News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1886-07-01
PACK PEDDLERS' STORIES,
AN ADVENTURE IN THE HOUSE OF REM
DER, THE NOTED KANSAS MURDERER.


" have been a pack peddler for mo,
than twenty years." said the old man, a
ne Whltted away at his pipe to get i
ailght, and you may suppose i hay
met with some stirring adventures.
have travelled a great deal in Missouri
Kansas, Nebraska and Minnesota anC
for weeks and months l have been OF
the alert, not only to preserve the con
tents OF my pack, but to defend m,
HE My line of trade has been Yankee
notions, with jewelry added. | have
mad with me at one time as much as
81, 900 worth Of gold and silver
watches, ear rings, finger rings. &c.
| have sat on a log beside a highway in
Kansas and sold $400 worth of stock to
three or four men, and l have disposed
OF $50 worth of ladies' iewelrv at a
pioneer cabin which had neither floors
nor partitions.
son two different occasions I ate
dinner at the cabin of old Bender. the
Kansas tiend. On the first occasion the
old man was away, and / saw only two
women about the place Six months
later, when | called again, it was about
II O'Clock in the forenoon. Then saw
oId Bender for the first time. l have
heard him described as a pleasant-faced
otd man whom no one would suspect.
ott tell you the very frst look at him
put me ON my guard. For the first
time In year | felt that nv life was in
danger. The same two slatternly wo-
men were about the house, and there
was young man whom / took to be
ola Bender's son. This young man dis
appeared soon after l arrived, but
whether he hid in the house or rode off
across the prairie l never knew. Ben
der's women purchased about 81 worth
OF notions, and the old man dickered
with me for an hour over a gold watch.
1t seems that he had but a small stock
OF cash, but he offered me personal pro-
perty In exchange. He had three or
tour silver watches. all of which had
been carried, two or three revoIvers.
two bosom pins, made of humps of pure
gold, and three or four pairs of valuable
cuff buttons. We had nearly effected
an exchange when he suddenly decided
to leave the matter open until after
dinner,
Months afterward, when the dis
coveries of his crimes came out. I
thought the matter over, and could re
member just how nicely he played me-
Without seeming to interrogate me for
information, he asked how long a trip
L had made, what success | had met
with, who | was, where l lived, and
whom 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 had a curiosity to know
beforehand what the harvest would be.
While told you that / did not like his
looks, and that l had a creepy feeling
IN his presence, I had no idea of an at
tempt to murder by daylight and in the
manner he was planning for. / had a
trusty revolver and had the courage to
defend myself. Had | met him out on
the prairie, or had we been logging to-
gether along some lonely highway, /
should have been prepared to pull nv
pistol at his first movement.
Dinner was announced soon after 10
O'Clock. I took my pack with me into
the dining room, where I 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 tav-
ern, you know, and travellers had this
front room. The next room back was
the dining room and family room COM
bined. There was bedroom leading
off. On the walls of this family room
were few old-fashioned prints in old
fashioned frames, a shelf on which
stood clock, and few scant evidences
OF women's presence. The back room
was the kitchen.
had my eyes wide open when en-
tered that dinIng room, and the very
hrst thing noticed was that the table
was set lengthwise of the room, and
that my chair and plate had been so
placed that my back would be toward
the kitchen door; which was not over
five or SIX feet away. Had it been at
the other end my back would have been
toward the Office door. The first move
l made was to turn the chair around to
the side and sit down. | now faced the
bedroom door, and had the other doors
to my right 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 arrangements she had perfected.
Bender did not look into the room for
two or three minutes, and then retired
without speaking. A minute later he
passed around the house and entered
the kitchen by the back door. While l
could not see him, l heard him and the
woman whispering together, and l
caugat the words as spoken by her:
I" l tell you he did it himself'
81 could not catch a word from him,
and directly he went out and she came
in with the rest of the eatables. Her
face was flushed and her manner very
nervous. She put on a plate of bread
and platter of meat, and then went
out for the coffee. AS she set the cup
and saucer on the board she partly up
set the cup and spilled half the contents
on the table.
Excuse me-Tm sorry she said.
as showed back to keep the hot liquid
from dripping on my legs.
"' Never mind-no harm done, | re-
piled. /
" 1t was SO careless of me. You had