His habit of laughing aimlessly led to him being described as a half-wit, though many afterward believed this was simply a ruse to disguise his clever nature. [1][11][12][13][14][15][16], By including the recovered body parts not matched to the bodies found, the finds are speculated to represent the remains of more than 20 victims. 23) February 1872: Two unidentified men found on the prairie in February 1872 with crushed skulls and throats cut. A message requesting positive identification was sent to Cherryvale, but the suspect severed his foot to escape his leg irons and bled to death. Site of 1870s 'Bloody Benders' serial killings is for sale | The Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2022 with funding from Kahle/Austin Foundation https://archive.org/details/washingtonhistor0014unse The CAashington Historical . 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. 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. These include the 2012 murder of Quan Donnell, the 1996 murder of Michelle Hutchinson, the 2013 murder of Juan Solis, and the 2016 murder of Robert Williams, among countless others. The next day, Rabbi goes back to the appliance store and recovers his remaining cash from the brothers at gunpoint. Bite-Size Bits of Local, National, and Global History, Photographed By William Fischer, Jr., December 18, 2011, The Bloody Benders. 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. flower arranging classes northern virginia. 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. When attempts were made to relocate the museum it became a point of controversy, some locals objecting to the town being known for the Bender murders. Legend has it that the family of four gruesomely murdered at least 11 patrons, scattering the bodies throughout their property and county. As more and more travelers vanished, suspicion began to circle the Mellons. Once Kansas declared itself with the Union and the Civil War began, the bloody battles continued. The Benders then stripped him of his clothes and went to bury him when the man suddenly awoke. 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. They disappeared in the spring of 1873, shortly before inquisitive neighbors discovered the victims' bodies. John was prone to laughing aimlessly, which led many to consider him a "half-wit." 1315) December 1872: Various body parts. Senator Samuel C. Pomeroy's bribery of state legislators in his bid for re-election. [11] Whether John Flickinger was really John Bender is unknown. The next morning, another eight bodies were found in seven of the nine suspected graves, while one was found in the well, along with a number of body parts. Benders Mounds Cemetery in Kansas - Find a Grave Cemetery 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. Nothing like this sickening series of crimes had ever been recorded in the whole history of the country.. The for the guy who discovered Pluto? [5], Detectives following wagon tracks discovered the Benders' wagon, abandoned with a starving team of horses with one of the mares lame, just outside the city limits of Thayer, 12mi (19km) north of the inn. State Senator Alexander York offered a $1,000 ($22,619 as of 2023) reward for the family's arrest. The body of a young girl was found with no injuries sufficient to cause death. [7], A bad odor was noticed and traced to a trap door underneath a bed, nailed shut. Bender Property Digging, sketch in Harpers Weekly, June 7, 1873. Yep that's the one from a book I have. ASSOCIATED PRESS. [18], A historical marker describing the Benders' crimes is located in the rest area at the junction of U.S. Route 400 and U.S. Route 169 north of Cherryvale. He finally gets to eat that evening at a bizarre dinner of fish sticks and potatoes. All had been involved in disposing of the victims' stolen goods with Mit Cherry, a member of the vigilance committee, implicated for forging a letter from one of the victims, informing the man's wife that he had arrived safely at his destination in Illinois. It first seems like Rabbi might escape, but ultimately he raises his hands in surrender and flies up into the clouds. But if your not from Kansas it's a fairly obscure story. mellon mounds kansas murdersduskull evolution arceus. Other corpses found in the area and the many mysterious disappearances of other lonely travelers led the locals to believe that the Benders killed more than 20 people. It is in Morehead in Montgomery County Kansas. 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. rpp program apartments newport news. (In case you wondered after reading that, like I did, what year The Mulligan Concern arrived in Kansas City, it was 1920. In its first three days of opening, it attracted more than 2,000 visitors. 