Eaton weekly Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1866-1875, 1873-05-29
THE KANSAS HORROR.
The Butcheries by the Bender Family-A
Tale of Horror Surprising the COnjUr-
fnEs of the Most Fervid Imagination.
[From the Chicago Tribune.l

fnEs of the Most Fervid Imagination.
[From the Chicago Tribune.l
It has been left for American frontier
life to develop story of crime more
horrible and more mysterious than any
told in the fiction of which Mr.. Thack-
erays Catherine was a paraphrase.
The adventures told in the biographies
of Jack Sheppard and Dick Turpin
the horrors that Sue and the elder Du-
mas invented to satisfy me rbid appe-
tites; the blood-curdling sketches
evolved out of Poe's abnormal imagina-
ton the staple of the "Dime Novels"
and the weekly serials the traditions of
the sensational drama with the way-side
inn, with it's trap-doors and murders,
which people have come to regard with
the disgust that attends ascertained ex-
aggeration, have all been made possible
by the systematic and prolonged butch
cry practiced by the Bender 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 and unadulterated horror with
this case. Troppmann enticed away
single family on the pretext of discover
ing an inheritance, and murders all the
members of it, but the Benders and
their confederates lay in wait for all
people who happened to come their way,
and slaughtered them with the prospects
of small gain. The "Chamber of Hor-
rors " in Madame Tusseaud's London
collection of wax figures does not, with
all its hideous caricatures, present SO
complete picture of human depravity
as has been traced to an isolated frontier
settlement in Labette county, Kansas.
The disappearance of DR.. York, a
brother of Senator York, who exposed
the Pomeroy bribery, caused the first
vigorous investigation into the cause of
numerous similar dsappearances that
had occurred in a section of Kansas not
far from Independence. DR.. York was
missed about the middle of last March,
and, short time ago, Senator York Or
ganized party to scour the country in
search of some trace of him. DR.. York
was known to have taken the route be-
tween Independence and Usage Mission,
and the sconring party came across a
house situated about half way between
Drum Greek and Big Hill, dismal ex-
panse of prairie land. This house was
a sort of half way stopping place, COM
where travellers usually halted for lunch.
The house was kept by a family named
Bender, consisting of the old man and
young man, said to be father and son,
and an old woman and a young woman,
said to be mother and daughter. Both
couples were supposed to be married,
but the young woman, who professed to
be a spiritualistic medium, to tell for
tunes and to cure diseases, had a bad
reputation in the neighborhood. When
the object of Senator York's search be-
came 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 the spirits. Little attention
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. Senator York then en-
ployed detective named Beers, who
went to work at the case. After some
| days, Beers attention was drawn to
the Bender house, and, when he went
| there, he found that it had been de-
serted. The whole family, warned by
| Senator York's search, had fed. Their
absence increased the detectives sus-
picion. Search was instituted at once
and traces of the missing York were
soon discovered. The first convincing
evidence of foul play in the house was
| found when Beers lifted trap-door il
the floor, and the sickening stencil Of
decomposing remains came rushing
through the opening. This satisfied
Beers that DIR. York had met with {
violent death on those premises, and h'
prosecuted his search still further. 4
patch of ground at the back of the hous,
had been newly plowed over, and Beer
carefully examined it in search of q dis
turbance or sub-soil. Having found {
spot which looked as though earth ha(
been thrown up, he took q wagon-rod
plunged it in the ground, and, at ,
depth of about four feet, it pierced wha
was subsequently found to be the re
mains of a human body. Men were Sc
to work to dig, and body was found
which was subsequently identified a
that of DR.. York.
The finding of York's body induces
O search for others, which resulted i
! the finding of nine bodies in all, sewers
of which were identified as those of pei
sons who had suddenly and mysteriousl
disappeared within few months bach
It was observed that there had been
regular system of burial. Each bod
had been deposited near q tree, whic
, was then pruned in a manner to indicat
that one burial had been made in ths
, spot, so that there would be no DANCE
, of digging grave where one body a
ready rested. This systematic arrang'
ment showed that the murderers serious
ly and deliberately counted upon fillin
: up the patch of ground with corpse
J making church-yard without a churcl
a cemetery without tomb. The bodle
were all deposited after a regular sy
tem-the right arm folded across tt
breast and the left stretched down
the side. There was a disposition
: economize ground, as if it was feart
: that the burial place would not accoI
: modate all the victims; for some of Il
bodies were placed on the side in narro
bitches, and some, doubled up in
squatting position.
The wounds on the head, which a
t identified in all the bodies that ha
q been unearthed, and the arrangement
u the house, have indicated the manner
9 which the victims met their death. TIL
we're all travellers who stopped at t
house for refreshments. They we
It seated at table in the back room, he
l. which hung a curtain. One or mo
It persons, whether male or female, we
n concealed behind this curtain, a