Cowboy Outlaws & Scoundrels

[Warph]

William "Billy The Kid" Bonney

Henry McCarty, aka, William Henry Bonney, aka, Billy the Kid, was born on November 23, 1859, most likely in New York City. His parents' names are not known for certain but his mother was thought to be Katherine and his father perhaps Patrick. History then traces Billy to Indiana in the late 1860s and Wichita, Kansas in 1870. His father died around the end of the Civil War and at about the same time, Billy's mother contracted Tuberculosis and was told to move to a drier climate. On March 1, 1873, Catherine McCarty married a man named William Antrim, who moved the family to Silver City, New Mexico.

His stepfather worked as a bartender and carpenter but soon got the prospecting bug and virtually ignored his wife and stepsons. Faced with an indigent husband, McCarty's mother took in boarders in order to provide for her sons. Despite the better climate, Billy's mother continued to worsen and on September 16, 1874, she died of her condition. 

After her death, Antrim placed Billy and his younger brother Joseph in separate foster homes and left Silver City for Arizona.

At the age of 14, the smooth-cheeked, blue-eyed McCarty was forced to find work in a hotel, washing dishes and waiting tables at the restaurant. The boy was reported to be very friendly.

The manager was impressed by the young boy, boasting that he was the only kid who ever worked for him that didn't steal anything. His school teachers thought that the young orphan was "no more of a problem than any other boy, always quite willing to help with chores around the schoolhouse".

However, on September 23, 1875 McCarty was arrested for hiding a bundle of stolen clothes for a man playing a prank on a Chinese laundryman. Two days after Billy was thrown in jail, the scrawny teen escaped by worming his way up the jailhouse chimney. From that point onward McCarty would be a fugitive.

He eventually found work as an itinerant ranch hand and sheepherder in southeastern Arizona. In 1877 he became a civilian teamster at Camp Grant Army Post with the duty of hauling logs from a timber camp to a sawmill. The civilian blacksmith at the camp, Frank "Windy" Cahill, took pleasure in bullying young Billy. On August 17 Cahill attacked McCarty after a verbal exchange and threw him to the ground. Billy retaliated by drawing his gun and shooting Cahill, who died the next day. Once again McCarty was in custody, this time in the Camp's guardhouse awaiting the arrival of the local marshal. Before the marshal could arrive, however, Billy escaped.

Again on the run, Billy next turned up in the house of Heiskell Jones in Pecos Valley, New Mexico. Apaches had stolen McCarty's horse which forced him to walk many miles to the nearest settlement, which was Mrs. Jones' house. She nursed the young man, who was near death, back to health. The Jones' family developed a strong attachment to Billy and gave him one of their horses.

Now an outlaw and unable to find honest work, the Kid met up with another bandit named Jesse Evans, who was the leader of a gang of rustlers called "The Boys." The Kid didn't have anywhere else to go and since it was suicide to be alone in the hostile and lawless territory, the Kid reluctantly joined the gang.

He later became embroiled in the infamous Lincoln County War in which his newest friend and employer, John Tunstall, was killed on February 18, 1878.  Billy the Kid was deeply affected by the murder, claiming that Tunstall was one of the only men that treated him like he was "free-born and white."  At Tunstall's funeral Billy swore: "I'll get every son-of-a-bitch who helped kill John if it's the last thing I do."

Billy would enact revenge by gunning-down the deputy who killed his friend, as well as another deputy and the County Sheriff, William Brady. Now an even more wanted man than before, McCarty went into hiding but soon started to steal livestock from white ranchers and Apaches on the Mescalero reservation.

In the fall of 1878, retired Union General Lew Wallace became the new territorial governor of New Mexico. In order to restore peace to Lincoln County, Wallace proclaimed an amnesty for any man involved in the Lincoln County War that was not already under indictment.

Billy was, of course, under several indictments (some of which unrelated to the Lincoln County War) but Wallace was intrigued by rumors that McCarty was willing to surrender himself and testify against other combatants if amnesty could be extended to him. In March of 1879 Wallace and Billy met to discuss the possibility of a deal. True to form, McCarty greeted the governor with a revolver in one hand and a Winchester rifle in the other. After several days to think the issue over, Billy agreed to testify in return for an amnesty.

Part of the agreement was for McCarty to submit to a show arrest and a short stay in jail until the conclusion of his courtroom testimony. Even though his testimony helped to indict one of the powerful House faction leaders, John Dolan, the district attorney defied Wallace's order to set Billy free after testifying. However, Billy was a skilled escape artist and slipped out of his handcuffs and fled.

For the next year he hung around Fort Sumner on the Pecos River and developed a fateful friendship with a local bartender named Pat Garrett who was later elected sheriff of Lincoln County. As sheriff, Garrett was charged with arresting his friend Henry McCarty, who by now was almost exclusively known as "Billy the Kid".

At about the same time, Billy had formed a gang, referred to as the "Rustlers" or simply Billy the Kid's Gang who he survived by stealing and rustling as he did before. The core members of the gang were Tom O'Folliard, Charlie Bowdre, Tom Pickett, Billy the Kid, "Dirty Dave" Rudabaugh, and Billy Wilson.

On December 15, 1880, Governor Wallace put a $500 reward on Billy's head and Pat Garrett began the relentless pursuit of the outlaw. Garrett set-up many traps and ambushes in an attempt to apprehend Billy but the Kid seemed to have an animal instinct that warned him of danger, but that was not to last.

On November 30, 1880, Billy the Kid's Gang, David Anderson, aka: Billy Wilson; and Dirty Dave Rudabaugh rode into White Oaks, New Mexico and ran into Deputy Sheriff James Redman. Taking shots at the deputy, Redman hid behind a saloon as several local citizens ran into the street, chasing the fugitives out of town.

As a posse gave chase, the outlaws hid out at the ranch of a man named Jim Greathouse, who they held hostage. Accosted at dawn by a posse, they traded their hostage, Jim Greathouse, for Deputy Sheriff James Carlyle who was volunteered to negotiate with the outlaws in attempt to give themselves up. Continuing to surround the house, the posse waited for hours.

Around midnight, the posse called out that they were going to storm the house. Just then a crash came through a window and a man came tumbling out. Shots ripped through the air and Carlyle lay dead. The bullet could have come from either the outlaws or the posse, but many suspect that the posse killed their own man. With this accident, the posse abandoned the siege and the outlaws escaped. Later Billy the Kid would be blamed for killing Carlyle.

