With Bruce Davison, Linda Purl, James Karen, Buck Taylor. Present-day Cherryvale Museum, which has limited visiting hours from April to October, displays the murder hammers and other memorabilia of the Bloody Benders. by: Deja Bickham. Kate would also place her spiritualist clients with their backs to the curtain. The Bloody Benders were a family of serial killers who owned an inn and small general store in Labette County of southeastern Kansas from 1871 to 1873. The Labette County, Kansas, family consisted of four people—John Bender, his wife Elvira, and their children John Jr. and Kate. The killer had crushed the back of his skull (it was thought with a hammer swung from behind a curtain while he sat at a table awaiting supper), slit his throat (likely to ensure he was dead) and stabbed his lifeless body several times (perhaps out of frustration, as the traveler wasn’t carrying as much money as expected). Bender hammers at Cherryvale Museum. Sign up for our monthly newsletter to stay up-to-date on upcoming events and special offers! “While the posses were racing about the country, the Benders were on the way to Europe,” Ransom suggested. They continued digging, more carefully now, until a body lay exposed. For one thing she advertised her services as a healer and spiritualist. The Bloody Benders were a family of serial killers who owned an inn and small general store in Labette County of southeastern Kansas from 1871 to 1873. Much of the Parsons Historical Museum will be of primary interest to people who live in or near Parsons, but there is MKT Railroad memorabilia and a sandstone paving rock which was the stepping stone into the cabin of the Bloody Benders. But the killings also stoked a thirst for vengeance. Fred Vinson, Thirteenth Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. The Bloody Benders Mystery In Kansas Still Baffles People Today Here in Kansas, we don’t often get a great mystery or murder spree, and we’re glad of that. The cold-blooded Benders, with the brutal efficiency of predatory animals, claimed many victims in the early 1870s in Osage Township, Labette County, Kan. Checking the house, Tole found it unoccupied. Following that lead, the three-man posse boarded a train to Vinita. History of the Bender saga at Cherryvale Library. It surmises the Bloody Benders tragedy where so many people were murdered. Perhaps he was hungry. Three of the Bender hammers, remaining artifacts from the Bloody Bender Inn, were gifted to the Cherryvale museum by the Dick family in 1967. McCrotty and John Greary nearby; several other remains went unidentified. Bloody Benders : biography – Killing method. Ed York offered a $1,000 reward for information that would lead to the arrest of the Benders. Here in Kansas, we don’t often get a great mystery or murder spree, and we’re glad of that. (620) 891-0072. A troubled doctor searches for patients swallowed by the prairie and encounters the Benders, homesteaders trapped by a life of unspeakable sin. Editor’s Note: The Bloody Benders were a family of serial killers who lived and operated in Labette County, Kansas, between 1871 and 1873. These hammers were given to the Bender museum in 1967 by the son of LeRoy Dick, the Osage Township Trustee who headed the search of the Bender property. John Jr., however, concocted a farfetched tale of being waylaid and went so far as to take the York brothers to the supposed site of the attack. It was a harvest—an unusual harvest, not one of good spirit in which neighbors converge under the common weal to reap the bountiful rewards of a successful growing season. Summary: This is a photograph of the historical marker that was originally located on highway 160, 10 miles west of Parsons in Labette County, Kansas, near the site of the Bender family's cabin. See more ideas about bloody benders, bender, bloody. In the spring of 1873 a community of southeastern Kansans descended on the Bender homestead with all the tools necessary for planting. Outside, they planted a vegetable garden and an apple orchard. Meanwhile, Albert Owens, the owner of a boardinghouse in Denison, Texas, reported that a tall young German railroad worker and his wife had pitched a tent near his establishment. Some began to dig feverishly, their shovels and spades clanging against one another. But a story in the October 31, 1889, Chicago Daily Tribune claimed that two women arrested for larceny in Niles, Mich., had been identified as Ma and Kate Bender. More than 140 years ago, one family committed such evil that they became known as the Bloody Benders. Drawn by the putrid smell and congealed blood on the cellar floor, Dick and about 50 