The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1880-08-19
THE KANSAS MURDERERs.
ARREST OF OLD MAN BENDER AND A
WOMAN.

UnsEspecting Travellers into tho House,
Throwing them into Dungeon and Muir
derirg them for their Money-The Dis
covery and the Flight-Behind the Bars
at last.
OMAHA, NEB., Aug. 2, 1880.
The story of the crimes of the Bender
family is upon eyerybody's lips. The
greatest crime. of the century is likely,
in a small measure at least, to be atoned
for. But the most horrible death that
old John Bender could be put to would
but in slight degree. avenge the suffer
ings of his many victims. In the jail at
Fremont, in Dodge County, a man is
locked up who is supposed to be the hend
that the authorities of Kansas have been
looking for for seven years. There hard
ly seems doubt of his identity. With
him is woman-repulsive, hard-fsted
and old. She may be the original Mrs.
: Bender or she may be his mistress.
Opinions differ ON this point When
they reach Kansas the authorities will
have hard work to guard the couple from.
the attacks of the populace, who are
thirsting for their blood. In 1873, old
Bender and his wife and their son; John
and his, wife lived near Cherryvale,
Labette County, Kansas. Their house
was about two miles ont of town. 1t
was rude frame structure, standing in
lot of two acres. The old woman called
herself medium. She had a way of
boiling herbs and roots. that were sup
posed 10 have charms and spells about
them, and she dealt in incantations. She
was repulsive in aspect-tall, angular
and scrawny, with hard, steel.gray eyes,
and thin ragged gray hair struggling
over. Ter :temples. The family seem to
have been totally under the influence of
this urgainly creature. Her word with
them was law. The Benders osteusibly
kept grocery. A sign was displayed In
front Of their rude dwelling to attract
visitors, but ttc stock in trade consisted
principally of sort of cheap wine.
There were only two rooms in the house.
One was dining room and kitchen
combined. In the other the four Ben
ders slept.
MANY SUDDEN DIsApPEARANcEs.
In 1873 a number of persons travelling
in the direction of Cherryvale mystic
riously disappeared. No traces of them
could be found. The first disappearance
that attracted public attention was that
of an cid man and his granddaughter,
who left Cherryvale in February, 1873,
in o-horse wagon, to 60 to Fort Scott,
brt who never reached that place. All
inquiries failed to elicit clue to their
disappearance until, about the beginning
of March, DR.. William Fl. York recog-
nized the wagon and team at Fort Scott.
He asceTtained 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 he,
too, disappeared. DR.. York vas we'll
known, and the greatest efforts were
made to discover traces of him. Alarge.
reward was offered, rivers were dragged,
spots fit for ambush were probed foot by
foot, lonesome places were quested as a
keen hound scents trail that is cold,
and still no traces of the lost man were
discovered. Not shadow of e7idence'
rested anywhere to say that DR.. York
had been murdered sign anywhere
told how he came to his death, if, indeed,
death had :overtaken him unawares. He
was traced to. Cherryvale, in Labette
County, but no further. There all track
and trace of him ceased. The excite
ment was at high pitch. One day an
exploring party stopped at the house of
the Benders. Had they seen anything
of DR.. York; No, the answer came,
they had not. They knew nothing what
ever concerning him. But this visit had
a strange effect. The next day the Ben
der family disappeared, and almost as
lnysteriously as had DR.. York. This
suspicious circumstance aroused curios-
ity. A man riding into Cherryvele from
the country one day was impressed by
the deserted appearance of the Bender
place. He entered the yard. In the
stable he found dead calf. There was
everv indication from the appearance of
the miserable creature that it had starved
to death. The man walked up to the
house, opened the door and looked in.
Not an article of household furniture
had been removed, but the dust lay
heavy on everything. The man went 10
Cherryvale and told his story. Senator
AN York, the brother of the missing
man, was there. To his suspicious mind
the sudden and strange fight of the
Bender family was a'revelation. He had
found the first clue to his lost brother.
He divulged his suspicious, and band
of men accompanied him to the Bender
farm. The front room of the house was
carefully searched, every crack and crew
ice being minutely looked into and sub
iected to the application of rods and
levers to see if the flooring was either
hollow or loose. Nothing came of it.
No blood spots appeared. The floor was
solid. The walls were solid. Next the
party searched the back room. The beds
were removed. In their fight the Ben
ders had left everything untouched.
A HORRIBLE DISCOVERY.
The explorers were about to retire
when they noticed a depression in the
floor. A trap door was revealed. 1t was
lifted up, and in the gloom pit outlined
itself, forbiddipg, cavernous, unknown.
Lights we're procured and some of the
men descended. They found themselves
in an abyss like we'll, six feet deep and
five feet in diameter. Here and there
little damp places could be seen, as
though water had come up from the bot.
tom or been poured down from above.
They groped around and around over
these splotches, and held handful to the
LIGHT. The ooze smeared itself over their
palms and dribbled through their fingers.
Il was blood. Every suspicion was real
lied. The murderers had fed, leaving
behind damuing evidences of their hid
eous guilt. But where were the bodies
of the victims? For an hour the party
of excited people traversed the lonely
garden in the rear of that human
Slaughter pen, prodding the earth with a
long iron rod. All at once the iron
seemed to strike a feshy matter. In q
moments time dozen eager spades had
resurrected from its shallow grave the
,.:. ho,1v of human hpinp IT.