further investigation and
with the practical eyes of practica
farmer. used to- guessing the weight o.
livestock upon the hoof, he knew thai
the calf had died of starvation.
Then the truth came, as an overflow
comes often to a Kansas, creek, all of ;
sudden and overwhelming. pa Such {
death suggested flight. flight mean
guilt, aud the nature of the guilt wal
surely murder He galloped into Cher
ryvale and related what he had seen
The town aroused itself. A party wai
organized instantly and set out for th'
Bender mansion. Then it was remem
bored that about two weeks before this
say somewhere near the Gath of April
William Bender had sold to some per
sons either in or near Cheryvale, ;
watch, some clothing of fine character
two mules, and, perhaps, a shotgun o.
two, and come pistols. How did he com,
by these If the dead could speak, thu
the question might be readily answered
The party from Cherryvale arrived a
the house directly upon the Usage Mis-
sion road, having the clubhouse in th'
rear and to the south of it. In the rear
as we have said, was garden. This, a
first, was not examined. The front room
of the house was next carefully searched
every crack and crevice being minutely
looked into, and subject to the applica
ton of rods and levers to see if the floor
ing was either hollow or loose. Nothing
came of it all. No blood spots appeared
The floor was solid-the walls wer,
solid If there were dead men about
they were not in the front room. TheI
came the back room. The beds wert
removed. In mis- flight the elder Bendei
had left everything untouched. No
even the doors were locked, though sucl
had been the reputation of the she-devi
that the premises stood as safe from in
trusion as if protected by devil in re
ality. -.5 ,r.....t s.t .n -r. -.
After the beds had been removed ont
of the party noticed a slight depression
in the floor. which, upon closer exami
nation, revealed trap door upoE hinges
This was Immediately lifted up, and il
the gloom pit outlined itself, forbiddins
cavernous, unknown. Lights we're pro
cured, and some of the men descended
They found themselves in an abyss
shaped like well. some six feet deep
and about five feet in diameter. Her,
and there little damp places could b'
seen as if the water had come up from
the bottom or been poured down from
above. They groped about over thes'
splotches and held up handful to th'
light. The ooze smeared itself ovel
their palms and dribbled through thei
/ fingers. 1t was blood. .,4.. l..
The party had provided themselves
with long sharp rod Of iron which they
drove into the ground in every direction
at the bottom of the pit. but nothing fur
ther rewarded the search, and they cam'
away to examine the fgarien in the rea
of the house. After boring, or prodding
as it were, for nearly an hour, the roc