other men from the township began their grim search there. When Kansas was opened up for settlers by the Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854, easterners flocked to the west to stake their claims to cheap and sometimes even free land. The diggers would harvest the bodies of other unwary travelers who had fallen prey. The men exhumed Dr. York’s body from the apple orchard and continued the harvest of bodies the next morning. Once authorities had relocated the Osage Indians to Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma) after the Civil War, homesteaders descended on Kansas’ Labette County. The CHERRYVALE Bender Museum. An older couple visited them from time to time. There's a Bender exhibit at the Cherryvale Museum, the town where the murders took place. Where were the Benders? Ma Bender, the heavyset woman said to be his wife, looked all of her 50-plus years and was as unfriendly as Pa. John Bender Jr., about 25, was somewhat more neighborly, but something about him, perhaps his inappropriate laughter, suggested he was simpleminded. Sir Francis Bacon, English philosopher, statesman, essayist (The Advancement of Learning). The alleged family consisted of John Bender, his wife Kate, son John Jr. and daughter Kate. From $8.00 Cat's Meow Ingalls' Family Cabin. A Kansas Historical Marker telling the story of the Bloody Benders is at the Montgomery County Rest area at the US-400 and US-169 interchange. by Unbelievable Facts Dec 28, 2016, 7:08 am 1k Views Comments Off on The 1800s serial killer family of Kansas: “Bloody Benders”, notorious for murdering travelers and whose fate is unknown to this day The hunt for the Benders took on a life of its own. John Bender Sr., known as “Pa,” was about 60 and by all accounts sullen and ill-natured. Thomas A. Osborn followed this up in mid-May 1873 with a $2,000 reward for the apprehension of the foursome. There were gasps; the killer had knocked the poor fellow unconscious and then cut his throat. The 1800s serial killer family of Kansas: “Bloody Benders”, notorious for murdering travelers and whose fate is unknown to this day. It seems the doctor had sold the Lonchers a wagon and team that soon turned up deserted, with no sign of or word from father or daughter. The tall young one had reportedly suggested all four of them join an outlaw hideout along the Texas–New Mexico border. The Longcors lived half a mile from Laura Ingalls Wilder, and are now buried on the Little House on the Prairie Museum property since 1873. Search parties—some legally sanctioned, some not—had little luck. The Bloody Benders were the first in the United States. Secretly, the four made a living through murder and robbery. In the darkened room, she made all sorts of strange manifestations appear, usually with her family’s earthly assista… Osage Township trustee LeRoy Dick sensed something more sinister, and on the morning of May 5 he went to investigate. During the 1870s, Kansas was still a developing area. ‘Boys!’ he yelled as his gaze settled on a rectangular depression in the earth among the immature fruit trees. Surely, he must have known what was going on and had forewarned the Benders. Elizabeth York, wife of Edward York, donated the knife shown here to the Kansas Museum of History (view a close-up of the knife blade). A sinking feeling hit York, but neither he nor anyone else could make an immediate identification—dirt and dried blood obscured the face, and the body was too decomposed to be moved. The museum building was an authentic reconstruction of the clapboard Bender homestead located along the bleak, isolated countryside of the Osage Mission trail during 1871-1873. The 'Bloody Benders' are known as America's first family of serial killers. Visit Website. The Benders’ story begins, like many from this time period, thanks to the Homestead Act of 1862. 329 Main and 200 E 4th, Cherryvale, KS 67335. Kate was extremely cooperative, offering to contact the spirit world to help solve the riddle of the doctor’s disappearance. It is unknown if any of the Benders were in fact related. Kansas' governor even issued a $2,000 reward for the family's apprehension, but to no avail. Pa, Ma, John Bender, Jr., and Kate moved in and opened an inn and store in the front room of their home. “Last Sunday it was estimated there were 3,000 people on the grounds at one time.” Fortunately, LeRoy Dick had preserved some of the evidence, including three hammers thought to be the Benders’ murder weapons. But they found no bodies beneath the stone basement slab. “Going on a bender” makes most people think of a drinking spree, but that expression will always have a slightly