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No 43 00:01:57.640 --> 00:02:00.519 purchase necessary boid We're prohibited by law eighteens terms and 44 00:02:00.560 --> 00:02:03.519 conditions of the Flag Sea website for details. 45 00:02:12.400 --> 00:02:15.800 You are now listening to True Murder, the most shocking 46 00:02:15.919 --> 00:02:18.919 killers in true crime history and the authors that have 47 00:02:19.000 --> 00:02:26.280 written about them, Gaesy, Bundy, Dahmer, The Nightstalker, DTK. Every 48 00:02:26.319 --> 00:02:30.000 week another fascinating author talking about the most shocking and 49 00:02:30.120 --> 00:02:34.319 infamous killers in true crime history. True Murder with your 50 00:02:34.319 --> 00:02:37.560 host journalist and author Dan Zufanski. 51 00:02:47.560 --> 00:02:51.560 Good evening. At a remote little inn, not far from 52 00:02:51.560 --> 00:02:55.759 the Kansas homestead of Laura Ingalls Wilder lived the Bender family. 53 00:02:56.400 --> 00:03:00.520 These pioneers welcomed unwary visitors with jack rabbit stew and 54 00:03:00.560 --> 00:03:03.919 a sledge hammer to the skull. In time, their apple 55 00:03:04.080 --> 00:03:07.280 orchard gave up its secrets, a burial ground for their 56 00:03:07.360 --> 00:03:12.039 mutilated victims, each stripped of their possessions. The devilish enterprise 57 00:03:12.120 --> 00:03:15.319 on Hell's half Acre would earn the Bloody Benders an 58 00:03:15.400 --> 00:03:19.199 undying place in the annals of American infamy. But it 59 00:03:19.240 --> 00:03:22.039 was the mysterious fate of eldest daughter Kate that would 60 00:03:22.039 --> 00:03:28.080 make them the stuff of mythic campfire prairie tales. Slaughterhouse 61 00:03:28.120 --> 00:03:31.240 on the Prairie is part of Bloodlands, a chilling collection 62 00:03:31.360 --> 00:03:35.000 of short, addictive historical narratives from best selling true crime 63 00:03:35.039 --> 00:03:39.840 master Harold Scheckter, spanning a century in our nation's murderous past. 64 00:03:40.199 --> 00:03:44.520 Scheckter resurrects nearly forgotten tales of madmen and thrill killers 65 00:03:44.840 --> 00:03:48.919 that dominated the most sensational headlines of their day. The 66 00:03:48.919 --> 00:03:51.719 book they were featuring this evening is Little slaughter House 67 00:03:51.800 --> 00:03:56.360 on the Prairie Bloodlands Collection, with my special guest, journalists 68 00:03:56.360 --> 00:04:00.319 and author and historian Harold Schechter. Welcome back to the program, 69 00:04:00.360 --> 00:04:03.800 and thank you very much again for coming back to 70 00:04:03.840 --> 00:04:05.560 the program for this interview. 71 00:04:07.280 --> 00:04:09.400 Well, happy to be here as oeas Dan. Thank you 72 00:04:09.479 --> 00:04:10.159 for inviting me. 73 00:04:11.159 --> 00:04:16.319 Thank you very much. And let's get to a little 74 00:04:16.319 --> 00:04:19.120 bit about this Bloodlands collection before we get into Little 75 00:04:19.120 --> 00:04:22.399 Slaughterhouse on the Prairie. Tell us like this a little 76 00:04:22.399 --> 00:04:23.680 bit more about this collection. 77 00:04:25.480 --> 00:04:31.000 Well, it's part of this new series called Amazon Original Stories. 78 00:04:32.319 --> 00:04:39.360 And each entry, each story and blood Lands, there are 79 00:04:39.399 --> 00:04:43.040 six of them altogether. Each one isn't meant to be 80 00:04:43.199 --> 00:04:46.959 read in one sitting a couple of hours. They run 81 00:04:47.040 --> 00:04:52.199 about forty or fifty pages, although they're only available as ebooks, 82 00:04:53.639 --> 00:04:58.720 and they span, as you mentioned in your introduction, about 83 00:04:59.040 --> 00:05:05.079 one hundred years of American criminal history. The first one 84 00:05:05.480 --> 00:05:09.959 is called The Pirate. It's about an eighteen sixties mass 85 00:05:10.079 --> 00:05:14.920 murderer named Albert Hicks, who killed the entire crew and 