The San Francisco call., 1897-08-28
SLEW TWO
NOTORIOUS
Blenders
Father and Daughter
Shot Down by a Citi-
ZenS' Posse.
REVEALED BY DYING
CONFESSION.
Clearing of the Mystery Con-
neCted With the Kansas
MurdererS.
THIRTY PERSONS KILLED IN
THEIR DEN.
When the Pursuers Overlook the
Fleeing Family They Spared
Only Mrs. Bender.
Clearing of the Mystery Con-
neCted With the Kansas
MurdererS.
THIRTY PERSONS KILLED IN
THEIR DEN.
When the Pursuers Overlook the
Fleeing Family They Spared
Only Mrs. Bender.

w lCd liza, MANS, aug. ZI-AnOLEet
chapter has just been added 10 the grew
some story of the Bender family, whose
| home in Montgomery County. over twenty
years ago, was the scene of upward of
| thirty murders, by the deathbed comics
sion of Captain Carroll, who declares that
be was a memb ber of a citizens posse that
| followed the Bender family after their
flight and killed two of them. The fate OF
the Benders has heretofore been yelled in
mystery.
Captain Carroll made the confession two
years ago to W. H. Coon of Denver. and
yesterday Mr.. Coon communicated the
facts for the first time to Judge Webb
OF Atchison. The home of the Benders
was in Montgomery County, not far from
Independence, and travellers passing
through that new country frequently put
up there.
The house was small and an addition
was built. Between the two downstairs
rooms was partition made of thick cloth
tackled to the studding. Along this parli-
zion rude bench was constructed, and
unwary travellers would sit there and rest
their heads against the cloth partition.
Kate Bender. the daughter, in the adJoin-
| ing room, would then take large ak and
strike the stranger terrible blow on the
head. The victim would then be thrown
through trapdoor into a deep hole
dug for the purpose and his pockets
rihed. After taking all the money and
| valuables from the pockets the stranger
would be buried IN the garden.
! The whole family, William Bender, the
father, Mrs. Bender, Kate. the daughter,
and John, the son, were engaged in the
| horrible business of robbery and murder,
and On account of their quiet inoffensiye
appearance the cunning with which they
covered up their tracks and the newness of
| the country, they managed to escape de-
| lection or even suspicion for several years.
| The murder of DR.. York in 1878 was the
crime that led to their undoing. DR.. YORK
stopped there over night while en- route to
the home of his brother, and that was the
last time he was ever seen alive. Owing
TO mis- prominence and the nearness of his
relatives a thorough search was made.
The Benders did not deny that he stopped
there, but claimed that he had travelled
on. Suspicion was directed toward them,
however, and they fed the country the
following night. John Bender was after
ward arrested i'll Texas, but cheated the
gailows by committing suicide.
The citizens of Montgomery County be-
gan to search the Bender premises, and
they found that the yard was full of bodies
in various stages OF decom position, all
with skulls crushed by blows from all ak
and with their throats cut. The whole
county was startled with the revelation,
and the best detectives in the land ex-
hausted every possible means of finding
the fugitives, but only John Bender was
ever captured.
Captain Carroll confessed that band of
citizens sworn to eternal secrecy, followed
the Benders and filed the old man and
Kate full of lead, but let Mrs. Bender go,
with warning never TO return on pain of
death.
He said that Kate and her mother stood
by and stoically watched the men riddle
the body of William Bender with bullets,
and then, when Kate's turn came, she
stepped out like tragedy queen and said:
"Blaze away" She was shot down like a
dog, but when it came to shooting the
mother, the hearts of the posse men failed
them and they allowed her to 20. The
bodies were carefully buried and the
graves concealed.
The township in which the Benders
lived seems to have inherited a curse, for
in addition to lhe Bender murders the
following are among the violent deaths
that have since occurred: John Hallifer
shot and killed his wife and HIMSELF
Wesley Ratliff, com mitted suicide; John
Geafy killed by James Parks. The
Bender farm is tenantless and covered
with weeds, and the house is believed to
be haunted by the ghosts of the Bender
victims.