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", "Young Bender, seen when excited, recalled the grave-robbing hyena at once to mind. He pointed out that both families' modus operandi, family unit numbers and other evidence proved that they are one and the same. Bite-Size Bits of Local, National, and Global History, Photographed By William Fischer, Jr., December 18, 2011, The Bloody Benders. They buried their victims in a neighboring orchard, unbeknownst to the townspeople. Of the family, Pa Bender was found to have been a man named John Flickinger, from either Germany or Holland. The Benders were widely believed to be German immigrants. [9], More than a dozen bullet holes were found in the roof and sides of the cabin. melon mounds liberal kansascrank arm length calculator sheldon browncrank arm length calculator sheldon brown Along with her desire for fame, she also craved wealth and position. [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. 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.". "[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. This one would make a great show/movie, but we keep seeing remakes and reboots. Buried in the apple orchard. Although stories abound, the ultimate fate of the murderous Mellon family was never discovered. Finally, unsolved murders in Shawnee County, Kansas, can be found among these lists. 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. 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. Allegedly, the pair then fled to a tough outlaw colony along the border of Texas and New Mexico. 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. When the vigilantegroup approached, the Benders fired on them, at which time, the judge lost part of his ear to a flying bullet. [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. However, none of these tales were confirmed, nor were bodies found, so most thought that the Benders had managed to escape. but many still live in fear of their bloody hammer. Calamita is swept up into the funnel, along with the filling station and the bodies littering its floors. Some say they escaped, others that the were executed by a vengeful posse. Both knew of his travel plans, and when he failed to return home, an all-out search began for the missing doctor. I haven't heard Macabre in years. (In case you wondered after reading that, like I did, what year The Mulligan Concern arrived in Kansas City, it was 1920. A pity, it has quite a few quirks. In Rabbis absence, Satchel discovers a Jack Russel terrier hiding in the wardrobe in his room. Her tag says her name is Rabbit. Originally scheduled for February 1890, the trial was held over to May. Sometime later, Billy Tole, a neighbor of the Benders, noticed that the Bender Inn was abandoned and their farm animals unfed. 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. 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. At the site of a freshly stirred depression in the earth, they found the first body, buried head downward with its feet scarcely covered. This tugs his heartstrings, inspiring him to leave the boardinghouse in search of some kind of birthday treat for his ward. Some of the Benders' neighbors claimed that John and Kate were not brother and sister, but actually husband and wife. 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. [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. The violence at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999 was the watershed event which led to the creation of our current day active shooter response programs. Along with an old episode of Death Valley Days. Discover something new every day from News, Sports, Finance, Entertainment and more! 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?) A decade after the gruesome killings, nothing was left of the cabin and outbuildings on the property. The book "All the Blood We Share: A Novel of the Bloody Benders of Kansas", by Camilla Bruce, published in 2022. Buried in the apple orchard. 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. Nothing like this sickening series of crimes had ever been recorded in the whole history of the country.. $10 (2023: $226), a, 8-9) December 1872: George Newton Longcor and his 18-month-old daughter, Mary Ann. While popular retelling of the story holds that John Jr. and Kate were siblings, contemporary newspapers reported . The Bender cabin was ripped apart by gruesome souvenir hunters right down to the bloody bricks that lined the cellar. He then cautiously looks through a window, where he sees Calamita standing over a wounded Omie, gun drawn. 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". 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. She and her brother John often attended Sunday School nearby Harmony Grove and were readily accepted in the community. 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. Kate then became abusive toward them, and shortly afterward the Bender men emerged from behind the cloth. There is a lot of weird details, like the two children, Kate and John Jr Bender possibly being husband and wife, or the parents Elvira and John Sir being two nobodies who merely said they were family. While there is no definitive number, estimates report that the Benders killed at least a dozen travelers before their crimes were discovered. 