OCR Text |
Show "OLD MAN BENDER." His Description, Circumstances of His Arrest, and. Chances of His Being the Kansas Blurderer. There will necessarily be much discussion over the all-absorbing subject sub-ject of the present Btreet talk about Beuder. Is this the identical Bender of Kansas notoriety who is now confined con-fined in the city jail, or is it some other unfortunate whose lines have fallen into unpleasant places'? The universal judgment that ho is the actual ac-tual Bender of Kansas proves nothing at all against the prisoner; for that judgment is evidently based more upon the conclusion that Bender, of Kansas, should bj caught, than by any evidence yet produced that the man in the city jail is tho identical Bender. One thing is clear, however, in this excitement, that tho person now in prison is a singularity, and if he is not the Kansas murderer, lie is at least somebody whom tbe police are justified in looking after. To those who have seen him at tbo city jail and nearly everybody has seen him the following description of the veritable verit-able Bender will be interesting: ''Old man Bender is 55 to 60 vcars of age, about five feet seven inencs iu height, round shouldered, dark com-plexioncd, com-plexioncd, has heavy beard cut short, hair long and dark mixed with grey, heavy eye lashes, sharp nose, bauds spare with prominent cords on tbe bicks, gait slow and sluggish, weight 140 to 150 pounds. He had a sleepy, down-cast look, and was grim and surly in his deportment. His voice seems to come rather from the breast than the mouth. He speaks English in a very broken manner, his native tongue being low Dutch. This is the public and oflicial description de-scription and advertisement of the notorious Bender. It may be accurate, accur-ate, and it may not, for every reflecting reflect-ing person knows the difficulty of describing very exactly persons from memory. There are, however, general gen-eral poiuts of resemblance that can always be recalled, and with the exception ex-ception of the complexion reported dark, the person now iu jail answers exactly to the whole description. We have seen in Ha 'V '' Weekly, Juno 7, 1S73, a representation of Binder, at the time of the occurrence of those atrocious murders; but unless un-less we bad perfect assurance of the fact, we should never imagine that Bender ever sat for his portrait. The poitrait in the Harper's, therefore, cannot be accepted as an infallible fac simi(- yet, we suppose some artist bad traced his lineaments from general report, hence tho matter of indifference on the complexion goes for very little. In every essential r.urtnlar Ikon nsNnn nmv in prison in this city answers to the Bender called for by tbe authorities of Kansas. Confirmatory of the general bupropion bu-propion from description quoted that the prisoner is 'he veritable Bender, there must also bo considered ; tho peculiar condition and situation situa-tion in which he was arrest id. He was found in Sevier county, a hundred and fifty miles from here, not only an utter stranger, but destitute desti-tute of every means of exist ence. He had a bundle of rags on his back and five cents in his pocket, There can be no stranger, for -any length of time, in that sparsely settlec country. In a radius of a hundred miles, everybody knows his neighbor, and if by chance an unknown figure .3 dropped down into the valley, he is as certain to be a subject of remark as a 1 hail Btorm nV,July and August. This man, now a prisoner, was found in this unlooked for and awkward way. Where did he come from aud what his business ? aro natural ques-1 ques-1 tiOus. He is reticent, can say noth- ipg with his tongue, but manages by dint of terrible exertion and perseverance, perse-verance, to let out that he came from the east and over the mountains. But why came he over the mountains J from the east ? Had he youth it might have been argued that he was a prospector in distress, and that much, ilimsy enough of itself, migb t have aided him for a time. He is too old for that rule, that is evident, then what? Had the prisoner been found between be-tween any of the corporate cities of tho east or west, there might be a showing (or vagrancy in passing from one populated city to another, but when there are 500 miles, and from that to 1,000 miles intervening, from a civilized populated country, where a stranger came from to the place where he was found, enquiry is justified. justi-fied. It is also remarkable in this prisoner prison-er that he is not disconcerted by h is incarceration. He evidently feels that he is where be expected to be. He makes no remonstrance and bears it all very patiently. He has had the appearance of being, not "silly," but soft, when a score or two of persons are gazing at him like a caged bear, lion or tiger; but when he sits for a likeness, as be did on Thursday for both Savage and Carter, in this city, he loses all tbe silly childishness and sits with a composure and piercing steady eye of a man that can bo resolute reso-lute even to daring deeds, He answers an-swers fully, entirely, to tho description descrip-tion of that atrocious murderer, Bender; Ben-der; yet, with all these points and facts against him, if an innocent man, we hope to see him in the enjoyment en-joyment of his liberty. Thejailei reported yesterday that he wa3 evidently weakening wc hope that he will soon mako a clean breast of the past. |