The Weekly Kansas chief. [volume] (Troy, Kan.) 1872-1918, 1873-07-10

The story of the Bender murder house in Kan
sas, full If horrors and atrocities rs it is, finds
parallel in our own State, and gentleman read
ing the details Of the former is reminded by it Of
the trne tale told about ''Old Patty Cannon, who
some forty years ago, made the central figure u
a series Of tragedies in Sussex county.
The woman had lived for a number If years nj
place called Cannon's Cross Roads, ON the line
between Maryland aud Delaware, near the Nan
ticoke river. The house, a low. mean structure
was built il is said exactly ON the line that it,
occupants might rapidly escape over t0 one State
when menaced by the law officers Of the other
At this place the woman carried on a traffic in ne
grOes. Her house was well known resort fol
the worst class Of slave traders, and she had q
widely extended reputation among them q
dealer in human flesh. All WAS grist that came
to her mill; kidnapped free people passed rcadi
ly through her establishment; and when q col
ored person seized upon by the slave catchers in
the borders Of Pennsyl vania was hot pursued, the
den ut CannOn,s WAS the best and safest market
to dispose Of him. From the place there a
well established rOut to run of the slaves to the
South, by way Of Norfolk. This "underground
railroad" to bondage, known only to kidnsppers
and traders and their cOnfederates, led down
across the Nanticoke to Salisbury, following IN
frequentetl paths through the swamps and forests,
which in those days were mere extensive than
now. From Salisbury it led down the Peninsula,
the Chesapeake Bay, and thence the human mer-
chandise was conveyed to the Virginia side, in
purpose.
The Cannon house had naturally bad reputa-
ton, and the mistress Of 1t was the terror Of the
country around. Her desperate character was
known, and while she was suspected Of many
crimes no one dared to complain against her. Fin
ally she was brought to justice charged with the
murder of rich slave trader, on his way to her
house. He was waylaid near the crossing of the
Nanticoke, murdered and robbed. 1t was proven
the trial, at Georgetown, that Patty Cannon
ton, were guilty of the murder, and they were
sentenced TO be hanged. Brewington met his
fate on the gallows in the performance Of his
sentence but the woman died Jail before the time
for the execution This, at least, was the state
ment of the sheriff, but 1t was a long tradition
among the people Of Sussex tina: she had bIibed
some Of the Jail officials to bring from the Aims
House the corpse of dead person and place it in
her cell, while she escaped. Persons who had
visited some of the Western States came back and
reported that they had seen and recognized "Old
Patty Cannon" out there.
After the arrest of the woman and her confed-
crate, however, the old nest at the Cross Roads
being broken up, an examination was made of
the house and it's surroundings, and the discover
les were like thOse of the Bender house in Kan
sas. Dead bodies and skeletons were found in
the cellar and the garden. There were number
of them in all conditions of decomposition. Some
were the remains of grown persons, and it is sup
posed they had been traders, who, like the one
for whom the pair were tried ana convicted, mad
come with large sums of money to buy negroes
Others were the skeletons of little children, and
the horrible explanation assigned for them was
that they had been taken away from their moth
ers in order to sell the latter for work South
ern plantations, and had been killed by actual
violence, or by neglect and cruelty.
1t has been something like forty years since the
full disclosure Of these horrible details, and the
death of Patty Cannon, but there are many old
persons yet living in Sussex county who know
the circumstances, substantially we have stat
ed them Wilmington DeL) TibsRe