1908 newspaper w Eyewitness account of the BLOODY BENDERS Kansas SERIAL KILLERS

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1908 newspaper w Eyewitness account of the BLOODY BENDERS Kansas SERIAL KILLERS
1908 newspaper with an Eyewitness account of the Kansas SERIAL KILLERS - THE "BLOODY BENDERS"
- inv # 7O-233
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SEE PHOTO(s) - COMPLETE ORIGINAL NEWSPAPER, the
Burlington Republican
(Burlington, KIT CARSON COUNTY, Colorado) dated  Aug 7, 1908. This rare early original Burlington, CO newspaper contains prominent front page "stacked" headings: "BENDER  FAMILY'S FATE / One of Posse Who Killed Them Told The Story / SECRET KEPT MANY YEARS..." Long (2 columns of text), detailed eyewitness deathbed confession is made of the fate of the
"BLOODY BENDERS" family of Kansas serial killers
.
The Bloody Benders, also known as the Bender Family, were a family of serial killers who lived and operated in Labette County, Kansas, from May 1871 to December 1872. The family consisted of John Bender and his wife, Elvira, their son, John Jr., and daughter, Kate. While Bender mythology holds that John Jr. and Kate were siblings, contemporary newspapers reported that several of the Benders' neighbors had stated that they claimed to be married, possibly a common law marriage.
In the 19th century, Kansas was a bloody place, especially before the Civil War as “Free-Soilers ” and slavery advocates “duked” it out for control of the new territory. Once Kansas declared itself with the Union and the Civil War began to rage, the bloody battles continued. After the Civil War, as pioneers began to head westward along the many trails through Kansas, murder and mayhem persisted as hardened men from the battlefields, grown used to the violence, continued their violent ways along the overland trails and in the many cow towns. If not accosted by road agents, travelers also had to be concerned about Indian attacks. Southeast Kansas, in particular, was known as a rough area.
Though most of us know of Dodge City’s wicked ways, the deadly gunfight of the Daltons in Coffeyville, and the many outlaws and gunfighters who spent time in the Sunflower State, few aware of a family of mass murderers, living a supposed quiet life near the small town of Cherryvale.
Just after the Civil War ended the United States government moved the Osage Indians from Labette County in southeast Kansas to the “new” Indian Territory in what would later become the state of Oklahoma. The “vacated” land was then made available to homesteaders, who, for the most part, were a group of hard-working pioneers farming the area’s softly rolling hills and windswept prairies.
In 1870, five families of “spiritualists” settled in western Labette County, about seven miles northeast of where Cherryvale would be platted a year later. One of these families was the Benders, comprised of John Bender, Sr.; his wife, Almira; son, John, Jr.; and daughter, Kate. A cult-like group, the families chose from several available claims and began to make their homes. John Bender, Sr. chose a 160-acre section on the western slopes of the mounds that today continue to bear their name. The property was located directly on the Osage Mission-Independence Trail that operated from Independence to Fort Scott. His son chose a narrow piece of land just north of his father’s; however, he never lived on his claim, nor made any improvements.
The family soon built a small one-room framed cabin, a barn, corral, and dug a well.  Inside the wooden cabin, the area was partitioned with a large canvas, creating living quarters in the back and a small inn and store in the front. A crude sign was hung above the front door that advertised “Groceries” to the many travelers along the Osage Trail. The little “store” carried a few supplies such as powder, shot, groceries, liquor, and tobacco; sold meals, and provided a “safe” overnight resting place to the strangers along the road.
Keeping mostly to themselves, the Benders appeared to simply be struggling homesteaders who worked hard to earn their living like the other area pioneers. Immigrating from Germany, John Bender, Sr. was 60 years old when he arrived in the area; his wife about 55. Standing over six feet tall, John was a giant of a man who, because of his piercing black eyes set deeply under huge bushy brows, earned him the nickname of “old beetle-browed John.”  His ruddy face, mostly covered by a heavy beard, sullen expression and long hair often led to him being described as a “wild and wooly looking man.”
Both John and his raw-boned wife spoke with such guttural accents that few people could understand them. Mrs. Bender, a heavyset woman, was so unfriendly and had such sinister eyes, that her neighbors began to call her a “she-devil.” To add to her fierce look, Ma Bender also claimed to be a “medium” who could speak with the “dead” and boiled herbs and roots that she declared could be used to cast charms or wicked spells. Her husband and son were said to have feared her as she ran the household with an iron hand.
John Bender, Jr. was a tall, slender man of about 25 who was handsome with auburn hair and mustache. Speaking English fluently with a German accent, he was said to have been social but, he was prone to laughing aimlessly, which led many people to think of him as a half-wit.
