Ashtabula weekly telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1880-1886, 1880-08-13
Capture Of the Benders.
A Fremont (Neb. special to the Chi.
20 Tribune Of the Sd SAYS:

A Fremont (Neb special to the Chi.
cago Tribune Of the Sd says;
Further startling developments we're made
In the Bender matter to-day. Mrs. Bender
or Mrs. McGregor made a full aud compiled
confession Of the whole matter, even to the
minutest details regarding the butcheries
perpetrated on the John Bender farm during
lS2 and 1873. She denies having had any
personal hand In the matter but says Kate,
Old Johns daughter, was the leader of ali the
deviltry. She went over her entire history
from the time she became Mrs. Alexander
hcGregor She was widow at the time she
married hcGregor, alias Bender, who was
widowerwith four children, two Of whom were
Kate and John, Jr They migrated from Mis-
souri, TO Labette County, Kan, and became
John Bender and family She Is under the im-
preston that Kate has been captured, and,
TO shield herself, tells everything, but puts
the blame on other shoulders She knows
that the old man will have to 20
back to Kansas, and converses in the
most matter-Oi-tact way regarding the
horrible murders which eliminated with the
death OF Dr. York. In form she strongly re-
sembles the noted Mrs. Samuel, Of Clay COun-
ty, Mo-, mother OF the outlaw James boys,
having the same heavy square face with
massive wide 1aW-bOnes, but In point OF cute.
ness and intelligence is far inferior to that
noted woman. Mrs. MeGregor, or Mrs. Ben
der, as she shall be called, Is six feet In
height, and weighs over two hundred pounds,
and her face and hands are as dark as an In
dams, the result of her residence during the
past year or so among the Northern tribes
OF Sioux. Her eyes are blue, and while con.
Versing this woman's face can become pleas
ant, which can't be said of her husband in
an adjoining cell, whose devilish face peers
from behind the grated cage at each visitor
Being asked II she would be called Mrs. Nc
Gregor or Mrs Bender she replied:
THE latter will do II you be satisfied, as
he here 10 Mira Render ~
You have no objection to giving a little
history Of your lifem
"Oh, no; for the Sheriff has told me that
am 70 be free, and not to go to Kansas with
the ole man, and never did kill no one any
way
"Were you married 10 Bender in Kansasl"
"I was a widow, and be married me at
Springfield, Ill, at the close Of the war.
can't re member what year, but Squire Sedar
tied the knot. His name then was Alexander
McGTegor, and he had four children, John
and Kate being Of the number; but two of
the boys had run of. He was a poor cuss,
but we lived about several years, and then
were sent by the county to Dunkirk County,
In Southwest Missouri, where sister lived. All
this is true.n
"You went by the name Of MeGregorl"
1--WE did TO the name till the ole man went
10 Kansas and took up homestead I'm Lebt
County, l believe, when he changed IL to John
Bender, and, arter about a year, John and
N-AN+-
"What do you mean by thatp
"Well, there was stealin', thievin' and kill
In, and all that"
"He was a sick man named Brown. He
came along one afternoon. The house was
good-sized one, and on a sign was Groceries
outside the door, and seein' this he stopped.
We took him in, and the second night we got
him n N O a and while seated at the
table John Bender let him into the cellar,
where Kate or John killed him, and the next
day they buried him in the garden.
"Hew long after this before any one else
was killedm
al don't quite remember, but not long
Two were killed, and one Of them, whose
name / believe was something like Nc
Gruthy or McGrath, had a good deal of
money; at least John told me So"
ado you remember about whole family
being kllledp
"Yes, do. There was a man and wife
and two little girls. They drove UP in a
covered spring wagon, and wanted to stay all
night Kate Bender said they could stay.
IL was about two O'Clock in the afternoon,
and while at supper that night they were
dropped through the hole. Kate and the old
man we're below, and the man fought pretty
hard, but they fixed him. ! was behind the
curtain that night, but did not pull the
trap
WuhL ABOUT l0b CnllQFenf'
They cried terribly that night, and the
next day man came along and see one OF
lem and they were killed that night.n
"How were they kiledln
"They were buried alive. Ole John took
one and Kate took the other. They hollered
awful, but finally stopped and Kate came in
and said the cursed brats were all right
now"
ut was something like Grackmore or
Blackmoren CThe name was Louchore, and
but one Of the children was found)
"Who was killed neXti'
'It was DR., York. remember him 80 well. He
was such pleasant man, with side-whlskers
and mustache. 1t was a rainy day when he
came, and they got good deal Of money
when they killed him. He fought hard, too,
but Kate killed him with the hatchet"
"You all left soon after thisln
"Yes; they got 'skeered,' aud we all went
away. After walking few miles, some men
took us in wagon, and we drove into the
Cherokee or ChOctaw Natlon.n
"WhO were these menfh
"They were q part of a gang nf horse
thieves who made the house their headquar-
ters, and run of horses left by the dead
menu
"Were any of these men there during any
murdersn
az think so, once, but can't quite remem-
ber. Some OF the horses were drowned in a
pond back of the house.n
- on say you ulu uOJ nelp Lutlu XIII any
one. How could you help itn
at was always thought there were only
| John Bender and wife aud John and Kate in
| the house. There was another old woman
who was my husbands mother She helped
them do it.n
| There are many OTHER facts obtained from
the woman. II is almost a certainty that
she Is the old woman mentioned by John
! Bender as the person who helped Kate do the
killing, and that the old woman mentioned
| by Mrs. Bender Is a myth. III these are not
| the original Benders the fact can be easily
proven. Governor st. John, Of Kansas, was
notified by the Sheriff here nearly week
ago Of the capture but so far not word has
been heard in reply. Some persons even now
assert that these are not the Benders but
with the facts before them 1t is hard to prove
them any one else. John Bender has not ad-
mitted to any one that he was John Bender
as has been telegraphed over the country,
but cllngs to the assertion that he Is AleXan-
der McGregOr, and the report that John
Bender, Jr., aud Kate crossed the river at
Omaha last week en- route to some point in
Iowa Is only credited by county ollciala