Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1877-04-27
tFrom the Kansas City yourn,i.I

% Escape from Kansas.
trrom the Kansss City Journai.l
The periodical sensation known Is " the
capture Of the Benders." the bloody
butchers Of Cherryvals. has come 10 DO re-
garded like the occasional announcement
Of the temperance OF Wilkes Booth, and
Is entitled TO equal crsdit-no moro. II
disembodied spirits are permitted 10 re-
visit the glimpses Of tho moon, Il may be
tho fortune OF some enterprislng police de-
tective to stumble upon them unawsres,
but ~ living entities they no longer cum.
Der the earth. The entire Bender family.
consisting Of the old man and wife, son
and daughter. were captured BY q band Of
vigilantes while attempting TO escape from
the scene OF their horrible atrocities rand
lynched. Their remains were concealed
in o swamp. and although the facts were
never made public, they were commune
Gated to Governor Osburn, a. we'll as
senator York. brother Of DR.. York, one Of
the Bender victims. The secret has been
carefully guarded until the month Of Au-
gust last. when q member Of the lynching
party, then residing In Silver. Colorado.
and suffering from q supposed incurable
illness, narrated To- friend and companion
the circumstances attending the AFFAIR, In
which he was an active participant.
Many OF our readers can probably recall
tho main features Of the C~herryvsle hor-
ror. On the 9Th Of March, 1873, DR.. Will
liam York, brother Of senator York, mys-
~teriously disappeared from his home, In
dependence. Kansas. and all search for him
was In vain until about the LIST OF Nay fol-
lowing. whom his body Was found buried
on q farm about six miles north Of Cherry
vale, Labetto county. The remains Of the
murdered man. for II was evident he had
been murdered. were thrown into . hole
four feet deep. q foot and Q half wide. face
downward. The grave was In o ploughed
field adjoining q house formerly occupied
by . German family named Bender. This
family consisted Of an old man, his wife.
sou and daughter. who had settled upon
the place, . railroad claim, about two years
previously. Their apparent vocation was
that OF keeping IN eating and lodging
hsuse for the accommodation OF belatcd
aud unwary travellers passing that way.
DIR. York's friends, while engaged In tho
search. had frequently visited the house
and made inquiry for the missing man,
who hal boon traced to that vicinity. The
secret departure Of the Blenders excited
suspicion and led TO the investigation
which resulted not only In finding the
body Of York. but some half dozen others.
An examination showed that York had
been killed by blows on tho head with .
blunt instrument, one Of the back OF the
head at the base Of the brain being sufi-
cient TO produce instant death. There
were two Others OH either side Of the head,
aud his throat was cut from ear 10 ear, and
so deeply that the head was nearly severed
from tho body. Two hammers and .
hAtchet were found upon the premises.
Of which fitted the wound IN the head.
The house which the Blenders had occu-
pied was . one-story frame. divided int
two compartments by q cloth partition.
The generally accepted theory Of the
manner Of tho killing 10 that travellers
were seated In such q manner that their
heads would lean against aud indent the
cloth partition which crossed tho room.
Some one stationed behind the curtain
would then strike them with . hammer,
and some one In tho front was ready
10 finish the Job. After that they were
taken to the trap-door, where thoy were
thrown In, their throats cut, and they were
left until night. when they we're carried
out and buried In the patch Of ground
slludsd 10.
The location was In the northwest cor.
nor OF Labetto county. on the road 10
Usage Mission and Fort Scott, about ten
miles from Thayer and ave miles and .
half from C~herryvalc. The building was
ont NJ view from oyerv other houss. and
scamcj 40 have boen Chosen expressly for
,Io m,,lsrons pprnoses for which n was
n.s5 +, vas ins hollov or swsle In ihe
ISL. e. sram ,irhor ami wbcre ths~
ronia .oc a miie In sny direction. and be
u. nv 5.ncsr ~ in,errnntion Tor Al I.ast
h.if an bsnr. There was n stons stable
an Inc premises, where horses could be
s.cnrsIy hidden until such time A, they
eouil be run of and disposed Of. After
the finding Of York 10 was Determined to
make A further search the next day. This
was done. and the horrible disclosure made
that there were at least seven other graves
on tho same piece OF ground. Willing
hands were soon engaged at rcsurrecting
them. and tho bodies OF seven more VIC
tins were brought TO light, all killed In
manner. with tho exception OF . little girl,
who showed no marks Of violence, y WAS
supposed to have bcen smothercd OF buried
alive.
George w. Longeor and aughter nad
been missing since the iattsr part OF DO
cember, lsI2. They had snrhd 70 10 70
Iowa from tho neighoornood OF Union
Greek. Mr. Lohg,or was = ighoo o.