wfgodot
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Many areas have historical road markers; mine had the only one, as far as is known, devoted to a band of serial murderers.
Good recent article, quite thorough, from kansas.com/Wichita Eagle:
The Bloody Benders: 140-year-old crime scene still fascinates today
Good recent article, quite thorough, from kansas.com/Wichita Eagle:
The Bloody Benders: 140-year-old crime scene still fascinates today
much more at the link---
The field looks unremarkable now.
But in the spring of 1873, on the frontier prairie where the field is now, the Benders lived in a little wood-sided house that doubled as a general store near the Osage Trail. When travelers arrived, someone in the house smashed their skulls from behind, slit their throats and took their money and possessions.
The consensus was that the killer or killers used a canvas partition to hide behind and a trapdoor to help remove the bodies until they could be buried in what was supposed to be a vegetable plot and apple orchard.
The investigators found eight or so bodies in the garden area, including that of a 7- or 8-year-old girl. By some accounts, bodies were found on the surrounding prairie. Some bodies couldnt be identified. Most accounts put the number of victims at around a dozen, although some suspected the Benders of killing up to 21.
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