The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1880-08-27

A correspondent Of the Chicago
Times, writing from Oswego. Labette
County. Kan, in reference to the arrest
of the McGregor tramps and their claim
to be members of the murderous Bender
family. says:
1.-THE Blenders are dead. speak thus de-
cisivelY because know whereof l speak: II
is not customary for one to boast OF actS OF
lawlessness, and IL Is not In that spirit that
the bloody career Of the british Blenders
ut is not necessary to go into detained
account Of the murders. In point OF iact,
one in the land Of the living viii have the hard.
hood to say that he saw the deeds done. ana
the Benders themselves never made CON
were little Of in their description Of the muir
ders They always had Kate, or Maggie, her
cousin. or John, cutting the heads OF the VIC
Tins to pieces with hafcnets' whereas h- . aSS
The Renders, John and his wife, and their
two children, Kate and John, kept wayside
tavern about mile and q half southeast or
Morehead Station on the road leading from In
dependence to the Usage Mission. They were
there when moved into the county TWO years
were well known then. Kate was red-faced,
lOw-br0wed, square-shOuldered amazon, strong
enough to throw bull by the tail, and every
tense of practicing the healing art, and was
known far and wide as "spirituaiistic
doctor" Her cures were permanent,
people avoided the Bender tavern. As the
country hereabouts harbored q good many des-
peradOes about this time, no one cared to
tSan syOidan Sa wv When search Was Instituted
for the body Of DIR. York, in April. 1873 sus-
picion was directed against the Blenders, and
contrary to the general belief close watc at
have been aware Of the surveillance, Tor at
the first opportunity they decamPed. The re-
port that they took the train at mayer, sIa-
to Humboldt, from which place they took
passage for Texas is q mistake. They simply
bundled their goods intotwO wagons and start
coed 1t once to their destination, if. indeed,
they had any destination marked out, but
crossed over into Montgomery County: ana
sQuatted near VerdigriS River to await devet-
Opments. The distance from their farm was
something like twenty miles. John, Jr:, or
John, ST., made daily trips back to the vicinity
their intention to return if the excitement
should blow over, but it 1t continued warm
they would go on as originally planned. Ihey
knew OF the discovery OF anef CRIME Inn, T 1hnir
shallow graves, and they lost no time In strik-
ing their tents. They struck out for the west
bank of the river and started scout Inward post
haste. Their flight soon became panic, and
to add to their discontinue one of their
wagons broke down. Packing what they
could of the load on their horses they piled up
what was left, set fire to it, and hurried on.
lin the meantime a vigilance committee
had been formed. This move was taken with
the greatest secrecy. and none but trusIy men
most circumspectiOn was used, for the reason
that in a new community like this the doubt
full assistance of suspicious characters was
thing to be dreaded. The vfyilantes did not
number more than one hundred men all
told, but they meant business, as the sequel
proved. 1t was my good or bad fortune TO De
directions, and within fcrty-eight hours of the
departure of the Blenders from their camp IN
the next county, the fact was duly reported
to US.
ing party and started after the butchers. Once
on their trail. we had no difficulty in following
IL. The murderOuS quartet had taken to the
open country west OF the river, out were keep
timber that grows in the valley watered by the
stream. They were expecting pursuit, and
hoped to escape by losing themselves in this
timber, if It came to the worst. 1t was three
o'c.ock on q hot, sultry May afternoon that we
came in sight Of the party. They saw US as
soon as we came from cover, and abandoning
plunged into the woods and scattered. We
were close upon their heels, however, and they
did not succeed in eludiny US long. The old
in less than an hour. John, Jr., was more for
tunate than the other members Of the tribe,
for he contrived to evade US for an hour
longer, but he was at length run to cover and
forced to surrender.
"Having captured the assassins the ques-
ton now arose, What are we to do with themY
Some were for taking them back and letting
this line of policy were largely in the minOri-
ty. There were those amongst us whose rel0-
tives had fallen victims to the deadly hammers
not listen to the susgestions Of the conserve
tive element. They threatened to do some
killing then and there if their demands for in
would have offered very strenuous opposi.
ton if they had carried out their threats, but
it was thought best to do the job up after the
most approved form obtaining IN the courts
.. The prisoners were aoco rdingly arraigned
and asked what they had to say in their de-
tense. The old woman was sullen and ugly,
but the two men showed signs Of faltering.
Had they been left to themselves, they would
have made full confessions, beyond . doubt.
The amiable Kate perceived this, and, think
to hear confessions, she fell to cursing her
brother and father for their cOwardice. Foul
er language was never uttered than came from
to apply to her relatives. They took It sullen-
]y at first, but soon something of her reckless
spirit infused them, and they too Joined in
went up from that hardened lot caused
shudder to run through our party. With death
staring them in the face. they united in curs-
Ing US and their inability to dc Us
Even the old woman Clipped in occasionally,
and her appearance indicated that she wholly
approved Of the family demonstration.
"Our court went through with the form pro.
ecribed and then pronounced q sentenc0e0f
death. The announcement was received with
jeers from the hardened criminals, who had
determined to brave it out to the last. It was
decided that the murderers should BE- shot, as
It would take too much time to hang them.
The sun was already nearly down, and the
shadows OF approaching night we're deepening.
There on the borders of the forest the cruel
killers were tied to saplings and told to pre-
pare for death. One OF our number, who had
not quite forgotten his early education. un-
dert0Ok to offer prayer, but the lovely Kate
spit in his face while he was addressing the
throne OF grace, and he QUIT right in the mid
sT, fe.,. Az anu 1lew on m disGos1