Eaton weekly Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1866-1875, 1873-05-22

der Family-The Most Remarkable
Crime of the Age.
[From the Kansas City Journal of Commerce, May 81
DIR. William York, brother of Senator
York, of Kansas, disappeared on the
Sth OF last March, and there has been a
continued anxious earch for him since
that time. A few days since, as the
public had been advised by ~telegraphic
dispatches, his body was found buried
on a farm about six miles north of
Cherry Vale, by York, a brother of the
deceased. The remains of the murder
ed man, for it is evident that he had
been murdered, were thrown into q hole
a foot deep and q foot and a half wide,
face downward. The grave was in a
plowed field, adjoining the house for
merly occupied by Bender. The par
ticulars of the discovery are described
as follows in a correspondence of the
Lawrence Evening Standard: "The
farm on which the body was found is
about six miles northeast of Cherry
Vale. 1t is a railway claim settled on
about two years ago by a family by the
name of Bender, consisting of an old
daughter. Both are understood to have
children from a former marriage. Upon,
examination the head was found
to be badly broken, with an in
denture on the back part of the skull,
and both temples smashed. One eye
had been bursted out by the force of the
blow, and the face had been cut. A
shoe-hammer had been found in the
house which fitted the indenture on the
back of the head. 1t is supposed that
he was stricken from behind, and then
the temples broken by the hammer.
The grave was about 200 yards from the
house, and the main plowed furrow ran
crosswise FRONT it. The sides and middle
had settled somewhat, and an iron rod
taken from the end board of a wagon
was u down the sides of the grave
before digging into it. The house is to
be moved off its foundation to-day, and
it is supposed, from the aff1uvia arising
from underneath it, that another body
or bodies are buried. The clothing had
been stripped from the body, excepting
a wooden undershirt. 1t had not be-
come so badly decomposed but that it
was easy to identify it. The hair, face,
and whiskers were in a fair state of
preservation, and the remains were easily
identified by Ed York. A coffin was
brought from Independence, the body
placed in the same, and the remains
taken to Independence, passing through
here about 3 o'clock this morning."
Besides the discovery of the body of
York, there have already been discov-
cred and exhumed six others from be-
meath the house, one of them being a
child. In addition to these new evil
dences of damnable murder and whole
sale crime, three more graves were
found, and at the writing of our CORE
spondent were to be speedily opened
and examined. All the bodies exhumed
gave evidence of having been killed in
the same manner, they having been
struck by some heavy instruments
hammer or hatchet-on the back and
lower part of the skull. Some of the
bodies were stripped entirely of the
clothing. The Bender family, to whom
the crime is attributed, were Spiritual
lists, and occupied the premises, but fled
before the discovery. It was found,
upon seeking their whereabouts, that
they had secured tickets and gone to
Humboldt, which is the last trace
of them. 1t transpires that, during
the search for the missing persons. one
of the Bender family, a young
woman named Kate, who represented
herself as a Spiritualist and a medium,
was appealed to for information, when
the victims were traced to Bender's
premises, and she replied that she would
consult the spirits if time would be
plV6u u6r W 10 50, dnu WOu1u, through
their agency, be able to disclose the
Whereabouts of the missing persons.
The time was granted, and, in the mean
time, the family took opportunity to de-
camp, since which time nothing has
been learned of them, other than their
buying the tickets for Humboldt. The
family kept an eating-saloon at this
place, and, although there seems to be
no apparent motive for the horrible
murder, it is more han likely it was
perpetrated for the gain plundered from
travellers along the main road leading
from Oswego to Independence, Kan.
Altogether, the murders are without
parallel.
FIGURES show that the cost of dying
is greater than that of living for any
day, and that funerals are almost a
Aid. Peter Gilsey was buried
recently in New York at a cost of not
less than 81, ZOO. The average "respecta-
BILE" funeral in that city costs more than
5000, and the whole city spends at least
50. DOC. O on funerals. Moreover.