different meaning in southeastern Kansas, onetime home of the deadly sober Bender family. One poor calf, its body held fast to a post in the stable, unable to free itself, had died of thirst, its mother nearby with her udders burst. With hand to forehead, Ed York shaded his eyes, scanning the Benders’ orchard. The Benders had fled to parts unknown, so residents singled out Rudolph Brockman, who had courted Kate Bender, for vilification. Though he allegedly committed suicide in 1884 in Lake Michigan, others believed that Ma and Kate murdered him because he had fled Cherryvale with all the cash and valuables they had taken from their victims. The men could clearly see that someone had bashed in the skull. Kansas Gov. When Kansas was opened up for settlers by the Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854, easterners flocked to the west to stake their claims to cheap and sometimes even free land. Dr. York had left his home on Fawn Creek and traveled north of Fort Scott to identify the team. Before long their tools made contact with something hard—not a rock or a root, but something that didn’t belong there. Pa Bender and young John were present at that meeting. Ransom said the Benders had boarded a train bound for Kansas City, from which they could connect to the East. One voice called out above the others, “What we need to do is search every foot of each of our farms!” A cold sweat must have gripped the two Bender men. See more ideas about bloody benders, bender, bloody. Pa, Ma, John Bender, Jr., and Kate moved in and opened an inn and store in the front room of their home. If they happened through Kansas and stayed at the inn run by the Bender clan, they were taking their lives into their hands. Exactly how many people the Bloody Benders killed between 1871 and 1873 remains unknown, but some estimates range over 20. Much remains mysterious about the Benders. Stopping to investigate, he found their livestock unattended—no feed, no water. While some of these Kansans feared the worst, none was prepared for what they were about to discover. The Benders might not have been the friendliest folks around, but they welcomed visitors with money in their pockets. In this case, a family of murderers nicknamed the “Bloody Benders” escaped capture, never to be found again. Some accounts say the Benders did reach the outlaw hideout, but there is no real proof. The search continued outside. This is the story of the Bloody Benders, America’s first family of serial killers. Psychotic killers like John Wesley Hardin and Jim Miller roamed the post–Civil War West, but few of these warped individuals could hold a candle to the greed and dirty deeds of the family of serial killers that operated from their Kansas homestead. The evidence was credible enough that LeRoy Dick traveled to Niles, with warrants in hand, and transported the prisoners back to Kansas. When it comes to the Benders, there are more questions 7. than answers. He had a claim just to the north of Pa Bender’s but never lived on it or built any structures on it. The Bloody Benders included: John, Sr., his wife Elvira, their son John, Jr., and their lovely daughter Kate. $31.00 Charlotte's Chocolate Macadamia Gourmet Coffee 12oz. Bloody Bender land sells at auction News. Both the Longcor and York murder victims were neighbors of famous author Laura Ingalls Wilder when she lived in Kansas. They are displayed in the Museum along with a certified Notary by Cornelius P. Dick, son of LeRoy Dick. $17.00 Cat's Meow Ingalls' Family Cabin and Hand-dug Well. See more ideas about bloody benders, bender, bloody. Freedom's Frontier National Heritage Area. During the 1870s, Kansas was still a developing area. Kansas Historical Society Colonel York reportedly found a knife with a four-inch tapered blade inside a mantel clock in the Bender House. Snoddy, Peckham and Beers traveled there and learned that the two elder Benders had taken a carriage from the train station to the house of Pa’s sister but were long gone. They even took A.M. King, the preacher from Parsons, Kan., into custody for a while. A couple of weeks after the meeting, Bender neighbor Billy Tole was driving his cattle past their meager farm and saw no sign of the family. Much of the Parsons Historical Museum will be of primary interest to people who live in or near Parsons, but there is MKT Railroad memorabilia and a sandstone paving rock which was the stepping stone into the cabin of the Bloody Benders. Suggested for further reading: The Benders in Kansas, by John Towner James; The Benders: Keepers of the Devil’s Inn, by Fern Morrow Wood; and The Saga of the Bloody Benders, by