Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-07-16
A Esc4E.
A P~ack-Peddler's Adventure iAthe House
of Bender. the Western MAderer.

son two different occasions 1 ate
dinner at the cabin of old Bender, the
Kansas tiend," said Il pack-pedller to
reporter. son the first occasion the
old man was away and l saw only two
women about the place. Six months
later, when l called again, it was abou'
eleven o'clock in the forenoon. Then
l saw old Bender for the first time. i
have heard him described as a pleasant
faced old man whom no one woulc
suspect, but, l tell you, the very frs
look athim put me on my guard. Fol
the first time in a year | felt that my
life was in danger. The same two slat
ternly women were about the house
and there was young man whom
took to be old Bender's son Thi:
young man disappeared 500 after ]
arrived, but whether he hid in tho
house or rode off across the prairie
never knew. Bender's women pur
chased about two dollars worth of no
tons, and the old man dickered with
me for an hour over a gold watch. Il
seems he had but a small stock of cash.
but he offered me personal property il
exchange. He had three or four silve
watches. all of which had been carried
two or three revolvers, two bosom pips
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 afterdinner.
DINNER was announced soon after
twelve o'clock. took my pack with
me into the dining-room, where l found
the table set for one. There were three
rooms in the house. The front room
was a 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 familyroom 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 a
clock and a few scnnt evidences of
women's presence. The back room
was the kitchen.
81 had my eyes vide open when I
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
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 aroundIto
the side and sit down. l now faced the
bedroom door. and lad the other doors
to my right and lef5, while therewas
no window behind me. The younger
woman was in the room and she booked
at me in a queer, strange way as 1 up
set the arrangements she had per
fectcd. Bender did not looktinto the
% 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 couldnot see him,
/ heard him and the woman whispering
together, and l caught the words as
spoken by her:
81 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 catables. Her
face was flushed and her manner very
nervous. She put on a plate Of bread
and a platter OF meat and then went
out for the coffee. As she set the cup
and saucer on the board she purity up
set the cup and spilled half the con-
tents on the table.
"'Excuse me-1'm sorry,' she said,
as 1 showed back to keep the hot liquid
from dripping on my legs.
".Never mind-no harm done,' I
replied.
"'1t was SO careless of me. You had
better change your seat to the end
while l sop it up
80, don't mind. I'm not hungry
and shall eat but a few mouthfuls any
way. l forgot to tell you that 1 pre-
ferred water to Coffee
''She gave me one of the %queerest
looks | ever got, first flushing up and
then turning pale. Splitting that coffee
was a put-up job to get my back to the
kitchen door. l suspected it then; a
few months later l had plenty of horri
BILE proofs. Before the meal was fin
ished old Bender looked in from the
kitchen door and drew back, and when
| showed away and entered the office
he was not there and did not show up
for five minutes. When | went to din
ner a double barrelled shotgun stood
in a corner of the office. When I
came out it vas gone. The old man
came in after awhile, and it was easy
to see that he had to force himself to
converse. l paid him for the meal
and was ready to 60. 1t was a lonely
road l had to travel, with no other
house for miles. and i%tsuddenly struck
me that the younger man had gone on
to lie in ambush and shoot me in case |
escaped assassination at the house. For
a minute or two l quite lost my sand,
and you can Judge what a relief it was
to me to see a team drive up with three
men in the vehicle and room for one
more. They stopped to water the
horses and chat a few moments, and
readily gave me a lift on my way
N. Y. Star.
Saved by a Proof-Reader's Error.