The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1883-02-07


The following statement of Capt. J.
G. Reeves, who was First-Lieutenant of
Capt. Burrows Battery, United States
Volunteers, and who was living at Inde-
pendence, Kas., At the,tinn the Bender
family were. detected as the murderers
Of Dr.. York and others, was given to
Col. d. w. Wear of this city, who fur
nished it to the Republican. According
to Capt. Reeves statement, DIR. York
lived ut Independence, Kas., and went
from Independence to Fort Scott to sell
q house and lot at that place. He ne
gotiated the sale, but the purchaser did
not pay any money down. York started
for his home in Independence, -Kas.,
where he purchased some cigars. He
was next met on the road from Parsons
TO 4Bender,s- and recognized by three or
four parties, but, he never could be
traced beyond Bender's.
DIR. York's wife being indisposed, her
husbands return was expected that
night. 10 His brother, Col. York, aware
of the delicate condition ef his brothers.
wife, started out after hina- and the first
trail he struck was at Parsons, where he
learned that the Doctor had gone
through Parsons on his way home the
day before. From this place he set out
on the trail, and heard of his brother
three or four times, between Parsons
and the Bender place. Col. York
stopped at the Bender place and
made inquiries for his brother,
the Doctor. The Blenders denied
that he had ever been there. Col. York
then went to Independence, Mont
gomery County, Kas., and got Sheriff
Stone. They both Colonel York and
Sheriff Stone) made q visit to the Ben
ders. On arriving there they had .
converse ion with John Bender, and the
information they got from him was
unsatisfactory, but enough Was obtained
to arouse their suspicious.
Colonel York and Sheriff Stone then
returned to Independence and raised q
party of men, They started out to
Bender's the very. next morning, and
when the party arrived at the place it
was discovered that the family had all
decamped. They then hunted around
the house, and finally prosecuted their
search in the garden, where they found
that the ground had recently been dis
turbed. On removing the surface soil
they found the body Of DR.. York and
others, who had been murdered, buried
in these crude graves. Hon. William
Wright and s. s. Peterson, Deputy
! United States Marshal at that time, fol-
lowed the wagon-track across the open
prairie to Thsyer, Kas., which is about
twelve miles distant from the Bender
hou+e. There they found the Benders'
wagon and horses, which had been
abandoned They there learned that
the Blenders had taken the train on the
L., l.. & G. Railroad for the north
The pursuing party teIegraphed the c ~
ductor Of the train, and he autographed
back that the Benders had stopped at
Chinutte or New Chicago. They next
autographed the ticket agent at Chicago
or Chinutte. he answered that he h id
sold the, Benders tickets to Chetopa,
Kas., which is just two miles from the
Cherokee line.
Messrs. Wright and Peterson, after
obtaining this valuab;e information,
mounted their horses and rode rapidly
back to the Bender place, where they
found Colonel York and Sheriff Stone.
The four men st once procured fresh
horses and started in all haste for Che
topa. At Oswego they again procured
fresh horses and started anew for Che
tops, only distant eight miles. Then
they ascertained that the Benders had
taken q team and wagon, which wa
awaiting them there, and had gone in q
southeasterly direction toward the Grand
River, in the Indian Nation. Chetopa is
about thirty miles from the Grand River.
When the pursuing party reached Che
topa they were only about three hours
behiad the Benders. They pushe rap
idly ahead, and the four men came up
with the fugitives four miles from the
Grand River, and there, without further
ceremony, the Blenders met the retribu-
ton due their crimes. They were all
shot to death, and the bones Of old man
Bender, his wife, John and Kate lie
there in hole dug in the ground, where
they remain at this day.
! Mr. Wright is now living in iowa
and Peterson Is . resident of Indepen-
dence, Kans. Stone is living in Mont
q ,mery County, Kans. About q year
after the terrible murders by the Bender
family occurred, Colonel Wear visited
the spot. The house had disappeared,
and few stones forming the underpin
ming, and hollow space which was the
cellar, with here and there an excavs'
ton in the rear where the murdered vic
Tins had been buried, were the only
signs to be seen of the monstrous crime:
perpetrated by the Benders, who il
their turn met with swift punishment
and Just retribution.-St. Louis Re
publican.