Bozeman avant courier. [volume] (Bozeman, Mont.) 1872-1882, 1877-07-05
The Fate of the Blenders.

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their bloody work in peace and prosperit,
for an indefinite length of time had they
continued painting their victims in th'
garden. But previous to the killing o.
DR.. York, they had murdered man b.
the name of Jones' In February, ma,
named Conklin. in company with another
while riding along Drum Creek, saw tn
dead body of man Cat yht in some drift
wood. 1t proved to be the body of Jones
He had had his skull smashed IN with
hammer, and his throat cut from ear t.
ear. The body had 20 clothing upon i.
save shirt. Some ten or dozen farm
ers met quietly on the banks of Drum
Creek, and, after viewing the body o.
Jones, held council. At this meeting
the Benders were spoken of suspiciously
eod it was determined to keep the discov.
lery of the BODY quiet Until further ucvci.
opments. The next day man who was
|eyidently tramp, and had footed it from
independence on his way to Fort Scott:
stopped at Dutroit's house and ASKED fol
something to eat. In conversation will
his man, Dutroit learned that late tho
previous evening the tramp had, while
looking around for place to pass the
might. come across small haystack bach
Of the Benders' house, into which he
Iquietly nestled himself. 1t must have
been midnight when he Was awakened by
voices, and quietly looking out from his
nest he saw the dim outline of three per-
sons, evidently at work digging, at 8
short distaace from him. 1t was so dark
that he could not distinguish them, but
he could hear them speak in German. q
language he did not understand. His
first impulse was to 60 cut to them. But
something seemed to withhold him, and
after time they had finished whateyer
work they were at and withdrawn into the
house. The tramp departed early in the
morning and had trampcd on until he had
stopped at Dutroit's house for breakfast
he concluded his tale by femarking that,
"it looked mighty like they were buryine
isome one"
Mr.. Dutroit said nothing at the time,
but when the party of twelve met by ap-
pointment on Drum Greek he related the
to them, and it was deter
mined to give the Bender mansion quie,
investigation. A wagon track was dis
covered leading to the Bender place from
where Jones' body had been thrown mto
the creek. The party struck out on the
wagon trail, and at about sunset 1t brougL
them within view of the tavern. 1t was
then determlned to forego proceedings un
It'll the morrow, when in the morning IT,
entire party would meet on Drum Greek
we'll armed, and ride over to the Bender
place.
On the morrow, at about o'c. *, the
party assembled on the creek and iirme-
|dIa'ely proceeded over the prairies to the
suspected honss. But when they arrived
they found the Bender rancho deserted
The Benders had noticed the squad OF
horsemen riding upon the wagon trail The
previous evening, and during the nigh
had bundled up their effects and departed
The Bendets ut this time had four horses
a COW, anu wagon load of household
truck.
While the scouting party were canvass
ling the new state of affairs. Mr.. DutroI
and others went in search of the spot in.
ldicated by the tramp.-They searched
around for some time in vain, as tht
ground had been recently plowed oyer
but at length struck a spot that appeared
moister than the rest, as though the eartl
beneath it had recently been turned over
No shovel being found, three of the party
set to work with shingles torn from th'
house, and after digging bole four fee
deer, one of them, with shout. reached
down his hand, and pulled up the skirt o.
q mans under-garIent, and beneath j
could be seen an exposed portion of hu
man body. This was the corpse of Dr.
York, though at the time the explorer
did not know 1t.
The track of the Bender wagon coult
oe seen leading to the southwest. Th'
horsemen followed at full speed. Just .
sunset the pursuers came in sight of th'