Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1908-08-06
BENDER FAM|LY'SFATE
One of Posse Who Killed Them
Told the Story.
SECRET KEPT MANY YEARS.
George e. Downer on His Deathbed
Declared Father, Mother, Son and
Daughter Were Shot Down by visi-
Iantes After Hot Pursuit.

memory fed thirty-five years ago from
their blood reeking shanty on a Kan
sas prairie, their disappearance was as
absolute as IL they had been swallowed
by an earthquake. Time and again ru-
mors of how they escaped to foreign
countries or that a sheriff and a United
States marshal had annihilated them
were circulated and discredited. Their
fate was recently revealed for the first
time by a man sick unto death. who
for over thirty years lived the life of a
respected and honored business man in
Chicago suburb.
The man who told the wonderful
story gave nothing from hearsay, moth
ing from rumor or reasoning" but his
was the recital of an eyewitness, of
man who watched the fiends, who
helped to organize the posse which
pursued the iendish murderers and
was present, gun in hand, until Kate
Bender, fighting to the last, plunged,
with bullet in her forehead, across
the bodies of her mother, father and
brother
George Evans Downer of Downer's
Grove, grandson of Pierce Downer,
who founded the settlement in 1923,
told the story, fully believing he was
on his deathbed and that it was his
duty to publish the truth to the world,
says correspondent of the Chicago.
Tribune. A compact entered into
by the members of the vigilance com
mlttee at the time kept his lips sealed
all these years, but realization of the
fact that If he did not speak the truth
might never be known induced him to
tell how he assisted in the eXtermina-
ton of the fiendish family.
Mr.. Downer lived at Independence,
Kan, during the bloody reign of the
Benders. He personally visited the
Bender farm on the road between
Usage, Mo-, and Independence. He
went several times in an effort to gain
clew to the mysterious disappear
ances from that neighborhood. 1t will
be remembered the Benders fed after
the murder of DR.. York. 1t has al
ways been supposed the butchers got
clear out of the country. AS a mat
ter of fact, as Mr.. Downer revealed
for the first time, the Benders were
put to death the night of their fight
Downer, whose visits to the Bender
place had convinced him that the Ben
ders were guilty of monstrous crimes,
associated himself with four other men
in an effort to capture the human
butchers. They had no idea of inflict-
ing summary justice themselves. They
planned to capture the Benders and
turn them over to the legal authorities.
They discovered that the Benders had
fed and took up the trail only few
hours Later. From this point Downer's
story Is told Just as he glsped it with
dying breath to his wife and son. He
said:
THE night was dark, and we feared
that they might escape US, but our
luck was good. We sighted them rae
ing as fast as they could over the
prairie and shouted to them. The
moon had risen, but frequently was OBJ
scured by heavy clouds, and the riding
was anything but good. AS soon as
we shouted they opened fire on US, and
this determined our course.
There was now no question of tax
ing them prisoners or giving them a
trial. There was only one thing to do.
and, though 1t has troubled me all my
life, l couldn't see how I could have
acted differently
I'VE set our horses going at break
neck speed, and the bullets flew fast
from both sides. The bad light and
the rough going over the hilly prairie
made aiming almost impossible, but
we were ovcrtaking them rapidly
when shot from the wagon struck
one of our party, killing him instantly
Then the older Bender. who was firing
from the back of the wagon. pitched
out on the prairie dead, and John, his
son, jumped and ran. He was shot
before he had run hundred feet from
the wagon.
Kate had been driving, but at this
she stopped the wagon short, sprang
out, cut one of the horses loose, the
one said to have been given her by her
wooer, and sped away on it. One of
our party shot her horse under her. 1t
rolled over on her, and before she could
extract herself we overlook her
I'VE dismounted and went toward
her, expecting to help her and with no
thought of trouble. But, my how she
did fight, She fought tooth and nail
like n tlgress, and we had to handle
her like u bucking broncho At last
she was firmly tied, hand and foot,
and thrown over the front of n saddle
Inv ono Of the mon
when we got back to the Bender
wagon we found that the old woman
within had been killed by n bullet.
The old man and John We're dead, ana
we found our poor comrade stark dead
on the prairie, guarded by his faithful
horse, who stood over him like senti-
mel.
"Kate, whose bands had been partly
loosened, calmly admitted that they
had killed DR.. York and many others,
burying their bodies In the orchard.
we asked her why she had done 1t,
asking why some of the people who
were known to have no money had
been killed.
az liked to see the blood come she
answered
''As she talked thought of the time
sat at her invitation on that fatal
bench, and the goose flesh came all
over me. The others were as absorbed
II. 1,-