Even with her clairvoyant abilities, Kate attempted to search for the missing doctor to throw any suspicion off herself. Bender Property Digging, sketch in Harpers Weekly, June 7, 1873. John was prone to laughing aimlessly, which led many to consider him a "half-wit." , 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 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. was harry hibbs married; waterloo central railway wedding. John Bender, Sr. chose a 160-acre section on the western slopes of the mounds that continue to bear their name today. Is Rabbi really dead? The two arrive at The Mellon Mounds- a historical marker in Kansas. Along with her desire for fame, she also craved wealth and position. My grandfather, who is approaching 80 years old, is always full of great stories, but he assured me that his father, who passed this on to him, knew what happened. Everywhere Satchel and Rabbi appear together, someone calls out the color of Satchels skin and questions their connection. So provocative was the Bender family tale that the Bender Museum was created in Cherryvale in 1961. This is a list of notable male murderers who committed their murders in Kansas, USA. 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.". Inicio; mellon mounds kansas murders; Sin categorizar; mellon mounds kansas murders Ten bodies were found in the Benders apple orchard, including Dr. York and the people he had been searching for Mr. Loncher and his daughter, just seven or eight years old. Located on a main road, the Benders sold meals and supplies to travelers. It first seems like Rabbi might escape, but ultimately he raises his hands in surrender and flies up into the clouds. It also brings to mind Lester Nygards murder weapon in season one. Ma Bender was born Almira Meik in the Adirondacks and married as a teenager to a man named George Griffith. "[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. And then, in so many words, Scalia said that nothing in the Eighth Amendment requires that jurors considering "mitigating evidence" that could . What a uniquely weird unsolved mystery. Though he reached Fort Scott unscathed and started to return to Independence on March 8, he never reached home. ", In May 1871, the body of a man named Jones, whose skull had been crushed and throat cut, was discovered in Drum Creek. They disappeared in the spring of 1873, shortly before inquisitive neighbors discovered the victims' bodies. 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. read the excerpt from part 1 of the odyssey The burial site was christened Hells 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 familys arrest. ASSOCIATED PRESS. kansas historical marker the mellon mounds Orchard Park Police Blotter 2021 , Fran Mccaffery Daughter , How Much Does Bronny Average? By the way, said clerk is a Colored. At a fork of the Fall and Verdigris Rivers, they found the Benders with their wagon backed up against a fallen tree with canvas over it for shelter. 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. All of the bizarre characters in the house sit around the table, except the hospital man and his companion, and the table (like the whole house) is split into two meals, two styles of dcor and two serving staffs in accordance with the sisters feud. Last night, I listened to a story from my grandfather, Emerson Smalley, about the Benders and their supposed end. 1. Tole reported the fact to the township trustee, but due to inclement weather, several days lapsed before the abandonment could be investigated. Much folklore and legend surrounds the Benders, making it difficult to separate fact from fiction. Gabe Gibson, Effingham, Illinois, as told to him by his grandfather, Emerson Smalley, January 2011. Secretly, the four made a living through murder and robbery., Located on a main road, the Benders sold meals and supplies to travelers. The township trustee called for volunteers, and several hundred turned out to form a search party that included Colonel York. [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. 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. I used to have their Dahmer album way back. However, by the time the men arrived at the Benders cabin very early the next morning, they found them gone. Immigrating from Germany, John Bender, Sr. was 60 years old when he arrived in the area; his wife was about 55. Once Kansas declared itself with the Union and the Civil War began, the bloody battles continued. but many still live in fear of their bloody hammer. In the 19th century, Kansas was a bloody place, especially before the Civil War, as " Free-Soilers " and slavery advocates "duked" it out for control of the new territory. "The Bender Family Some New Light on Their Mysterious Disappearance". The vacated land was then made available to homesteaders, who, for the most part, were a group of hard-working pioneers farming the areas softly rolling hills and windswept prairies. The digging continued the next day; nine other bodies and numerous dismembered body parts were found, including a woman and a little girl. She and her brother John often attended Sunday School nearby Harmony Grove and were readily accepted in the community. Mrs. Monroe resisted, declaring that she would not be taken alive, but was subdued by local deputies. 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. With the victim's back to the curtain, Kate would distract the guest while John Bender or his son came from behind the curtain and struck the guest on the right side of the skull with a hammer. Photo courtesy of the BCA. When the Benders opened their store and inn in 1871, many travelers would stop for a meal or supplies. 