The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1880-08-25
THE BENDER FAMILY.
The Story OF Their Terrible Crimes In
Kansas Revived.

The Story OF Their Terrible Crimes in
Kansas Revived.
The recent supposed capture in Ne
braska of John Bender and his wife,
two Of the notorious Kansas murderers,
refreshens interest in the story OF their
terrible crimes. The history of the
Bender family and of the murders which
they committed is one of the most re-
voting recorded in the annals OF crime
in this country. The family consisted
of two men and two women, and they
occupied q one-story frame-house, or
rather cabin, twenty feet long by four
teen wide, on the south side of the
Usage Mission road, about two miles
from the town of Cherryvale, in Labette
county, Kansas. The house was on the
open prairie, and was kept as kind OF
wayside tavern for the accommodation
of travellers. The building 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 en-
braced about two acres The Benders
were all of them repulsive in appear
ance, and the neighbors Stunned them,
so that they had but few visitors. The
two women pretended to be healing
mediums, but from subsequent develop
ments it would appear that their claims
in this respect were only pu t forward to
lure persons to the house in order to
murder them for their money. The two
men were reputed to be brothers. and
the two women passed as their wives.
Shortly after the settlement OF the
Benders in the house near CherryVale,
remarkable disappearanccs OF travellers
began to be noted. The first that at
tracted public attention was that OF az
old man and his granddaughter, who
lett CherryYale in February. 1873. in
two-horse wagon, to 60 TO Fort Scott,
but who never reached that place. All
INQUIRIES failed to elicit a clew to their
disappearance until, about the beginning
of March, DR.. William 81. York recog-
nized 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 Cherryvale, and he
determined to ferret out the mystery.
He left Fort Scott on March 9, and ne
too disappeared. Large rewards were
offered for his body, and the search
made for him was q long and careful
one, but no clew to his fate could be OBJ
tanned. The search, however, tor DIR:
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
DR.. York the house of the Benders was
visited often, but all the family denied
h wing 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 disappeared. Their flight
was net discovered for q week after
ward. 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
Cherryvale started out to make an IN
vestigation.
The house was found exactly as the
Benders had left it, and nothing suspl-
cious W 8 noted until, on moving one
of the be ds in the rear room, sngn1
depression in the floor led to the discov-
ery of trap-door. Upon raising this
a well about six feet deep and five feet
wide was discovered. from which arose
a horrible stencil. Upon exploring it
the floor and walls were found to be
saturated with thick, fetid blood. which
clung to the fingers OF those who were
gruping around in the bottom OF the
well. There was no doubt that whole
sale murder had been committed in the
house, and that the bodies Of the victims
had been thrown into the well But no
corpses were found here, and the party
continued 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 a human body. Shovels were
quickly brought and the groun9 up
heaved. when the body of man lying
face downward was unearthed., Ihere
was no coffin, and torn and discol-
ored shirt was all that covered the
body. The corpse proved to be that OF
Dr.. 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
q short time nine more graves were dis
covered, eight of them containing single
bodies of men, and one of them an old
man and a little girl. Most ofthe bodies
were so far decomposed as to make
recognition of the faces impossible. Inc
throats of all, except DR.. York and the
little girl, had been cut, and the girl mao
apparently been buried alive.
The mysterious disappearances were
now accounted for. The Benders had
murdered the travellers who stopped at
their house, stripped them Of money and
clothes, thrown them bleeding into the
well under the rear room, ana tnen
buried them at convenient times IN the
garden. Descriptions Of the fugitlVes
werc sent all over the country, and the
whole land vas secured for them. Far
ties were organized in Kansas to lunt
for them, and weeks were spent IN the
nnrsuit. but the Benders had too much
of a start, and their trail was lost. Feur
different men and women supposed 10
belong to the Bender family have been
arrested during the last seven years, but
thew have succeeded in proving their
identity, and have been released. when
the man and woman captured IN Ne
braska were taken to the former home OF
the Bender's in Kansas it was found
they were not the Bender's, and they
were released.