The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1880-08-13
BURSTED BY BEERS.

Tlse Stories Circulated by the Kansas
CITY Times Concerning the Blenders,
and the Theory that They Were Put
Out of the Way by the Vigilance Conn
mittee.
The reported capture of the Benders
at Fremont, Nebraska, has revived all
the conflicting and manifold stories
which at different times have found cur
rency through the public press, regard
ing the most fiendish series of butch
cries that ever darkcned the crimson
pages of the calender of human crime.
The belief is held by very many people
that the Cherryvale butchers were quiet
ly put out of the way by the vigilance
committee which set out upon their
traIl rs soon rs it was discovered
that the human slaughter pen which
had constituted their abode had been de-
serted by It's hellIsh occupants, and that
the bones of those incarnate devils are
mOuldering IN the soil of southeastern
Kansas, where the red-handcd fugitivcs
were stricken down by their aycngIng
pursuers, while on the very borders of
the Indian Territory, within whose lone
~ wilds they hoped to hide themselves
from justice. This impression has been
Nctiltltt ny inc dilCStu latl, tAdl, nc
spite the employment of the best dctec-
tive talent in the country, no positive
clue has ever been gained Of the
Blenders, who have us citectually
eluded all efforts TO apprchcnd
them, as il the earth had swal-
lowed up and covered them. In CON
firmatirn ofthis widely accepted solution
of the mysterious problem, The st. Louis
Republican claims that Mr.. Thos. Beers,
Of this city, was very recently interview
ed by the chief of police of st. Louis,
who, that journal says, gave it rs his
opinion that the Blenders had been killed
in the manner and ut the locality above
indicated.
With Il view 20 aseertaining the truth
of this report we sought an Interview
with Mr. Beers al his home near the EN-
poria foundry, Monday, and found
him quite ready to communicate much
of his knowledge of ;he Bender butch
cries, which will be of interest to the
public just ut this time.
Mr. Beers, at the time Of the develop
ment of the Cherryvale tragedies, was
deputy sheriff of Montgomery county,
and claims 10 have been the first man
who searched the premises after the de
parturc of the Benders, and discovered
the body of DR.. York, in the garden
He says that the accounts given by the
parties arrested at Fremont of the Ben
der premises are inaccurate in almost
every particular, and regards the parties
impostcrs who are playing this game
for a purpose, his views in relation
to which he docs care to
disclose. Mr.. Beers says that what is
spoken of by the Fremont parties as Il
trap door through which travellers stop
ping at the Bender retreat were let
through into the cellar, where, according
To the McGregor statement, they were
afterward killed by Kate and Maggie,
was only a small opening, sufficiently
large 10 admit of the passage
of mans body, and that
evidences were abundant that after
being knocked in the head, the victims
were bled over this hole and their bodies
| afterward showed into the hideous cess
| pool beneath to await burial in the thick
| darkness of night. Mr.. Beers, who has
| also seen the Blenders, says the dcscrIp-
| tions given of the McGrcgors are wide
| ly at variance with the appearance of the
real parties sought, and declares the ac-
| counts that have recently appeared con-
! corning them as grossly inconsistent with
the real facts in the case. In this our in
formant is sustained by Col. York, broth
er of the murdered doctor, who also pro-
claims as false the confessions of the
McGregors, and points out the discrep.
ancics between their statements and the
facts which he gained by personal inves-
| tigatiOn.
Mr.. Beers furthermore stoutly denies
ever having said that he believes that
the Blenders were killed by the vigilance
committee, and is of the opinion that
they are alive to-day and will yet
] no lArnrrrrIt 10 fucti,.p hot &c I,
settled conviction of Mr. Beers is fully
attcsted by the fact that in 1877 he spent
not n little time in searching after them
with results that we are not permitted
to disclose. He authorizes us TO deny
IN t0t0 the statement of the st. Louis pa
per in reference to his belief in the dis
position of the Blenders by the vigilance
committee, and believes that if the prop
er effort were made by the state authOri
ties these reprObates might be captured
and made to answer for their crimes.