In 1923 it was donated to the Kansas Museum of History by York's wife but is not on display; still bearing reddish-brown stains on the blade, it can be seen upon request. Eyewitness testimony was given that Mrs. Monroe was Elvira Bender. Hunza Guides is Pakistan's top mountain destination management company offering full board tours, trekking and expeditions services in Pakistan. Several days later, the Benders team and wagon were found a short distance away, and the horses nearly starved. Kate Bender, who was around 23, was cultivated and attractive and spoke English well, with little accent. For years, sightings of Ma Bender and Kate were reported, and in 1889, two women were extradited from Michigan on the charge. Ransom, the trains 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. All four had crushed skulls and throats cut. John was prone to laughing aimlessly, which led many to consider him a "half-wit." Press J to jump to the feed. 1. Prying it open, the men found a six-foot-deep hole filled with clotted blood, causing a terrible odor. Somehow, he escaped, appearing naked in the middle of the night at Jesse Smalleys doorstep. The Bender cabin was ripped apart by gruesome souvenir hunters right down to the bloody bricks that lined the cellar. He takes Satchel to a quirky (to say the least) boardinghouse, owned by feuding, deaf, elderly sisters. Guess well have to wait to find out . Also in residence on the east is a hero of Wounded Knee (as if there was such a thing) and his niece, a minor girl whos relationship to the old man is likely not familial. Mrs. McCann's story came from dreams about her father's murder, which she discussed with Sarah Eliza. 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. The right knee had been wrenched from its socket, and the leg doubled up under the body. The body would then be buried in the garden behind the house during the night. William Pickering said that when he had refused to sit near the wagon cloth because of the stains on it, Kate Bender had threatened him with a knife, whereupon he fled the premises. Dr. York had two brothers, one living in Fort Scott and the other in Independence. The man further elaborated that all the stories of the latter's capture were made up, supposedly by a group of Confederates, who have also helped the Benders dispose of the murdered victims' horses and wagons. However, there were no bodies in the hole. As they enter the location, named The Barton Arms, the clerk eventually gives Rabbi keys for the west side, though she lets him know that the sisters don't care much for Coloreds. One weird oversight. John Jr. was found to have been a man named John Gebhardt. This went on for years until they killed someone related to a Civil War hero and a senator. Though many wanted to relocate the building, it had become a controversy in Cherryvale, with locals objecting to the town being known for the Bender atrocities. Does that mean that Satchel has just landed in Oz now? And everything is in color! In 1967, three of the Bender hammers were gifted to the museum by the Dick family. Their murders were carried out by use of a canvas curtain that divided the house into two rooms. The family includes Andrew Mellon, one of the longest-serving U.S. Treasury Secretaries, along with prominent members in the judicial, banking, financial, business, and political professions, as well as a famous recluse, Cordelia Scaife May . [7], A Kansas newspaper reported that the crowd was so incensed after finding the bodies that a friend of the Benders named Brockman, who was among the onlookers, was hanged from a beam in the inn until unconscious, revived, interrogated, then hanged again. Several groups of vigilantes were formed to search for the Benders. It would make for a fun season of the show that's for sure. [2], Two men who had traveled to the inn to experience Kate Bender's psychic powers stayed for dinner, but had refused to sit at the table next to the cloth, instead preferring to eat their meal at the main shop counter. [18] The hammers were displayed at the Bender Museum in Cherryvale, Kansas from 1967 to 1978, when the site was acquired for a fire station. 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. No one ever claimed the $3,000 reward ($67,858 as of 2023), however. Today, Smalley descendants continue to live in the Neodosha and Cherryvale area. [1][2][3], John Bender, Sr. was around 60 years old and spoke little English. As Calamita advances on him, Rabbi tries to grip his gun well enough to shoot. Though the tales of what happened to the Benders can only be speculated as to their accuracy, the fact that ten bodies were found on the property is not disputed. A piece of land where Kansas' first known serial killers murdered at least 11 people in the 1870s is up for auction. They set up an inn, lured people into staying, then either hit them with a hammer or cut there throats with a knife before burying them in an apple orchard. They were never caugnt. Yes it was. The captive makes a run for it, and Omie shoots him dead and drags his body out of sight. Colonel York, leading a company of some 50 men, questioned every traveler along the trail and visited all the area homesteads. Calamita notices him and shoots twice out the window. The probing continued until midnight, with another nine suspected grave sites marked before the men were satisfied they had found them all and retired for the night. The Vicious Harpes First AmericanSerial Killers, The