Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1886-07-22
A MARROW ESCAPE.

A NARROW ESCAPE.
Fack-Peidlsr's Adventure In tho House
Of Bender. the Western Marderer.
ION two different occasions I ate
dinner at the cabin of old Bender, tho
Kansas fiend." said a pack-peddler to .
reporter. ''On the first occasion the
old man was away and saw only two
women about the place. Six months
later, when l called again. twas about
eleven o'clock in the forenoon. Then
saw old Bender for the first time. I
have heard him described as a pleasant
faced old man whom no one would
suspect. but. 1 tell you, the very first
look at him put me on my guard. For
the hrst time in a year 1 felt that nv
lie was in danger. The same two slat-
ternly women were about the house.
ana there was a young man whom l
took to be old Bender's son. This
young man disappeared soon after l
arrived, but whether he hid in the
house or rode Off across the prairie 1
never knew Bcnder's women pur-
chased about two dollars worth of no.
tons, and the old man dickered with
ME for an hour over gold watch. 1t
seems he had but 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 revolvers, 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. l took my pack 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 a 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 of. On
the walls of this family room were a
few old-fashioned prints in old-fash-
toned frames; shelf on which stood a
clock and a few scant evidences of
women's presence. The back room
was the kitchen.
IL had my eyes wide open when I
entered that dining-room. and the very
first thing l 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 ut
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
woman was in the room and she looked
at me in a queer, strange way IS l 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 l could not see him,
heard him and the woman whispering
together, and 1 caught the words Al
spoken by her:
"'I tell You he did it himself
IL could not catch word from him, |
md directly he went out and she came |
n with the rest of the eatables. Her |
lace was flushed and her manner very
nervous. She put on plate of bread
md platter of meat and then went
,ut for the coffee. As she set the cup
md saucer on tn, board she partly up
yet the cup and spilled half the con- ]
:ants on the table.
"sExcuse me-Im sorry,' she said,
Is showed back to keep the hot liquid
rom dripping on my legs.
'..Never mind-no harm donc,' I
eplied.
"'It was so careless of me. You had
While sop it up
80, don't mind. I'm not hungry
md shall eat but few mouthfuls any
way. forgot to tell you that ! pre-
erred water to coffee.
''She gave me one of the queerest
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 l suspected it then; a
ew 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
e was not there and did not show up
or five minutes. When I went to din
Ter double barrelled shotgun stood
q . corner of the Office. When /
ane out it was gone. The old man
anne in after awhile, and it was easy
0 see that he had to force himself to
l paid him for the meal
nd was ready to go. 1t was lonely
Dad had to travel, with no other
ouse for miles. and it suddenly struck
he that the younger man had gone on
D lie in ambush and shoot me in case 1
scaped assassination at the house. For
minute or two quite lost my sand.
nd you can judge what 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, and
n, d;1x, rr.,vo mo a 1sft nv u,v ~vev