Volume 15 , Issue 33

The Cherryvale Fiends (Kansas 1873)

The Emporia News, 16 May 1873, out of Emporia, Kansas, reported on page 2, concerning "The Cherryvale Horror," that the latest accounts were three more bodies had been discovered, victims of the Bender murderers, fourteen in all. The Benders had been traced to St. Louis, and it was believed they had gone to Germany.

Additional details of the sickening spectacle, and how a family of hyenas preyed upon the passers by. There was intense excitement of the neighbors, with speculation that the fiends would surely be arrested.

The most intense excitement was said to exist among the citizens of Cherryvale and those of the surrounding country in regard to the additional discoveries of the victims of the Bender devils. Nothing could equal the cold blooded, deliberate and hellish villainy that characterized the murders, and that punishment commensurate with the crime would be surely and certainly meted out to them was as certain as the transition of time.

When Dr. Wm. York was first missed he was traced to Cherryvale but no further. There the trail was no longer a trail, but a myth, a mystery, an enigma neither the unwearied patience of friends, not the Sacrificing devotion of a brother could solve.

Cherryvale was a small town on the Leavenworth, lawrence and Galveston Railroad, and was in Labette county, about fifty miles from the south line of the State. To the south of Cherryvale, some two miles or less, stood a frame house, having in front a large room where the meals were served, and in the rear a sleeping room furnished with two beds and some scant additional furniture besides. This was a tavern kept by William and Thomas Bender. To the right of the dwelling house was an out-house, and in the rear was an enclosed garden of possibly two acres.

the search for Dr. Wm. York seemed to end suddenly at Cherryvale Suspicion, if ever entertained, fell upon no one. There were various surmises, conjectures, and expressions of opinion; but for the life of any man he could not say what had become of Dr. York.

One day early in April some men from Cherryvale rode over to the Bender house, a tavern, too, it was, where entertainment was furnished to travelers, to inquire concerning Dr. York, and to learn, if possible, something of his fate.

Tidings of His Fate

They learned nothing, however. None of the Benders had seen him, nor his mysterious disappearance, not anything that pertained to him. From the Kansas City Times, which had a correspondent on the ground, we learn the following additional particulars:

"It would seem as if the Cherryvale party alarmed the Benders. William Bender, now that the terrible secrets have come to light, and now that the shallow graves have given up their ghastly and mutilated occupants, can be remembered as having acted very strangely. Twice he had come into Cherryvale and had been noticed upon the occasion of each visit, to loiter upon the outside of crowds, seemingly having no business, but eagerly intent all the time, in listening to everything that was said.

"A gentlemen riding by one day saw a calf lying dead inside the yard evidently starved to death. His suspicions were immediately aroused by the desertion of the house and he notified the Cherryvale authorities. A party was organized instantly and set out for the Bender mansion. Then it was remembered that about two weeks before this, near the 24th of April, William Bender had sold to some persons either in or near Cherryvale a watch, some clothing of a fine character, two mules, and perhaps a shot gun or two and some pistols. How did he come by these?; If the dead could speak the question might be readily answered.

"The party from Cherryvale arrived at the house located directly upon the Osage Mission road, having an out house in the rear and to the south of it. In the rear there was a garden. This at first, was not examined. The front room of the house was next carefully searched, every crack and crevice being minutely looked into, and subjected to the application of rods and levers to see if the flooring was either hollow or loose. Nothing came of it all. NO blood spots appeared. The floor was solid. The walls were solid. If there was dead men about, they were not in the front room. Then came the back room. the beds were removed.

In his flight the elder Bender had left everything untouched. Not even the doors were locked, though such had been the reputation of the she devil (Kate Bender) that the premises stood as safe from intrusion as if protected by a devil in reality. After the beds had been removed one of the party noticed a slight depression in the floor, which, upon closer examination, revealed a trap door upon hinges. This was immediately lifted up, and in the gloom a pit outlined itself, forbidding, cavernous, unknown. Lights were procured, and some of the men descended. They found themselves in an abyss shaped like a well, some six feet deep, and about five feet in diameter. Here and there little damp places could be seen as if water had come up from the bottom or been poured down from above. They groped about over these splotches and held up a handful to the light. The ooze smeared itself over their palms and dribbled through their fingers.

It was blood, thick . fortis, clammy, sticking, blood, that they had found groping there in the void. The blood, perhaps, of some poor, belated traveler who had laid himself down to dream of home and kindred, and who had died while dreaming of his loved ones. The party had provided themselves with a ing, sharp rod of iron which they drove into the ground in every direction at the bottom of the pit, but nothing further rewarded the search, and they came to examine the garden in the rear of the house.

After boring or prodding, as it were, for nearly an hour, the rod was driven down into the spot, and when it was withdrawn, something that looked like matter adhered to the point. Shovels were set at once to work, and in a few moments a corpse was uncovered. It had been buried upon its face. It was Dr. Wm. York.

Couriers and telegrams had been sent in every direction with descriptions of the Benders, and it was not thought possible they could escape. With the crowd at the grave was a man named Brockman who was supposed to know something about the murders. Furious men laid hold upon him at once and strung him to a beam in the house. Brockman's contortions were fearful. His eyes started from their sockets, and a livid hue came to his face that was appalling. Death was within reach of him when he was cut down.

Confess! Confess! they yelled, but he said nothing. Again he jerked from his feet, and again was the strong body convulsed with the death throes. Again resuscitated, he once more refused to open his mouth. He did not appear to understand what was wanted of him. The yelling crowd, the mutilated and butchered dead, the flickering and swirling torches spluttering in the night wind, the stern, set faces of his executioners, all, all passed before him as a dreadful phantasmagoria which dazed him struck him, speechless. For the third time they swung him up, and then his heart could not be felt to beat, and there was not pulse at the wrists.

He was was dead. But he was not dead. The night air revived him at last, and he was permitted to stagger away in the darkness as one who was drunken or deranged.

Nothing like this sickening series of crimes had ever been recorded in this country. People for hundreds of miles were flocking into Cherryvale, and enormous rewards were to be offered for the arrest of the murderers. It was supposed that they had been following their horrible work for years.

Plunder was the accepted cause. Dr. York, it was said, and a large sum of money on his person, and that he stopped at the house either to feed his horse or get a drink of water. While halting for eighteen he was dealt the blow which killed him in an instant. Every one who knew him liked him.   |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

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