Trailed by the resolute Pat Garrett, Billy the Kid, Billy Wilson, Rudabaugh, Tom O'Folliard, Charlie Bowdre, and Tom Pickett rode wearily into Fort Sumner, New Mexico on December 19, 1880 and were confronted by Garrett's's posse which had been hiding in an old post hospital building. Pat Garrett, Lon chambers, and several others leaped from cover as Garrett ordered the outlaws to halt.

However, several of the posse members didn't wait for the outlaws to respond to Garrett's demand, instead, opening fire on Pickett and O'Folliard, who were riding in front. Though Pickett survived to escape, O'Folliard lie dead in the dusty street. Rudabaugh's horse caught a bullet and collapsed. Rudabaugh managed to jump onto Wilson's horse and he and the other outlaws escaped, holing up in an abandoned cabin near Stinking Springs, New Mexico.

Soon, the determined Garrett's posse tracked the outlaws down to Stinking Springs and surrounded the hideout. Inside of the house were Billy, Charlie Bowdre, Rudabaugh, Tom Pickett and Billy Wilson. When Bowdre passed before an open window, he was shot in the chest. The siege continued until the next day, when Rudabaugh finally waved a white flag and the bandits surrendered. Billy the Kid and his gang of "Rustlers" were captured on December 23, 1880 and taken to Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Billy was jailed in the town of Mesilla, south of Santa Fe, while waiting for his April, 1881 trial. Deliberation took exactly one day and Billy was convicted of murdering Sheriff William Brady and sentenced to hang by Judge Warren Bristol. His execution was scheduled for May 13th and he was sent to Lincoln to await this date. He was under guard by James Bell and Robert Ollinger on the top floor of the building formerly known as the "House" before and during the Lincoln County War. On April 28th Billy somehow escaped and killed both of his guards while Garrett was out of town. It is not known how Billy was able to do this, but, it is widely believed that a friend or Regulator sympathizer left a pistol in the privy that one of the guards escorted Billy to daily. After shooting Deputy Bell with the pistol, Billy stole Ollinger's 10-gauge double barrel shotgun and waited for Ollinger by the window in the room he was being held in.

Ollinger obliged by running immediately from the hotel upon hearing the shots. When he was directly under the window of the courthouse, he heard his prisoner say, "Hello, Bob." Ollinger then looked up and saw the Kid gun in hand. It was the last thing he ever saw as Billy blasted him with his own shotgun killing him instantly.

This would be, however, Billy's last escape. When Pat Garrett was questioning Billy's friend, Peter Maxwell on July 14, 1881 in Maxwell's darkened bedroom in Old Fort Sumner, Billy unexpectedly entered the room. The Kid didn't recognize Garrett in the poor lighting conditions and asked "¿Quien es? ¿Quien es?" (Spanish for "Who is it? Who is it?), to which Garrett responded with two shots from his revolver, the first striking Billy's heart.

Henry McCarty, the infamous "Billy the Kid", was buried in a plot in-between his dead friends Tom O'Folliard and Charlie Bowdre the next day at Fort Sumner's cemetery.

In his short life, Billy the Kid was reputed to have killed 21 men, one for each year of his life. However, many historians calculate the figure closer to nine (four on his own and five with the help of others).  Over 100 years later, in 2010 New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson considered honoring the 1879 promise of pardon for the Kid, made by then Governor Lew Wallace.  Richardson backed off of the idea though citing "historical ambiguity" surrounding Wallace's pardon.

[Warph]

Robert "Bob" Newton Ford (1862-1892)

"The dirty little Coward,
that shot Mr. Howard"

"Jesse James"

Robert "Bob" Newton Ford (1862-1892)  -- Born on January 31, 1862 in Ray County, Missouri, Bob joined the James Gang in 1879.  

Mostly a "hanger-on" he did odd jobs and held the horses for the gang during robberies. When an argument erupted between gang members Wood Hite and Dick Liddell in January, 1882, it quickly turned to gunplay with Hite shooting Liddell in the right thigh and Liddell striking Hite's arm.  Calming watching, Ford, a close friend of Liddell's, fired a single bullet at Hite, striking him in the head. But it would be the killing of Jesse James on April 3, 1882, that would gain him the most attention, though not the kind he wished for.  At first he was charged with murder of both Hite and James and sentenced to hang. However, he was quickly pardoned by the governor of Missouri.

Though Ford tried to profit from the killing by taking the stage, he was ostracized as a traitor and forever took on the moniker "dirty little coward." But just ten years later, Ford himself was shot and killed by Ed O. Kelly while running a tent saloon in Creede, Colorado on June 8, 1892. Ford's body was returned to Richmond, Missouri where he is interred in the Richmond City Cemetery.

Best known as the "dirty little coward" that killed Jesse James, Robert Newton Ford, was born January 31, 1862 in Ray County, Missouri, one of seven children of James Thomas Ford and Mary Ann Bruin. The wiry young boy became enamored of the daring exploits of Jesse James and finally got a chance to meet him in 1880. He and his older brother, Charles, began to hang on to the outer fringes of the James Gang. By this time, the ranks of the outlaw gang members had been diminished due to deaths, captures, and men simply moving on to other endeavors. So, when the two brothers wanted to join the gang, Jesse let them; however, neither played a very large role.

Charles allegedly participated in the Blue Cut robbery near Glendale, Missouri on September 7, 1881. It was to be the last train robbery of the James Gang, netting the six members some $3,000 in cash and jewelry taken from the passengers. Also participating in the robbery were Frank and Jesse James, Dick Liddel, and brothers, Clarence and Wood Hite.

Of Robert Ford's participation in any of the James Gang robberies, there is no record and he was thought to be mostly a "hanger-on," doing odd jobs and maybe holding the horses while the others perpetrated the crime.

A few months later, in November, 1881, Jesse moved his wife and family to St. Joseph, Missouri, renting a house in the name of J.D. Howard. Acting as a member of the respected community, Jesse had plans of taking up a straight and narrow life. However, he wanted to pull off one last bank robbery of a bank in Platte County, Missouri, in hopes of making enough money to retire and become a gentleman farmer.

But, the State of Missouri had had enough and about this same time, Missouri Governor Thomas Crittendon put up a reward of $10,000 for any information leading to the capture of Frank or Jesse James.

In January 1882, two James Gang members -- Wood Hite and Dick Liddel, on the run from the law, took refuge in the home of Martha Bolton, Bob Ford's widowed sister. One day at breakfast, Hite and Liddel began to argue while Ford sat by watching. The dispute soon accelerated with the feuding pair drawing their guns. The sound of four rapid shots from Hite's gun soon echoed through the room, one of which struck Liddel in the leg. Falling to the floor, Dick returned the fire, hitting Hite in the arm. In the meantime, Bob Ford drew his own gun and, being Liddel's close friend, fired one shot, hitting Hite in the head. Collapsing to the floor, Wood Hite died just a few minutes later. Ford then wrapped the corpse in a blanket, carried it outside and placing it on a mule, took it into the woods, where he buried Hite in a shallow, unmarked grave. This killing, coupled with Ford's greed and desire for notoriety, would be a death sentence for Jesse James.

