The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1897-09-11
THE BENDER FAMILY.
A Confession Reveals the Manner Of
Their Death.

The deathbed confession made
by Captain Carroll, of Cripple
Creek, Col, clears up a mystery
that for quarter of a century has
shrouded the fate of the notorious
Bender family, whose wholesale
murders committed in 1928 at
tracted national attention, says the
Cleveland Ohio Plaindealer. The
confession was made at Beatrice,
Neb., three years ago, and Mr.. Coon
kept his secret until recently, when
he related it to Judge w. D. Webb,
late of the Atchison county district
court.
William Bender, his wife and
son. John Bender, and daughter,
Kate Bender, lived in small house
a few miles from Independence,
Kas., where travellers frequently
for food and shelter for the
night. Lodgers were SO numerous
that the family fitted up accomoda
tons for travellers. The little hut
became a regular slaughter pen,
and the number of victims is vari-
ously estimated at from fifteen to
thirty. This system of murder and
was carried on for many
months before any suspicion was
directed against them, as the coun-
try was new and means of COM
munication meager.
One day physician named York,
on his way from the east to visit
his brother, Alexander Nj. York,
who lived in Montgomery county,
stopped with the Blenders over night
When he failed to arrive at bis
brothers house an investigation
was made, and the doctor was
traced to the Bender house, but no
further. Kate Bender, who is cred
tied with being the one who always
dispatched the visitors with an ak,
told the searchers to come the next
evening and she would throw herself
in cataleptic state and tell where
York was. When the searching
party returned for the revelation it
was to find the house deserted.
An investigation of the premises
disclosed the horrible fact that there
was Temporary receptacle for dead
bodies beneath the house, and that
the garden was filled with corpses.
The body of Dir. York was found,
and numerous others, which it was
impossible to identify. What be.
came of the Benders nobody has
ever protested to know, until the
ante mOrtem statement of Capt.
Carroll. :.
He declared that posse of deter:
mined men followed and overlook
the Benders-William, bis wife,
and Kate--twenty-ive miles from
their homes, and first shot the old
man full of holes while Kate Ben
der and her mother looked on un.
moved. Kate Bender was then told
that her time had come, and she
stood unflincbing until several bull
lets had pierced her body, and then
fell dead. Mrs. Bender got away,
and nothing was ever heard of her
afterward. The bodies of the two
Benders were then buried and their
graves concealed. John Bender,
who was arrested in Texas by a
member of the same poss, commit
ted suicide. The posse was com
posed of men sworn to secrecy,
and Captain Carroll is the FIRST one
to tell of the work.
The Bender house was constructed
with a view to facilitating the MUIR
der of such Of the travellers as were
supposed to have money. There
were two rooms down stairs, the
partition between them consisting
of heavy ducking. A wooden bench
was placed across the room at that
point. Any one sitting on the bench
would naturally lean his head
against the partition. The blow
fIom a hammer in the hands of a
person behind the partition crushed
the skull of the victim. After their
throats were cut the bodies were
dumped into the cellar until such
time as they could be buried in
secret in the darkness Of night. A
curse seems to rest on the old Ben
der farm, which, on account Of its
grewsome history, has never been
teuanted.