Madison times., 1886-06-12
THE BENDER DEN.
Recollections and Observations or
Pack Peddlsr.

twenty wears" said the cid man, as he
whitfield away at his pipe to get it aiight,
land you may suppose ] have met with
some stirring adventures. have travelled
great deal in Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska
and Minnesota, and for weeks and months
1 have been on the alert, not only TO preserve
the contents of my pack, but to defend my
life.
"My line of trade has been Yankee no
tons with jewelry added. have had with
me at one time as much as $4,000 worth of
gold and silver watches, earrings, finger
rings, etc. have sat on log beside high
way in Kansas and sold $500 worth Ofstock
to three or four men, and have disposed of
$50 worth of ladies' jewelry at pioneer
cabin which had neither floors nor part:'
tions. On two different occasions ate din.
ner at the cabin of old Bender, the Kansas
fiend. On the first occasion the old man was
away, and saw only two women about the
place. Six months later, when l called
again, it was about IL O'Clock in the fore
noon. Then l saw old Bender for the first
time. have heard him described as pleas
ant-faced old man whom no one would sus-
pect, but tell you the very first look at him
put me on my guard. For the first time in
year felt that my
LIFE WAS IN DANGER.
The same two slatternly women were about
the house aud there was young man whom
1 took to be old Bender's son. This young
man disappeared soon after l arrived, but
whether he hid in the house or rode OF across
the prairie l never knew. Bender's women
purchased about 81 worth of notions, and
the old man dickered with me for an hour
over a gold watch. 1t seemed he had but a
small stock of cash, but he offered me per-
sonal property in exchange. He had three
CT four silver watches, all of which had been
carried, two or three reyOlvers, two bosom
pins made of Jumps Of pure gold, and three
or four pairs of valuable cuff buttons. We
had nearly effected an exchange when he
suddeDly decided t) leave the matter open
until after dinner.
Months afterwI,d, when the discovery Of
hi, crimes came out, thought the matter
over and could remember just how nicely
he played me. Without seeming to interro-
gate me for information, he asked how long
a trip had made, what success had net
with, who was. where lived, and whom
l knew in that locality. The old murderer
was figuring up the chances of my being
missed in case he put an end to me. And
he bad curiosity to know before hand what
the harvest would be. While told you that
did not like his looks. and that had a
creepy feeling in his presence, had no idea
Of an attempt to murder by daylight and in
the manner he was planning for. had a
trusty revolver and bad the courage to de-
fend myself. Had | met him out on the
prairie, or had we been logging together
along some lonely highway, | should have
been prepared to pull my pistol at his first
movement.
IN THE JAWS OF DEATH.
"Dinner was announced soon after IL
o'clock. 1 took my rack with me into the
dining.roOm where found the table set for
one. There were three rooms In the house.
The front room was general Sitting-rOOm
and Office combined. Bender kept sort of
tavern, you know, and travellers had this
front room. The n"Xt room back was the
dining-rOom ard m'lv room combined.
There was a heC-io.i !, aiding off. On the
walls of this family room were a few old
fashioned prin's i'm old-fashicned frames, a
shelf on which stood a ctCck and a few
scant evidences ot wnmen's presence. The
back room was the kitchen. had my eyes
wide open when entered that dlning-rOOm
and the very first thing noticed was that
the table was set lengtnwise Of the roam and
that my chair and plate had heen so placed
that nv back would be toward the kitchen
door, which was nOt over five or six feet
away. Had 1t baen it been at the other end
my back would have been toward The Office
door. The first move l made was 10 turn
the chair around to the side end sit down.
now faced the bed room and had the other
doors to my riaht and left, while there was
no window behind me. The younger wo.
man was in the room and she looked at me
in queer. strange way aS / upset the ar
rangements she had perfected. Bender did
not look inte the room for two or three
minutes, and then retired without speak
ing. A minute later he passed around the
house and entered the kitchen by the back
door. While could not see him, heard
him and the woman whispering together,
and | caught the words as spoken by her
4 tell you he old it himself
RIGHT ONTO THEIR GAME.
81 could not catch a WORD from him, and
directly he went out and she care in with
the rest of the eatables. Her face was flush
ed and her manner very nervous. She put
on plate or bl cad and platter OF meat and
then went out for the coffee. As she set
the cup and saucer on the board she partly
upset the cup and spilled half the contents
on the table. Excuse me, I'm sorry.' she
said. as showed back to keep the hot liquid
from dripping on my legs. Never mind, no
harm done l replied. 1T was so careless
of me. You had better change your seat to
the end while sop 1t up oh, don't mind.
Pm not hungry, and shall eat but few
| mOuthfuls anyway. lfOrget to tell you that
preferred water to Coffee .But-you-
yOu'-'Pm all right She gave me one of the
queerest looks | ever got, first flushing up
| End then turning pale. SpilIing that coffee
was a put up Job to get my back to the kitch.
| en- door. l suspected IL then. A few mo-
| ments later had plenty OF horrible proofs.
IN SUSPENSE.
Before the meat was finished, Bender
| looked in from the kitchen door and drew
back and when l showed away and entered
the office he was not there and did not show
| up for five minutes. When went to din.
| nsr, q dOuble-barrelled shotgun stood in a
corner of the Office. When came out 1t was
gone. The old man came in after awhile
and 1t was easy to SEE that he had to force
| himself to converse. l paid him for the meal
and was ready to go. 1t was lonely road
l bad to travel, with no other house fol
miles, and 1t suddenly struck me that the
younger man had gone on to lie in ambush
and shoot mo in case l escaped assassina
ton at the house. For minute or two
quite lost my sand, and you can judge what
/ u relief II was to see team drive up with
II fhrn fr,t tIn ,Aks s.IA =