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. Elvira was rumored to have murdered several husbands, but none of these rumors was ever proven. Also, sleep with one eye open. The corpse was that of Dr. William H. York, his skull bludgeoned and his throat cut from ear to ear. They were never caugnt. As they break for a Coke, Calamita arrives. Yet another group claimed to have killed the Benders during a gunfight and buried their bodies on the prairie. In retaliation, the vigilantes killed all of the members of the Bender family, buried them where they died, and took the wagon to town, where they left it. $38 (2023: $860) and a wagon with a team of horses missing. Good info. In 1884, it was reported that John Flickinger had committed suicide in Lake Michigan. 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. On May 17th, Governor Thomas Osborn added to that amount by offering a $2,000 reward for the apprehension of all four. 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. Kate soon gained notoriety as a self proclaimed healer and . Buried in the apple orchard. 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. [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. 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. ", "Old Mrs. Bender was a dirty old Dutch crone. sdsu basketball recruiting 2021vice president internal student council. 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 . That is a Kansas historical society sign. Sunflower seeds are incredibly rich sources of many essential minerals. John Bender, Jr. was a tall, slender man of about 25 who was handsome with auburn hair and a mustache. Location. In the winter of 1872, Mr. Loncher and his daughter had left Independence for Iowa but were never heard from again. The petite auburn-haired beauty desired notoriety and often advocated free love and justification for murder in her lectures. Born July 30, 1848," "John Gebhardt came to America on July 1 18? Also one of the victims was the neighbor of the person who wrote Little House on the Prarie. It says this home used to be run by the infamous Mellon Family, who lured travelers in before killing them with a hammer. The Version table provides details related to the release that this issue/RFE will be addressed. The story of the Benders' escape spread, and the search continued on and off for the next 50 years. Fortunately, Rabbi returns in time to shut down the likely police shooting and receives a warning from the officer about keeping his colored boy out of sight in a town like that. The Lawrence Kansas Subreddit. [1] The family consisted of John Bender, his wife Elvira and their son JohnJr. and daughter Kate. Home TV & Streaming Recaps & Reviews FARGO Recap: (S04E09) East/West, Posted by Leona Laurie | Nov 16, 2020 | Recaps & Reviews, TV & Streaming | 0. Their story is unresolved and remains one of the great unsolved mysteries of the old west. 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 women's identities were later confirmed by two Osage township witnesses from a tintype photograph. [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. [11] Whether John Flickinger was really John Bender is unknown. The Benders family, of German descent, was one of the families who moved to the outskirts of Kansas. In 1967, three of the Bender hammers were gifted to the museum by the Dick family. 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. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Benders. 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. . Some say they escaped, others that the were executed by a vengeful posse. From the first grayscale frame, its clear that were arent in Kansas City anymore. 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. While there is no definitive number, estimates report that the Benders killed at least a dozen travelers before their crimes were discovered. 1619) December 1872: During the search, the bodies of four unidentified males were found in Drum Creek and the surrounds. As the haunting legend continued, people began to say that Kate Bender had returned to the property, doomed to roam the very land where she had committed so many atrocities. Satchel tries looking for Rabbi, but a short conversation with the hospital man and a glimpse of the preacher and his mother folding a flag in their underwear (night wear?) It was confirmed that the family had bought tickets on the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston Railroad for Humboldt. 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. According to the Pittsburgh Dispatch, the daughter of one of the Benders' victims, Mrs. Frances E. McCann, had reported the pair to authorities in early October after tracking them down. In the spring of 1873, Longcor's former neighbor, Dr. William Henry York, went looking for them and questioned homesteaders along the trail. The Benders were widely believed to be German immigrants. was harry hibbs married; waterloo central railway wedding. For all these deaths, the Benders gained only about $4,600, two teams of horses and wagons, a pony, and a saddle. When the men arrived at the property, they found the cabin empty of food, clothing, and personal possessions. Yes it was. The Benders are believed to have killed about a dozen people, including one child. A Catholic priest said he fled when he saw one of the Bender men concealing a large hammer. [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. 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. 