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. The front section also contained the kitchen and dining table, where travelers could stop for a meal or even spend the night. In 1884, it was reported that John Flickinger had committed suicide in Lake Michigan. About 75 people attended the gathering, including both Bender men. [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. I wouldn't have imagined a crazier hotel story other than H H Holmes and The Murder Castle. The Vicious Harpes First AmericanSerial Killers, The Bloody Benders When he wakes alone again in the morning, Satchel takes Rabbit for a walk down the lane to where a man has finished building a cryptic billboard featuring a white man in a suit and hat smiling expectantly in front of a ranch style house. Satchel decides to keep her, without asking anyone in the building whose she is, and Rabbis only objection to this when he meets her is that she makes noise. When the Benders opened their store and inn in 1871, many travelers would stop for a meal or supplies. According to the 1870 census, George and his wife, Mary Jane, were neighbors of. Located on a main road, the Benders sold meals and supplies to travelers. [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. 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. John Bender, Jr. was actually a man named John Gebhardt. 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. The men then physically lifted the cabin and moved it to the side to dig under it, but no bodies were found. Several weeks after the discovery of the bodies, Addison Roach and his son-in-law, William Buxton, were arrested as accessories. One of the women would cut the victim's throat to ensure death, and the body was then dropped through the trap door. Though no one ever collected the rewards offered, rumors of several parties who had captured and killed the Benders began to fly. The petite auburn-haired beauty desired notoriety and often advocated free love and justification for murder in her lectures. [11] Whether John Flickinger was really John Bender is unknown. mellon mounds kansas murders. 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. 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. Prairie Ghosts, Byways & Historic Trails Great Drives in America, Soldiers and Officers in American History, Washington-on-the-Brazos, Texas Declaring Independence, Stanley, Ks Extinct but Still Here (LOK), Black Bob Reservation in Johnson County (LOK). 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. The family consisted of John Bender, his wife Elvira and their son John Jr. and daughter Kate. Phone: 620-624-3885 Fax: 620-626-7629 Manager: Nora Rubio Email: Email Mead Lumber of Liberal Hours: Cemetery. McCrotty. Kate soon gained notoriety as a self proclaimed healer and spiritualist. Touch for map. 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. The wall wherein he hid his cash is gone, and he knows with certainty that the brothers found it. This is blatantly a reference to the Bender Family, a family of serial killers from late 1800s Kansas. 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. Daughter Kate was the friendliest of the bunch, speaking good English with just a slight accent and bore cultivated social skills. In 1870, five families of spiritualists settled in western Labette County, about seven miles northeast of where Cherryvale would be platted a year later. 12) December 1872: Abigail Roberts. 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. No documentation or definitive proof of their relationships to one another, or where they were born, has ever been found. Advertisement Coins. [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. Bender Mounds, Kansas by Kathy Alexander. She is fun enough. The Bloody Benders - Serial Killers of Kansas Bender Mounds, Kansas by Kathy Alexander. She also conducted sances and gave lectures on spiritualism, for which she gained notoriety for advocating free love. If not accosted by road agents, travelers also had to be concerned about Indian attacks. did phineas and ferb die in a car accident. When the visitors stopped for a meal, they were seated at a table with their backs to the large canvas separating the inn from the living quarters. As more and more travelers vanished, suspicion began to circle the Mellons. ?," "big slaughter day, Jan eighth", and "hell departed. The only thing remaining an empty hole that had once been the cellar. 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. what happened to johnny rodriguez country singervice president internal student council. 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. 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. 5) December 1872: W.F. He returns his attention to Rabbi, who has noticed something behind the Italian: a bona fide Wizard of Oz tornado. The 162-acre tract of cropland known as the "Bender Farm" will be sold off to. 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. [1][2] Although some of the victims were wealthy, others carried little of value on them, and it was surmised that the Benders had killed them simply for the sheer thrill. If this really is Oz, then Satchel is Dorothy and Rabbit is Toto. 