Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1873-05-21
THE KANSAS HORROR.

uol0 uoliIole dHu UOfo mysterious
than any told in the fiction of which
Mr.. Thaekeray's novel Of Catherine
was a paraphrase. The adventures
told in the biographies OF Jack Shep-
pard and Dick Turpin the horrors
that sue and the elder Dumas invented
to satisfy morbid appetites /; the blood
curding sketches evolved out of Poe's
abnormal imagination; the staple Of
the "Dime Novels" and the weekly
serials; the traditions of the sensation
uonal drama with the way-side inn
with It's trap doors and its murders
which people have come to regard
with the disgust that attends ascertain
ed exaggeration, have all been render
ed possible by the systematic and pro-
longed butchery practiced by the Ben
der family in southeastern Kansas
The series of murders in the Black
Forest which Charles Reade utilized
in one of his stories, and the slaughter
which made Troppmann's name known
throughout the world, do not compare
In point of pure unadulterated horror
with this case. Tropmann enticed
away a single family on the protext of
discovering an Inheritance, and mur-
dered all the members of it, but the
Benders and their confederates lay in
wait for all people who happen to come
their way, and slaughtered them with
the prospects of small gain The
"Chamber of Horrors" in Nine. Tus-
seaud's London collection of wax
figures does not, with all it's hideous
caricatures, present so complete pic
ture of human depravity as has been
traced to an isolated frontier settle
in Labette County, Kansas.
The disappearance of DR.. York
brother of Senator York, who exposed
the Pomeroy bribery, caused toe first
vigorous investigation into the cause
of numerous similar disappearances
that had occurred in a section Of Kan
sas not far from Independence DR.. York
was missed about the middle Of last
March, and, short time ago, Senator
York organized a party to scour the
country IN search of some trace of him.
DR.. York was known to have taken the
road between Independence and Usage
Mission, and the securing party came
across a house situated about halfway
between Drum Greek and Big Hill, in
a dismal expanse of prairie land. This
was sort of halfway stopping place,
combining a grocery and eating house,
where travellers usually halted for
lunch. The house was kept by fam
lily named Bender, consisting of the
old man and a young man said to be
father and son, and an old woman
and young woman, said to be mother
and daughter. Both couples were sup
posed to be married, but the young
woman, who professed to be spirit
ualistic medium, to tell fortunes and
to cure diseases, had a bad reputation
in the neighborhood. When the OBJ
ject of Senator York's search became
known to these people, the young man
offered to assist the party, and the
young woman desired to make an ap-
pointment with Senator York, when,
she promised, she would reveal the
manner of his brothers disappearance
through the aid of spirits. Little at
tention was paid to these offers, and
Senator York and his party went on
They were obliged to return at last
without having discovered any clue
to the mysterious disappearance. SEN
ator York then employed detective
named Beers, who went to work at the
case. After some days, Beers atten-
tion wrs drawn to the Bender house,
and, when he went there, he found
it had been deserted. The whole
family warned by Senator York's
search, had fed. Their absence in
creased the detectives suspicion.
Search was instituted at once, and
traces of the missing York were soon
discovered The first convincing evi-
dence Of foul play in the house was
found when Beers lifted the trap door
in the floor, and the sickeuing stencil
Of, f,decomposed remains came rushing
through the opening. This satisfied
Beers that DR.. York had met with a
violent death on these premises, and
prosecuted his search still further. A
patch Of ground at the back Of the
house had been newly ploughed over
and Beers carefully examined it in
search Of a disturbance or sub-soil.
Having found a spot which looked as
though earth had been thrown up, he
took wagon rod, plunged itinto the
ground, and, ata depth of about four
feet, it pierced what was subsequently
found to be the remains Of a human
body. Men were set to work to dig,
and a body was found, which was
subsequently identified as that Of Dir.
Yo.k.
The finding Of 7 ork's body induced
a search for others, which resulted in
the fading of nine bodies in all, sever
al of which were Identified as those ol
persons who had su@le6ly and nl7steri
ously disappeared within q few months
back. Is was discovered that there