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. The owner of the Drum Creek claim was suspected, but no action was taken. The Version table provides details related to the release that this issue/RFE will be addressed. The fate of the family remains unknown, with theories ranging from a lynching of the family to a successful escape. From there, they traveled to an outlaw colony thought to be in the border region between Texas and New Mexico. When the men arrived at the property, they found the cabin empty of food, clothing, and personal possessions. The old Bender property was haunted, and the rumors of the locals began to fly. The breastbone had been driven in. 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. At the site of a freshly stirred depression in the earth, they found the first body, buried head downward with its feet scarcely covered. Finally, unsolved murders in Shawnee County, Kansas, can be found among these lists. Kate was a self-proclaimed healer and psychic, gave lectures on spiritualism, and conducted sances. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Benders. The house sits alone in a barren landscape composed of post-harvest fields coated halfheartedly with snow. John Bender, Jr. was a tall, slender man of about 25 who was handsome with auburn hair and a mustache. Co D 123rd Ill Infantry. When he pulls into the drive, he spots Calamitas empty car at the pump immediately. 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. If the terrible story of the Bender murders was not legend enough, another tale began to circulate regarding the property upon which the Benders had once lived. They were never found and later I formed my own conclusions why. James, John Towner; The Benders of Kansas; Kan-Okla Publishing, Wichita, KS, 1913, reprinted 1995. [1][2][3], John Bender, Sr. was around 60 years old and spoke little English. It was a story about the infamous Benders and about one man who got away. Kate was purportedly Elvira's fifth daughter. I haven't heard Macabre in years. So provocative was the Bender family tale that the Bender Museum was created in Cherryvale in 1961. Cherryvale Museum 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. Tonights episode made a wonderfully quick reference to obscure Kansas [9], More than a dozen bullet holes were found in the roof and sides of the cabin. When his father (my great grandfather), Frank Smalley, was a boy, he was hiding in the hayloft of the family barn when he overheard a group of men below talking and laughing. Later she married William Stephen Griffith. Another of Mrs. Monroe's daughters, Mary Gardei, later provided an affidavit claiming that her mother (then Almira Shearer), under the name of Almira Marks, was actually serving two years in the Detroit House of Corrections in 1872 for the manslaughter of her daughter-in-law, Emily Mark. 'Wichita Massacre' Brothers Get Zero Sympathy From The - HuffPost Hey babe, nice melon mounds. In 1870, five families of spiritualists settled in western Labette County, about seven miles northeast of where Cherryvale would be platted a year later. Along with her desire for fame, she also craved wealth and position. 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. Burnett's mound myth - Topeka Tornado She and her brother John often attended Sunday School nearby Harmony Grove and were readily accepted in the community. As Calamita advances on him, Rabbi tries to grip his gun well enough to shoot. The digging continued the next day; nine other bodies and numerous dismembered body parts were found, including a woman and a little girl. She also claimed to possess psychic powers, including communicating with the dead. 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. [7], They then probed the ground around the cabin with a metal rod, especially in the disturbed soil of the vegetable garden and orchard, where Dr. York's body was found later that evening, buried face down with his feet barely below the surface. With the full realization that there was a major problem in their township, the group decided to search every farmstead between Big Hill Creek and Drum Creek. When the Benders opened their store and inn in 1871, many travelers would stop for a meal or supplies. Located on a main road, the Benders sold meals and supplies to travelers. RELATED: Missed the last episode? East/West is a cunningly timed bottle episode. "[8] A Roman Catholic prayer book was found in the house with notes inside written in German, which were later translated. Cherryvale, Kansas 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. I used to have their Dahmer album way back. Mellon family - Wikipedia They broke up the stone slab floor with sledgehammers, but found no bodies, and determined that the smell was from blood that had soaked into the soil. 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. Before York left, Kate asked him to return alone the following Friday night, and she would use her clairvoyant abilities to help him find his brother. why i quit civil engineering; goo goo gaga family net worth; how to make homemade biscuits without baking powder; [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. 1. FARGO Recap: (S04E09) East/West - Geek Girl Authority
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