Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1873-05-28

had taken him away to have settlement,
and he was never seen afterward till his
body was unearthed The supposition is
that he was enticed to Bender's, and MUIR
deres in the same manner as the others.
B. F. Mckenzie was farmer from Ohio,
who was looking about for lands. He had
$4,000 or $1,000 and disappeared as mys-
teriously as the others. His body was
found also.
Another man named Boyle, who started
from Independence to Mission with $500
in his possession was found also.
Two others were identified, but the rest
of the bodies were not recognizable.
Nearly all of the victims had teams or
saddle-horses. In two instances the wag
ons were found on the prairie, and in one
instance horse which had been peculiar
ly marked was left with the wagon.
In the other cases the horses were run
off by some members of the gang, and
disappeared as mysteriously as their own
ers. DR.. York, when he disappeared, had
with him very fleet and valuable road
ster
1t seems that after the visit of Senator
York and his party, the Benders took the
alarm The next morning the old man
plowed the field, and shortly afterwards
they hitched up and drove to Thayer, a
station on the Gulf road, twenty or twenty
five miles away, where they were not
known, arriving there in time to take a
night train. 1t seems that they stopped a
little way out Of town, embarrassed the
horses, and tied them to the wagon. Then
leaving the dog with the team, they went
to the depot and left.
The team remained out of town two or
three days, no one knowing to whom it
belonged Finally, the Town Marshal
went out and brought it in.
A day or two after that some country
people were in town, and one Of them
noticing the dog which had been left with
the team, exclaimed: "Why, there's old
Bender's dogr'
This led to some explanations, and the
team was readily identified. This led to
a visit to the Bender place, and then it
was discovered that the whole family had
departed. This was just before or about
the time that the detective made his visit
to the claim
AS soon as the bodies were unearthed,
Beers entered upon his search for the
criminals. He found that the Benders
were cooperating with a band of thieves,
and just before he left Kansas, had sworn
out warrants for the arrest of twenty-five
parties, many of them professedly farmers,
holding claims in Southern Kansas
Beers himself has assumed the difficult
task of hunting down the four members
of the Bender family. He succeeded in
tracing them until they left the State, and
of Kansas, who authorized him to go
ahead and hunt down the murderers re-
CARELESS Of expense.
With thic 1p6orctan5i1,or no toJ a,,I
arrived in ST. Louis Yesterday, having fol-
lowed clear trail to this place
The Benders left Kansas with about
$4,000, and Beers thinks that they have
gone straight to the seaboard with the in
tentiOn of hiding across the ocean.
He will follow as fast as the trail can
be picked up. Chief McDonough will
render every assistance possible. Inform
alton has been received already of parties
here who have told more about the MUIR
ders than they ought to know as innocent
people.
Detective Beers says the peop-e of
Southern Kansas are terribly excited over
the discoveries and it would be difficult
task to keep the Benders out Of the hands
of mob if they should be taken back
now.
The claim upon which the bodies were
found, he says, is being visited by hun
dreds and thousands, who come from
many miles. The lot was carefully and
deeply plowed over before all the bodies
were found, and it is not known yet but
that there may be other victims buried
near the bloody home of the Benders
Beers is almost worn out with the terri
BILE strain he has been under for two
weeks and when visited yesterday by the
Times reporter, was trying to recuperate a
little. He will set to work this morning
in full earnest.-9t Louas Times, Nag IL