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Their story is unresolved, and remains one of the great unsolved mysteries of the old West. [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 number of researchers question the ready acceptance of the affidavit's authenticity and suggest that the county was unwilling to accept the expense of boarding the two women for an extended period. 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. Like others, he was hit over the head as he sat at the table. 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. why i quit civil engineering; goo goo gaga family net worth; how to make homemade biscuits without baking powder; 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. Those most often reporting glowing apparitions on the property were those who came to the site in search of some long-lost souvenir of the grisly murders. Kate was the fifth child of Ma Bender and was born Eliza Griffith. mellon mounds kansas murders York reached Fort Scott, and on March 9 began the return journey to Independence, but never arrived. barry mcguigan, daughter funeral; mellon mounds kansas murders 20) May 1873: Dr William York. 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 Mellons are believed to have killed over a dozen people, including a child. The men then physically lifted the cabin and moved it to the side to dig under it, but no bodies were found. All four had crushed skulls and throats cut. 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. His family was from the Cherryvale, Kansas area, and the story involves a group of men that found the Benders and were in a gunfight with them, one of whom was a judge that lost part of his ear in the gun battle. "[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. By the way, said clerk is a Colored. However, there were no bodies in the hole. She also claimed to possess psychic powers, including communicating with the dead. I used to have their Dahmer album way back. [1][2][3], The area was already widely known for "horse thieves and villains, and vigilance committees often "arrested" some for the disappearances, only for them to be later released by the authorities. 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. 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. 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. 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. One of the families was John BenderSr. and John BenderJr., who registered 160 acres (65ha) of land located adjacent to the Great Osage Trail, which was then the only open road for traveling farther west. rpp program apartments newport news. Thanks for putting this up I knew the story sounded familiar..the was on an episode of Lore. According to a breathless Daily Mail report, nursery-school teacher Inessa Tarverdiyeva and her husband, dentist Roman Podkopayev, were behind "a six-year reign of terror including at least 30. It is in Morehead in Montgomery County Kansas. I have heard my grandfather tell of this story since I was a boy and Grandpa swears that this is the real story of what happened to the Benders. It declares, THE FUTURE IS NOW.. After the Benders escape, one detective, who had closely followed all the leads, said that he had traced Gebhardt to the outlaw country along the Texas/New Mexico border, where he had found that the criminal had died of apoplexy. The two were known to have had a relationship, and further tales abounded that when Kate became pregnant, they would simply bash in the babys head once it was born. Both knew of his travel plans, and when he failed to return home, an all-out search began for the missing doctor. 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 may have been Jack Bogart, whose horse was purchased from a friend of the Benders after he went missing in 1872. The 4th United States Colored Infantry, 1863-1866, A History of the Ninth New Jersey Volunteer Infantry in the Civil War, How . Whether the stuff of folklore or fact, many believe that the trapped souls of these century-old ghosts continue to lurk at the site today. If not accosted by road agents, travelers also had to be concerned about Indian attacks. Mrs. Almira Griffith) and Mrs. Sarah Eliza Davis had been arrested in Niles, Michigan (often misreported as Detroit) several weeks earlier for larceny. 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. Historical Weather. For years, sightings of Ma Bender and Kate were reported, and in 1889, two women were extradited from Michigan on the charge. Colonel York agreed that this was possible and remained for dinner. John and his raw-boned wife spoke with such guttural accents that few people could understand them. January 23, 2021. She also conducted sances and gave lectures on spiritualism, for which she gained notoriety for advocating free love. Fact or fiction, no one knows, but Ive always enjoyed the tale and hope you will as well. From these depths allegedly came the souls of those murdered on the site, wandering about the property and making moaning sounds that passersby could hear. And Donald Mellon is your typical doting daddy, a clean-cut family man his girls admire and adore. A place to discuss Lawrence Kansas happenings and news. 1) May 1871: Mr. Jones. 11) December 1872: Red Smith. Elvira was rumored to have murdered several husbands, but none of these rumors was ever proven. Kate soon gained notoriety as a self-proclaimed healer and spiritualist. Immigrating from Germany, John Bender, Sr. was 60 years old when he arrived in the area; his wife was about 55. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2022 with funding from Kahle/Austin Foundation https://archive.org/details/washingtonhistor0014unse The CAashington Historical . Another group claimed they had caught the Benders while escaping to the south and lynched them before throwing their bodies into the Verdigris River. 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 of the Benders' neighbors claimed that John and Kate were not brother and sister, but actually husband and wife. [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. melon mounds kansas murders 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 . Does that mean that Satchel has just landed in Oz now? THE KANSAS MURDER TRILOGY by Melvin Litton offers three stand-alone novels that spring from the heartland and mark three pivotal moments in our nation's life: the fall of Saigon and the loss of faith in the post-war construct, 1975; the brink of the Space Age and Civil Rights era, 1960; and the Great Depression, 1934. the mellon family kansas. John Bender, Jr. was actually a man named John Gebhardt. According to the May 23, 1873 edition of The Emporia News, he was identified with the name of William Bender. A crude sign was hung above the front door that advertised Groceries to the many travelers along the Osage Trail. Kate soon gained notoriety as a self proclaimed healer and . Uncovered: Unsolved Kansas Murders The filling station attendant tells Omie that this is the only place for gas for miles, and that if Calamita hasnt been through yet, he definitely will. According to contemporary newspapers, Elvira was born Almira Hill Mark (often misreported as "Meik") in the Adirondack Mountains; she married Simon Mark, with whom she claimed to have had 12 children. While popular retelling of the story holds that John Jr. and Kate were siblings, contemporary newspapers reported . Mrs. Monroe now admitted she had married a Mr. Shearer in 1872 and claimed she had previously denied it, as she did not want the court to know that her name was Shearer at that time and that she had a conviction for manslaughter. John Jr. was found to have been a man named John Gebhardt. [1] The family consisted of John Bender, his wife Elvira and their son JohnJr. and daughter Kate. $38 (2023: $860) and a wagon with a team of horses missing. When the war was over, 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 in the many cow towns. The parts did not belong to any of the other victims found and are believed to belong to at least three additional victims. The Benders are believed to have killed about a dozen people, including one child., Although stories abound, the ultimate fate of the murderous Bender family is uncertain. The men with York were convinced the Benders and a neighboring family, the Roaches, were guilty and wanted to hang them all, but York insisted that evidence must be found. Along with her desire for fame, she also craved wealth and position. melon mounds liberal kansascrank arm length calculator sheldon browncrank arm length calculator sheldon brown Shortly after theyve settled, Rabbi leaves Satchel alone with his usual goodbye of, If I dont come back, Im dead or in jail. He drives into Liberal to see about the money he left behind, only to discover that the feed store was sold at auction and has been converted to an appliance store by a pair of brothers. 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. When the vigilantegroup approached, the Benders fired on them, at which time, the judge lost part of his ear to a flying bullet. 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. 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. She maintained carnal relations with her brother, and boldly proclaimed her right to do so in the following words found in her lecture manuscript: "Shall we confine ourselves to a single love, and deny our natures their proper sway?Even though it be a brother's passion for his own sister, I say it should not be smothered. 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. 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.
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