1315) December 1872: Various body parts. Contemporary newspapers reported his name as either "George W. Longcor" or "George Loncher," while Mary Ann is similarly reported as being either eight years old or 18 months old. Fixed: Release in which this issue/RFE has been fixed.The release containing this fix may be available for download as an Early Access Release or a General Availability Release. A piece of land where Kansas' first known serial killers murdered at least 11 people in the 1870s is up for auction. Sometime later, Billy Tole, a neighbor of the Benders, noticed that the Bender Inn was abandoned and their farm animals unfed. are enough to drive him back into his own room, where he bars the door with a chair and falls asleep again with gun in his hand. Catch up here! 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. The lonely hills meander across what is now U.S. Highway 400, where travelers whoosh by in comfort at 65 mph. In the spring of 1873, Dr. York took it upon himself to look for the Lonchers, stopping at the homesteads along the trail to ask questions. Buried in the apple orchard. The wall wherein he hid his cash is gone, and he knows with certainty that the brothers found it. 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. Bit by bit, the story of the Benders was pieced together. While popular retelling of the story holds that John Jr. and Kate were siblings, contemporary newspapers reported . Press J to jump to the feed. In honor of the Kansas state-wide Centennial Celebration, an exact replica of the Bender cabin was built that housed antiques and household items. The family quickly ran away in the middle of the night never to be seen. 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. East/West is a cunningly timed bottle episode. 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. This is blatantly a reference to the Bender Family, a family of serial killers from late 1800s Kansas. [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. Her face was a fit picture of the midnight hag that wove the spell murderous ambition about the soul of Macbeth. He finally gets to eat that evening at a bizarre dinner of fish sticks and potatoes. Of the family, Pa Bender was found to have been a man named John Flickinger, from either Germany or Holland. Satchel walks down the road with his dog. mellon mounds kansas murders. Each season of Fargo stands alone - you can watch them all out of order and still be able to understand what's going on. Later she married William Stephen Griffith. 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. She mentioned stopping at the inn, as well as recounting the rumors of the murders spreading through their community. Elvira and Kate Bender also planted a 2-acre (0.81ha) vegetable garden and apple orchard north of the cabin. In the spring of 1894, the victims bodies were discovered, sending the town into hysteria. Colonel A.M. York, leading a contingency of some 50 men, began questioning every traveler along the trail and stopping at the area homesteads. CHERRYVALE The chain of low hills known as the Bender Mounds extends in a diagonal seven miles northeast of here, islands of limestone and scrubby trees over level fields where this time of year soybeans have just been harvested. Although the elder Benders kept to themselves, Kate and her brother regularly attended Sunday school in nearby Harmony Grove. Leona Laurie is a Senior Contributor for Geek Girl Authority and co-host of the Marvel-Us podcast. Markers of the Kansas state historical markers program administered by the Kansas Historical Society and Kansas Department of Transportation. Kate then became abusive toward them, and shortly afterward the Bender men emerged from behind the cloth. KANSAS HISTORICAL MARKER THE MELLON MOUNDS 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. Bloody Benders - The Forgotten Story of a Family of Pioneer Kansas Serial Killers By: Justin Nobel | Date: Sat, November 16th, 2013 The Bender family lived in southeastern Kansas and murdered pioneers headed west during the late 1800s. Yep the Abberdeens are very clearly based on the Benders, specifically Kate and John Jr. 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. why i quit civil engineering; goo goo gaga family net worth; how to make homemade biscuits without baking powder; 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. 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. They were not pursued, as lawmen following outlaws into this region often never returned. However, none of these tales were confirmed, nor were bodies found, so most thought that the Benders had managed to escape. As word of the grisly murders spread, more and more travelers came forward to tell their own stories of a narrow escape, including one gentleman named William Pickering. Other bodies found in the garden were those of Henry McKenzies mutilated remains, three men by the names of Ben Brown, W.F. One weird oversight. Rabbi retreats to take cover behind his vehicle, and Calamita catches him with a bullet in the arm before hes in the clear, making it difficult to return fire. On deer antler shedding, pocket gopher mounds, eagle breeding and murders of crows (that's the name of a flock of crows) They were released after being found not guilty, but were then immediately re-arrested for the Bender murders. [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. A self-proclaimed healer and psychic, she distributed flyers advertising her supernatural powers and her ability to cure illnesses. Next to their room is a hospital man, an obese white man with bandages all over him and some kind of skin condition that makes him look monstrous to the passing child. While popular retelling of the story holds that JohnJr. and Kate were siblings, contemporary newspapers reported that several of the Benders' neighbors had stated that they claimed to be married, possibly in a common law marriage. Body found in Drum Creek with a crushed skull and throat cut. They purchased tickets on the northbound Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston Train to Humboldt. He takes Satchel to a quirky (to say the least) boardinghouse, owned by feuding, deaf, elderly sisters. $10 (2023: $226), a, 8-9) December 1872: George Newton Longcor and his 18-month-old daughter, Mary Ann. 