Connecticut western news., 1880-08-11
THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY.
The Wholesale Kansas Murderer Bender, Run to the Earth--His
 Positive Identification.

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 his home in Independence, Kansas. He never arrived at home. On the 28th of
 March the Lawrence Tribune gave g
 brief account of his disappearance and hinted at. foul play. York was well known throughout the State-=a brotMr of Col. A. M. York, whose expose of old Senator Pomeroy had at that time made famous. The story of York's disappear ance was in every mouth, and every eff fort was put forth to solve the mystery of his absence. Rivers were dragged, Espotssftted for an ambush were prodded l foot by foot, lonesome places were quest I ed as keen hound scents trail that is cold, and still no traces of the lost man were discovered. Not a shadow of evi- dence rested anywhere to say that Dr. | York had been murdered-not a sign anywhere told how he came to his death, if indeed death had overtaken him una- wares. He was traced to Cherryvale, in Labette County, but no further. There all track and trace of him ceased.
 About two miles south of Cherryvale, in rude frame house standing in lot of two acres in dimension, lived the Ben der family. There were four of them father, mother, son and daughter. The mother was Spiritualist. She called herself medium the neighbors called her she-devil. She had way of boil ing herbs and roots that were supposed to have charms and spells about them, and she dealt in incantations. She was very repulsive in aspect-tall, angular, and scrawny, with hard steel-gray eyes, and thin, ragged gray hair struggling over her temples. The family seemed to have been totally under the influence of this ungainly creature. Her word with them was law. The Renders osten- sibly kept grocery. A sign was dis played in front of their rude dwelling. The only article they dealt in was cheap native wine, which was served on the spot. There were only two rooms in the house, one used as kitchen and dining room, and the other as sleeping apart | ment.
 When the excitement over the myste- rious disappearance of :Dr. York was at its height party of Cherryvale citizens dropped in at the Bender mansion and casually inquired of the family if they had at any time during the past six weeks seen anything of York. The an- swer was in the negative, and the sub- ;eot was dropped. The visit and the questioning of the Cherryvale party had 8 strange effect upon the Renders. They Esuddenly disappeared; nor were they seen. again till their apprehension at Fremont, Neb., last week.
 A man riding into Cherryvale from the country one day was impressed by the deserted appearance of the Bender place. He entered the yard. In the stable he found dead calf. There was every in 1 dication from the appearance of the mis- erable creature that it had starved to death. The man walked up to the house opened the door and looked ill. Not an article of household furniture had been removed, but the dust lay heavy on every thing It was suspicious. The man l went to Cherryvale and told his story. Senator A. M. York, the brother of the missing man, was there. To his suspic- ious mind the sudden and strange flight | of the Bender family was revelation. He had found the first clew to his lost brother. He divulged his suspicious, and band of men accompanied him to the Bender farm. The front room of the house was carefully searched, every crack and crevice being minutely looked into and subjected to the application of rods and levers to see if the flooring was either hollow or loose. Nothing came of it. No blood spots appeared The floor was solid. The walls were solid. Next the party searched the back room. The beds were removed. In their flight the Renders had left everything un- | touched.
 A slight depression was noticed in the l floor, which upon closer examination re- yealed a trap door. This was lifted up, and in the gloom pit outlined itself, forbidding, cavernous, unknown. Lights were procured and some of the men de- scended. They found themselves in an
 abyss shaped like well, six feet deep
 and five feet in diameter. Here and
 there little damp places could be seen
 as trough water had come up from the
 bottom or been poured down from the top. They groped around over these 1 splotches and held handful to the light ! The ooze smeared itself over their palms ] and dribbled through their fingers. It ] was blood.
 EverYx suspicion was realized. The qmEdefers had fled, leaving behind Planning evidences of their hideous guilt. I But where were the bodies of the vic
 tims :? For an hour the party of excited T people traversed the lonely garden in the 3 >1ear of that human slaughter pen, prod :l ding the earth with long iron rod All at once the iron seemed to strike feshy f matter. In @ moments time dozen
 eager spades had resurreeted from its
 shallow grave the decaying body. of a
 human being. It had been buried face asEE..down. They turned it to the sunlight. A cry of terror went up from the crowd. J It was York's corpse. Although far ad-
 vanced in the stage of decomposition,
 the features were plainly recognizable. { How the mnrderous deed had been done l was speedily and easily learned. A ter
 rib1e blow on the back of the head had
 crushed the skull upon the brain and the
 throat had been cut from ear to ear.
 | The work of discovery went on. One