When word of the shooting reached authorities, Ford was arrested, but when he informed detectives that he had access to the much-wanted Jesse James, he was released. Next, Ford secretly met with Missouri Governor Thomas T. Crittenden, who told him that if he killed the notorious outlaw, he would receive a full pardon for the Hite murder as well as the killing of James, and also receive the reward money. Ford agreed to perform the deed and next met with the Sheriff of Clay County, where the two formulated a plan to get Jesse James.

By March of 1882, a number of the James Gang members began to turn themselves in leaving Jesse with little left to plan a bank robbery with other than Charlie and Bob Ford.  Though he instinctively distrusted Robert Ford, he followed through and on the morning of April 3, 1882, he was having breakfast with the Ford brothers in his home.

Afterwards, the men went to the parlor, where Jesse outlined his plans for the robbery of the Platte City, Missouri Bank. When Jesse noticed that a framed needlepoint picture, done by his mother, was hanging crookedly on the wall, he stood on a chair to adjust the picture. Suddenly he heard the sound of Bob Ford cocked pistol and turned just slightly. Bob then shot Jesse just below the right ear and Jesse toppled to the floor dead. Jesse was 34 years old.

Initially, Ford was charged with murdering both Wood Hite and Jesse James, but true to his word, Governor Crittenden pardoned him while he stood trial for the murder.

As to the money, he received only a fraction of the reward. Returning to their hometown of Richmond, Missouri, Bob and Charles were not greeted kindly as residents found the killing of Jesse James so distasteful that they made life unbearable for the two brothers.

Charles Ford, when he heard that Frank James was searching for them and planned to kill them in revenge for his brother's death, began to move from town to town. For the next two years he ran like a scared rabbit, changing his name several times, until finally he could take it no more and committed suicide in 1884.

In the meantime, Bob Ford was capitalizing on his betrayal of Jesse James, taking to the stage, appearing in an act entitled Outlaws of Missouri. Night after night, Ford retold his story, carefully omitting that he had shot James in the back. But, this charade was short lived as he was greeted with catcalls, jeers, hoots and challenges. Ford later took off to Las Vegas, New Mexico where he operated a saloon for a time before moving on to Creede, Colorado,

Sometime after arriving in Creede, Ford was in a saloon that was providing a boxing fight and betting heavily on the prize fighter who lost, he became extremely angry. In a drunken rage, he decided he would kill the prize fighter and in preparation, he and a man named Joe Palmer, a member of the Soapy Smith gang, began to shoot out windows and street lamps along Main Street. Soapy Smith helped Ford and Palmer escape before they could be arrested. The two men were banned from returning, but with the help of friends and business partners, they were soon allowed to back into Creede. On May 29, 1892, he opened a dance hall he called Ford's Exchange. But luck was not with Ford, and just six days later, on June 6th, the entire business district, including Ford's dancehall, burned to the ground. Wasting no time, Bob quickly reopened another saloon just a few days later in a make-shift tent.

The very next day, June 8th, in walked a man by the name of Edward O'Kelley with a sawed off shotgun. As Ford's back was to the door, O'Kelley said "Hello, Bob," and as Ford turned around to see who had addressed him, O'Kelley shot him with both barrels, killing him instantly. Some historians speculate that Soapy Smith was somehow involved with Ford's death, perhaps talking Kelly into the act. Ford was buried in Creede, but was later exhumed and reburied in his home town of Richmond, Missouri.

In the meantime, O'Kelley was arrested and tried for murder. He was convicted and given a twenty-year sentence in the Colorado Penitentiary. However, after serving ten years, he was released in 1902. Two years later, in January, 1904, Kelly was shot down in the streets of Oklahoma City by lawmen.

"Bob Ford I don't trust; I think he
is a sneak; but Charlie Ford is as
true as steel."

-- Jesse James

Bob Ford's Tent Saloon in Creede, Colorado, 1892

[Warph]

"The Wild Bunch" Gang (1896-1901)

Seated: Harry A. Longabaugh, alias the Sundance  Kid,
Ben "The Tall Texan" Kilpatrick,
Robert Leroy Parker, alias Butch Cassidy.
Standing: Will Carver and Harvey Logan, alias Kid Curry;
Photo taken in Fort Worth, Texas, 1901.

The Wild Bunch (1896-1901) - Butch Cassidy's bandit gang operated in Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Utah, and Nevada for nearly five years successfully robbing banks, trains, and stages throughout the area.

The group which was usually made up of about ten people varied throughout the years in its members, as outlaws and girlfriends came and went. But the Wild Bunch, sometimes referred to as Butch Cassidy's Gang or the Hole in the Wall Gang, was always led by Cassidy, whose real name was Robert Leroy Parker and Harry Longabaugh, better known as the "Sundance Kid."

The gang utilized several hideouts including the Hole in the Wall in the southern Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming, Brown's Hole in a desolate valley near the Wyoming, Colorado and Utah; and the Robber's Roost located in the desert of southeastern Utah.

The gang also included Etta Place, Longbaugh's girlfriend; Bill Carver; Ben "The Tall Texan" Kilpatrick; Kid Curry, Willard "the Mormon Kid" Christianson; George Curry; Laura Bullion, Elza Lay, Tom "Peep" O'Day, Jesse Linsley, Annie Rogers, Lillie Davis, and others who came and went over the years.

As communication improved throughout the country, the robberies became more difficult and that finally split up after their last train robbery in the summer of 1901. Avidly pursued by the Pinkertons, Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid, and Etta Place fled to Argentina in 1902. Some say the outlaw pair were killed in Bolivia, but others say they finally made their way back to the United States where they lived anonymously until their deaths.

[Catwoman]

  Love it!!!

[Warph]

Thanks Cat, good to see you back. 

The Deadly Dalton Gang

The Dalton brothers were part of a large family headed by parents Adaline Younger Dalton and James Lewis Dalton. Lewis Dalton came west from Kentucky to Missouri during the late 1840's and in the 1850's he was trading horses and running a saloon in Westport, Missouri (now Kansas City) when he married Adeline. Adeline's brother was the father of Bob Younger, Cole Younger and James Younger.

Westport, MO.

Most of their fifteen children were born in Missouri before the family migrated to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) in 1882.