Daughter Kate was the “friendliest” of the bunch, speaking good English with just a slight accent and bore cultivated social skills. A beautiful girl of about 23, she was quick to laugh and talk to strangers. She and her brother John often attended Sunday School at nearby Harmony Grove and were readily accepted in the community.
Kate was a self-proclaimed healer and psychic, gave lectures on spiritualism, and conducted séances.  She also claimed to possess psychic powers, including the ability to communicate with the dead. Distributing circulars that proclaimed her “skills,” including supernatural powers and the ability to cure illnesses and infirmities, she soon found the lecture circuit profitable.
The petite auburn-haired beauty had a desire for notoriety and often advocated free love and justification for murder in her lectures. Along with her desire for fame, she also craved wealth and position. Though her beauty and social skills gained her popularity with the locals, her actions began to cause them to say that she was “satanic.” It was to be this diminutive Bender family member that would take most of the blame for what was soon to be found out about this infamous family.
When the Benders opened their store and inn in 1871, many travelers would stop for a meal or supplies. However, some of those men, who frequently carried large sums of cash with the intention of settling, buying stock, or purchasing a claim; began to go missing. When friends and family began to look for them, they could trace them as far as the Big Hill Country of southeast Kansas before they could find no trace of the lost traveler.
These first few missing travelers did not raise an overall alarm in the area as it was not uncommon during those days for men to simply continue their journey westward. However, as more time passed, the disappearances became more frequent and by the spring of 1873, the region had become strife with rumors and travelers began to avoid the trail.
When neighboring communities started to make slanderous insinuations, the Osage Township called a meeting held at the Harmony Grove schoolhouse in March to see what, if anything, could be done. About 75 people attended the gathering, including both Bender men.
The discussion began regarding the ten people who were reported missing, including a well-known Independence physician named Dr. William H. York. With the full realization that there truly was a major problem in their township, the group decided to search every farmstead between Big Hill Creek and Drum Creek. When most of the attendees volunteered to have their premises searched, the Benders remained silent.
Sometime later, Billy Tole, a neighbor of the Benders, noticed that the Bender Inn was abandoned and their farm animals unfed. Tole reported the news to Leroy F Dick, the Township Trustee, and a search party was soon formed, which included Dr. York’s brother, Colonel A.M. York, of Fort Scott. When the men arrived at the property, they found the cabin empty of food, clothing, and personal possessions. They were also met by a terrible smell inside the abandoned inn. A trap door, nailed shut, was discovered in the floor of the cabin.
Prying it open, the men found a six-foot deep hole that was filled with clotted blood, causing the terrible odor. However, there were no bodies in the hole. Finally, the men physically moved the entire cabin to the side and began to search beneath, but no bodies were found there either. Continuing, they began to dig around the cabin, especially in an area the Benders had utilized as a vegetable garden and orchard. At the site of a freshly stirred depression in the earth, they found the first body, buried head downward with its feet scarcely covered. The corpse was that of Dr. William H. York, his skull bludgeoned and his throat cut from ear to ear.
The digging continued the next day and nine other bodies and numerous dismembered body parts were found, including a woman and a little girl. The burial site was christened “Hell’s Half-Acre” and another brother of Dr. York, a lawyer and State Senator residing in Independence offered a ,000 reward for information leading to the Bender family’s arrest. On May 17th, Governor Thomas Osborn added to that amount by offering a ,000 reward for the apprehension of all four.
Word of the gruesome murders spread fast and thousands of people flocked to the site, including news reporters from as far away as New York and Chicago. The Bender cabin was ripped apart by gruesome souvenir hunters, right down to the bloody bricks that lined the cellar. Bit by bit, the story of the Benders was pieced together.
The Benders were obviously not what they appeared. In fact, they weren’t even a true “family” — the only ones related were Ma and Kate Bender.
When the visitors stopped in for a meal, they were seated at a table with their back to the large canvas that separated the “inn” from the living quarters. Then Kate would begin to charm the men with her social skills, flirting, or revealing her psychic “gifts.” As the men gave their full attention to the alluring Kate, Pa and John Bender, hiding behind the canvas, would strike the unsuspecting traveler in the skull with a hammer. Ma Bender and Kate would then rifle the body for money pushing him through the trap door into the hole below the cabin, where Kate would slit his throat. During the night, the body would then be buried in the garden behind the house.