Rick Geary. From 1961-1978, the town nearest their Kansas killing grounds, Cherryvale, operated a museum constructed to be an exact copy of their house (check out photos of the eerie installation here). How much money they made by emptying the pockets of their victims is also uncertain, though a quick tally set the amount at about $5,000. Bender hammers at Cherryvale Museum. History of the Bender saga at Cherryvale Library. The infamous Kansas homestead of America’s first serial killer family known as the “Bloody Benders” is now up for sale. Looking up, he discovered a crude trapdoor with leather strap hinges, leading to the kitchen. With hand to forehead, Ed York shaded his eyes, scanning the Benders’ orchard. Between 1871 and 1873, the Benders murdered at least eleven travelers who stopped at their house. HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 5,000 articles originally published in our various magazines. The Benders may have slain the doctor out of sheer greed, but a more likely scenario is that he had voiced his suspicions or otherwise tipped his hand, and the Benders had decided to eliminate him. The Bender museum was a popular tourist spot until it closed in 1978. Body found in Drum Creek with a crushed skull and throat cut. Cookies are used for measurement, ads, & optimization. A Bender museum opened in Cherryvale in May 1961, during Kansas’ statehood centennial celebration, and operated there until 1978. Loncher’s skull had been crushed, but it was the state in which they found the girl, said to be about 8, that left the crowd of hardscrabble pioneers horrified. The grisly finds shook those who lived in and around Harmony Grove and Cherryvale. The Bloody Benders were a family of serial killers who owned a small general store and inn in Osage township, Labette County, Kansas from 1872 to 1873. The question remains whether it was more than just greed that inspired the Bender bloodlust. The three lawmen returned to Kansas and, while checking the Southeastern rail lines, came across a baggage master on the Frisco line that had checked through to Vinita, Indian Territory, an unusual doghide trunk. The family would become known as the Bloody Benders, and with good reason. “Thousands of people daily visit the grounds,” the Thayer, Kan., Head Light reported a week after the discovery of the bodies. George Mortimer, harnessed to his harrow and horse, plowed furrows through the soft earth as others worked their spades and shovels. Peckham and Henry Beers went to Thayer, 12 miles north of the Bender inn, to inquire into train departures. Other people sought not the Benders but macabre souvenirs from the old homestead. The darker side of the human psyche: Serial killers 10 – The Bloody Benders The Bender family killed at least a dozen travellers before their heinous crimes were discovered. Much remains mysterious about the Benders. LeRoy Dick intercepted Peckham and Beers (Marshal Snoddy could not afford any more time away from his duties and had already returned to Fort Scott) in Vinita with this new intelligence. For example, it remains unknown whether Ma and Pa Bender were actually husband and wife. (Some sources claim that Kate was actually John Jr.’s common-law wife.) Picture of a bloody knife found on the Bender family property. The Bloody Benders is a horror story, told elsewhere with far more blood and gore. On June 25, 1873, the Head Light ran a follow-up report, noting, “The whole of the house, excepting the heavy framing timbers on the Bender farm and even the few trees, have been carried away by the relic hunters.” The newspaper also addressed the flight of the outlaw family, suggesting, “The murderers themselves are probably in the middle of China by this time and will never be heard from.” Reporters and photographers from as far off as New York and Chicago converged on the killing ground. The Bloody Benders were a family of serial killers who owned an inn and small general store in Labette County of southeastern Kansas from 1871 to 1873. Following up on the discovery of the Benders’ buckboard, Marshal Jim Snoddy from Fort Scott and posse members Colonel C.J. Some travelers complained of hearing strange sounds from behind the curtain while they ate. through October. Both the Longcor and York murder victims were neighbors of famous author Laura Ingalls Wilder when she lived in Kansas. Someone had to pay for those vile murders. The 1800s serial killer family of Kansas: “Bloody Benders”, notorious for murdering travelers and whose fate is unknown to this day. Although authorities never proved the two were Ma and Kate Bender, Dick said he felt sure he had located the