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. The Mellon family is a wealthy and influential American family from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Props to Noah Hawley for referencing a lot of forgotten crimes, from Jane Toppan, the Kansas City Massacre, and now the Bloody Benders. The digging continued the next day; nine other bodies and numerous dismembered body parts were found, including a woman and a little girl. After the third hanging, they released him and he staggered home "as one who was drunken or deranged. Look for these with their cute sunflowers. East/West is a cunningly timed bottle episode. Immigrating from Germany, John Bender, Sr. was 60 years old when he arrived in the area; his wife was about 55. Guess well have to wait to find out . The family, John and Elvira and their two children John Jr. and Kate, ultimately settled down near Cherryvale city on a 160-acre property, intending to run an inn. Secretly, the four made a living through murder and robbery., Located on a main road, the Benders sold meals and supplies to travelers. Yeah! From there, they traveled to an outlaw colony thought to be in the border region between Texas and New Mexico. Judge Calvin dismissed Mary Gardei's affidavit as she was a "chip off the old block"; he found that other affidavits supporting Gardei's were sufficient proof that the women could never be convicted, however, and he discharged them both. kansas historical marker the mellon mounds Orchard Park Police Blotter 2021 , Fran Mccaffery Daughter , How Much Does Bronny Average? Mrs. Almira Griffith) and Mrs. Sarah Eliza Davis had been arrested in Niles, Michigan (often misreported as Detroit) several weeks earlier for larceny. Fact or fiction, no one knows, but Ive always enjoyed the tale and hope you will as well. One of those places was the Bender Inn. Fargo is a critically acclaimed series created by Noah Hawley, who is also the creator of FX's Legion. 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. Satchel walks down the road with his dog. Last night, I listened to a story from my grandfather, Emerson Smalley, about the Benders and their supposed end. 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. Body found in Drum Creek with a crushed skull and throat cut. Despite the lack of identification, the man's skull was displayed as that of "Pa Bender" in a Salmon saloon until Prohibition forced its closure in 1920 and the skull disappeared. They were released after being found not guilty, but were then immediately re-arrested for the Bender murders. In the end, the artifacts, including the hammers, photos, and newspaper clippings, were placed in the Cherryvale Museum and can still be seen today at 215 East 4th Street. Her face was a fit picture of the midnight hag that wove the spell murderous ambition about the soul of Macbeth. 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. They killed as many as 26 people, I believe there is a museum that stills has a bloody knife they used. [2], Testimony from people who had stayed at the Benders' inn and managed to escape before they could be killed appeared to support the presumed execution method of the Benders. [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. John was prone to laughing aimlessly, which led many to consider him a "half-wit." Dismembered parts of several other victims were also discovered but could never be identified. 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. Catch up here! He leaves Satchel in the car with Rabbit while hes doing this, and the boy is approached by a nervous policeman who prepares to draw his weapon as he asks Satchel to leave the car. 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. 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. Though most were led to believe John and Kate were sister and brother, others said that they sometimes passed as man and wife. 10) December 1872: John Greary. A terrible smell inside the abandoned inn also met them. Hey babe, nice melon mounds. By the time a deputy from Cherryvale arrived, identification was impossible due to decomposition. 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. 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. She soon found the lecture circuit profitable by distributing circulars that proclaimed her skills, including supernatural powers and the ability to cure illnesses and infirmities. Serial killer music is a genre unto itself. Southeast Kansas, in particular, was known as a rough area. Donald's family owns successful McDonald's franchises in their home town of Phoenix, Arizona. The story of the Benders' escape spread, and the search continued on and off for the next 50 years. Kate soon gained notoriety as a self proclaimed healer and . 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. The Version table provides details related to the release that this issue/RFE will be addressed. Bit by bit, the story of the Benders was pieced together. However, there were no bodies in the hole. [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. Although the elder Benders kept to themselves, Kate and her brother regularly attended Sunday school in nearby Harmony Grove. The breastbone had been driven in. While popular retelling of the story holds that John Jr. and Kate were siblings, contemporary newspapers reported . mellon mounds kansas murdersduskull evolution arceus. York reached Fort Scott, and on March 9 began the return journey to Independence, but never arrived.