86 00:05:15.079 --> 00:05:20.160 captain on bought an oyster sloop in the early nineteen 87 00:05:20.199 --> 00:05:22.959 in the mid nineteen in the excuse me in the 88 00:05:23.000 --> 00:05:29.959 eighteen sixties. And then there's Little Slaughterhouse on the Prairie, 89 00:05:30.800 --> 00:05:36.079 which is set in Kansas in the early eighteen seventies, 90 00:05:37.360 --> 00:05:42.360 as you mentioned about the bloody Bender family. The third 91 00:05:42.480 --> 00:05:49.959 one is about a remember all of them. One of 92 00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:54.399 them is about this sex crime panic that gripped the 93 00:05:54.480 --> 00:06:00.600 country in the nineteen thirties. There was a hand full 94 00:06:00.680 --> 00:06:08.680 of very gruesome, sensational pad opheliac murders that happened in 95 00:06:08.759 --> 00:06:12.800 New York and one very horrific one in Los Angeles. 96 00:06:13.439 --> 00:06:17.839 And this fuel this UH, I guess what sociologists call 97 00:06:17.920 --> 00:06:21.839 a moral panic, which was also partly fed by Jack 98 00:06:21.879 --> 00:06:28.680 or Hoover. This UH and and and again the tabloids 99 00:06:28.879 --> 00:06:33.800 played a great role in creating this nationwide hysteria that 100 00:06:33.920 --> 00:06:37.079 the country was overrun, you know, with what they call 101 00:06:37.160 --> 00:06:45.879 these sex degenerates. Then there's one about UH, an African 102 00:06:45.920 --> 00:06:50.800 American serial murderer who is known as the Brickslayer, who 103 00:06:50.800 --> 00:06:55.560 would sneak into bedrooms of women and murder them with 104 00:06:55.879 --> 00:07:01.759 a brick. He was the model for the character of 105 00:07:01.800 --> 00:07:08.680 Bigger Thomas in Richard Wright's classic book Native Son. Then 106 00:07:08.759 --> 00:07:15.199 there's one on Howard Unrouped, the first modern mass murderer 107 00:07:15.279 --> 00:07:20.680 in American history, this World War Two veteran who shot 108 00:07:20.759 --> 00:07:25.600 to death a dozen of his neighbors in Camden, New Jersey, 109 00:07:25.600 --> 00:07:29.319 in nineteen forty nine. And then the last one is 110 00:07:29.360 --> 00:07:32.639 about Charles Schmidt, the so called Pied Piper of Tucson, 111 00:07:33.240 --> 00:07:36.600 who is kind of a pre Charlie Manson kind of 112 00:07:36.720 --> 00:07:43.920 character in the mid nineteen sixties. So those six stories together, 113 00:07:44.079 --> 00:07:51.560 and each one is a separate kindle, single comprise the 114 00:07:51.639 --> 00:07:56.519 Bloodland's collection. And again they're only available as on Kendle. 115 00:07:56.600 --> 00:08:00.040 They can be purchased individually or being. 116 00:08:00.040 --> 00:08:04.720 Well, that sounds very very interesting, incredible stories. Let's get 117 00:08:04.720 --> 00:08:09.279 to this incredible story, Little Slaughterhouse on the Prairie. You 118 00:08:09.360 --> 00:08:13.639 open this up with the right in the beginning, talk 119 00:08:13.720 --> 00:08:17.319 about the inspiration to this, and we just mentioned that 120 00:08:17.439 --> 00:08:21.560 a little bit about Charles Ingalls Wilder, and this is 121 00:08:21.600 --> 00:08:23.839 the story of Little House on the Prayer as everybody knows, 122 00:08:24.040 --> 00:08:26.519 sow that on television, and you say that this is 123 00:08:26.600 --> 00:08:31.519 the this is the story of these people moving to 124 00:08:31.560 --> 00:08:35.360 big Woods of the Big Woods of Wisconsin. Charles Ingalls, 125 00:08:35.720 --> 00:08:38.480 pioneering spirit, packed his wife and small children into a 126 00:08:38.519 --> 00:08:41.759 covered wagon and headed west for the Indian territory of 127 00:08:41.840 --> 00:08:48.039 southeast Kansas. Why the play on the little play on words, 128 00:08:48.080 --> 00:08:51.200 little Slaughterhouse on the prairie? Why is it inspired by 129 00:08:51.279 --> 00:08:53.679 this little house on the prairie? What about this story? 