right women. Kate soon gained notoriety as a self-proclaimed healer and spiritualist. You’ll find a Yellow Brick Road Trip that’s just right for you. A more realistic reminder of the inhuman savegery of the bloody Benders can be seen today in the Bender Museum in Cherryvale. When the doctor didn’t show up, his brothers, Ed York and Kansas Sen. Alexander York, went out to find him. A sign that had once hung over the inn’s front door—John Jr. had scrawled GROCRY on one side, and Kate had printed GROCERIES on the reverse—had been incorporated as a repair into the bed of the Benders’ wagon. Here's a link to the full piece about this location. Summary: This is a photograph of the historical marker that was originally located on highway 160, 10 miles west of Parsons in Labette County, Kansas, near the site of the Bender family's cabin. She didn’t act much like a farm girl. Some accounts had John Jr. and Kate married, not brother and sister. In the 19th-century, however, that wasn’t always the case. Description. Dec 12, 2019 - Explore Cari Knight's board "Bloody Benders", followed by 217 people on Pinterest. Fate uncertain, they fled, but with so much folklore and legend surrounding them, it is difficult to separate fact from fiction. In 1978, the museum was closed and a fire station was built on the land. In the 19th-century, however, that wasn’t always the case. In the front, beginning in 1871, they operated a small inn and store. 152 acres of land once owned by the notorious “Bloody Benders” family is being auctioned off. Sep 8, 2020 - Explore Clknightokc's board "Bloody Benders" on Pinterest. Currently, there's not any kind of alert system regarding potential coronavirus exposure that would … A number of people living along the road told the pair they had seen the doctor. The Humboldt station manager said that from there John Jr. and Kate had taken a train south, while Ma and Pa Bender, carrying a doghide trunk (perhaps loaded with money), had taken another train to St. Louis. Today little remains of the original site. On July 7, 1873, the San Antonio Daily Express reported the two Bender women were under arrest in Winterset, Iowa. The Bloody Benders, however, used Spiritualism to commit mass murder. What exactly happened when Dr. York paid the Benders a visit is uncertain. It surmises the Bloody Benders tragedy where so many people were murdered. After the Civil War the Osage Indians were moved from their home in Labette County to Oklahoma, in order to make the Kansas Territory available to European settlers. This was a grim task. David McCormick writes from Springfield, Mass. John (Pa) Bender Sr. and son John Bender Jr. arrived with four other families of spiritualists to claim newly vacant Kansas land in October 1870 following relocation of the Osage Indians to a new territory in Oklahoma after the … Carrie's Sugar Cookie Candle by Little House on the Prairie Museum. A “Kansas Historical Marker” of the Bender murders is displayed at the US-400 and US-169 interchange at the Montgomery County Rest area. Over the years various newspapers reported sightings of Bender family members. Wikimedia Commons Though we definitely know the Bloody Benders murders happened, the area is still very creepy to tour. In 1961, Cherryvale, Kansas opened up the Bender Museum. One of the diggers rotated the corpse’s mutilated head slightly to the side, exposing a deep gash across the neck. A number of animals were tethered and unable to fend for themselves. Some even claim the Benders were wholly unrelated. D.W. [David Wark] Griffith, influential U.S. film director (The Birth of A Nation, Intolerance). On that day, April 8, 1873, residents hurried the election; there was a more pressing agenda—missing people. He was last seen on March 9. Mother, father, brother, sister--all of them, whoever they were, simply disappeared, not just from Kansas but from anywhere. For the museum, an exact replica of the Benders’ cabin was built, and it housed artifacts such as the hammers used in the killings and contemporary photos and newspaper clippings. Over a century later, you can still find them in books, TV, and on the big screen – people never get tired of their story! Though stories abound, to this day no one knows for certain what became of the "bloody Benders." Others have suggested John Jr. was Ma’s son from a previous marriage and that his actual surname was Gebhardt. The family consisted of John Bender, his wife Elvira Bender, son John, Jr., and daughter Kate. Taking a quick inventory, he found three hammers; an eight-day clock, which upon further examination held a knife; pieces of jewelry; a German Bible; and some