Their downfall was the murder of a father and daughter named Loncher, and that of Dr. William York, who had come looking for the missing pair. In the winter of 1872, Mr. Loncher and his daughter had left Independence for Iowa but were never heard from again. In the spring of 1873, Dr. York took it upon himself to go looking for the Lonchers, stopping at the homesteads along the trail to ask questions. Though he reached Fort Scott unscathed and started to return to Independence about March 8th, he never reached home.
Dr. York had two brothers, one living in Fort Scott, and the other in Independence. Both knew of his travel plans and when he failed to return home, an all-out search began for the missing doctor. Colonel A.M. York, leading a contingency of some 50 men began to question every traveler along the trail and to stop at the area homesteads. One of those places was the Bender Inn. The Benders tried to “help” by admitting that Dr. York had stopped at their place but, convinced the search party that he had left and was probably waylaid by Indians. Even Kate, with her clairvoyant abilities, attempted to “search” for the missing doctor to throw any suspicion off herself.
After Colonel York’s visit and the meeting at the Harmony Grove schoolhouse, the Bender family fled. It was only a few days later that the homestead was found abandoned and the search party began to discover the grisly remains of the bodies.
The diggers were astounded to find what would become known as one of America’s first mass murder burial grounds as body after body was uncovered. Ten bodies were found in the Bender’s apple orchard, including Dr. York and the people he had been searching for – Mr. Loncher and his daughter, just seven or eight years old.
More gruesomely, though the little girl’s body was found to have multiple injuries, none of them would have caused death and it was speculated that the poor lass may have been buried alive. Of the discovery of her remains, the Kansas City Times reported:
“The little girl was probably eight years of age, and had long, sunny hair, and some traces of beauty on a countenance that was not yet entirely disfigured by decay. One arm was broken. The breastbone had been driven in. The right knee had been wrenched from its socket and the leg doubled up under the body. Nothing like this sickening series of crimes had ever been recorded in the whole history of the country.”
Other bodies found in the garden were those of Henry McKenzie’s mutilated remains, three men by the names of Ben Brown, W.F. McCrotty, and John Geary, as well as an unidentified male and female. Johnny Boyle’s body was found in the well. Dismembered parts of several other victims were also discovered, but, could never be identified. Four other bodies with crushed skulls and slit throats were also found outside the property in Drum Creek and on the surrounding prairie.
For all these deaths, the Benders gained only about ,600, two teams of horses and wagons, a pony, and a saddle. Because some of the travelers were carrying nothing of value, it was widely speculated that the Benders killed simply for the bloody thrill of it.
As word of the grisly murders spread, more and more travelers came forward to tell their own stories of narrow escape, including one gentleman by the name of William Pickering. When he refused to sit with his back to the canvas because of its disgusting stains, Pickering said that Kate Bender threatened him with a knife, at which point he fled the premises.  A Catholic priest said that he too fled when he saw one of the Bender men concealing a large hammer.
After following a fresh trail of wagon tracks, a search party found that the Benders had gone to the town of nearby Thayer, some twelve miles to the north. There, they purchased tickets on the northbound Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston Train to Humboldt. Several days later the Benders’ team and wagon were found a short distance away, the horses nearly starved.
Upon further investigation, Captain James B. Ransom, the train’s conductor, said that John, Jr., and Kate disembarked at Chanute and took the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad train south to the Red River country near Dennison, Texas, which was then the terminus of the railroad.
Allegedly, the pair then fled to a tough outlaw colony along the border of Texas and New Mexico. Meanwhile, Ma and Pa Bender continued on the train north to Kansas City where it was believed they transferred to a train headed to St. Louis.
Attempts to capture the bloodthirsty family were immediately made by both law officers and vigilantes alike. Though no one ever collected on the rewards offered, rumors began to fly of several parties who had captured and killed the Benders. One vigilante group claimed to have shot down the men and Ma Bender, and burned Kate alive, as the witch they believed her to be. Another group claimed they had caught the Benders while escaping to the south and lynched them before throwing their bodies into the Verdigris River. Yet another group claimed to have killed the Benders during a gunfight and buried their bodies on the prairie.
The City of Burlington is the Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat of Kit Carson County, Colorado. Burlington was originally laid out one mile west of its present location in 1887 by a man named Lowell in anticipation of the arrival of the railroad. In addition to having the location wrong, Lowell also did not have title to the land. When the railroad did arrive, the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad, it built its depot at the present site of Burlington and those who had built in Old Burlington moved their buildings to the new townsite. Trains began running in 1888.
Kit Carson County is one of the 64 counties in the U.S. state of Colorado. The county seat is Burlington. The county was established in 1889 and named for American frontiersman and Indian fighter Kit Carson.
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