130 00:08:54.120 --> 00:08:57.759 Why is little House on the prairie involved in this story? 131 00:08:58.720 --> 00:09:00.000 Little Slaughterhouse on the prairie? 132 00:09:01.480 --> 00:09:05.879 Right? Well? Uh, Later in life, after you know, she 133 00:09:05.919 --> 00:09:09.360 had achieved a great yal of celebrity, Laura Inga Wilders 134 00:09:09.440 --> 00:09:13.799 published a magazine article talking about all the stuff she 135 00:09:13.840 --> 00:09:17.440 had left out of her Little House on the Prairie books. Uh, 136 00:09:17.720 --> 00:09:21.600 you know, and she you know, she discussed how, you know, 137 00:09:21.600 --> 00:09:26.919 there are all these all these events that she felt 138 00:09:26.919 --> 00:09:30.279 were not suitable for children. You know that she actually 139 00:09:31.080 --> 00:09:35.720 heard about her witness families, you know, freezing to death 140 00:09:35.720 --> 00:09:39.960 in these blizzards and in cases of infidet marital infidelity, 141 00:09:40.039 --> 00:09:44.799 and you know, excusing various acts of violence. In the 142 00:09:44.919 --> 00:09:50.840 course of the article, she mentioned that her family had 143 00:09:50.919 --> 00:09:55.639 actually had a couple of encounters with the venders. Uh. 144 00:09:55.679 --> 00:10:02.120 And she also uh described, you know, a memory she 145 00:10:02.240 --> 00:10:06.799 had of her father having gone off and you know, 146 00:10:06.840 --> 00:10:11.200 in return one day and revealed that he had been 147 00:10:11.240 --> 00:10:15.639 part of the posse that had pursued and hunted down 148 00:10:15.679 --> 00:10:20.360 the Benders, although he supposedly, you know, refused to tell 149 00:10:20.399 --> 00:10:25.080 her specifically what had happened, but she had the distinct 150 00:10:25.080 --> 00:10:29.240 impression that her father, again as part of this posse, 151 00:10:29.320 --> 00:10:32.519 he had taken part in, you know, running down the 152 00:10:32.559 --> 00:10:36.919 Benders and lynching them. So, you know, for a long time, 153 00:10:39.399 --> 00:10:42.440 you know, people who you know were interested in Wilder 154 00:10:42.519 --> 00:10:47.600 and her life, you know, just took this, you know, 155 00:10:47.639 --> 00:10:53.480 as a matter of course. But later scholars have determined 156 00:10:53.519 --> 00:11:03.000 that in fact, the Wilders had left Kansas the before 157 00:11:03.039 --> 00:11:07.879 the Benders had set up their murder tavern. So you know, 158 00:11:07.960 --> 00:11:11.480 this was a case of you know, which happens very 159 00:11:11.480 --> 00:11:15.480 often obviously as one grows older, you know, some some 160 00:11:15.919 --> 00:11:18.360 flawed embellished memory. 161 00:11:20.600 --> 00:11:24.559 Right, And very interesting is what she does write in 162 00:11:24.600 --> 00:11:26.919 that book, as well as saying that her father was 163 00:11:26.960 --> 00:11:29.960 part of this posseum we're getting ahead of ourselves with 164 00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:32.279 the story, but also that there was a couple of 165 00:11:32.360 --> 00:11:37.440 encounters where these the Benders had this tavern, and they 166 00:11:37.519 --> 00:11:41.639 came to on their on their way to their destination, 167 00:11:41.799 --> 00:11:45.120 they came to the tavern, but they didn't have the money. 168 00:11:45.200 --> 00:11:49.320 She said to stop at the tavern, so to avoid 169 00:11:49.399 --> 00:11:51.639 what would have happened certainly to all those other people. 