In 1886, they moved again to a place near Coffeyville, Kansas. In this rough and wild area, the Dalton brothers inherited a tradition of violence on the bloody ground of the Missouri -Kansas border, where Quantrill's raiders and other guerilla bands operated during and after the Civil War.

When the Oklahoma Territory opened for settlement in 1889, the family headed south again. However, Lewis died along the way leaving Adaline to raise the younger children alone. Adaline continued on, placing a claim on the banks of Kingfisher Creek in Indian Territory, where initially she and the family lived in a dugout. By this time the older Dalton brothers were on their own.

For a short time the brothers served on the side of the law, working as U.S. Deputy Marshals. Their older brother, Frank Dalton, was commissioned a Deputy Marshal for the federal court in Fort Smith, Arkansas and Bob Dalton served on several of his posses. On November 27, 1887 in a gun battle with the Smith-Dixon Gang, Frank Dalton was shot and killed in the line of duty.

Grat Dalton

Grat Dalton followed in Frank's footsteps, first taking his place as a Deputy Marshal in Fort Smith, Arkansas and two years later as a Deputy Marshal for the Muskogee court in Indian Territory in 1889. That same year he received a bullet in his arm while attempting to arrest a suspect. Bob Dalton was also commissioned as a Deputy Marshal for the federal court in Wichita, Kansas, working in the Osage Nation, in 1889.

Bob Dalton

Bob Dalton, who would later become the leader of the Dalton Gang, was the wildest of the bunch. When he was just 19, he killed a man, claiming it was in the line of duty. Nevertheless, some suspected that the victim had tried to take away Bob's girl.

Emmett Dalton

While Emmett Dalton worked as member of some of his brothers' posses, he made his living working as a cowboy on the Bar X Bar Ranch near the Pawnee Agency. While working at the ranch, Emmett met two men who would later become members of the gang -- Bill Doolin and William St. Power, alias Bill Power. Power, also known as Tom Evans, had drifted into the area from Texas with a trail herd from the Pecos.

Emmett also made the acquaintance of several other cowboys working on nearby ranches who would later become part of the gang. These included Bill Power, Charlie Pierce, George "Bitter Creek" Newcomb, Bill EcElhanie, Charlie Bryant, and Richard (Dick) Broadwell, alias Texas Jack, alias John Moore.

Charlie Pierce was from the Blue River country in Missouri  but headed to Indian Territory to avoid serving jail time for whiskey peddling.

Dick Broadwell was from a prominent family near Hutchinson, Kansas and at the opening of Oklahoma Territory he staked a claim to a homestead in the Cowboy Flats area. There, he met and a young lady who owned the homestead next to his and asked her to marry him. After their marriage, she persuaded him to sell both claims and move with her to Fort Worth, Texas, where she disappeared with their money. The embittered Broadwell, returned to Indian Territory and started work on the ranches.

George Newcomb, who was known as "Bitter Creek" Newcomb, came from Fort Scott, Kansas. Starting his career as a cowboy at the age of twelve, he worked for C. C. Slaughter on the Long S Ranch in Texas before drifting into Indian Territory.

Charlie Bryant came from Wise County, Texas. He had a gunpowder burn on his cheek that earned him his nickname "Black-Faced Charlie."

For a short time, the brothers served with distinction on the side of the law. But, a narrow margin separated the lawless from the law enforcers during those rough times. Slipping from one side to the other, Bob Dalton, along with his brother Emmett, were charged with selling whiskey in the Osage Nation on March 21, 1890.

Jumping bail, Bob and Emmett headed to New Mexico. Forming their first "gang", Bob recruited George "Bitter Creek" Newcomb, Bill EcElhanie, and "Blackfaced Charlie" Bryant to ride with them. It was at a gambling house in Silver City, New Mexico that the Dalton Gang committed their first robbery.

Silver City, New Mexico Vintage Postcard

After riding into the mining camp, the crew sat down at a faro game, where they lost heavily. Convinced the game was crooked, they pulled their guns, taking back what they had lost and then some. Bob and Emmett fled to California, where their younger brother Bill was a successful farmer and rancher.

In September, 1890, Grat was arrested for stealing horses, but was later released for lack of evidence. Grat lost his job as a deputy marshal for conduct unbecoming an officer, but he still worked as a posse man for other deputy marshals in the area for a time. Later, he too, left Indian Territory, joining his brothers in California.

Before Bob, Emmett and Grat arrived at Bill's ranch in California, Bill had married, living a respectable life, and had become involved in politics as part of the Populist Party. As a member of the party, Bill became embroiled in a Populist fight with the railroad backed political machine, referring to the railroad as the S.P. Robber Barons. This political fight was based on battles between the Southern Pacific Railroad and local farmers over land disputes.

Bill's anger with the railroad is thought to be one of the reasons the brothers decided to rob a Southern Pacific train headed to Los Angeles on February 6, 1891. Prior to this robbery, Bill had not been in trouble with the law at all. Bill, along with Bob, Grat and Emmett attempted to hold up the train at Alila, California, but this first attempt at train robbery was a fiasco. While Bill kept the passengers from interfering by shooting over their heads, the others forced the engineer to show them the location of the cash-carrying express car. When the engineer, a man by the name of George Radcliffe, tried to slip away, he was shot and killed.

Finding the express car on their own, the guard refused to open the heavy door and began firing on them. Thwarted, the brothers finally gave up and rode away.

Bob and Emmett fled California with a posse on their tail; however; Grat and Bill were arrested. Bob and Emmett made their way back to Indian Territory and hooked up with Emmett's old ranching buddies Charlie Bryant and Bitter Creek Newcomb. In May, 1891, the four robbed the train at Wharton, Indian Territory making off with $1745. Meanwhile in California, Grat Dalton was found guilty of the train robbery on July 3, 1891 and was sentenced to twenty years in prison.

Three months after the Wharton robbery in August, 1891, Charlie Bryant became ill and was taken to the doctor in Hennessey, Oklahoma Territory. While there, Deputy Marshal Ed Short arrested Bryant while he was recovering from his illness at a local hotel. There being no jail in Hennessey, the marshal loaded Bryant on a train and headed to the federal jail in Wichita. In route, Bryant somehow obtained a gun and attempted to escape. In the ensuing shoot-out between Bryant and Short, both men were killed by shots from the other.   

The Dalton Gang's next robbery was the Katy train at Leliaetta, near Wagoner in Indian Territory. With Bob and Emmett, were Bitter Creek Newcomb, Bill Power, Dick Broadwell, Charlie Pierce, and Bill Doolin. On the night of September 15, 1891 they stopped and boarded the MK&T train, and robbed the express car of $2,500.