Bloody Benders Once in the cellar, the body would be stripped and later buried somewhere on the property, often in the orchard. Across the hall from them, on the east side of the building, is an Old Testament preacher and his mother (whom the resident gabby salesman- west- mistakes for the preachers wife). Allegedly, while working at the Bender Inn, she earned her keep as a prostitute, adding an additional amount to the travelers bill for the privilege of laying with her. After a cabin, a barn with a corral, and a well were built, in the fall of 1871, Elvira Bender and daughter Kate arrived, and the cabin was divided into two rooms by a canvas wagon-cover. She and her brother John often attended Sunday School nearby Harmony Grove and were readily accepted in the community. Subreddit for the FX original TV series, Fargo. Game got that right. [1][2] A knife with a four-inch tapered blade was reportedly found hidden in a mantel clock in the Bender house by Colonel York. sdsu basketball recruiting 2021vice president internal student council. The Bender family, more well known as the Bloody Benders, were a family of serial killers who lived and operated in Labette County, Kansas, United States, from May 1871 to December 1872. Historical Weather. When the party arrived at the inn they found the cabin empty of food, clothing, and personal possessions. Though most were led to believe John and Kate were sister and brother, others said that they sometimes passed as man and wife. Advertisement Coins. Buried in the apple orchard. Mrs. Davis claimed that Mrs. Monroe was Elvira Bender, but that she herself was not Kate, but her sister Sarah; she later signed an affidavit to that effect, while Monroe continued to deny the identification and in turn accused Sarah Eliza of being the real Kate Bender. was harry hibbs married; waterloo central railway wedding. In the winter of 1872, George Newton Longcor left Independence, Kansas with his infant daughter Mary Ann to resettle in Iowa; they were never seen again. We are, in fact, in Kansas. Props to Noah Hawley for referencing a lot of forgotten crimes, from Jane Toppan, the Kansas City Massacre, and now the Bloody Benders. Cherryvale, Kansas HISTORICAL MARKER Outside the door is a plaque that reads: KANSAS He does not deliver his usual parting words to Satchel. was harry hibbs married; waterloo central railway wedding. Even with her clairvoyant abilities, Kate attempted to search for the missing doctor to throw any suspicion off herself. Co D 123rd Ill Infantry. Buried in the apple orchard. The property was located directly on the Osage Mission-Independence Trail that operated from Independence to Fort Scott. I'd need to check but my gut feeling is that its real. Serial killer music is a genre unto itself. The Benders family, of German descent, was one of the families who moved to the outskirts of Kansas. Senator Samuel C. Pomeroy's bribery of state legislators in his bid for re-election. The Benders were widely believed to be German immigrants. 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. In The Wizard of Oz, things are in black and white in Kansas and turn color after the Cyclone drops Dorothy and Toto in Oz. The book "Hell's Half-Acre: The Untold Story of the Benders, a Serial Killer Family on the American Frontier", by Susan Jonusas, published in 2022. Anyway just had to mention this, bizarre crimes and female killers are my specialty and outside appearing in Red Dead 2, the Bloody Benders don't get a lot of attention. ?," "big slaughter day, Jan eighth", and "hell departed. If this really is Oz, then Satchel is Dorothy and Rabbit is Toto. 12) December 1872: Abigail Roberts. The wall wherein he hid his cash is gone, and he knows with certainty that the brothers found it. Yeah! Calcium, iron, manganese, zinc, magnesium, selenium, and copper are especially concentrated in sunflower seeds. Their downfall was the murder of a father and daughter named Loncher, and Dr. William York, who had come looking for the missing pair. The Benders were undoubtedly surprised to find that the man wasnt dead. James, John Towner; The Benders of Kansas; Kan-Okla Publishing, Wichita, KS, 1913, reprinted 1995. Marker is in this post office area: Cherryvale KS 67335, United States of America. It is conjectured[by whom?] Eventually, she married and went by the name of Sara Eliza Davis. The victim was then dispatched from behind with a hammer, and the body was dropped into a basement pit, later to be buried in an orchard., As more and more travelers disappeared, suspicion began to center on the Benders. The notorious "Bloody Benders" were a German immigrant family who owned both a general store and small inn in the early 1870s in Labette County. The owner of the Drum Creek claim was suspected, but no action was taken. why i quit civil engineering; goo goo gaga family net worth; how to make homemade biscuits without baking powder; Good info. $10 (2023: $226), a, 8-9) December 1872: George Newton Longcor and his 18-month-old daughter, Mary Ann. ASSOCIATED PRESS. While popular retelling of the story holds that John Jr. and Kate were siblings, contemporary newspapers reported . that when a guest stayed at the Benders' bed and breakfast inn, the hosts would give the guest a seat of honor at the table that was positioned over a trap door into the cellar. So weird, this last weekend I was just reading about the Benders due to a similar encounter in Red Dead Redemption 2. RELATED: Missed the last episode? This page