170 00:11:52.360 --> 00:11:54.600 And that was part of the other facts that were 171 00:11:54.639 --> 00:11:56.039 part of her book, weren't it. 172 00:11:57.639 --> 00:12:00.879 Yes, that is part of it. But again that actually 173 00:12:01.200 --> 00:12:06.799 would not have apparently been possible because in fact, you know, 174 00:12:06.879 --> 00:12:14.799 there are dates in Kansas don't quite overlap. So so yeah, 175 00:12:14.879 --> 00:12:18.080 I mean kind of interesting, you know, the way in 176 00:12:18.279 --> 00:12:25.480 which one can you know, Revise once passed and become 177 00:12:25.559 --> 00:12:30.600 absolutely convinced that these things happened, when in fact they didn't. 178 00:12:31.960 --> 00:12:39.759 Yeah. Absolutely. You say, during Wilder's childhood that Bender Tavern 179 00:12:39.879 --> 00:12:42.720 came to be known as the Devil's in the Devil's Kitchen, 180 00:12:42.879 --> 00:12:46.039 Hell's half Acre. And then now you say, just recently 181 00:12:47.000 --> 00:12:49.879 historians have branded at Little slaughter House on the prairie. 182 00:12:50.960 --> 00:12:57.120 You talk about there was the I guess surprising amount 183 00:12:57.120 --> 00:13:00.440 of murders. Are plenty of murders in the region that 184 00:13:00.919 --> 00:13:04.759 was sparsely populated, And it's how you mentioned notorious cities 185 00:13:04.799 --> 00:13:07.720 like Dodge City, and then another city. I hadn't heard 186 00:13:07.759 --> 00:13:11.639 of Newton. This is years after the Civil War. And 187 00:13:11.720 --> 00:13:14.840 you say this county organized in eighteen sixty seven. How 188 00:13:14.960 --> 00:13:17.039 was it that there was a you talk about the 189 00:13:17.080 --> 00:13:20.799 treaty with the Ossasian Nation. How was it that people 190 00:13:20.840 --> 00:13:24.240 were coming to this area in fair amount of numbers? 191 00:13:24.240 --> 00:13:26.559 What was it that drove them to this area? 192 00:13:28.440 --> 00:13:35.720 Well, well, I mean in eighteen sixty two, you know, 193 00:13:35.799 --> 00:13:41.240 the government passed the Homestead Act, so you know, well 194 00:13:41.320 --> 00:13:45.039 this was after the United States, after the O Sage Nation, 195 00:13:45.960 --> 00:13:51.519 you know, ceeded this great tract of their land to 196 00:13:51.600 --> 00:13:55.080 the government. You know, I mean, I guess most of 197 00:13:55.159 --> 00:14:00.960 us are, you know, familiar with the sort of history 198 00:14:01.720 --> 00:14:06.720 of you know, the way the US government dealt with 199 00:14:07.000 --> 00:14:11.519 Native Americans. You know, they were constantly entering into these treaties, 200 00:14:12.200 --> 00:14:15.320 you know, taking over the land, you know, promising the 201 00:14:15.320 --> 00:14:19.200 Indian cit you know, they would be able to continue 202 00:14:19.240 --> 00:14:23.200 to reside on these large reservations in perpetuity. And then 203 00:14:23.799 --> 00:14:27.120 you know, the more white settler showed up, the more 204 00:14:27.519 --> 00:14:31.879 of the Indian land was appropriated. But in any case, 205 00:14:32.600 --> 00:14:35.840 in eighteen sixty two, you know, the government passed the 206 00:14:35.879 --> 00:14:40.559 Homestead Act, which offered one hundred and sixty acres of 207 00:14:41.960 --> 00:14:46.440 what was then public land. You know, to any settler 208 00:14:46.440 --> 00:14:49.279 who came and worked it for five and lived on 209 00:14:49.360 --> 00:14:53.240 it and worked it for five years. So you know 210 00:14:53.279 --> 00:15:00.200 that obviously attracted a great deal of pioneers to the area. 211 00:15:00.759 --> 00:15:06.120 You talk about. In eighteen seventy two individuals stopped in 212 00:15:06.120 --> 00:15:09.360 front of the trading post. You say, run, you're write 213 00:15:09.360 --> 00:15:13.200 that run by Rudolph Brockman and his partner August Earn. 214 00:15:14.120 --> 00:15:16.200 And this is in the southeast corner of the state, 215 00:15:16.320 --> 00:15:20.039 not far from Cherryvale. And he described the driver as 216 00:15:20.080 --> 00:15:24.360 a slim young man mid to late twenties, and just 217 00:15:24.440 --> 00:15:29.279 his nature, his behavior seemed like people might categorize him 218 00:15:29.279 --> 00:15:32.399 as a simpleton. And there was an older