mellon mounds kansas murders

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. As Active Shooter incidents have increased, employers are tasked with training employees on how to escape, hide, or fight. Shortly after theyve settled, Rabbi leaves Satchel alone with his usual goodbye of, If I dont come back, Im dead or in jail. He drives into Liberal to see about the money he left behind, only to discover that the feed store was sold at auction and has been converted to an appliance store by a pair of brothers. The family includes Andrew Mellon, one of the longest-serving U.S. Treasury Secretaries, along with prominent members in the judicial, banking, financial, business, and political professions, as well as a famous recluse, Cordelia Scaife May . Immigrating from Germany, John Bender, Sr. was 60 years old when he arrived in the area; his wife was about 55. Tole reported the news to Leroy F Dick, the Township Trustee, and a search party was soon formed, which included Dr. Yorks brother, Colonel A.M. York, of Fort Scott. Subreddit for the FX original TV series, Fargo. The episode opens with Omie Sparkman (Corey Hendrix) pulling into a filling station on a desolate road in Kansas. The owner of the Drum Creek claim was suspected, but no action was taken. Today, Smalley descendants continue to live in the Neodosha and Cherryvale area. [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. They werent even a true family the only ones related were Ma and Kate Bender. [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. He has a white man in his trunk, an informant who has helped him track Calamita to the Liberal, Kansas, area. Somehow, he escaped, appearing naked in the middle of the night at Jesse Smalleys doorstep. On March 28, 1873, Colonel York arrived at the Benders' inn with a Mr. Johnson, explaining to them that his brother had gone missing and asked if they had seen him. She was 20 at the time of her death. Calamita notices him and shoots twice out the window. The right knee had been wrenched from its socket, and the leg doubled up under the body. The men then physically lifted the cabin and moved it to the side to dig under it, but no bodies were found. In total, 12 men "of bad repute in general" would be arrested, including Brockman. One arm was broken. Calamita is swept up into the funnel, along with the filling station and the bodies littering its floors. 18701873", Sheriff Saves the Neck of a Man Who Murdered His Own Daughter, "Dr William H. York (1840-1873) - Find a Grave", "The Bloody Benders: 140-year-old crime scene still fascinates today", "Selective Omissions, or, What Laura Ingalls Wilder left out of LITTLE HOUSE", "Little House on the Prairie, serial killers, and the nature of memoir", "They Bite: Anthony Boucher's Weirder Western", "Hitchcock's Birds, Hope Diamond, Phineas Gage", "One Red Dead Redemption 2 Side Quest Is Based On An Actual Serial Killer", 1873 map of Bender claim in Osage township of Labette County, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bloody_Benders&oldid=1142480623, "The old man was a repulsive, hideous brute, without a redeeming trait, dirty, profane and ill-tempered. Rewind one day, to Rabbi and Satchel driving past the same station. In addition to the museum, southeast Kansas may be the only place where a state historical marker celebrates mass murder. 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.". The Mellon family is a wealthy and influential American family from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is conjectured[by whom?] They return to their room, where Rabbi informs Satchel that theyll be leaving that night as he counts his money. 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. Her husband and son were said to have feared her as she ran the household with an iron hand. I haven't heard Macabre in years. As the boy listened, the men continued to talk, relating the tale of how the judge had lost his ear. From the first grayscale frame, its clear that were arent in Kansas City anymore. Eyewitness testimony was given that Mrs. Monroe was Elvira Bender. Though many wanted to relocate the building, it had become a controversy in Cherryvale, with locals objecting to the town being known for the Bender atrocities. John Jr. was found to have been a man named John Gebhardt. Thanks for putting this up I knew the story sounded familiar..the was on an episode of Lore. Continuing, they began to dig around the cabin, especially in an area the Benders had utilized as a vegetable garden and orchard. In February 1872, the bodies of two men were found with the same injuries as Jones. Is Rabbi really dead? Their story is unresolved and remains one of the great unsolved mysteries of the old west. Quickly, the scavengers were frightened away by the dead souls to spread their ghostly tales. [5][18] 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. THE KANSAS MURDER TRILOGY by Melvin Litton offers three stand-alone novels that spring from the heartland and mark three pivotal moments in our nation's life: the fall of Saigon and the loss of faith in the post-war construct, 1975; the brink of the Space Age and Civil Rights era, 1960; and the Great Depression, 1934. the mellon family kansas. When he pulls into the drive, he spots Calamitas empty car at the pump immediately. Bit by bit, the story of the Benders was pieced together. 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. At her hearing, Mrs. Monroe denied any knowledge of Shearer or the manslaughter charge and remained incarcerated with her daughter. Dismembered parts of several other victims were also discovered but could never be identified. Once in the cellar, the body would be stripped and later buried somewhere on the property, often in the orchard. Secretly, the four made a living through murder and robbery. Location. About 75 people attended the gathering, including both Bender men. More gruesomely, though the little girls body was found to have multiple injuries, none of them would have caused death, and it was speculated that the poor lass may have been buried alive. The lonely hills meander across what is now U.S. Highway 400, where travelers whoosh by in comfort at 65 mph. 