Back in California, on September 18, Grat escaped while on the train transferring him to prison. According to one account, two deputies, handcuffed to one of them, accompanied Grat. While one of the deputies was asleep and the other busy talking to other passengers, Grat stole the key to the handcuffs and jumped from the window of the moving train, landing in the San Joaquin River. Grat made his way back to Oklahoma, and quickly joined back up with the gang, while his brother Bill was still in California awaiting trial.

Meanwhile, back in California, Bill Dalton was acquitted on October 10, 1891, for the train robbery that Grat had been sentenced to twenty years for.

The winter of 1891 found the Dalton brothers relatively quiet, but as soon as spring arrived they teamed up with Pierce, Newcomb, Power, Broadwell, and Doolin to plan another train holdup.

Waiting for the at the train at the station on June 1, 1892 at Red Rock in Oklahoma Territory, they sensed danger when the train arrived without any lights shining from its coach windows. Quickly, they abandoned their plans and allowed the train to pass without incident. However, within a short time a second train came along, and this one, they boarded.

Charlie Bryant and Dick Broadwell held the engineer and fireman in the locomotive while Bob, Emmett, and Bill Power walked through the passenger cars taking jewelry and cash. Bill Doolin and Grat Dalton  took on the express car, throwing the safe out of the train. Loot in hand, the bandits rode away, only to discover they had gained little for their efforts, as the safe only contained about $50.

Later, they found out that their suspicions were correct regarding the train that they had allowed to pass as it had been full of armed guards protecting $70,000 of the Sac and Fox annuity.

Obviously not happy with their take in June, they planned another train heist on July 14, 1892 at Pryor Creek in Indian Territory. Arriving at the train station they first took what they could find from the express and baggage rooms, then calmly sat down waiting for the train to arrive with their shotguns over their knees. Once again the train was loaded with deputies, but for some reason they were all at the back of the train. The gang backed a wagon up to the express car and unloaded all of the contents, easily subduing the one armed guard in the express car.  When the marshals finally discovered the robbery, a fierce gun battle broke out where two guards were killed, as well as an innocent bystander and another wounded. However, the gang escaped unharmed making off with $17,000 in cash. After this train robbery, a prize of $5,000 was placed on each of the Dalton's heads.

With the law hot on their tails, the Dalton Gang split up for a short time. But, it wasn't long before they began to plan another robbery – this one to be their biggest yet. 

In early October, 1892, brothers Bob, Grat and Emmett Dalton, along with Bill Power and Dick Broadwell set out towards Coffeyville, Kansas. Arriving on the evening of October 4th at the P.L. Davis farm 4 miles west of Coffeyville, they made camp for the night and prepared for the next day.   

Early in the morning of October 5, 1892 the five outlaws rode into Coffeyville shortly after 9:00 a.m. to find the city's streets filled with people. Tying their horses in an alley across from the banks, they dismounted and marched down the alley, three in front and two in the rear. The outlaws, disguised with false beards, divided into two groups, with Grat, Power and Broadwell entering the C.M. Condon & Co. Bank, and Bob and Emmett crossing the plaza to enter the First National Bank.   

Coffeyville, Kansas, 1909

"DALTONS! The Robber Gang Meet Their Waterloo in Coffeyville. The Outlaws Beaten at Their Own Game."

-- Headline on the Coffeyville Journal on Friday, October 7, 1892

Disguise or no, when they left the alley they passed within five feet of a man by the name of Aleck McKenna, who recognized one them as a member of the Dalton family. He watched the men as they entered the bank and when he saw a gun pointed at the cashier's counter in the Condon Bank, he called out "the bank is being robbed!" The cry was taken up and quickly passed to everyone around the square. Wasting no time, the local townsmen quickly armed themselves with weapons from the hardware store and took up positions to defend the town.

Inside the Condon Bank were C.T. Carpenter, one of the owners; Tom C. Babb, bookkeeper; and Charles M. Ball, cashier. They were quickly taken hostage by the outlaws and ordered to surrender the money. But quick thinking cashier Ball told them there was a time lock on the vault and that it could not be opened for another 10 minutes. Grat, Power and Broadwell were fooled into waiting, which gave the townsmen additional time to get themselves armed.

Meanwhile, in the First National Bank, Bob and Emmett captured Thomas G. Ayers, cashier; W.H. Shepard, and B.S. Ayers, the bookkeeper, who they forced to collect the money. The two Dalton brothers at first tried to escape out the front door using the three bankers as a shield. But when the townsmen shot at them anyway, they decided to use the rear door.

While waiting at the Condon Bank, bullets began to punch through the bank windows and Grat, Broadwell and Power charged out of the bank into the plaza. All three were hit has they ran towards the alley. Bob and Emmett ran around a block, pausing long enough to kill two citizens and entered the alley at about the same time that Grat and the others got there.

Finding cover behind an oil tank, Grat fired several wild shots as John J. Kloehr, Carey Seamen and Marshall Connelly followed them into the alley.

Grat shot and killed Marshal Connelly. Someone hit Bob Dalton, who sat down, fired several aimless shots, slumped over and died. John Kloehr put the wounded Grat down for good with a bullet in the neck. Power died in the dust about 10 feet away. Already mortally wounded, Broadwell got to his horse and rode a half-mile toward safety before he pitched out of the saddle and died in the road.

Emmett who was carrying the moneybag tried to mount his horse but was hit in the right arm, left hip, and groin. He then rode back for his brother Bob, and as he reached down for him, Carey Seamen unloaded both barrels of his shotgun into Emmett's back and Emmett dropped to the alley. Emmett then held up his uninjured hand and surrendered. He was taken to Dr. Well's office with 20 bullets and the doctor said he would be dead before nightfall. However, 21 year-old Emmett survived.

Condon & Co. Bank in 1892.
Coffeyville, KS.

Condon Bank showing bullet
holes in windows, 1892.

The entire gun battle had lasted less than fifteen minutes after the robbers had entered the banks. Eight men were dead and three were wounded. In addition to the four outlaws who were killed, the local men that were killed were Marshal Charles Connelly, Lucius Baldwin, George Cubine, and Charles Brown.

Emmett stood trial and was sentenced to life in prison. However, due in part to his friends on the right side of the law who thought he was not beyond redemption, Emmett was pardoned in 1907. On September 1, 1908 Emmett married Julia Johnson Gilstrap Lewis in Bartlesville, Oklahoma where they lived for a couple of years before moving to California. In California, Emmett worked as a building contractor and later would write a book about the exploits of the Dalton Gang entitled "When The Daltons Rode." Written in collaboration with Jack Jungmeyer, a Los Angeles Newspaperman, the book was published in 1931.