man sitting 219 00:15:32.480 --> 00:15:34.879 beside him. And you say, it's not even sure whether 220 00:15:34.960 --> 00:15:37.200 that's it was his son or maybe a step son. 221 00:15:39.600 --> 00:15:42.519 But what was it that they were they stopped in 222 00:15:42.559 --> 00:15:45.799 front of this in front of this shop here? What 223 00:15:46.000 --> 00:15:48.600 was it that they had in common? You say that 224 00:15:48.639 --> 00:15:51.840 they were Brockmen and this person had something in common 225 00:15:52.840 --> 00:15:55.919 and that he decided to they were both help him out. 226 00:15:56.000 --> 00:16:01.240 They were supposed to. They were you know what they 227 00:16:01.360 --> 00:16:06.799 called back then Hollanders, uh, you know, which basically meant 228 00:16:06.919 --> 00:16:11.480 that they were German in origin. You know, there's a 229 00:16:11.480 --> 00:16:16.600 lot of mystery that surrounds the origins and really even 230 00:16:16.639 --> 00:16:19.600 the relationship among you know, the various members of the 231 00:16:19.679 --> 00:16:26.759 so called Bender family. So yeah, there was old man Bender, uh. 232 00:16:26.879 --> 00:16:33.480 And then you know this younger man who, again we 233 00:16:33.559 --> 00:16:37.120 don't entirely know, I mean, you know, often described as 234 00:16:37.120 --> 00:16:41.240 his son, sometimes a step son. You know, there are 235 00:16:41.320 --> 00:16:45.799 various accounts that claim, you know, that they there was 236 00:16:45.840 --> 00:16:50.960 no familiar relationship between them at all. But but in general, 237 00:16:51.840 --> 00:16:54.639 you know, the you know, the consensus seems to be 238 00:16:55.720 --> 00:16:58.879 that he was, you know, he was the son of 239 00:16:59.480 --> 00:17:05.119 old men Bender, you know, John Junior, right, And they 240 00:17:05.160 --> 00:17:08.839 had showed up, you know, like other settlers to the region, 241 00:17:09.559 --> 00:17:13.039 you know, to claim this land and to settle on it. 242 00:17:16.359 --> 00:17:18.519 Now you talk about right away, they got some wood 243 00:17:18.599 --> 00:17:22.119 from neighboring town and they built a small little place, 244 00:17:22.160 --> 00:17:25.359 you say, sixteen by twenty four so it's a small building, 245 00:17:27.559 --> 00:17:29.359 and it's just the two of them that seem to 246 00:17:29.359 --> 00:17:33.279 have built this building. And then they sent for the 247 00:17:33.319 --> 00:17:38.559 women you described, they wrote They built a sixteen by 248 00:17:38.640 --> 00:17:43.079 twenty four foot building and It was constructed over a 249 00:17:43.119 --> 00:17:46.319 shallow cellar about seven foot deep, and then they got 250 00:17:46.319 --> 00:17:50.640 a huge slab of sandstone seven foot by three inch thick, 251 00:17:50.799 --> 00:17:55.279 and that that served as the cellar floor. And then 252 00:17:55.279 --> 00:17:59.200 they've had a crude trap door that they built as well. 253 00:17:59.640 --> 00:18:03.799 And later they dug a well, built a rough sod stable, 254 00:18:03.839 --> 00:18:07.400 and assembled a corn crib, which I'm not sure what 255 00:18:07.440 --> 00:18:10.640 that is, and a corral intends for livestock. So they 256 00:18:10.960 --> 00:18:13.599 set up what kind of business you talk about a tavern, 257 00:18:13.640 --> 00:18:17.279 but describe, as you do in the book, what really 258 00:18:17.319 --> 00:18:22.400 this looked like in was and functioned as. 259 00:18:22.079 --> 00:18:25.200 Yeah, well, you know, photographs actually still exist of the 260 00:18:25.279 --> 00:18:28.559 vendor quote unquote tavern. Yeah, but it was basically this 261 00:18:28.640 --> 00:18:37.960 one room shack and they strung up this partition which 262 00:18:38.000 --> 00:18:43.400 is sometimes again described as canvas at other times, you know, 263 00:18:43.480 --> 00:18:47.640 another kind of light fabric. But in the front part 264 00:18:47.640 --> 00:18:54.160 of it they create they built a rough counter and 265 00:18:55.279 --> 00:18:59.920 created this very rudimentary kind of grocery store. You know, 266 00:19:00.079 --> 00:19:03.920 they hung up a misspelled sign in front of the 267 00:19:04.000 --> 00:19:09.799 cabin advertising it as a grocery shop. That the cabin, 268 00:19:09.839 --> 00:19:14.480 by the way, you know, was built right by this 269 00:19:14.640 --> 00:19:18.359 what was called the o Sage Trail, which was but 270 00:19:18.480 --> 00:19:24.759 it was the main thoroughfare between you know, two of 271 00:19:24.759 --> 00:19:32.160 the major towns in that area. So they deliberately constructed 272 00:19:32.240 --> 00:19:42.839 this residents, you know, where travelers would pass close by. Uh, 273 00:19:42.920 --> 00:19:47.119 and they stocked it, you know, the few meager provisions 274 00:19:47.160 --> 00:19:52.519 for travelers, but they would also offer food and lodgings 275 00:19:53.519 --> 00:20:00.240 two weary travelers. Uh and uh. They used the you're 276 00:20:00.400 --> 00:20:06.599 part of the shack as the kind of again very 277 00:20:06.720 --> 00:20:10.519 very crude restaurant. You know, they had a table set 278 00:20:10.599 --> 00:20:14.160 up with some benches and so on, and then a 279 00:20:14.160 --> 00:20:17.880 couple of mattresses on the floor where all the benders slept. 280 00:20:17.920 --> 00:20:21.799 And then a few want to just spend the night there, 281 00:20:22.000 --> 00:20:23.720 you know, you can join them on the floor in 282 00:20:23.759 --> 00:20:26.400 another mattress. 283 00:20:28.079 --> 00:20:31.160 You write in the book that soon after or in 284 00:20:31.240 --> 00:20:36.880 eighteen seventy one, But anyways, that two women arrived, and 285 00:20:37.400 --> 00:20:40.240 one was mob Bender and the other one was as 286 00:20:40.279 --> 00:20:43.200 you write, likely her daughter, twenty three year old Kate. 287 00:20:44.079 --> 00:20:48.440 And you had even some question as whether what Alvira 288 00:20:48.680 --> 00:20:52.240 it was Ivira or Kate sr. But anyway, we called 289 00:20:52.240 --> 00:20:55.680 her the mob Bender or as you say, sometimes called 290 00:20:55.720 --> 00:20:59.559 the old Hag. Yes, and so and both you say, 291 00:20:59.680 --> 00:21:02.400 both the kids, John Junior it was supposed to be 292 00:21:02.440 --> 00:21:06.160 a little bit simple and Kate were products of a 293 00:21:06.240 --> 00:21:10.920 previous marriage that she had. And now you talk about 294 00:21:11.640 --> 00:21:15.000 you talk about the four of them setting up this tavern. 295 00:21:16.759 --> 00:21:19.599 Very interesting and we alluded to in the introduction that 296 00:21:19.759 --> 00:21:24.200 Kate's role in this little enterprise here. So what does 297 00:21:24.279 --> 00:21:29.359 Kate end up publicizing herself as in terms of some 298 00:21:29.400 --> 00:21:31.559 of the skills and talents that she has. 299 00:21:34.039 --> 00:21:37.720 Well, I mean, Kate, you know, supposedly with some kind 300 00:21:37.759 --> 00:21:46.079 of medium who would conduct spiritualistic seances. It's a little again, 301 00:21:46.400 --> 00:21:48.680 you know, so many as you know, as with all 302 00:21:49.440 --> 00:21:56.440 notorious serial killers, particularly going back that far, all these 303 00:21:56.559 --> 00:22:00.400 myths and legends have grown up about her. But we 304 00:22:00.519 --> 00:22:04.640 do know for sure she uh, you know that she 305 00:22:05.519 --> 00:22:14.039 advertised herself as a healer because business cards still exist. Actually, 306 00:22:15.640 --> 00:22:18.839 you know that she would circulate professor Miss Kate Bender 307 00:22:19.640 --> 00:22:24.359 can heal all sorts of diseases, can cure blindness, fits, deafness, 308 00:22:24.720 --> 00:22:29.640 and et cetera, et cetera. So yeah, she was, you know, 309 00:22:29.680 --> 00:22:34.759 set herself up as this kind of