The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1877-07-19
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all, but after the tram left st. 10 he pull
ed st. Louis paper from his pocket, set
tied back in his seat, and for half an hour
he was busy with the news All of a
sudden he threw the paper down, uttered
a wicked oath, and reaching forward, he
touched fellow passenger on the shoul-
des 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
a kick?"
"What do you mean?'
He picked up the paper and pointed
out paragraph, which read that old
Bender, the Kansas murderer, had been
seen in Maryland, and then growled out:
1'l give $4,000 to any man who ever
gifts eyes on old Bender, or any O. the rest
O. that family"
"What do you know about the Ben
ders?" asked the traveller greatly interest
ed all at once.
The old man chuckled, as if greatly
pleased, but after moment his face grew
serious and stern. Leaning over to get
closer to the traveller, he whispered;
II 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 did2"
II did, and I've eaten more'n one din
ner in the room where they used to shoot
their victims from behind curtain !!
Sometimes, when git to thinking of me
sitting at the table in that little room,
and old Bender behind the curtain, not
twelve feet away, ready to put bullet
through my head, why, sir, the cold chills
go over me till it's like having shake of
the ager!'
"But he spared you2'
80 he did, and could never guess
why, 'cept that there arc five brothers Of
us, and he might have argued that the
other boys would make sharp hunt if
+ was missing Travellers who didn't
wear any better clothes than l do, and
who didn't seem to carry any more money,
halted at the Devils Hotel for dinner,
and were murdered, robbed, and put
under ground in less'n an hour!"
"Was there nothing suspicious about
the house itself-nothing in the looks or
actions Of the family to put the traveller
on his guard?" asked the passenger.
"Yes, there was, and then agin' there
wasn't. 1t was lone house, with no
neighbor to spy and meddle; but it was a
handy place tor one to stop and git dinner.
I reckon that hungry man riding tired
horse, don't be suspecting as much as a
detective would. Old Bender wasn't
purity but he'd pass muster as we'll as a
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
a man, but sort O. slid here and there
like cat. He didn't look We in the face
if he could get rid of it, but looked over
beyond yc. Still, I've seen honest men
do the same way.
"And the others?"
"Well. less see. There was the old
man, then there was an old she-devil
around there who was allus knitting
stockings and singing religious songs.
She was fifty years old or more, and was
probably his wife. Then there was a
woman about thirty years old called Kate
She wasn't good looking nor bad looking
and nobody could have told what bloody
heart she had. The papers said she was
Bender's daughter, but don't believe it.
The papers hadn't as many ways of find
ing out as I had. Some o. them never
mentioned the old woman at all, and yet
she was right there all the time. There
was one or two chaps hanging around
there most O. the time. One o. them
passed for Katc's husband, but I don't be-
lievc they were ever married. I think
the pair had laid in with the old man to
open the tavern, help do the running of
it and the numbering, and take half the
profits. They were reg'lar gang O.
horse thieves; robbers and murderers, and
nobody will ever know what relation they
were to each other"
"Thc papers had an awful story to tell
when it came out" said the traveller.
$50 they had, but they didn't tell it
bad enough. Those pale-faced chaps
with lead pencils over their ears didn't
git round there to sec the worst of it. I
tell you, sir, there never was such another
gang Of cutthroats 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 for that. When a man came along
there who looked to have money they
popped him over, no matter whether he
was stranger OF lived only dozen
miles away. The bodies were buried
down cellar and around the house, and I
'spect that we didn't find half o. them.
When they first commenced 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
f1oncr MT 0xzor fxUonfu Travellers 0uf n, the