In May of 1931, Emmett and Julia returned to Coffeyville for a visit, where they were treated as celebrities. Emmett died at home in Long Beach, California on July 13, 1937.

In 1940, shortly after Emmett's death, the book was made into a western movie starring Randolph Scott, Broderick Crawford, Andy Devine and Kay Francis. Julia Dalton was associated with the filming as a sort of technical advisor. Later, she went to Coffeyville, Kansas, for the picture's premier. 

Coffeyville was not the end of the Dalton Gang. Three members of the old gang remained at large; Bill Doolin, Bitter Creek Newcomb, and Charlie Pierce. In fact, Bill Doolin is thought by many historians to be a sixth member of the gang which hit Coffeyville, holding the horses in the alley, and the only member to have escaped. Bill Dalton also joined the former members of the gang, and they would terrorize the Territories for several years as the infamous Dalton-Doolin Gang.

As to the ultimate fate of the other gang members: 

George "Bitter Creek" Newcomb met a fifteen year old girl named Rosa Dunn, known as "The Rose of Cimarron." Eventually he sought refuge at her parents ranch, and her brothers turned him in for the $5,000 reward on his head. He was shot by U.S. Deputy Marshals on May 2, 1894 in Oklahoma.
Charlie" Pierce was with George "Bitter Creek" Newcomb and was also killed by U.S. Deputy Marshals on May 2, 1894 in Oklahoma.

Bill Doolin was killed on August, 1896 by U.S. Deputy Marshal Heck Thomas near Lawson, Oklahoma.

Bill Dalton went on the run after robbing the first National Bank in Longview, Texas and was killed by lawman, Loss Hart, at Elk, Oklahoma on June 7, 1894.

Bob and Grat Dalton after having
been shot in the Coffeyville raid.

"Blackface Charlie" Bryant was arrested by U.S. Deputy Marshal Edward Short in the summer of 1891 and while he was being transported to the federal court in Wichita, Kansas, on August 3, 1891, Bryant stole a gun and shot Marshal Short. The lawman returned fire and when the smoke cleared both men were dead.

[Catwoman]

Thanks Cat, good to see you back. 


It is good to be back, Warph!!    Missed reading you!

[Warph]

The Bloody Benders of Labette County

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. Once Kansas declared itself with the Union and the Civil War began to rage, the bloody battles continued. After the Civil War, as 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 and in the many cow towns. If not accosted by road agents, travelers also had to be concerned about Indian attacks. Southeast Kansas, in particular, was known as a rough area.

Though most of us know of Dodge City's wicked ways, the deadly gunfight of the Daltons in Coffeyville, and the many outlaws and gunfighters who spent time in the Sunflower State, few aware of a family of mass murderers, living a supposed quiet life near the small town of Cherryvale.

Just after the Civil War ended the United States government moved the Osage Indians from Labette County in southeast Kansas to the "new" Indian Territory in what would later become the state of Oklahoma. The "vacated" land was then made available to homesteaders, who, for the most part, were a group of hard-working pioneers farming the area's softly rolling hills and windswept prairies.

In 1870, five families of "spiritualists" settled in western Labette County, about seven miles northeast of where Cherryvale would be platted a year later. One of these families was the Benders, comprised of John Bender, Sr.; his wife, Almira; son, John, Jr.; and daughter, Kate. A cult-like group, the families chose from several available claims and began to make their homes. John Bender, Sr. chose a 160 acre section on the western slopes of the mounds that today continue to bear their name. The property was located directly on the Osage Mission-Independence Trail that operated from Independence to Fort Scott. His son chose a narrow piece of land just north of his father's; however, he never lived on his claim, nor made any improvements.

The family soon built a small one-room framed cabin, a barn, corral, and dug a well.  Inside the wooden cabin the area was partitioned with a large canvas, creating living quarters in the back and a small inn and store in the front. A crude sign was hung above the front door that advertised "Groceries" to the many travelers along the Osage Trail. The little "store" carried a few supplies such as powder, shot, groceries, liquor, and tobacco; sold meals, and provided a "safe" overnight resting place to the strangers along the road.

Bender Cabin, courtesy Cherryvale Museum

Keeping mostly to themselves, the Benders appeared to simply be struggling homesteaders who worked hard to earn their living like the other area pioneers.  Immigrating from Germany, John Bender, Sr. was sixty years old when he arrived to the area; his wife about 55. Standing over six feet tall, John was a giant of a man who, because of his piercing black eyes set deeply under huge bushy brows, earned him the nickname of "old beetle-browed John."  His ruddy face, mostly covered by a heavy beard, sullen expression and long hair, often led to him being described as a "wild and wooly looking man."

Both John and his raw-boned wife spoke with such guttural accents that few people could understand them. Mrs. Bender, a heavy set woman, was so unfriendly and had such sinister eyes, that her neighbors began to call her a "she-devil." To add to her fierce look, Ma Bender also claimed to be a "medium" who could speak with the "dead" and boiled herbs and roots that she declared could be used to cast charms or wicked spells. Her husband and son were said to have feared her as she ran the household with an iron hand.

John Bender, Jr. was a tall, slender man of about about 25 who was handsome with auburn hair and moustache. Speaking English fluently with a German accent, he was said to have been social but, he was prone to laughing aimlessly, which led many people to think of him as a half-wit.

Daughter Kate was the "friendliest" of the bunch, speaking good English with just a slight accent and bore cultivated social skills. A beautiful girl of about 23, she was quick to laugh and talk to strangers. She and her brother John often attended Sunday School at nearby Harmony Grove and were readily accepted in the community.

Kate was a self-proclaimed healer and psychic, gave lectures on spiritualism, and conducted séances.  She also claimed to posses psychic powers, including the ability to communicate with the dead. Distributing circulars that proclaimed her "skills," including supernatural powers and the ability to cure illnesses and infirmities, she soon found the lecture circuit profitable.

The petite auburn haired beauty had a desire for notoriety and often advocated free love and justification for murder in her lectures. Along with her desire for fame, she also craved wealth and position. Though her beauty and social skills gained her popularity with the locals, her actions began to cause them to say that she was "satanic." It was to be this diminutive Bender family member that would take most of the blame for what was soon to be found out about this infamous family.

John Bender, Sr. without a beard.

Ma Bender

Kate Bender

John Bender, Jr. was actually a man named John Gebhardt

The above sketches are the only known likenesses of the Benders, photos from The Benders of Kansas by John Towner, Kan-Okla Publishing, Wichita, KS, 1913, reprinted 1995.

