The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1874-04-24
4he Bloody Bendcrs.
THE KANSAS ASSASSIN IN CHARGE OF THE
MORAON POLICE.

THE KANSAS ASSASSIN IN NFAlttrE Or IiL
MoRNoN PoLICE.
The whole civilized world was shocked
at the FIRST announcement of the barUar-
ous murders that were committed upon
the plains of Kansas about ten months ago
by the Bender family; indeed, it was with
difficulty that the story of those wholesale
asaassinations could BE-, believed. Still the
bodies OF the murdered were found. aud
the fiends had lieG without leaving trace
of the path that :hey had pursued to cs-
cape the penalty of the law, and have hith-
erto been only tCO successful in eyadinu
the officers of justice.
have telegraphed the Incarceration of
the olG man Bender in the city j&il here,
says Salt Lake correspondents, but there
are detailed circumstances about his arrest
ard his personal life and appearance that
ought to be given to the public, IN the
hope that the evidenSe may accumulate
against the murderers, and that fact may
be added TO the fact in bringing home the
certainty of guilt TO them all.
\ glance at the prisoner here to day
would satisfy any reader of human char
acter that hc WAS capable of doing his full
share Of the Bender work in the way that
the Bender family did it. He is not a de-
moralizcd being-he never had a concep-
tion of mUrality-he knows natures wants,
and has thought of nothing higher-hence
to human brutes Of that order the Kansas
series of murders was a possible and likely
thing. III these particulars, then. the pris-
oncr answers, physically, mentally, and
morally to the Bender of Kansas.
The presence of such 4 person in Z thin
ly occupied country where he was appre-
hended, was at once against him He
could not tell where he came from. and
when informed that he was apprehcnded
on the charge Of murder and that lie was
supposed to be Tie notorious Bender, he
threw up his hands and drew attention to
the fact that The little finger of his right
hand was entirely gone, and half of the
little finger of :he left hand was also gone,
and added that he could not have commit
ted 50 many murders ; that he was lhysi-
cally incapab bio of much bad work. Here
the French axiom was clear: lie that
excuses accuses himself" aud to that he is
said to have remarked, ''Bcnder lad not
lost his fingers"
Shortly after his arrest in Sewer county,
he WAS taken to san Pote County. where
there was q Jail. " lille lie was held there
young man, stranger, asked TO see the
prisoner, and the jailor admitted him, and
the visitor and cid Bender had a familiar
talk. and gave evidence Of n personal ac-
QuaIntaHcc and interest in each other. In
Old settled counties this might seem n great
freedom to be permitted, but in the west
eru wilds there is no rule beyond the whin
Or disposition Of the moment The stlan-
ger ioft. and has since been tracked and
arrested as ynung Bender, and in three
days more viii bs Ia the same calaboose
with his father.
l questioned the old man today. and
with the aid Of Air. W. l.. Crane. who
was in the Office of the County Clerk. in
Pike County, Illinois, in 1867, | am sat
isiied that lie answers to the Bender of
4 i
had brother-iu-law by the lame Of
Schmidt, who died in Pike county at that
time, and that he had been appointed the
administrator of his small estate, where
and when Mr. Crane had occasion to see
him, and Immediately recognized him in
jail to-day.
Bender admitted to me that he was farm
ing IN Kansas after that, and Mr.. Z. r
MilhOan, who had been in the empIoy of
the government ana supplied tne Indians
on the Osare rrsoI-s .tCIOn, assured me that
no nau utmost daily seen the prisoner at
Lender rancho for months, and knew him
I to be Bender. Mr.. Milhoan was engaged
| in constructing a road past Bemder's place
TO the reservation, and saw no difference
I in the Bender there and the Bender here
other than fatigue and restlessneSs Bat
the two women are still at large Late in
.fhe fall n woman came out Of the InOuC-
taIns into the outskirts of Provo. FORTY
miles sOulh OF tins. She was almost naked.
aud seemed at times mentally derauged.-
She told contradictory stories of her past
! life, but gave out that she had been dis
appointed in love, and had wandered from
| Colorado into the mountains of Utah PITY
for woman in distress induced Mormon
sister to give her a home and clothes. and
after little stay the strange woman left
again for the mountains. There seems a
probability that the whole Bender family
! has been in the Watsatch range of noun
tains all winter. They must have had great
difficulty in finding the means of prolong-
| ing life; but the Indians may have aided
/ them, and what with the berries and roots
to be found before winter in the mountains
they may have provided for themselves -
At all events, they never came from Colo
RADIO to Utah in the winter time. They
must have come before the snow fell. and
the fact that they have been found on the
west side of the mountains within the last
two weeks shows conclusively that tLev
have been concealed as above stated.