River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1877-07-19
Planted.

Il IouSa-iOohlHg Olu cnap CoulU READ al
all, but after the tram left st. 10 he pull
ed a 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
sudden he threw the paper down, uttered
a wicked oath, and reaching forward, he
touched fellow passenger on the shout
DIES and blurted out:
'They are fools sir, cussed fools
"WhoF asked the astonished traveller.
why, them newspaper men! Blast
their eyes Can't they take a hint without
a kickln
"What do you means"
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 i:
'Ill give $4,000 to any man whoever
gifts eyes on old Bender, or any o the rest
o that family
] "What do you know about the Ben
ders2n asked the traveller greatly interest
ed 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! / lived up in Kansas within
twenty miles o. their private burying
groundr'
"You did,"
Il did, and I've eaten more'n one din
ner in The room where they used to shoot
their victims from behind a 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 agerw
But he spared you"
So 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 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 guardl" asked the passenger.
"Yes, there was, and then agin' there
wasn't 1t was lone house, with no
neighbor TO spy and NEEDLE; 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 well 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
man, but sort o Slid here and there
like a cat He didn't look We in the face
if he could get rid oft, but looked over
beyond We. Still, I've seen honest men
do the same way.
"And the Others.H
well. less see. There was the old
man, then there was an old sha-devl
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 | 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
4 there most o the time. One o them
passed for Hates husband, but don't be-
7 lieye they were ever maTiod. | think
/ the pair had laid in with the old man 10
open the tavern, help do the running Of
it and the numbering, and take half the
/ profits. They were a regular gang o
horse thieves. robbers and murderers and
nobody will ever know what relation they
4 were to each other"
"The papers had an awful story to tell
when it came out" said the traveller.
So 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 see 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 wears. Leastwise, some of the bodies
had almost gone to dust and it takes
! time for that. When 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 the house, and |
'spect that we didn't find half O them.
When they first commenced killing they
probably took the corpses further away to
| bury EN-, 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 suspicion
against theml'
Well. several things. The chap who
passed foI Hates husband had too many
horses to sell. They got reckless and lett
revolvers, riding boots, fancy oyercoats,
and other such things in sight. Then
| Senator York's 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 man stood up as
bold as lion, and even asked them to
search the house. If they hadn't been
bluffed they would 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 the alarm and made
tracks"
''Isn't it curious that the family could
have escaped the country, when hun
dreds of men were on the lookout for
them?" observed the traveller.
avail, yaas," slowly replied the strange
old man.
"And how do you account for it,"
He chuckled and looked out of the
window There was an interval of three
or four minutes, during which he chewed
at his tobacco Finally he said:
They won't find old Bender in Mary
land, nor in Mexico, nor anywhere else on
top the earth, and they needn't look fol
any o. the rest o the gang.
"Are they deadl'
Purity likely they are, stranger. When
you see any more newspaper items about
any of the Blenders turning up, you jest
AK yourself if corpses can turn up and