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. Kate soon gained notoriety as a self-proclaimed healer and spiritualist. 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. With the exception of McKenzie and York,[17] who were buried in Independence; the Longcors, who were buried in Montgomery County; and McCrotty, who was buried in Parsons, Kansas, none of the other bodies were claimed, and they were reburied at the base of a small hill 1 mile (1.6km) southeast of the Benders' orchard, one of several at the location now known as "The Benders Mounds". It was a story about the infamous Benders and about one man who got away. Fact or fiction, no one knows, but Ive always enjoyed the tale and hope you will as well. [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. Several days later, the Benders team and wagon were found a short distance away, and the horses nearly starved. 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. Like others, he was hit over the head as he sat at the table. Finally, unsolved murders in Shawnee County, Kansas, can be found among these lists. [18], According to a news report from contemporary media, an unnamed man from Kansas City, who had investigated the Bender Family's house and the rumors of their deaths numerous times, claimed that The Kelly Family were in fact the Benders. "[7], Word of the murders spread quickly, and more than three thousand people, including reporters from as far away as New York City and Chicago, visited the site. After the third hanging, they released him and he staggered home "as one who was drunken or deranged. The sensational tales and rumors of the Benders continued well into the 20th century, but what happened to them remains one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of the Old West. Today, Smalley descendants continue to live in the Neodosha and Cherryvale area. Telling the story of his near-death, Jesse quickly retold it to a nearby doctor and judge, who formed a vigilante group to go after the Benders. The group is believed to be one of the first serial killer families in America. They killed as many as 26 people, I believe there is a museum that stills has a bloody knife they used. She alleged that her father, "Pa Ingalls," joined in a vigilante hunt for the killers, and when he spoke of later searches for them she recalled, "At such times Pa always said in a strange tone of finality, 'They will never be found.' 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. While not actually on the old Bender property, the marker sits on the high prairie about a mile northwest of Bender Mounds at the US-400 and US-169 interchange at the Montgomery County Rest area, north of Cherryvale. 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. [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. A beautiful girl of about 23, she was quick to laugh and talk to strangers. ", "Kate proclaimed herself responsible to no one save herself.". These first few missing travelers did not raise an overall alarm in the area as it was not uncommon for men to continue their journey westward during those days. mellon mounds kansas murders. 37 20.932 N, 95 31.668 W. Marker is in Morehead, Kansas, in Montgomery County. 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. The Bender cabin was ripped apart by gruesome souvenir hunters right down to the bloody bricks that lined the cellar. A roadside sign now marks their murderous exploits. Rabbi would not have been one of the Mellons.). Premium Powerups . John BenderJr. was around 25 years old and handsome, with auburn hair and a mustache, and spoke English fluently with a German accent. Cherryvale Museum Benders Mounds Cemetery Labette County , Kansas , USA - *Estimated location First Name Middle Name Last Name (s) Search this cemetery More search options Search tips About Photos 0 Map About No location information available Add Location Cemetery ID: 2728705 Members have Contributed 6 Memorials 100% photographed They buried their victims in a neighboring orchard, unbeknownst to the townspeople. John Bender, Jr. was actually a man named John Gebhardt. THE LAST SKYWALKER Pays Tribute to the Ben Solo Legacy, Lynne Ramsay Tapped to Direct THE GIRL WHO LOVED TOM GORDON, WANDAVISION Finale Recap: (S01E09) The Series Finale, WANDAVISION Recap: (S01E08) Previously On, WANDAVISION Recap: (S01E07) Breaking the Fourth Wall. The Carr brothers were convicted of capital murder in a crime spree in Wichita in 2000 that included robbery, rape, forced sex and four fatal shootings in a snow-covered soccer field. Hes connected to a medical machine and has a hovering attendant with goggles on, ministering to him with a hypodermic needle. 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. 20) May 1873: Dr William York. Bite-Size Bits of Local, National, and Global History, Photographed By William Fischer, Jr., December 18, 2011, The Bloody Benders. She advocated "free love," and denounced all social regulations for the promotion of purity and the prevention of carnality, which she called "miserable requirements of self-constituted society."
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