The Bloody Benders of Labette County, Kansas

The Bloody Benders - Page 2

Bender Property Digging

This sketch in Harper's Weekly, June 7, 1873, sketch was made from a photo taken by Mr. Gamble of Parsons, Kansas.

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.

Some time 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 $1,000 reward for information leading to the Bender family's arrest. On May 17th, Governor Thomas Osborn added to that amount by offering a $2,000 reward for the apprehension of all four.

Word 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.

Bender About to Kill

Photo from postcard held in the Cherrvale Museum Collection.

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 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.

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