was last edited on 2 March 2023, at 16:54. That is a Kansas historical society sign. An American Indian legend claimed any twister approaching Topeka from the southwest would have its tail clipped off by Burnett's Mound, a sacred burial ground. Attempts to capture the bloodthirsty family were immediately made by both law officers and vigilantes alike. More gruesomely, though the little girls 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. Southeast Kansas, in particular, was known as a rough area. John Bender, Jr. was actually a man named John Gebhardt. In mid-October, Deputy Sheriff LeRoy Dick, the Osage Township trustee who had headed the search of the Bender property, arrived in Michigan and arrested the couple on October 30, following their release on the larceny charges. Records of the incarceration back up this affidavit. They were never found and later I formed my own conclusions why. [1][2][3] Despite York's strong suspicions regarding the Benders since his visit several weeks earlier, no one had watched them, and it was not noticed for several days that they had fled. 620-336-3576. The victim was then dispatched from behind with a hammer, the body was dropped into a basement pit, later to be buried in an orchard. The Bender family, more well known as the Bloody Benders, were a family of serial killers who lived and operated in Labette County, Kansas, United States, from May 1871 to December 1872. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2022 with funding from Kahle/Austin Foundation https://archive.org/details/washingtonhistor0014unse The CAashington Historical . , Near here are the Bender Mounds, named for the infamous Bender family ~~ John, his wife, son, and daughter Kate ~~ who settled here in 1871. Keeping mostly to themselves, the Benders appeared to simply be struggling homesteaders who worked hard to earn their living like the other area pioneers. melon mounds liberal kansaspython list memory allocationpython list memory allocation Bite-Size Bits of Local, National, and Global History, Photographed By William Fischer, Jr., December 18, 2011, The Bloody Benders. They then began to follow a wagon trail left by the Benders that took them down as far south as Tulsa, Oklahoma, before circling back into Kansas. Buried in the apple orchard. Satchel walks down the road with his dog. In Rabbis absence, Satchel discovers a Jack Russel terrier hiding in the wardrobe in his room. The diggers were astounded to find what would become known as one of Americas first mass murder burial grounds as body after body was uncovered. One of the women would cut the victim's throat to ensure death, and the body was then dropped through the trap door. This historical marker was erected by Kansas State Historical Society and Kansas Department of Transportation. As they break for a Coke, Calamita arrives. In 1884, it was reported that John Flickinger had committed suicide in Lake Michigan. Donald, his wife Karen and their three kids live a nice, comfortable life. Kate was the fifth child of Ma Bender and was born Eliza Griffith. But if your not from Kansas it's a fairly obscure story. So yeah, kind of obscure. When friends and family began to look for them, they could trace them as far as the Big Hill Country of southeast Kansas before finding no trace of the lost traveler. Once Kansas declared itself with the Union and the Civil War began, the bloody battles continued. Kansas Muskmelon, 2 g. $2.75 Out of Stock Item #52106 (Orange flesh) 90 days. As the boy listened, the men continued to talk, relating the tale of how the judge had lost his ear. Seventy-five locals attended the meeting, including Colonel York and both John BenderSr. and John BenderJr. After discussing the disappearances, including that of William York, they agreed to obtain a warrant to search every homestead between Big Hill Creek and Drum Creek. The old Bender property was haunted, and the rumors of the locals began to fly. Elvira Bender, who also allegedly spoke little English, was 55 years old and so unfriendly that her neighbors took to calling her a "she-devil.". John and his raw-boned wife spoke with such guttural accents that few people could understand them. A decade after the gruesome killings, nothing was left of the cabin and outbuildings on the property. [7] Brockman would be arrested again 23 years later for the rape and murder of his own 18-year-old daughter.[8]. Inicio; mellon mounds kansas murders; Sin categorizar; mellon mounds kansas murders Colonel A.M. York, leading a contingency of some 50 men, began questioning every traveler along the trail and stopping at the area homesteads. Some say they escaped, others that the were executed by a vengeful posse. Both knew of William's travel plans and, when he failed to return, an all-out search began for the missing doctor. "[20][21] Some have cast doubt on the story, saying that Laura would have been only 4 when her family moved away from the area, and that the Benders were exposed in 1873, two years after the Ingalls family left. Four other bodies with crushed skulls and slit throats were also found outside the property in Drum Creek and on the surrounding prairie. Deputy Sheriff Dick, along with Mrs. McCann, escorted the pair to Oswego, Kansas, where seven members of a 13-member panel confirmed the identification and committed them for trial. Rabbi has a tailor-made response for each situation, but the active reminder of reality for black Americans in 1950 definitely adds to the tension of the episode. All Rights Reserved. 