Show THE 13 BENDEES ENDERS their by the banks of the grand river lout rouis republicans time and again the fate of the bender family hag has been a question warmly in all parts parrot of the west many people maintain that the family were duly killed by the av engers eDgers of dr york whose death first brought to notice the murderous family notwithstanding this every little while cornea comes the report that the benders are still living and have been captured there have been discovered no lc s than different bender famil families iks and a collection of tho newspaper sensations relative to tho the discoveries of ben ders would prove a most interesting literary curiosity the latest be bender 11 sensation was a local one when tho the detectives of this city clapped a guil guileless elass citizen into the upon the statement of a man named green ho ile was discharged from custody a few days afterwards The Tho Benders Benders kept an inn on a lonesome road near labette county kansas tho the road passed through tho the middle of a prairie six miles from and at the inn travelers often stopped to get lodgings for the night travelers stopping there supposed to have money were seated d at tho the table and while they were taking their meals a curtain which was suspended behind them showed the position of their heads A blow with tho the head of an axe from behind tho the curtain would stun or finish them the bodies were lowered into a cellar underneath through a trapdoor trap door where tho the pockets would bo be rifled of money and valuables and tho the bodies were buried in a hole dug in the lot in the rear of thia this hospitable tavern the disappearance anca of dr york led disappearance disappear to the discovery is covery of these terrible crimes crimes and tho the sudden departure of the bender family many statements of the manner in which the benders met their retribution trib ution have been made but the circumstances of the affair have for a long time been enveloped in mystery A new version of the fate of tho the benders sets the matter beyond all doubt the following statement b by y cap tain J It eeves rho was first lieutenant of captain burrows battery united states volunteers aind who was wits living at Ind epen dence kansas at the time the ben der family were detected as the murderers in u rd ebers of dr york and an d others ot h ers was given to colonel D W mear of this city who furnished it to the republic Kepul lican according to captain reeves statement dr york lived at independence kansas and went rent from independence to fort scott to isell a house and lot at that place he negotiated the sale buethe but the purchaser did not pay any money down york started et for hia ilia home in independence pen dence and was met and lecog reco nihed at parsons kansas where lie purchased some ci cigars ars he ile was next met on the roan road from parsons to benders and was recognized by three or four parties but he lie could never be t traced raced b beyond yond benders dr yorks wife being indisposed her husbands return was expected that night his ilis brother col york aware of tho the delicate condition of his brothers wife started out after him and the first trail lie struck was at parsons where he learned that the doctor had gone through parsons on his way homo home the day lay before from this place lie set out on tho the trail and heard of his brother three or four times between parsons and the bender pace col york stopped topped at the bender place and inquired for liis his broth brot ertho herthe doctor the benders denied that ho lie had eyer been there col york then went to independence montgomery county kits Ka aasand sand and got Sheriff Stone they both col york and sheriff stone made a visit to the benders on arriving there they had a conversation with john jolin bender and the information they got from him was unsatisfactory but ut enough was obtained to arauso their suspicions colonel york and sheriff stone then returned to independence and raised a pa party arty of of i men ne n they started out to ben benders d er tl the v very ry next morning and when tho the party arrived at tho the place it was discovered that the family had all de camped the they then hunted around tho the house an and finally prosecuted prosecuted their search in the earslen gar garden Slen where they found that the ground had bad recently been dis on oil hemovi removing ng tho the surface soil they found t the lie body of dr york and others who had been murdered buried in these crude graves iiona wright and S S peterson U S deputy marshal at that time followed the wag wagon on track across the open prairie to thayer ka which is about twelve mils distant from the bender lious 11 there they found the benders wagon and horses which they had abandoned abandon cd they there learned that the benders had taken the train on the L J L G railroad for the north the pur pursuing in c party telegraphed the cou conductor act r of the train and lie telegraphed back that the benders bende had stopped at chinette Chi nutte or new chicago they next telegraphed tho the ticket agent at chicago or Chi chinette nutte lie ile answered that ho lie had sold the ben ders tickets to kas which is just two miles from the th cherokee Cherok co line wright and peterson after obtaining teis this valuable information mounted their horses and rojo rode rapidly back to tho the bender place where t they ati found col york and sheriff stone nc the four men at once procured cured fresh horses and start started procured cro in in all haste baste for at they again procured fresh horse horses and started anew for chelo pa only dizA distant tant eight milea then they ascertained that the benders had taken a team and wagon which was awaiting them there and had gone in a southeasterly direction towards the grand mier in the indian nation chetona is about thirty milea miles aiom the grand granshi river Hi vcr when the pursuing party reached cached they were only about three miles behind the benders Ben dors they pur pushed hed rapidly ahead alica dand and the four men came up with the fugitives four miles from front lie grand grant river and there without further ceremony the benders met the retribution duo due their cr crimea inies they were all shot to death and the bones of old man mail bender liia his wife john and kate lie there in a holo bolo dug in the ground where they remain at chii day sir mr wright is now living in iowa and Peters is a resident of independence kansas kansis about a year after the terrible occurred colonel wear visited the spot tho the house home had bad disappeared ared anda few stones forming the underpinning and a hollow space which was wis the cellar willi with here and thero there an excavation in the rear where the murd murdered cred victim victims had been buried were the e only signs to be seen of the monstrous crimes perpetrated by t the lie benders who in their turn met with a swift punishment and find a j just us t retribution |