quack physician. But 310 00:22:34.880 --> 00:22:38.720 her main role well, I don't know how far ahead 311 00:22:38.720 --> 00:22:42.119 of the story you want to get. But you know, 312 00:22:42.920 --> 00:22:48.000 her main role in terms of the family enterprise was 313 00:22:48.079 --> 00:22:58.359 apparently too distract unwary travelers who were eating, you know, 314 00:22:58.440 --> 00:23:02.519 at the Bender in, you know, while her husband, while 315 00:23:02.559 --> 00:23:11.599 her father and brother dispatched them. 316 00:23:11.960 --> 00:23:14.920 Yeah, you talk about we'll get into the details right 317 00:23:14.960 --> 00:23:18.400 away with an example and a couple examples. Of course, 318 00:23:18.680 --> 00:23:23.519 you talk about some people were lucky enough to survive 319 00:23:24.880 --> 00:23:30.240 the lender experience. And so in eighteen seventy one, you say, 320 00:23:30.279 --> 00:23:33.279 for a few weeks, Katie took a job. Kate took 321 00:23:33.279 --> 00:23:36.400 a job as a waitress in the Cherryville Hotel, and 322 00:23:36.480 --> 00:23:41.920 she met Julie Hassler, a professed clairvoyant who shared her 323 00:23:42.039 --> 00:23:47.000 enthusiasm for telling fortunes and talking to spirits. And sometime 324 00:23:47.079 --> 00:23:49.960 that spring, you right that Julie visited the Bender Place 325 00:23:52.039 --> 00:23:56.680 after Kate invited her. And immediately you say, Julie was 326 00:23:56.720 --> 00:23:59.599 struck by the squalor of this little shanty, but also 327 00:23:59.759 --> 00:24:03.359 the credible foul stench wafting up from the floorboard, she said, 328 00:24:03.799 --> 00:24:08.920 and the blue bottle flies. You talk about a seance. 329 00:24:09.240 --> 00:24:14.119 What happens in this seance that makes her change her 330 00:24:14.160 --> 00:24:15.119 mind about her friend? 331 00:24:17.480 --> 00:24:24.799 Well, according to her testimony, and again let me emphasize, 332 00:24:25.680 --> 00:24:31.839 you know that her testimony came after the Vendor atrocities 333 00:24:31.880 --> 00:24:37.880 were uncovered. So what does always have to you know, 334 00:24:38.039 --> 00:24:47.519 question its validity because it is always the case when 335 00:24:47.640 --> 00:24:53.039 horrible crimes are discovered in some community in the past, 336 00:24:53.720 --> 00:24:57.960 that people come forward to testify. You know that they 337 00:24:58.000 --> 00:25:02.319 had come close to being killed themselves by these monsters. 338 00:25:02.839 --> 00:25:09.160 But according to Julie's testimony, you know, they were they 339 00:25:09.200 --> 00:25:14.079 were beginning the seance and she closed her eyes and 340 00:25:14.319 --> 00:25:18.480 holding Kate's hands to some of up these spirits, and 341 00:25:18.680 --> 00:25:24.119 suddenly she was overcome with, as she described it, a 342 00:25:24.240 --> 00:25:29.559 terrible feeling. And when she opened her eyes, she saw 343 00:25:31.119 --> 00:25:36.000 the old hag, Mob Bender and John Bender and Pob 344 00:25:36.079 --> 00:25:42.119 Bender suddenly approaching her. Uh and Pob Bender had an 345 00:25:42.119 --> 00:25:48.000 axe in his hand. And you know, Julie basically said 346 00:25:48.000 --> 00:25:50.400 she had to her to the bathroom and got out 347 00:25:50.440 --> 00:25:54.279 of bear and fled. So yeah, so that was her, 348 00:25:55.319 --> 00:25:59.640 you know, that was her experience. Again, maybe happened, maybe 349 00:25:59.720 --> 00:26:06.240 did happened. You know, there is some reason to doubt it, namely, 350 00:26:07.519 --> 00:26:15.599 you know, the Bender's basically who chose victims. You know 351 00:26:15.720 --> 00:26:17.640 that they were planning to rob and so on and 352 00:26:17.680 --> 00:26:21.160 so forth, and that I don't know if that was 353 00:26:21.200 --> 00:26:25.400 the case with you know, with Julie, but but anyway, 354 00:26:25.400 --> 00:26:26.240 that was her story. 