The Hickman courier., 1877-08-10
PLANTED.
A' ola Story Of the Fate Of the BENDER.
Fanaiiy Told iIt q Netr Fashion.

all, but after the train left st. JC
ne pulled a st. Louis paper from hi:
pocket, settled back in his seat. and foi
half an hour he was busy with the news
All of sudden he threw the paper down
uttering wicked oath, and, reaching for
ward, he touched fellow passenger or
the shoulder and blurted out
"They are fools, sir, cussed foolsn'
"Who?" asked the astonished traveller
''Why, them newspaper men, Blast
their eyes. Can't they take hint without
a kick?"
"What do you meau?'
He picked up the paper and pointed
out a paragraph, which read that Old
Bender, the Kansas murderer, had been
seen in Maryland. and then growIed out
''TH give $4,000 amy man who ever
gets eyes on old Bender, --0r any o the
rest O. that family"
''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.
Il 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
grourd"'
&" 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 l gil TO thiukingoe the
sitting at the table in that little room,
and old Bender behind the curtain, not
twelve feet away, ready to pu. a bullet
through my head, why. sir, .he cold
chills 90 over me till it's like having a
shake of the ager,'
"But he spared you3'
go 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 q sharp hunt If
was missing. Travellers who didn't wear
any better clothes nor ! 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 h9ur,'
''Was shere nothing suspicious about
the house itseIf-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 a lone house, with no /
neighbors to spy and meddle; but it was (
a handy place tor one to stop and get din /
ner. I reckon shat a hungry msn, riding /
a tired horse, don't be suspecting as much .
as a detective would. Old Bender wasn't /
purity, but he'd pass muster as well Us 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 Il cat. He didn't look We .
in the face if he could git rid oft, but /
looked over beyond ye. S5ill. I've sc. n /
honest men do the same way"
"And the otLors?'
"We!I, less see. There wa the old man. /
then there was an old -he-devll around /
there who was al'u- knitting stockings
and singing religious songs. She was
fifty years old OF more, and was probably
his wife Then there was woman about
thirty years old called Kate She was Mt
god looking nor bal looking, and nobody
could haye told what a bloody leart
she had. The papers said she was Beuder'a
daughter, but / don't believe it, The
papers hadn't rs many ways of fadingout
as I 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 o. them passed
for Kates husband, but don't believe
they were ever married. I think the pair
adj laid in with the old man to open the
tavern, help DO the running OF it and the
and take half the profits
They were a reg lar gang o. horse thieves, [
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.
80 they hsd, but they didn't tell it
oad enough. Those pale-faced chaps with
cad pencils over their ears didn't git
lrouud there to see the worst oft. tell
you, sir, there never was such another
rang of throats in this country. They
lad been killing away and killing away
or years. Leastwise, some Of the bodies
lad almost gone to dust, and it takes
ime Eor that When man came along
here who looked to have money they
popped him over, no matter whether he
vas a stranger or lived only a dozen
niles away. The bodies were buried down
ellar and around ,he house, and I 'spect :
hat we didn't find half o. them. When
hey first commended killing they :
took the corpses further away ,
o bury 'em, and were more careful to q
over up all signs, I'll give my word that
he gang put over twenty travellers out
: the way"
"And what finally aroused suspicious
gainst them?"
"Well, several things. The chap who
,assed for Kate's husband had too many
lorses to sell. They got reckless, and left | ;
evolvers, riding boots overcoatsand other !;
uch things in sight. Then Senator
forks' brother was murdered there, and
he crowd who was on the hunt for him
racked him TO old Bender's to a dead
ertainty. The old man stood up as bold !
$ lion, and even asked them to search
he house, If they hadn't been blufed
hey wonld have found two corpses in
i've minutes search. I wasn't with that J
,arty, but with second, and we got t
round there that night. The Benders had 5
AIKEN alarm and made tracks" a
"Isn't it curious that the family could r
ave escaped the country, when hundreds t
f men were on the lookout for them?' a
bserved the traveller. q
"Wall, yaas," slowly replied the I
TRANCE old man. d
"And how do you account for it?" r