of Kate Bender’s occult advertising broadsides scattered across the kitchen floor. Lord George Byron, English romantic poet ("Lara," "Don Juan."). A determined clamor, each voice rising over another, called for action; in a disordered uproar, those gathered pledged punishment for those responsible for the missing residents. Using Fort Smith as a starting point, Ed and Alexander traced William’s movements along the Osage Mission Road. The danger of dining with the Bender’s came when seated with your back to the canvas wall. They slayed at least 11 people and buried their bodies in the 1870s before going on the run when their crimes were exposed. Mobs rounded up other individuals, and in some cases entire families, and accused them of complicity with the Benders. The finger pointing and rush to judgment in southeastern Kansas had created an air similar to that surrounding the Salem witch trials nearly two centuries earlier. The Lonchers weren’t the only travelers to have turned up missing in the prior few months. The Bloody Benders were a family of serial killers who owned an inn and small general store in Labette County of southeastern Kansas from 1871 to 1873. What had brought Dr. York there was an even earlier disappearance—that of a man named George Loncher and his daughter in the winter of 1872. The Bloody Benders were a family of serial killers who murdered at least 20 unsuspecting travelers in their small Kansas home and then vanishing without a trace. The family consisted of John Bender, his wife Elvira Bender, son John, Jr., and daughter Kate. It was the 1870s. The Bloody Benders, however, used Spiritualism to commit mass murder. “Boys!” he yelled as his gaze settled on a rectangular depression in the earth among the immature fruit trees. Changing direction, the two Kansans traveled to Texas and picked up the Benders’ trail, first 200 miles west of Denison and then again in El Paso and into the Chihuahua Desert, before giving up the chase. The ghastly discovery of Dr. York’s body was just the tip of the iceberg. People were up in arms over the mistreatment of the animals. The "Bloody Benders" reportedly killed almost a dozen travelers in Labette County, Kansas By Robyn Merrett February 07, 2020 01:33 AM After all this time, we’ll probably never know with any certainty who the Bloody … It is a wreath of woven, golden hair taken from the body of a little girl who--most probably--was befriended by Kate and then brutally murdered by her when her back was turned. They were his missing brother’s glasses. Though stories abound, to this day no one knows for certain what became of the "bloody Benders." by Unbelievable Facts Dec 28, 2016, 7:08 am 1k Views Comments Off on The 1800s serial killer family of Kansas: “Bloody Benders”, notorious for murdering travelers and whose fate is unknown to this day The Benders built a cabin and hung a canvas wagon cover to divide the interior into two sections. Kate Bender, two years younger than her brother, seemed cut from a different cloth. A dispatch from Florence, Ariz., picked up by The New York Times on February 13, 1875, related the supposed capture of a man reported to be Bender after being tracked through west Texas. More likely he suspected something. In May 1873 residents of Labette County, Kan., gathered in the orchard of their onetime neighbors, the Benders. “Stories have popped up all over the country of people who think they saw the Benders.” After breaking the padlock on the door of the Benders’ cabin, he entered the cellar and met with a terrible odor—the stench of death. In this case, a family of murderers nicknamed the “Bloody Benders” escaped capture, never to be found again. In late March or early April, while investigating Dr. York’s disappearance, his brothers showed up at the Bender homestead. Map. Kansas Historical Society. McCrotty reportedly carried $2,600 and Greary $2,000, but at least three of the victims had little more than pocket change. 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The Birth of a Bloody knife found on the prairie Museum looking into lifeless... The bodies of Ben Brown, W.F or John Sr. spoke with a $ 2,000 reward for family. ’ description had boarded a train bound for Kansas City, from which could. Taking their lives into their hands quite the contrary, the town where the murders place., influential U.S. film director ( the Birth of a Bloody knife found on the hollow investigate... The question remains whether it was more than just greed that inspired the clan... English philosopher, statesman, essayist ( the Birth of a Nation, Intolerance..
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