In Defense of the Dead

By Eilene Lyon

I do not shy away from telling less-than-savory stories about some of my ancestors and relatives. If there is credible evidence they committed a crime, then I document it. But some people have taken to “solving” unsolved crimes by insinuating the guilt of dead people on websites like Find A Grave (FAG) and Ancestry. They offer no evidence or proof. It’s okay to tarnish the names of the dead, they have no legal recourse. But is it right?

When I was in college, I watched a farcical horror film called “Motel Hell” about some innkeepers who kidnapped guests, buried them up to their necks, then eventually “harvested” them to make sausage. This trope about murderous innkeepers goes way back, I’m sure. But in the early 1870s, there was this case …

Two couples named Bender (a common name), presumed to be parents and adult children, moved to Labette County in southeastern Kansas in late 1870. Because the property had already been claimed by someone else, they relocated the following spring.

They built a small two-room cabin, divided by a cloth barrier. The Benders used the front room to serve meals to travelers and provide a place to sleep. They lived in the back room. They also sold a few odd items of food. A sign out front advertised “Groceries.”

The older couple were known as Mr. and Mrs. John Bender Sr. The younger woman called herself Prof. Miss Katie Bender and advertised herself as a healer and medium. She claimed she could even cure deafness. The younger man was called John Bender Jr. or John Gebhardt. Neighbors said the younger pair were a married couple, not siblings. All spoke with at least a mild German accent.

In 1872 and 1873, some travelers went missing, but two instances in particular led to suspicion of the Benders: the disappearance of George Lochner and his daughter, on their way to Iowa; and the disappearance of well-known Dr. William York. One of York’s brother’s questioned the Benders, who said the doctor had stopped there briefly and left. The Benders themselves soon disappeared.

Locals converged on the farm and found dead and starving livestock. They turned their attention to the orchard, where the Benders had often been observed doing a lot of plowing, but never any reaping. The first body they uncovered was that of Dr. York. About eleven total were discovered.

Throughout the 1870s and 1880s, a number of people were accused and even arrested for being the Benders, but the real culprits were never located. Some evidence indicates that vigilantes found and killed them, keeping the money they had stolen from the murdered travelers.

Now, 150 years later, some people claim to have “found” the Benders: Joseph Bender and his wife Kate (sometimes “Katie”), living under those names—their real names. They were living in north-central Missouri when the Kansas murders were taking place. They later moved to Colorado, where they are buried. They were successful, hardworking business people, running hotels/saloons. By all accounts, Kate was kindly and generous. The couple never had children (though an Ancestry tree provides them with four or more).

After I contacted the FAG memorial manager for Kate, she contacted FAG and got a couple “flowers” removed which suggested she was that Katie Bender, of Kansas repute. The memorial manager for Joseph Bender refuses to remove information leading to the story of the “Bloody Benders,” saying people should “decide for themselves” if there is a connection.

That is a lame excuse for leaving this tacit suggestion that Joseph was a murderer. Joseph and Kate Bender were certainly never accused during their lifetimes, even as people throughout the region were looking for the deadly quartet. It’s spurious to claim now that they were the evildoers without benefit of one shred of evidence.

Since they have no descendants, I will stand in their defense.

Feature image: The graves of Joseph and Kate Bender. (E. Lyon 2023; and yes, that is a bullsnake slithering under the fence – I didn’t notice it at the time!)

Note: I am deliberately leaving out details about Joseph and Kate, not wanting to cause their reputations further harm. Also, there are many books about the Bloody Benders, which I have not read and do not know if they accuse this couple.

Sources:

Ancestry.com

Find A Grave

Scott, Robert F. “What Happened to the Benders?” Western Folklore 9, no. 4 (1950): 327–37. https://doi.org/10.2307/1496257

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/sale-kansas-land-where-bloody-benders-committed-their-crimes-180974121/

Randolph County, Missouri, Deed Books via Family Search

U.S. Census records via Ancestry

https://www.humanitieskansas.org/get-involved/kansas-stories/people/true-crime-in-kansas-the-mystery-of-the-benders

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Benders