This sketch in Harper's Weekly, June 7, 1873, sketch was made from a photo taken by Mr. Gamble of Parsons, Kansas.

When the Benders opened their store and inn in 1871, many travelers would stop for a meal or supplies. However, some of those men, who frequently carried large sums of cash with the intention of settling, buying stock, or purchasing a claim; began to go missing. When friends and family began to look for them, they could trace them as far as the Big Hill Country of southeast Kansas before they could find no trace of the lost traveler.

These first few missing travelers did not raise an overall alarm in the area as it was not uncommon during those days for men to simply continue their journey westward. However, as more time passed, the disappearances became more frequent and by the spring of 1873, the region had become strife with rumors and travelers began to avoid the trail.

When neighboring communities started to make slanderous insinuations, the Osage Township called a meeting held at the Harmony Grove schoolhouse in March to see what, if anything, could be done. About 75 people attended the gathering, including both Bender men.

The discussion began regarding the ten people who were reported missing, including a well-known Independence physician named Dr. William H. York. With the full realization that there truly was a major problem in their township, the group decided to search every farmstead between Big Hill Creek and Drum Creek. When most of the attendees volunteered to have their premises searched, the Benders remained silent.

Some time later, Billy Tole, a neighbor of the Benders, noticed that the Bender Inn was abandoned and their farm animals unfed. Tole reported the news to Leroy F Dick, the Township Trustee, and a search party was soon formed, which included Dr. York's brother, Colonel A.M. York, of Fort Scott. When the men arrived at the property, they found the cabin empty of food, clothing, and personal possessions. They were also met by a terrible smell inside the abandoned inn. A trap door, nailed shut, was discovered in the floor of the cabin.

Prying it open, the men found a six foot deep hole that was filled with clotted blood, causing the terrible odor. However, there were no bodies in the hole. Finally, the men physically moved the entire cabin to the side and began to search beneath, but no bodies were found there either. Continuing, they began to dig around the cabin, especially in an area the Benders had utilized as a vegetable garden and orchard. At the site of a freshly stirred depression in the earth, they found the first body, buried head downward with its feet scarcely covered. The corpse was that of Dr. William H. York, his skull bludgeoned and his throat cut from ear to ear.

The digging continued the next day and nine other bodies and numerous dismembered body parts were found, including a woman and a little girl. The burial site was christened "Hell's Half-Acre" and another brother of Dr. York, a lawyer and State Senator residing in Independence, offered a $1,000 reward for information leading to the Bender family's arrest. On May 17th, Governor Thomas Osborn added to that amount by offering a $2,000 reward for the apprehension of all four.

Word of the gruesome murders spread fast and thousands of people flocked to the site, including news reporters from as far away as New York and Chicago. The Bender cabin was ripped apart by gruesome souvenir hunters, right down to the bloody bricks that lined the cellar. Bit by bit, the story of the Benders was pieced together.

The Benders were obviously not what they appeared. In fact, they weren't even a true "family" -- the only ones related were Ma and Kate Bender.

When the visitors stopped in for a meal, they were seated at a table with their back to the large canvas that separated the "inn" from the living quarters. Then Kate would begin to charm the men with her social skills, flirting, or revealing her psychic "gifts." As the men gave their full attention to the alluring Kate, Pa and John Bender, hiding behind the canvas, would strike the unsuspecting traveler in the skull with a hammer. Ma Bender and Kate would then rifle the body for money pushing him through the trap door into the hole below the cabin, where Kate would slit his throat. During the night, the body would then be buried in the garden behind the house.

Their downfall was the murder of a father and daughter named Loncher, and that of Dr. William York, who had come looking for the missing pair. In the winter of 1872, Mr. Loncher and his daughter had left Independence for Iowa, but were never heard from again. In the spring of 1873, Dr. York took it upon himself to go looking for the Lonchers, stopping at the homesteads along the trail to ask questions. Though he reached Fort Scott unscathed and started to return to Independence about March 8th, he never reached home.

Dr. York had two brothers, one living in Fort Scott, and the other in Independence. Both knew of his travel plans and when he failed to return home, an all out search began for the missing doctor. Colonel A.M. York, leading a contingency of some 50 men began to question every traveler along the trail and to stop at the area homesteads. One of those places was the Bender Inn. 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. Even Kate, with her clairvoyant abilities, attempted to "search" for the missing doctor to throw any suspicion off herself.

After Colonel York's visit and the meeting at the Harmony Grove schoolhouse, the Bender family fled. It was only a few days later that the homestead was found abandoned and the search party began to discover the grisly remains of the bodies.

The diggers were astounded to find what would become known as one of America's first mass murder burial grounds as body after body was uncovered. Ten bodies were found in the Bender's apple orchard, including Dr. York and the people he had been searching for – Mr. Loncher and his daughter, just seven or eight years old. More gruesomely, though the little girl's 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. Of the discovery of her remains, the Kansas City Times reported:

"The little girl was probably eight years of age, and had long, sunny hair, and some traces of beauty on a countenance that was not yet entirely disfigured by decay. One arm was broken. The breastbone had been driven in. The right knee had been wrenched from its socket and the leg doubled up under the body. Nothing like this sickening series of crimes had ever been recorded in the whole history of the country."

Other bodies found in the garden were those of Henry McKenzie's mutilated remains, three men by the names of Ben Brown, W.F. McCrotty, and John Geary, as well as an unidentified male and female. Johnny Boyle's body was found in the well. Dismembered parts of several other victims were also discovered, but, could never be identified. Four other bodies with crushed skulls and slit throats were also found outside the property in Drum Creek and on the surrounding prairie.

For all these deaths, the Benders gained only about $4,600, two teams of horses and wagons, a pony, and a saddle. 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.

As word of the grisly murders spread, more and more travelers came forward to tell their own stories of narrow escape, including one gentleman by the name of William Pickering. 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, at which point he fled the premises.  A Catholic priest said that he too fled when he saw one of the Bender men concealing a large hammer.

After following a fresh trail of wagon tracks, a search party found that the Benders had gone to the town of nearby Thayer, some twelve miles to the north. There, they purchased tickets on the northbound Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston Train to Humboldt. Several days later the Benders' team and wagon were found a short distance away, the horses nearly starved.

Upon further investigation, Captain James B. Ransom, the train's conductor, said that John, Jr. and Kate disembarked at Chanute and took the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad train south to the Red River country near Dennison, Texas, which was then the terminus of the railroad.

Graves of the many who the Benders killed.

Allegedly, the pair then fled to a tough outlaw colony along the border of Texas and New Mexico. Meanwhile, Ma and Pa Bender continued on the train north to Kansas City where it was believed they transferred to a train headed to St. Louis.