355 00:26:28.480 --> 00:26:31.119 You say that. About a month later, and this is 356 00:26:31.240 --> 00:26:36.559 May eighteen seventy one, two boys find a man's decomposing 357 00:26:36.599 --> 00:26:40.039 body in a body in a water hole just below 358 00:26:40.079 --> 00:26:44.240 a creek. And this is identified as William Jones, a 359 00:26:44.319 --> 00:26:47.319 stonemason who had gone missing on his way to independence, 360 00:26:47.799 --> 00:26:50.359 which is the long this route that we talked about, 361 00:26:51.400 --> 00:26:53.559 and he was supposed to file a claim on some 362 00:26:53.680 --> 00:26:58.559 land in the next county. As we find with all 363 00:26:58.599 --> 00:27:00.599 of these cases, but this is the first one that 364 00:27:01.440 --> 00:27:05.440 authority see, that people see, what is the state of 365 00:27:06.799 --> 00:27:12.000 the person's physical body, The things that would come to 366 00:27:12.079 --> 00:27:16.480 known as that that signature of this killer. 367 00:27:18.680 --> 00:27:23.240 Well, they all had, you know, their their skulls splashed in, 368 00:27:23.279 --> 00:27:26.640 the back of their skulls splashed in, and their throats 369 00:27:27.319 --> 00:27:31.400 were cut from year to year. I mean, you know, 370 00:27:31.519 --> 00:27:36.920 the throats of the vendor victims were gashed so severely 371 00:27:37.119 --> 00:27:39.599 that you know, the heads were barely attached to the 372 00:27:39.680 --> 00:27:41.519 bodies anymore in some of the cases. 373 00:27:42.519 --> 00:27:49.440 Yeah, yeah, Now you say too that whatever money was 374 00:27:49.480 --> 00:27:55.680 there was gone as well, and the police were searching 375 00:27:55.720 --> 00:27:59.400 the site. They didn't find any solid clues, but they 376 00:27:59.440 --> 00:28:01.839 did find a set of wheel tracks on the sandy 377 00:28:01.880 --> 00:28:05.519 bank made my wagon whose rear axle was wider than 378 00:28:05.519 --> 00:28:07.799 the front. So that's the only thing they had, very 379 00:28:07.880 --> 00:28:12.359 very little anyway. And then you go ahead to January seventh, 380 00:28:12.359 --> 00:28:18.200 eighteen seventy two, and missus Leroy Dick, and you just 381 00:28:18.240 --> 00:28:21.000 say that she saw the old man and his son. 382 00:28:21.920 --> 00:28:25.640 They lived about four miles southeast of the Dick's place 383 00:28:26.039 --> 00:28:29.200 of the home. But she said it was odd because 384 00:28:29.200 --> 00:28:32.680 the two men were heading away from their home towards 385 00:28:32.680 --> 00:28:34.880 the open prairie. Why would that be odd to her? 386 00:28:35.079 --> 00:28:37.920 And what does that develop into? 387 00:28:39.680 --> 00:28:44.279 Well, it was odd because there was a snowstorm going on, 388 00:28:45.599 --> 00:28:49.680 and you know, there would have been no particular reason 389 00:28:49.839 --> 00:28:53.240 why they were heading into the open prairie as opposed 390 00:28:53.279 --> 00:28:57.720 to heading back home as quickly as possible. You know, 391 00:28:58.000 --> 00:29:00.960 when she mentioned it to her husband, Leroy, you know, 392 00:29:01.039 --> 00:29:03.680 he basically said, well, you know, maybe they were just 393 00:29:03.759 --> 00:29:08.599 lost in the snow. But then when the spring fall 394 00:29:08.799 --> 00:29:12.240 came a couple of more the bodies of two war 395 00:29:12.400 --> 00:29:18.599 men were discovered out on the prairie basically in the 396 00:29:18.680 --> 00:29:23.759 direction that the two bendermen were headed when Missus Dick 397 00:29:23.839 --> 00:29:28.039 spotted them. And those two men, like the previous victim, 398 00:29:29.079 --> 00:29:33.279 had been murdered, you know, with their their skulls had 399 00:29:33.279 --> 00:29:35.759 been crushed and their throated throats had been slit. 400 00:29:38.400 --> 00:29:43.039 Yeah, And we talked about the William Jones, the stonemason, 401 00:29:43.119 --> 00:29:48.920