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. Unresolved: Release in which this issue/RFE will be addressed. Her face was a fit picture of the midnight hag that wove the spell murderous ambition about the soul of Macbeth. As more and more travelers disappeared, suspicion began to center on the Benders. They were never found and later I formed my own conclusions why. Carrie Nelson was beaten to death during an apparent robbery at Blue Mounds State Park in May 2001. 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. 1315) December 1872: Various body parts. 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. 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. As they make their way up to the top floor, they peer in the open rooms of the other tenants. 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. Satchel walks down the road with his dog. She and her brother John often attended Sunday School nearby Harmony Grove and were readily accepted in the community. [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. Some say that they escaped, others that they were executed by a vengeful posse. The two arrive at The Mellon Mounds- a historical marker in Kansas. Buried in the apple orchard. 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. The digging continued the next day; nine other bodies and numerous dismembered body parts were found, including a woman and a little girl. (In case you wondered after reading that, like I did, what year The Mulligan Concern arrived in Kansas City, it was 1920. 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. His habit of laughing aimlessly led to him being described as a half-wit, though many afterward believed this was simply a ruse to disguise his clever nature. Marker is on the grounds of the rest area located northeast of the intersection of US Highways 189 and 400, about three miles south of Morehead. When he refused to sit with his back to the canvas because of its disgusting stains, Pickering said that Kate Bender threatened him with a knife, so he fled the premises. Later, Satchel awakens to find that hes fallen asleep and doesnt know where his friend has gone. Many stories say that one vigilante group actually caught the Benders and shot all of them but Kate, whom they burned alive. 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. And everything is in color! ?," "big slaughter day, Jan eighth", and "hell departed. [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. Discover something new every day from News, Sports, Finance, Entertainment and more! Rabbi has a tailor-made response for each situation, but the active reminder of reality for black Americans in 1950 definitely adds to the tension of the episode. The petite auburn-haired beauty desired notoriety and often advocated free love and justification for murder in her lectures. When the war was over, pioneers began to head westward along the many trails through Kansas; murder and mayhem persisted as hardened men from the battlefields, grown used to the violence, continued their violent ways along the overland trails in the many cow towns. After opening the trap, the party found clotted blood on the floor of the empty room underneath, 6 feet (1.8m) deep and 7 feet (2.1m) square at the top by 3 feet (0.9m) square at the bottom. They buried their victims in a neighboring orchard, unbeknownst to the townspeople. 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. Another group claimed they had caught the Benders and lynched them before throwing their bodies into the Verdigris River. One of the families was John BenderSr. and John BenderJr., who registered 160 acres (65ha) of land located adjacent to the Great Osage Trail, which was then the only open road for traveling farther west. I used to have their Dahmer album way back. flower arranging classes northern virginia. He then cautiously looks through a window, where he sees Calamita standing over a wounded Omie, gun drawn. Their downfall was the murder of a father and daughter named Loncher, and Dr. William York, who had come looking for the missing pair. A pity, it has quite a few quirks. The breastbone had been driven in. 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. The 162-acre tract of cropland known as the "Bender Farm" will be sold off to. 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. A self-proclaimed healer and psychic, she distributed flyers advertising her supernatural powers and her ability to cure illnesses. This is blatantly a reference to the Bender Family, a family of serial killers from late 1800s Kansas. They purchased tickets on the northbound Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston Train to Humboldt. ", "Kate proclaimed herself responsible to no one save herself.". 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. [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. Mrs. Almira Griffith) and Mrs. Sarah Eliza Davis had been arrested in Niles, Michigan (often misreported as Detroit) several weeks earlier for larceny. York reached Fort Scott, and on March 9 began the return journey to Independence, but never arrived. Often two women traveling together were accused of being Kate Bender and her mother.[10]. One vigilante group claimed to have shot down the men and Ma Bender and burned Kate alive as the witch they believed her to be. Also, sleep with one eye open. that when a guest stayed at the Benders' bed and breakfast inn, the hosts would give the guest a seat of honor at the table that was positioned over a trap door into the cellar. On May 17, Kansas Governor Thomas A. Osborn offered a $2,000 ($45,239 as of 2023) reward for the apprehension of all four. While the two women were certainly criminals and liars, as their own defense attorney admitted, the charges were weak and many people doubted their identification as the Benders. 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.

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