Attempts to capture the bloodthirsty family were immediately made by both law officers and vigilantes alike. Though no one ever collected on the rewards offered, rumors began to fly of several parties who had captured and killed the Benders. 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. Another group claimed they had caught the Benders while escaping to the south and lynched them before throwing their bodies into the Verdigris River. Yet another group claimed to have killed the Benders during a gunfight and buried their bodies on the prairie.
 
However, none of these tales were ever confirmed, nor bodies found, so most thought that the Benders had managed to escape. For years, sightings of Ma Bender and Kate were reported and in 1889, two women were actually extradited from Michigan on the charge. Though the pair was jailed, the case was eventually dropped for lack of evidence.

Of the "family," Pa Bender was actually found to have been a man named John Flickinger, from either Germany or Holland. Though he allegedly committed suicide in 1884 in Lake Michigan, others believed that Ma and Kate murdered him because he had fled Cherryvale with all the cash and valuables they had taken from their victims.

Ma Bender was born Almira Meik in the Adirondacks and married as a teenager to a man named George Griffith. After bearing him a dozen children, including Kate, Mr. Griffith suddenly died, some said of a "bad place on his head," resembling a "dent" that might be made with a hammer. Afterwards, she reportedly remarried several times, killing those husbands too, as well as three of her older children so they could not testify against her.

John, Jr. was actually found to have been a man named John Gebhardt. His habit of laughing aimlessly was what led to him being described as a "half-wit," though many, afterwards, believed this was simply a ruse to disguise his clever nature. Though most were led to believe John and Kate were sister and brother, others said that they sometimes passed as man and wife. The two were known to have had a relationship and further tales abounded that when Kate became pregnant, they would simply bash in the baby's head once it was born. After the Benders' escape, one detective, who had closely followed all the leads, said that he had traced Gebhardt to the outlaw country along the Texas / New Mexico border where he had found that the criminal had died of apoplexy.

Kate was the fifth child of Ma Bender and was born as Eliza Griffith. At some point, she married and went by the name of Sara Eliza Davis. Allegedly, while "working" at the Bender Inn, she also earned her keep as a prostitute, adding an additional amount to the traveler's bill for the privilege of laying with her. In the end, it was Kate who was primarily blamed for the numerous bloody murders – that even at her young age, was the inspiration for the crimes.

Though the tales of what happened to the Benders can only be speculated as to their accuracy, the fact that ten bodies were found on the property is not disputed. Other corpses found in the area, as well as the many mysterious disappearances of other lonely travelers, led the locals to believe that the Benders actually killed more than 20 people.

The sensational tales and rumors of the Benders continued well into the 20th century, but, as to what actually happened to them remains one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of the Old West.

If the terrible story of the Bender murders was not, in and of itself, "legend" enough, another tale began to circulate regarding the property upon which the Benders had once lived. The old Bender property was haunted, began to fly the rumors of the locals. A decade after the gruesome killings, nothing was left of the cabin and outbuildings on the property, the only thing remaining -- an empty hole that had once been the cellar. From these depths allegedly came the souls of those murdered on the site, wandering about the property and making moaning sounds that could be heard by passersby. Of those most often reporting seeing glowing apparitions on the property were those who came to the site in search of some long lost souvenir of the grisly murders. Quickly, the scavengers were frightened away by the dead souls to spread their ghostly tales.

As the legend of the haunting continued, people began to say that Kate Bender, herself, had returned to the property, doomed to roam the very land where she had committed so many atrocities. Whether the stuff of folklore or fact, many believe that the trapped souls of these century-old ghosts continue to lurk at the site today.

So provocative was the Bender family tale, that the Bender Museum was created in Cherryvale in 1961. In honor of the Kansas state-wide Centennial Celebration, an exact replica of the Bender cabin was built that housed antiques and household items. In its first three days of opening, it attracted more than 2,000 visitors. In 1967, three of the Bender hammers were gifted to the museum by the Dick family. The museum remained a popular tourist destination until it closed in 1978 when a fire station was built upon the site. Though many wanted to relocate the building, it had become a point of controversy in Cherryvale, with locals objecting to the town being known for the Bender atrocities. In the end, the artifacts, including the hammers, photos, and newspaper clippings, were placed in the Cherryvale Museum and can still be seen today at 215 East 4th Street.

In addition to the museum, southeast Kansas may be the only place where a mass murder is celebrated by a state historical marker. While not actually on the old Bender property, the marker sits on the high prairie about a mile northwest of Bender Mounds at the US-400 and US-169 interchange at the Montgomery County Rest area, north of Cherryvale.

© Kathy Weiser/Legends of America, updated January, 2014.




Reader's Update - January, 2011:

Grandpa's Tale of the Bloody Benders

I listened to a story last night from my grandfather, Emerson Smalley, about the Benders and their supposed end. 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. My grandfather, who is approaching 80 years-old, is always full of great stories but, he  assured me that his father, who passed this on to him, knew of what really happened. When his father (my great grandfather), Frank Smalley was a boy, he was hiding in the hay loft of the family barn when he overheard a group of men below talking and laughing. Frank's father, Jesse P. Smalley, along with several men were joking with a local judge, teasing him about his missing ear. As the boy listened, the men continued to talk, relating the tale of how the judge had lost his ear. It was a story about the infamous Benders and about one man who got away. This unnamed man was evidently one of the many who made the mistake of stopping at the Bender Inn. Like others, as he sat at the the table, he was hit over the head. The Benders then stripped him of his clothes and went to bury him, when the man suddenly awoke. The Benders were, no doubt, surprised to find that the man wasn't dead. Somehow, he managed to escape, next appearing naked in the middle of the night at Jesse Smalley's door step. Telling the story of his near death, Jesse quickly retold it to a nearby doctor and judge, who formed a vigilante group to go after the Benders.

However, by the time the men arrived at the Benders' cabin very early the next morning, they found the Benders gone. They then began to follow a wagon trail left by the Benders that took them down as far south as near Tulsa, Oklahoma before circling back into Kansas. At a fork of the Fall and Verdigris Rivers, they found the Benders with their wagon backed up against a fallen tree with canvas over it for shelter. When the vigilante group approached, the Benders fired on them, at which time, the judge lost part of his ear to a flying bullet. In retaliation, the vigilantes killed all of the members of the Bender family, buried them where they died, and took the wagon to town, where they left it.

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. Fact or fiction, no one really knows, but, I've always enjoyed the tale and hope you will as well.

Today, there are Smalley descendants that continue to live in the Neodosha and Cherryvale area.