The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-01-12


and, with cheer, the vigilantes then pusheu
| the slender body of the wretch off the bank.
The old man fell so heavily that the beam
broke and his body rolled into the bed OF
the creek. When the larat was cut from
his neck Kelley declared that his neck was
broken, and begged to be permitted TO die
where he lay His captors, however, were
well acquainted with the old mans tricks,
and they only laughed at his cries.
Hustling the wretch into a saddle the party
rode on 10 the southwark until they reached
a tributary of the Canadian river, where a
| scrub cottonwood tree was found about MD
night. While on the way efforts were made
to extort a confession, but to all the old man
| returned the same answer-that he was
guilty of no crime. When not bemoaning
the fate of his family, he heapeG curses upon
his captors His rage knewno bounds when
he was told his son had been dragged to
death.
God will kill every one Of you damna-
BILE bloOdhouuds.n he shouted in passion.
A fire was built under the branches of the
| tree, and when all was ready larlat was
again placed around the old mans neck.
Before he was pulled up he was adm IL
! ished that he would not be granted another
opportunity to tell what he knew about the
murders at his hotel. For a moment the
old man was silent, and then in the glare OF
the fire the gray-haired monster turned his
! SdllOW lace upon MS tCCuSeES ana Stll.
I'll tell you the truth, so help me God!
We did some killing up at the place. pre-
sumo we got away with a dozen altogether.
To the best Of my recollection there were
| ten men and two women. Jen killed the
first one. He was a Stockmau named John
son from the Pan Handle He came up the
trail in May and asked for lodging. Jen set
up with him until midnight when they
went to a room together. Some time in the
! nil bf ha eli nd In
morning we found, on going over his pa
papers. that the feller's name was Johnson.
We buried him in the EgglestOn claim.
After that we did a good deal of
killing. Bill made the trap door in
the eating room along last sum
mer. Jen waited on the table and saw that
the stranger sat on the trap. When all was
ready the gal would hit the floor with a
broom, and then Bill, who was waiting in
the cellar, would pull the bolt and hit the
man with an AK. We always divided the
money we got this way. Sometimes we
struck it rich but it was more than often
that we didn't. The two gals we killed
came with a Teller from the Indian country.
Jen killed the gals when they were asleep,
and Bill and the old woman finished the Teller
with the trap and the ak. One of the gals
had $3.50 sowed up in one of her skirts. We
bought some cattle with this money and put
them on the ranch. One day about Nov. Is,
a young man came to the house for lodging.
Jen showed him to bed and came back and
told us he had money and a gold watch.
When we thought he was asleep Jen took a
knife and went up to the room to get away
| with him. just as she was going at the
work the fellow woke up and jumped
through the window. We all got afraid
the Teller would talk when he got to the
settlement, so we cleared out the next morn
ing. | don't know the name of the man you
found in the cellar. The old woman and
Bill got away with him while l was herding
some cattle. That was in the last of
September and | never saw the
man before or after he was done up. We
came to the Territory (No Mans Land
year ago. / don't care about saying where
we came from for that is not here nor
there. We never did any killing before,
and III swear to God, strangers, | never
lid any of The work in my life Jen was
heliiOn all her life, and she and Bill and the
Old woman couldn't keep their hands off a
stranger. / was born in Pennsylvania
Mauch Chunk. think l came West with
my family sixteen years ago, and have been
herding round since L amt got no prayers
to say, because never believed in God nor
anybody else l knew this thing would
come sooner or later, and now that she's
come am going to go like the rest of them.
Ii you'll shake hands all round I'll go off
| WiiuOuU d NIllIlDcI, anu IL you IL give lie
my gun and ten minutes start I'll promise
to give you all as good fight as any man
| living"
When the old man had stopped speaking
the lariat was drawn taut, and then with a
merry He, high, ho' the vigilantes jerked
the wretch up and left him hanging beside
the fire The next day the posse set out for
their homes, passing the deserted dug-out
on the way. The bodies of Jennie and the
old woman had been so badly mutilated by
buzzards and wild beasts as to be almost
unacceptable. Neither wore any jewelry.
The dug-out which had been hurTiedl,- con-
structed, contained nothing of value Two
Winchester rifles, brace of triggerless
six-shooters, and a knife were all that the
vigllanteS considered worth carrying away.
The vigilante who was shot in the shoulder
while smoking" the hut accompanied the
posse through the trip, but when the men
reached Oak City to-day he was SO bad that
it is thought he cannot live.
No Mans Land, the Territory in which
the Kelleys carried on their system Of muir
der and robbery, is strip of country just
north of the Pan Handle. 1t is bounded by
Texas, Kans s, New Mexico, Colorado and
Indian Territory, but belongs to neither
The strip Of land is government property,
and is properly called mo Mans Land
| Whether the Kelleys were the Bender fam
lily will probably never be known. 1t is
known that all are dead, and that is about
| all the people in this part of the country
| care about knowing.