The Topeka state journal., 1911-08-05
Their Plan of Murder.


tion for the occasional stories of her
seances.
Their Plan of Murder.
you probably have heard the state
ment so frequently repeated, that the
Benders placed their victim in a chair
in such a manner that their heads
touched a curtain that formed a par
tition in their house and that the blow
of a hammer from behinG the curtain
did the work. The curtain being on a
row of studding which had never been
1athed or plastered. 1 had the best op-
portunity to judge of that for I was
one of those who first entered the
house after their flight aud while such
a plan might easily have been used I
found no actual evidences OF it. The
presence of the studding made it al
most i'm possible to strike from behind
the curtain-the upright timbers were
in the way
q believe they killed their victims
anywhere and at any time they found
an opportunity-alw always within the
house, of course, but just as circum-
stances dictated. You must remem-
Der that at that time the country was
so new and so thinly populated that
they could count on few interruptions
in their business. Their house was out
of sight of my own but / lived nearest
them. One incident I recall strength
ems my belief contrary to the curtain
theory.
The Deadly Hammer.
lone of the men who took part in
the investigation of the murder farm
told of his visit to the place when, he
believed, he had escaped death only
because the Benders learned that he
lived not far away. He had recently
settled a few miles further west and,
on the first occasion that his stock of
provisions ran low, he had concluded
to go to the Benders store to see if he
might replenish his larder there. Ty
ing his horse before the house he en-
tered and took a seat on a keg which
occupied the center of the front room.
At one corner was the little counter
behind which the scanty stock of goods
was stored. He looked over this stock
from his seat on the keg and talked
with Mrs. Bender who was waiting on
him.
presently the old man emerged
from behind the curtain which screen
ed the back part of the place. Bender
carried hammer such as q. blacksmith
uses and as he came in he looked the
customer over and inquire abruptly:
Where did you come trom?'
He was apparently not satisfied
with my friends reply for. a few min
utes later he asked, again:
g Where did you say you live?' And
for the third time Bender asked a SIM
1
place. He was afterWard confident
that, had he told Bender that he was a
stranger in the country he would have
received a blow from the hammer. of
which he took little notice at the time
for he supposed it was carried for the
purpose of opening a box
mo. The Benders didn't take the
trouble to place their victims against
the curtain in the dirty little back
room where they cooked and ate. for
there was no occasion to. They did
not keep a hotel as has so often been
asserted and such a. proceeding could
hardly have failed to appear mystic
rious and sooner or later arouse sus-
picion on the part of some intended
victim.
In the floor of the back room was
the trap door which has become his
toric. It was square and filed the
width between two joists. The door
fitted snugly in the floor as we after
ward found and was supported by
strips nailed to the joists below. We
had to pry to force it oren. A stain
of blood on one of these strips was one