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. Her face was a fit picture of the midnight hag that wove the spell murderous ambition about the soul of Macbeth. At this point the customers felt uneasy and decided to leave, a move that almost certainly saved their lives. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Benders. 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, so he fled the premises. Many of these minerals play a vital role in bone mineralization, red blood cell production, enzyme secretion, hormone production, as well as in the regulation of cardiac and skeletal muscle activities. Graves of the many who the Benders killed. The for the guy who discovered Pluto? Rewind one day, to Rabbi and Satchel driving past the same station. Menu 1) May 1871: Mr. Jones. The township trustee called for volunteers, and several hundred turned out to form a search party that included Colonel York. Daughter Kate was the friendliest of the bunch, speaking good English with just a slight accent and bore cultivated social skills. Near here are the Bender Mounds, named for the infamous Bender family--John, his wife, son, and daughter Kate--who settled here in 1871. the mellon mounds kansas murders Blakeslee, 75, became intrigued by Etzanoa after scholars at UC Berkeley retranslated in 2013 the often muddled Spanish accounts of their forays into what is now Kansas . Fortunately, Omie appears behind Calamita and gets him with his last bullet. A terrible smell inside the abandoned inn also met them. mellon mounds kansas murdersduskull evolution arceus. Often two women traveling together were accused of being Kate Bender and her mother.[10]. It was a story about the infamous Benders and about one man who got away. In October 1870, five families of spiritualists homesteaded in and around the township of Osage in northwestern Labette County, approximately 7mi (11km) northeast of where Cherryvale was established seven months later. [citation needed], Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}372056N 952910W / 37.349N 95.486W / 37.349; -95.486, According to one of the myths that has grown around the murders, after dinner, Colonel York was sitting in the front room when he noticed a gold, List of fugitives from justice who disappeared, List of serial killers in the United States, "The Bloody Benders Serial Killers of Kansas", "The Bloody Benders, Kansas, ca. The two arrive at The Mellon Mounds- a historical marker in Kansas. Carrie Nelson was beaten to death during an apparent robbery at Blue Mounds State Park in May 2001. What little he did speak was so guttural that it was usually unintelligible. John BenderJr. was around 25 years old and handsome, with auburn hair and a mustache, and spoke English fluently with a German accent. Instead, we downshift hard into the side story ofSatchel (Rodney L Jones III) andRabbi (Ben Whishaw) on the lam, withConstant Calamita (Gaetano Bruno) on their tail. In 1937 she gave a speech at a book fair which was later transcribed and printed in the September 1978 Saturday Evening Post and in the 1988 book A Little House Sampler. Though he reached Fort Scott unscathed and started to return to Independence on March 8, he never reached home. No documentation or definitive proof of their relationships to one another, or where they were born, has ever been found. Tole reported the fact to the township trustee, but due to inclement weather, several days lapsed before the abandonment could be investigated. ", "Young Bender, seen when excited, recalled the grave-robbing hyena at once to mind. At the site of a freshly stirred depression in the earth, they found the first body, buried head downward with its feet scarcely covered. So provocative was the Bender family tale that the Bender Museum was created in Cherryvale in 1961. Although stories abound, the ultimate fate of the murderous Bender family is uncertain. On this spot stood the Mellon Mounds, named for the infamous Mellon family, who lured unsuspecting travelers into their home, fed them and then dispatched them with a hammer. . 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. Located on a main road, the Benders sold meals and supplies to travelers. Nice, in all my research on serial killers, I can't name many examples of a full family of murderers, and two of them were female, another rarity. The 4th United States Colored Infantry, 1863-1866, A History of the Ninth New Jersey Volunteer Infantry in the Civil War, How . Kate's popularity became a large attraction for the Benders' inn. Yet another group claimed to have killed the Benders during a gunfight and buried their bodies on the prairie. The Benders remained silent when most of the attendees volunteered to have their premises searched. [19], The Ingalls family, made famous in the books and television series Little House on the Prairie, lived near Independence, and Laura Ingalls Wilder mentioned the Bender family in her writing and speeches. A message requesting positive identification was sent to Cherryvale, but the suspect severed his foot to escape his leg irons and bled to death. [1], One detective later claimed that he had traced the pair to the border, where he had found that JohnJr. had died of apoplexy. The fate of the family remains unknown, with theories ranging from a lynching of the family to a successful escape. 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 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.