Year: 1873

where it was allowed to remain until
night came. 1t was then taken out and
buried without attracting attention. ALI
the bodies were marked in the same
manner, except that of q little girl who
had accompanied her father, and who is
supposed to have been thrown into the
grave alive, as her body shows no marks
of violence. The spoils of the Bender
family, engaged in this traffic in human
lives, must have been small, as none of
the murdered travellers are known to
have had any considerable money with
them. It is supposed, howeevr, that
the Benders had confederates posted
along the road to inform them of favor
able opportunities, and many arrests
have already been made. The Bender
family, the two women and two men,
escaped, and have not yet been appre-
hended. The detective, Beers, had
tracked them to st. Louis at last ac-
counts, and it is not probable that they
will be harbored in any quarter of the
globe.


[From the Kansas City Times.l


The devils kitchen, otherwise the
Bender house, is q small, rude frame
shanty, without lath or plaster or inter
vening substance between its floor and
the rafters of the pointed roof. In size
it is 16x24 feet. Small uprights 2x4
inches are set to mark the house into
two compartments, but no wall had ever
been made other than q white cotton
cloth hung in the rear apartment and
against these uprights. The front
apartment had in it counter, over
which the butchers once pretended to
sell groceries. In the rear room was q
rude bed, table, a stove, and three
chairs.


The table, to which the guests of the
fends were seated, was placed directly
over the trap-door, SO that the guests
back was to and against thewhite curtain.
In this position it was an easy thing for
the male villains in the front apartment
to strike the form clearly lined and rest
ing against the white cloth, and when
the blows of the sledge and the hammer
had knocked the victim, with crushed
and broken skull, senseless and helpless
| to the floor, for the female fiends in the
back room to cut the throat. The exc
cution was as simple as it was dreadful,
| but, though it would seem resistance to
such weh-planned murder of the trust
ing and unsuspecting was impossible,
the walls gave silent evidence that some
of the murdered ones had not been sent
to their doom without an effort to defend
their lives. No less than dozen bull
let holes in the sides and roof of the
house attest that armed men, when
struck down so relentlessly, had attempt
ed to shoot their murderers, but, un-
fortunately, the aims had been wild,
and the murderers are reserved for the
hempen halter.


| One of the most marvellous stories
ever heard, but which is vouched for by
reliable men, is the following: One
evening about three months ago, poor
woman, footsore and weary, travelling to
Independence, without money, stopped
at the Bender den and asked for some
supper, and for the privilege of resting
awhile. She was invited in, and being
nearly exhausted she took her shoes and
scanty wrappings off and lay down on
the bed in the back room. She soon fell
into troubled doze, from which she was
awakened by the touch of the old hag of
the den, who, pointing to an array of
pistols and double-edged knives, of vari-
GUS sizes, lying ON the table, said ia the
spirit of hellish maignity: There,
your supper is ready" The woman was
motionless and breathless with terror,
and as she sank back on the bed, the
devil dame picked up the knives one by
one and drew her finger along the sharp
ened blades, at the same time glancing
fiendishly at her intended victim. How
long this terror lasted the woman could
not tell, but at last she, in the very des-
peration of fear, arose as though not
alarmed, and made private excuse fo1
going out. She was permitted to do SO,
and moving around to the shelter of the
stable, barefooted and scarce half-clad,
she darted off on the wings of fear, and
ran two miles to the house of one who
protected her and gave her shelter. As
she was running away, she turned fire.
quently to see if she was pursued, but
no one followed her, though she saw the
light from the opened doorway severa
times, as though the devils inside were
awaiting her return.