The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1880-08-12
Capture OF the Renders.
A Fremont (Neb.) special to the Chi.

LslZO II tCAftC vi AAlC ONA ..
Further startling developments were made
in The Bender matter to-uay. Mrs. Bender,
or Mrs. McGregor, made full and complete
confession of the hole matter, even to the
m.uuteSt details regarding the butcheries
perpeJrated on the John Bender farm during
1872 and 1873. She denies having had sny
personal hand in the matter, but says Kate,
old Johns daughter, was the leader OF ali tue
deyiltry. She went over her entire history
from the time she became Mrs. Alexander
McGregor She was widow at the time she
married McGregOT, alias Bender, who was q
widOwer with four children, two of whom were
Kate and John, Jr. They migrated from Mis-
souri, 10 LaDette County, Kan, and became
John Bender and family. She is under the i'm
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 go
back to Kansas, and converses in the
horrible murders which eliminated with the
death OF DR.. York. In form she strongly re-
sembies the noted Mrs. Samuel, OF Clay COun-
ty, Mo-, mother of the outlaw James boys,
having the same heavy square face with
MASSIVE wide jaW-bOnes, but in point of cute
ness and Intelligence Is ar inferior to that
noted woman. Mrs. McGr,gor, 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 deyilish 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 if you be satisfied, as
you be here to see Mrs Bendern
You have no objection to giving little
history Of your life.'
"Oi, no; for the Sheriff has told me that 1
am to be free, and not to 90 TO Kansas with
the ole man, and l never did kill no one any
Way.n
We're YOU married to Bender in KansasFn
81 was a widow, and he married me at
Springfield, Ill, at the close of the war. L
can't remember what year, but Squire Sedar
tied the knot. His name then was Alexander
McGregor, 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.'
You went by the name of McGregorl"
eve did to the name till the ole man went |
to Kansas and took up homestead in Lebit |
County, believe, when he changed it to John |
Bender, and, arter about a year, John and |
Kate came along, and then the devil began to
be played"
''What do you mean by thatl"
''Weu, there was stealin', thiev1n' and kill |
in, and all that"
''Who was the first person killed by the |
famy!"
He was a sick man named Brown. He |
came along one afternoon. The house was a /
gOod-szed one, and on a sign was Groceries |
outside the door, and SEEM this he stopped. |
We took him in, and the second night We got /
him up to eat supper, and While seated at the /
II -. = IL.
where Kate or John killed him, and the next .
dav they buried him in the garden.
How long after this before any one else |
was killed."
~ don't quite remember, but not long. /
Two were killed, and one Of them, whose .
name l believe was something like Me-
GTuthy or McGrath, had good deal OF I
money; at least John told me So"
"DO you remember about whole family .
being kiledP'
Eyes do. There was a man and wife
and two little girls. They drove up in |
covered spring wagon, and wanted to stay all
night. Kate Bender said they could stay.
1t 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 were below, and the man fought pretty /
hard, but they fixed him. l was behind the /
curtain that night, but did not pull the
trap
W nat dbDub LllC GullNli
"They cried terribly that night, and the
next day a man came along and see one Of
'em and they we're killed that night"
"HOw were they kiledm
"They were buried alive. Ole John took
one and Kate took the other. They holered
awful, but finally stopped, and Kate came in
and said the cursed brats were all right
now "
"Do you remember their namesp
1t was something Ike Grackmore or
BlackmOre." (The name was Louchore, and
but one Of the children was found.)
"Who was killed nextl'
at was DR.. York. remember him so well He
was such pleasant man, with side-whiskers
and mustache. 1t was a rainy day when he
came, and they got a good deal of money
when they killed him. He fought hard, too,
but Kate killed him with the Ratchet"
"YOu all left soon after thisl''
Eyes; they got 'skeered,' and we all went
away. After walking a few miles, some men
took US in a wagon, and we drove into the
Cherokee or Choctaw Nation.n
"Who were these meni"
"They we're a part of a gang Of horse
thieves who made the house their headquar-
tiers, and run off horses left by the dead
men,
"Were any of these men there during any
murders.''
81 think So once, but can't quite remem-
Der. Some of the horses were drowned in
pond back of the house."
"You say you did not help them kill any
one How could you help itl''
i" 1t was always thought there were only
John Bender and wife and 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. 1t is almost q 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. If these are not
he original Blenders 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
1een heard in reply. Some persons even now
lssert that these are not the Benders but
With the facts before them it is hard to prove
hem any one else. John Bender has not adj
nitted to any one that he was John Bender,
is has been telegraphed over the country,
,ut clings to the assertion that he is Alexan-
Ter McGregor, and the report that John
Bender, Jr, and Kate crossed the river at
omaha last week en- route to some point in
QUO il only oralitad nv oDuDty oHiaiaIe