The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1880-08-20

Ihe history of the Bender family. and
OF the crimes which they perpStrated is
one of the, most revolving recorded in =.
the annals OF crime In this country. The j.
family consisted of two men and tYo
women, and they occupied asone-st6ry
frame house, or rather eabin.s twentyas
feet long by fourteen wide. on the south
side of the Usage Mission iroad, about
two miles from the town of Cherrytale,
IN Labettea county, KAN The house
was OH the prairie, and was kept.as az
kind Of wayside tavern, for the accpmmo- !
dation of travellers. The building was
divided into two rooms, the front and q
larger one being used as dining room,
and the rear as a 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 two acres. The Blenders were
all OF them repulsive In appearance, and
the neighbors stunned them, so they
had few visitors. The two women We're
Spirltualists, and pretended to be heal !
ing mediums, but, from subsequent de-
yelopments, it would appear that their u,
claims IN tins respect were only put for,
ward to lure persons TO q thes house In
order to murder them for their money. -
The two men were repute,l to be BROTH
ers, and the two women passed as their Z
wives, ---
Shortly after the. settlement of the
Benders in the house near Cherryvale,
remarkable disappearance of trave1ers
began to be noted. The first that at :
tracted public attention was that of an
Old man and his granddaughter, who
left CherTyvale in February, 1873, .inzaa
two-hOrse wagon, to go to Fort Scott, :
but who never reached that place. ALI
inquiries failed to elicit a elew to their =
disappearance, until, about the begin
ing of March, Dr. William H. York
recognized the wagon and team at Fort
Scott. he ascertained that the wagon
had been purchased at the fort from
some person who had come from Cher
ryva4e, and he deteEmineds to ferret eut
the mystery. He left Fort Scott on
March y, and he, too, disappeared. Large :
rewards were offered for his body, andthe Q
search madefor him was a long and careful
one, but no clew to his fate could besob-l4
tanned. The search, however. for DR.
York led to the finding of the bodies Of
the old man and child in the ravine near
Drum creek, Witiiatneir throats cut from.
ear to ear. During the search for DIR.
York the house of the Blenders was VS.
tied often, but all the family denied hay r.
ing seen him. They were evidently
frightened, however, at the persistent l
search that was being made, and one
night in the middle Of April, 1873, the, u
entire family disappeared. Their fight
was not discovered for week afterward,
as none of the neighbors were in the
habit of visiting the house. / When~it4
was made public everybody became CONS
vincedg that the Benders had LETT for &
some good reason, and party. from
Cherryyale started to mexican inEestiga- J.,
ton. NkssaA& 4 #8 s&N ga
The house was found exactly as the
Blenders had left it, and nothing. sus-
picious was noted until, on moving one
of the beds in the rear room, a. slight.
depression in the floor led to the discov-
cry of q 1trap-door.e Upon raising this a..
well about six feet deep and five feet a,
wide was discovered, from which arose a 6.
horrible stencil. > Upon exploring it the.
floor and walls were found to be satur-
ated with thick, fetid blood. which
chung to- the fingers of those WIDOWS
cropping around IN the bottom of i'theaa
we'll. There was no doubt that wi ole e
sale murder had been committed in the,1
house, and that the bodies of the IVicSst
Tins had been. thrown into this well, p.
But no corpses were found here, and.the
party continued its explorations an the !
garden to the rear of the house. Sharp
rods were used to-. penetrate the y
ground, and, after an hours fruit
less search, one of the rods struck
something which felt, like b human I,
body Shovelsd were quickly brought, al
and the ground upheaved, when the :;
body Of a man lying face downward was y
unearthed. There was no coffin, and q,
torn, discolored shirt was all that coy
cred the body. The corpse proved to. ,
be that Of Dr. Fork, and d wound on the
back of the head disclosed the eauseof
his death. This discovery encouraged
the laborers to continue their work, and
in short time nine more graves were
discovered, eight of them containing
single bodies of men, and one of them
an old man and little girl. Most of
1.-THE bodies. were SO far decomposed as to-
makerecognihon Of thefaces impossible. s
The th1oats of al, except DR., Yofl3 and
the little girl, had been cut, and the girl
had apparently been buried alive.
The mysterious disappearances were
now accounted for. The Blenders had
murdered the travellers who stopped at
their house stripped them 81 fm6ndY
and clothes thrown them bleeElin9 ihtf
the well Under the rear room, and theh
buried them at convenient times in
the garden. Descfip6 ions of the fhai-F
tives were sent al ovbr thescohntrS; and
the Whole land SwasE scotfed for tiiem. 8
Parties were organized in Kansas to
hunt for them, and weeks were spent in
pursuit, but the Blenders had too much
of d start, and their trail was lost.
In Barlow county. Ga, Mrs. J. g.
Sprouts recently. gave barbecue to all
her old servants Invitations were duly
extended, and on. the appointed day
eighty negroes Of botl1;sexes and Of all
sizes assembled on the plantation; and.
were feasted to their hearts llcenteuta 4
AT nighta dance was INDUCED jnby the
negroes, and several speeches were made
and jollity and merriment reigned su.
preme. "a 9lli ~ .oiYis ssRi3 .leIf