Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1874-04-30
OLD MAN BENDER.
Capture of the Terrible Kansas
lSuscher in the Mountains in
Utah Territory.

A correspondent OF the illustrated
Police News, at Salt Lake City, Utah,
writes to that paper as follows, under
date of April Sth:
The scene around the city this after
noon was one of excitement and clam
or, to see Old Man Bender, the Kansas
butcher. The deputy sheriffs of Levier
county, in the southern part of the
Territory, arrived in this city on the
afternoon train, bringing with them %
man, supposed to bethe veritable elder
Bender, father of Katie, the she-devi.
Before the officers had time to reach
the i,til the news oil their arrival had
spread, and the Jail yard was soon filed
with an excited crowd, all anxious to
get /, look at one of the human vanI-
pires, the discovery of whose crimes,
last May, caused such sensation in
this country. s2e
Shortly after Bender arrived your
correspondent was introduced to his
murderous majesty in the efive-by-Seven
cell which had been allotted To him.
A feeling akin to horror seized me asI
stood in the presence of tie human
demon and gazed upon his brute-iook-
ing countenance by the dim light Of
taper. The expression of his face is of
the depraved German of tie lower
classes, and there is a Semi-deSperate
look about his keen grey eyes that fills
one with dread when he turns those
orbs upon you. As / looked at him l
involuntarily asked myself, Is this the
being who assisted at the butcbery of
SO many of his fellow-men?-can this
k.s.I n. fr1r tSh heaA "a IN
many newspaper sensational pictures
Of frightful occurrences Is it the
grizzled lump of animation before me
Of whose deeds mothers tell their little
ones to frighten them into quietness?
Is this the bioody-handed and caliocs-
hearted Bender for the Christian burial
OF whose victims would require good
sized cemetery? and my feelings an
swered, Yes! This is old man Bender
Bender, if this be he, is about nve
feet eight inches inches in height, has
a muscular frame, broad shoulders,
and is of an angular build; he IS slight
ly stoep shouldered and hollow breast
Ell; his grizzled beard is full, long and
wrinkled, and hangs in matted, twist
ed jags; his hair is grey, unsborn and
uncom bed, and hangs in tangled locks
about his face and shoulders; his quick,
grey eyes are set deep in their sockets,
and he rolls them about with half
crazy, halfleering stare, causing an un-
pleasant sensation to seize one on
whom they are turned. His complex
ion is fair, but his face and hands are
bronzed with exposure. When sitting
the latter hangs loosely between his
legs, his head is bent forward, and the
hand-dog look which he wear is any
thing but pleasant to contemplate. He
Pretends not to understand the Eng
lish language, though when he was
captured and charged with being Ben
der, he said, in broken English, that
Bender's fingers were not Of. Both OF
his little fingers have been amputated-)
He says he was bern in Wurtemburg,
but came tO-the United States when he
was fourteen years old, and gives his
present age as tifty-four, which isprob-
ably correct.
lie speaks German with fiuency, but
IL the questiouer refers to the Kansas
his past lite, his wife, or any
thing that might lead TO his recogni-
ton, he cannot understand, and viii
mutter some Lind of an unintelligible
gibberishh. There can be little doubk.
however, of his being Bender. He an
swers the description of that notable
and a photograph of him sent to his
Did home in Kansas, was declared by
his former neighbors to be a picture OF
Bender.
He was captured about six weeks
ago in the southern part OF the territory.
He was seen coming out OF tae moan-
Iains and going west. When found
ne was nearly destitute OF clothing,
md had an old pair Of boot-tons lashed
to his feet in the place Of Shoes He
had evidently been in the mountains
for some time.
At first he refused to tell his name,
but afterwards said his name was Jo-
hannes Koch, which he has ever since
persisted in his eognomen. He has
been brought to this city for safe keep
ng, and will be kept hers entil Sord
AN be received from the Kansas otli-
.ers as to what disposition Is TO be
made OF him. tits probable ne will be
.aken to Kansas for recognition and
rial within few days. A man sup
posed to be John Bender, i now In
custody about one hundred miles south
Of this city, and ii is thought the old
woman is somewhere south OF here, a.
a woman answering the description ct
that she-vampire has been seen Ia sew
eral of the settlements adjoining the
fsEs fll rei iEt4> -
An Irishman engaged in fighting