, 1880-08-20
The History Of the Benders'

Of the crimes which they perpetrated is
one of the most revolving recorded N
the annals of crime in this country;
The family consisted of two men anu
two women, and they occupied a one,
story frame house, or rather cabin, ~
feet long by IA wide, on the south SIDE
of the Usage Mission road, a0onV TWO
miles from the town Of Cherryyale, III
Labette county, Kansas The house
was on the open prairie, and was kept
as a kind os wayside tavern for the ac-
commodation of travellers. The build
ing was divided into two rooms, the
front and larger one being used as
dining room, and the rear as sleeping
apartment, in which were two beds
Attached to the house in the rear was
garden. and the land on which the
house was located embraced about two
acres The Benders were all Of them
repulsive in appearance, and the neigh
bors stunned them, SO that they had
few visitors The two women were
spiritualists, and pretended to be heal
ing mediums, but from subsequent de-
yelopments it would appear that their
claims in this respect were only put for
ward to lure persons to the house in or
der to murder them for their money.
The two men were reputed to be broth
ors, and tho two women passed as their
wives.
Shortly after the settlement OF the
Benders in the house near Cherryvale,
remarkable disappearance of travellers
began to be noted. The first that at
tracted public attention was that of an
old man and his granddaughter, who
left Cherryvale in February, 1878, in a
two-horse wagon, to 90 to Fort Scott,
but who never reached that place. All
inquiries failed to elicit clue to their
disappearance until, about the beginning
of March, DR.. William FL. York resog-
nized the wagon and team at Fort
Scott. He aseertained that the wagon
had been purchased at the fort from
some person who had come from Cherry
vale, and he determined to ferret out
the mystery. He left Fort Scott on
March 9, and he, too, disappeared.
Large rewards were offered for his body,
and the search made for him was a long
and careful one, but no clue to his fate
could be obtained. The search, how
ever, for DR.. York led to the finding of
the bodies Of the old man and child in
the ravine near Drum Creek, with their
throats cut from ear to ear. During the
search for DIR. York the house of the
Benders was visited often, but all the
family denied having seen him. They
were evidently frightened, however, at
the persistent search that was being
made, and one night in the middle of
April, 1873, the entire family disap-
peared. Their flight was not discovered
for week afterwards, as none of the
neighbors were in the habit Of visiting
the house. When it was made public
everybody became convinced that the
Benders had left for some good reason,
and party from Cherryyale started out
to make an investigation.
The house was found exactly as the
Benders had left it, and nothing suspi-
cious was noted until, on moving one OF
the beds in the rear room, slight de-
preston in the floor led to the discovery
Of a trap-door. Upon raising this well
about six feet deep and five feet wide
was discovered, from which arose hor-
rible stencil. Upon exploring it, she
floor and wallis were found to be satur-
ated with thick, fetid blood, which clung
to the fingers of those who were cropping
around in the bottom Of the well. There
was no doubt that wholesale murder had
been committed in the house, and that
the bodies Of the victims had been
thrown into this well. But no corpses
were found here, and the party contin-
ued its explorations in the garden to the
rear Of the house. Sharp rods were
used to penetrate the ground, and, after
an hours fruitless search, one Of the rods
struck something which felt like body.
Shoyels were brought, and the ground
upheaved, when the body OF a man
lying face downward was unearthed.
There was no coffin, and torn and dis
colored shirt was all that covered the
body The corpse proved to be that Of
DIR. York, and wound ON the back of
the head disclosed the cause Of his
death. This discovery encouraged the
laborers to continue their work, and in
a short time nine more graves were