American citizen., 1880-08-28
WHAT BECAME OF THE BENpEns
4 True Account Of How The Notos-iou. hem
ders Were Disposed of-'I'hcir I'ur.ui !,
Capture and Death.

a True Account Of How the Notoriou. Her
/ der- tvere Disposed of rI'hcir I.ursuii
Capture and Death.
A correspondent of the Chicag,
| Times, writing from Oswego, Labe t.
| County, Kan, in reference to the arres
of the McGregor tramps and their claim
| to be members of the muruerouS Bende
family, says:
" The Benders dead. I speak thus de
cisively because 1 know whereof l speak. L
is not customary TOR one to boast of acts o
lawlessness, and it is not in that spirit that
enter upon the recital Of the last chapter o
the bloody career of the british Blenders.
account of the murders. In point of fact
very little Is actually known on that point. NJ
one in the land of the living will have the hare!
ihood to say that he saw the deeds done, ant
the Blenders themselves never made con
fession that l know of. The McGregor liar,
were a little off in their description Of the mur
uers. They always had Kate, or Maggie, hcl
cousin, or John, cutting the heads of the vic
were invariably brained with a hammer AM
their throats cut.
The Renders, John and his wife, and theiI
tavern about Il mile and half southeast OF
Morehead Station on the road leading from In
there when moved into the county two years
before the discovery of the butcherteS, and
were well known then: Kate was red-Iaced
enough to throw a bull by the tail and every.
body stood in awe of her She made a pre-
tense of practicing the healing art, and was
known far and wide as spiritualistic
doctor" Her cures were permanent
and her remedy was a hammer. Decent
people avoided the Bender tavern. As the
country hereabouts harbored good many des-
peradoes about this time. no one cared :. to to
than avoidance. When search was instituted
for the body of DR.. York, in April, 1873, sus-
contrary to the general belief a close watch
was kept on them for while; They must
the first opportunity they decamped. The re-
port that they took the train at Thayer, a sta
ton few miles north of Cherryvale, and went
passage for Texas, is a mistake. They simply
bundled their goods into two wagons and start
ceed at once to their destination, If, indeed,
they had any destination marked out, but
crossed over into Montgomery County; and
opments. The distance from their farm was
something like twenty miles. John, Jr., or
of Cherryvale and took observations. 1t was
their intention to return If the excitement
should blow over, but If it continued warm
they would go on as originally planned. They
knew of the discovery of their crime within
an hour after the bodies were dug out of their
ing their tents. They struck out for the west
bank of the river and started sout Inward post
haste. Their flight soon became a 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
:" In the meantime vigilance committee
had been formed. This move was taken with
were admitted to the organization The ut
most cfrcumspectiOn was used, for the reason
hat in new community like this the doubt
thing to be dreaded. The vigiantes 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 be
one of the elect. Scouts were sent out in all
directions, and within forty.eight hours OF the
q n ha RAM hei n
the next county, the fact was duly reported
to us.
=" About forty Of us organized into pursn-
on their trail, we had no difficulty in following
1t. The murderOus quartet had taken to the
ing within convenient distance of the thick
timber that grows in the valley watered by the
hoped to escape Tee by osins .hemseives IN this
timber if it came to the worst, As We pro-
ceeded the trail freshened, and ere long we
wagon left by the Benders in their flight.
From the direction they were taking. it be-
with the country that they were pointing for
that paradise of cutthroats located near the
mouth of The Red fork of the Arkansas.
desolate region. infested by horse-thieves,
Creeks, Pawnees and CherOkees
never been able to penetrate that terra incOg-
nitd. 1t Is a safe retreat for the border rufans,
ton of the country. This haven for the wick
ed is distant about one hundred and forty
% river enters % Indian RHTe Territory. The MURDER
ers had about forty miles to travel before
reaching the boundary of the Territory, and
they were probably twenty miles beyond
he line when Our scouts caught sight
Of them. Burdened as they were with
ass to es asy srss sas
Sa shey USED psssSe to
pII sPaco ~ oenhu M VEN; Was aoout .nree
soon as we came from cover, and abandoning
plunged into the woods and scattered. We
we're close upon their heels, however, and they
nan and his wife and Kate were under arr est
n less than an hour. John, Jr., was more for.
unate than the other members of the tribe,
onger, but he was ut length run to cover and
forced to surrender
Every one of them showed fight, but with
he exception of Kate they all weak kened when
I came to the scratch. This charming border
beauty emptied every chamber of her revolver
lid no serious damage beyond manning one of
'ur horses and clipping a lock of hair from
he skin, the work of which shows to this day.
he finally succumbed to superior strength,
,ut to the last maintained the same daredevil,
Having captured the assassins the ques-
ion now arose, What are we to do with them2'
sOme were for taking them back and letting
he law take it's course. The advocates of
his line of policy were largely in the minori- |
ives had f Tese % xnSse aohssi us whose Te
md knives OF the wretches, and they would
lot listen to the suggestions of the conserva-
liiIing then and there if their demands for in |
tant vengeance were not regarded. No one |
ion II hey Sad Carried e their fhreat 6
was thought best to do the job up after the |
most approved form obtaining in the courts |
presided over by Judge Lynch.
"The prisoners were accordingly arra1gned |
md asked what they had to say in their de- |
ense. The old woman was sullen and ugly, |
nut the two men showed signs of faltering. |
lad they been left to themselves, they would |
ave made full confessions, beyond 2 doubt |
ng 1t would please the vigilants too much |
o hear confessions, she fell to cursing her |
= language was never uttered than came from |
he lips of this iend. No term was too vile |
o apply to her relatives. They took it sulien-
at first, but soon something of her reckless |
pirit infused them, and they too Joined in
he TRADE. The chorus of blasphemy that
vent up from that hardened lot caused a
hudder to run through our party. With death
taring them in the face. they united in ours
arm. Such maiignity i never saw eaualed,
,ven the old woman chipped in occasionally,
nd her appearance indicated that she wholly
pproved of the family demonstration.
sour court went through with the form pre-
cr1bed and then pronounced Il sentence of
eath The announcement was received with
eers from the hardened criminals who had
to brave it out to the last 1t was
ecided that the murderers should be shot, as
. would take too much time to hang them.
he sun was already nearly down, and the
hadows of approaching night were deepening
here on the borders of the forest the cruel
illers were tied TO saplings and told to pre-
are for death. One of our number who had
ot quite forgotten his early education, UNI
ertoOk TO offer prayer, but the lovely X ate
pit in his face while he was addr essing the
1rone of grace, and he quit right in the mid
lie of a sentence and drew or in disgust. Il.
THE four died with curses on their lips,
ardened and unrepentant to the last, There |
that lonely, dismal spot, away beyond the
1nflnes of civilization, they met a right eous |
and their souls, black with crime |
ere sent to meet the great Judge. hole.
Iade by the displacement of the roots of a |