The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1877-05-19
THE PERnS OF PIONEERING.
Remarkable Adventures and SuMerings Of
Henry b. Bengo and His WIFE. ~

81
Adventures and suMerings Of
Henry b. Bengo and His VINE. ~
From the Topeka Commonwealth 4 :
That truth is stranger than fiction is
,ttested daily by the revelation of events,
he happening and truth of which can
not be doubted. Our reporter accidental
" stumbled onto case in point a few
days since, that would make the fortune
Of half the yellow-back nOvelists in the
But, said reporter being a
young man of a practical turn of mind,
and untutored in the sentimental and
art of star-gazing, gate
swinging and sich, detaileth the facts
rs they were given him by the actors
AZ
The dramatis persona consisted of
Henry r. Benge, age A, his wife, Mrs.
Elizabeth Benge, a strong, healthy, sun
and wind-browned woman, and Milly
Benge, the daughter, age eighteen, and
Theodore TiltOn's Tempest-tossed Bar
barry was never more fictitiously arrayed
by her gifted Creator, in the gauzy ha-
biliments of romance, than is this same
Milly Benge, wrapped in the heavier
and coarser garments of strange reality.
Our reporter met Mr.. Benge at the
Santa Fe depot, and learning something
from passenger of his eventful history
boarded the train and accompanied the
family to Kansas City for the sole and
enterprising purpose of getting an item.
He found Mr.. Benge rather taciturn at
first, but by dint of perseverance, known
only to the reportorial profession, sue
ceeded in engaging him sufficiently to
learn that in the year 1857 Mr.. Benge
was prosperous young merchant, with
a young wife, doing business in the City
of Philadelphia, superlatively happy !;
that when he least expected it misfor-
tune came, and in the great financial
crash of that year, in which so many
business men were swept to ruin, he
.swent out with the tide" and found
himself and wife pennileSs and friend
less. Despairing of ever recuperating
his fortune in Philadelphia, and being
anxious to get away from scenes that
only reminded him of his ill-luck, he
determined to "go West.'' In. May,
1858, having raked together few hum
bred dollars, he and his wife purchased
tickets by rail to jefferson City, west Of
which city there was then no railroad.
Arriving there without accident they en-
barked on a steamboat for LeavenwOrth
City. The old Muddy" was booming,
competition great, and of course moth
ing was more natural than that the boat
which left the wharf at Jefferson half
an hour later than our friends, should
attempt to pass their boat, the result of
all of which was a terribly exciting race
for twenty miles, when the boat contain
ing Mr.. Benge and wife was swamped
and the passengers barely escaped with
their lives, but being rescued by the 9th
err boat finally landed in LeavenwOrth,
a then as now, ." village, scattered along
the banks of the Missouri. Soon after
their arrival at Leavenworth, Mr.. Benge
formed the acquaintance of some young
men who were fitting out train for
"Pike's Peak" as the whole of Colo
RADIO was then called. He made an ar
rangement with these men by which he
and his wife should be transported
across the plains: They moved out of
LeavenwOrth on the 10th of June, 1858.
The party consisted of thirteen souls,
nine men and four women, wives of
members of the party. He says that on
the night of the 18th following they
camped in Topeka. From thence they
took their way across the country to
Council Grove, and struck the old Santa
Fe trail. They got along well enough
from there until they went into camp
on Cow Greek, where some of their
mules stampeded during the night.
Early the next morning three of the
men started in pursuit of the mules,
These men, William Manning, James
Brasheres and Henry Spillman, all resi-.
dents of the State of New York, were
never afterwards seen by any of the
party. About four O'Clock that evening
some twenty hOrsemen, all white men,
leisurely rode into the camp from the
direction taken by their comrades in the
morning, dismounted and ordered them
to surrender, claiming that they were
Deputy U. S. Marshals, and that they
had orders for their arrest for stealing
Government mules. Mr.. Benge stepped
forward and demanded to see their war
rants, claiming ut the same time thai
there must be some mistake. He had
hardly spoken the words before burly
ruffian struck him terrible blow Ovel
the head with navy revolver, saying al
the same time: 'sI'his is our warrant. y
He fell apparently dead. From Mrs
Benge he learned that Immediately
after he was assaulted, the other five
men, viz: James Marshall and Elliat
Jones, who were from East Ten
nessee; John Harvey, David X.
Scribner and Benton Foresythe, all Of
whom came from Southern Illinois,
sprang for their weapons, when des-
perate struggle ensued. There were
four of the desperadoes to one of the
emigrants, and not until three of the
ruffians lay dead and four of the Others
badly wounded were the brave mer
overpowered, every one of whom was
cruelty murdered. Meantime, the WON
en-, frantic with fright, had taken refuge
in the wagons. As soon as the last man
was disposed of, their helpless women,
more dead than alive, were dragged
from the wagons and ordered, on pain
of instant death, to sit down, and make
no attempt to escape. The band then
proceeded to rifle the dead bodies of the
fallen men, gathered in the mules, and,
taking part Of their own horses, har.
messed them up, hitched them to the
wagons, and, piling the dead bodies OF
friends and foes alike into one of the
wagons, like so many slaughtered hogs,
commenced their march down the
stream, compelling the women to walk
in advance. After travelling this way
some five miles, darkness coming on,
they halted and went into camp. They
then dug a deep trench near the
bank of a creek and carried the
dead bodies one by. one, amidst
coarse jests and jeers at the agonizing