The Hickman courier., 1877-08-10
PLANTED.
IN Otd Story Of the Fate of the Bender.
Family Told ili Netc Fashion.


rough-looking old chap could read at
all, but after the train left st. 10
ne pulled st. Louis paper from his
pocket, settled back in his seat, and for
half an hour he was busy with the news
All of sudden he threw the paper down
uttering a wicked oath, and, reaching for
ward, he touched fellow passenger on
the shoulder and blurted out:
"They are fools, sir, cussed fools"
"Who?" asked the astonished traveller.
"Why, them newspaper men! Blast
their eyes! Can't they take hint without
kick?"
"What do you mean?7
He picked up the paper and pointed
out a paragraph, which read that old
Bender, the Kansas murdepsT-lSad,-1l--,.-f -
sssS- ~ Nary sssse sstHsktheIf' 60, - - -
'I'll give $4,000 TO any man who c, er
gets eyes on old Bender, or any O. the
rest o that familyl'
''What do you know about the
Benders?" asked the traveller. greatly
interested all at once.
The old man chuckled, as if greatly
pleased, but after a moment his face
grew serious and stern. Leaning over to
get closer to the traveller, he whispered:
81 knew every one O. the devils, from
the old man down. God never made a
wuss lot! I lived up in Kansas within
twenty miles o their private burying
ground"'
You did?'
''Idid, and I've eaten more'n one dinner
in the room where they used to shoot
their victims from behind a curtain
Sometimes when 1 sit to thinkiugof the
sitting at the table in that little room,
and old Bender behiud the curtain. not
twelve feet away. ready to put a bullet
through my head, why, -ir, .he cold
chills 90 over me till it's like having n
shake of the ager.'
"But he spared vou2"
$50 he did, and could never guess
why, 'cept that there are five brothers of
US; and he might have argued that the
other boys would make a sharp hunt if !
was missing. Travellers VINO didn't wear
any better clothes nor | do, and who
didn't seem to carry any more money,
halted at the Devils hotel for djnuerand
were muf >ered, robbed, and put under
ground in iess'n an hour"
"lyas there nothing suspicious about
the house itself-nothinc in the looks or
actions of the family to put the traveller
on his guardH' asked the passenger.
eyes, there was, and then agin' there
wasn't. It was a lone house. with no
neighbors to spy and meddle; but 1T was
handy place Tor one to stop and get din
ner. / reckon that hungry man, riding
a tired horse. don't be suspectjng as much
as a detective would. Old Bender wasn't
purity, ,hutAe'd pass muster As wall As q
thousand Others out this way"
The only mean thing about him was the
way he got around. He didn't pick up
his feet like man, but sort o. slid here
and there like 81 cat. He didn't look We
in the face if he could git rid oft, bat
looked over beyond We. Slil, I've seen
honest men do the same way"
"And the others
''WeH, less see. There wa theold man.
then there was an old she-devil around
there who was alias Knitting stockings
and SINGING religious songs. She was
fifty years old or more, ard was probably
his wife. Then there was woman about
thirty years old called Kate She wasn't
god looking nor baI looking, and nobody
could have told what a bloody leart
she had. The papers said she was BeGder's
daughter, but I don't believe it, Tie
papers hadn't rs many ways OF find.ng0ut
as / had. Some o. them never men
toned the old woman at all, and yet she
was right there all the time. Then there
was one or two chaps hanging around
there most O time. One % them passed
for Kate's husband, bat I don't believe
they were ever married. think the pair
nd laid in with the old man to open the
tavern, help do the running oi it and the
numbering, and take half the profits.
They were p reg'Iar gang o. horse thieves,
robbers, and murderers, and nobody viii
ever know what relation they were to
each other"
"The papers had an awful story to tell
when it came out" said the traveller.
go they had, but they didn't tell it
bad enough Those pale-faced chaps with
lead pencils over their ears didn't git
arouud there TO see the worst of it. tell
you, sir, there never was such another
gang of cut throats in this country. They
had been killing away and killing away
for years. Leastwise, some of the bodies
had almost gone to dust, and it takes
time Gor that. When a man came along
there who looked to have money they
popped him over, no matter whether he
was a stranger or lived only a dozen
miles away. The bodies were buried down
cellar and around ;he house, and 'spect
that we didn't find halt o them. When
they first commended killing they
probably took the corpses further away
to bury 'em, and were more careful to
cover up all signs, I'll give my word that
the gang put over twenty travellers out
o the way"
'And what finally aroused suspicious
against them?"
"Well, several things. The chap who
passed for Kate's husband had too many
horses to sell. They got reckless, and left
revolvers, riding boots overcoatsand other
such things in sight Then Senator
Yorks' brother was murdered there, and
the crowd who was on the hunt for him
tracked him to old Bender's to a dead
certainty. The old mau stood up as bold
as lion, snd even asked them to search
the house If they hadn't been bluffed
they wonld have found two corpses in
five minutes search. ! wasn't with that
party, but with a second, and we got
around there that night. The Benders had
taken alarm and made tracks"
"Isn't it curious that the family could
have escaped the country, when hundreds
of men were on the lookout for them?'
observed the traveller.
"W{l, yaas," slowly replied the