The Topeka state journal., 1897-04-28

yellow hair like cornsiIk streaming
from it. the boys gave a yell and we all
ran out to where those four fiends lay
roped Two of the cowboys begged me
u was the leader-to let them burn
the whole Bender outfit after they had
tied them to wagon wheels. / never
saw a man act so insanely as that COW
puncher they called Coyote Billy. I'll
swear they had to take his six-shooter
off him, and I hope l may never see
another sun if he didn't get down on
his knees and beg me to have those
devils burned He was crying, that
cowboy was, and he stirred the crowd
up like a prairie fire.
. But I told them all that only q dogs
death would do for that gang. No vast
ing of honest fuel Hang them one by
one and let each see the other die. The
old man weakened some end he swOre
John did all the killing and that he was
afraid John would kill him if he told any
wouldn't say word John asserted the
old put him up to it all and Kate sat
up against log in the yard gagged and
tied her eyes swapping like wild cat 8
We loaded them into the wagons late in
girls river 1t Is 2 little stream that runs
through the country between CherryYale
and 1ndependence- II mad been a dry
summer and the river, or what you would
call a creek in the east was nearly dry.
Here and there in the river bed were lit
tie pools OF water with plenty of dry
spaces along the river bed. We had
brought the Benders out and sat them
the bank of the river until the moon
came out
LYNCHING THE BENDERS.
g The moon ca4ae out and hickered
down through the cottonwoods. and I re-
member now I heard q whippoorwiH III
a nice. spacious grave there in the sand,
and the Benders watched them while
hard work and the boys made a sort Of
trench of it. and they dug it pretty deep.
man. We put lasso around his neck
and swung one end Of it over a cOttOn-
wood limb. and then put him on his feet
wagon along until he fell off the back of
it-had the tail gate down, you know.
His neck wasn't broken by the fall, as
the boys were anxious to give him plenty
of time. Then we strung the old woman
up in the same way, let her teeter around
for about fifteen minutes and brought
her down. The old man and the old wo-
Then we trussed up Kate, sim gag
ged, and the she-devu never dinched We
had been quite a little while doing this.
just dump John tied into the grave with
the others and cover him up gradually.
Most of the boys We're well pleased with
this idea. and the cowboy. when 7 ve-
toed it, went along by the back of the
wagon and eased the last Bender down.
In about two seconds he cut the rope
with his knife aud hoIlered. Hes dead.
boys. So We took them all down to the
Verdigris and dumped them into the
trench. They were all tied hand and
whether Johns neck was chafed any by
the rope or not: and | reckon he was
ed the sand in on him. but when I think
of that young one with the hair like
corn-silk I don't lose any sleep over John.
The rains in the next two days washed
down and covered the tracks made by
the men on the river bed
- Talk about the Benders getting
a-way. It's a lie, and black one. Their
bones are rotting under the sands of the
Verdigris, and am one of score that
know it. Talk about Leroy T. Dick, that
Kansas sheriff going to Kansas City and
Identifying a job lot of bogus Benders!
How about some of the old residenters in
that neck of woods who knew the Ben
ders? Leroy Dick knew the real Benders.
How about Leroy's father, Billy Dick,
didn't he live in that section? Mind you,
I amt saying a word against anyone. I
l neIPea u, Iynch that Z crowd. by p9t 1 didn
Of the cowboys. They've both gone over
the divide since; one by the whisky, the
other by the pistol route. But the Ben
ders, are rotting under, those Kansas
sands, and if anyone tells you they got
away he's been .locoed;" he's crazy
That's the way the old man told me
said the Kansan, as he lighted a fresh
cigar.