St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1886-08-14
A MARROW ESCAPE.
a Psek-Peddisr's Adventure In the House
OF Bender, the Western Murderer.


Of Bender, the Western Murderer.
'On two different occasions I at
dinner at the cabin of old Bender, tn
Kansas tiend." said pack.peddler to
reporter. ION the first occasion thj
Old man was away and saw only tn,
WOMEN about the place. Six months
later, when called again, it was abou
eleven O'Clock in the forenoon. Their
| saw old Bender Tor the first time.
have heard him described as a pleasan
faced old man whom no one would
suspect, but. I tell you, the very frs,
look at him put me on my guard. Fol
the first time in year l felt that my
ite was in danger. The same two slat
ttA'nlv Women were about the house
and there was a young man whom
took to be old Bender's Son. Thi:
Young man disappeared soon after
arrived, but whether he hid in the
house or rode of across the prairie
! never knew. Bcnder's women pur
chased about tive dollars Worth of no.
items. and the old man dckered with
me for an hour over gold watch. II
seems he had but 4 small stock of cash,
but he offered me- personal property in
exchange. He had three or four silver
watches. all Of which had been carried,
two or three fevolvers, two bosom pins
made out of Jumps 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.
Dinner was announced soon after
twelve o'clock. 1 took my pack with
me into the dining-foom, where / found
the table set for one. There were three
rooms in the house. The front room
was a general sitting-room and office
combined. Ben1er kept . sort of tavern,
you know, and travellers had this front
room. The next room back Was the
dining room and family room combined.
There was a bedroom leading Off On
the walls of this family room were a
few old-fashioned prints in old-fash-
Toned frames; a shelf on which stood
clock and few scant evidences of
women's presence. The back room
was the kitchen.
Il had my eyes wide open when
entered that dining room, and the very
FIRST 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
live or six feet away. Had it been at
the other end my back would have been
toward the Office door. The first move
| 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
woman was in the room and she looked
at me in queer, strange way as up
set the arrangements she had per-
fected. 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 could not see him,
| heard him and the woman whispering
together. and l caught the words AZ
spoken by her:
L tell you he did it himself
81 could not catch 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 plate of bread
and Il 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 con-
ntS on the table.
'''Excuse me-Tm SORRY she said,
Is l showed back to keep the hot liquid
rom dripping on my legs.
Never mind-no harm DONE l
,eplied.
ut was SO careless of me. You had !
better change your seat to the end
while sop it up /
40, don't mind. I'm not hungry !
md shall eat but few mouthfuls any
way. l forgot to tell YOU that l pre-.
erred water to coffee /
''She gave me one of the queeress
ooks ever got, first flushing up and
hen turning pale. Splitting that coffee
vas put-up job to get my back to the
,itchen door. suspected it then;
cw months later had plenty of horri
lie proofs. Before the meal was fin
she'd old Bender looked in from the
,itchen door and drew back, and when
showed away and entered the office
Re was not there and did not show up
or five minutes. When went to din
Ter double-barrelled shotgun stood
n a corner of the office. When |
a.ne out it was gone. The old man
anne in after awhile, and it was easy
D see that he had to force himself to
onverse. paid him for the mea.
nd was ready to go. 1t was lonely
Dad had to travel, with no Other
ouse for miles. and it suddenly struck
lie that the younger man had gone on
, lie in ambush and shoot me in case
scaped assassination at the house Fol
minute or two quite lost my sand.
nd you can judge what a relief it was
, me to see team drive up with three
len in the vehicle and room for one
lore. They stopped to water the
orseS and chat few moments, anG
.adily gave me lift on. my way
Y. Star.