Benders' B & B

The Serial Killers:  Comprised of four people, the Benders were a family of serial killers that ran a grocery and inn a few miles northeast of Cherryvale, Kansas.  Between May of 1871 and December of 1872, the Benders used their business to attract potential victims that had been traveling along the Great Osage Trail.  When a customer stopped at the Benders' makeshift general store for supplies, they would be persuaded by Kate, the Benders' attractive daughter, to stay for a meal and a good night's sleep.  Once seated at a table positioned over a trap door leading to a cellar, the guest would await a meal prepared by Elvira, the gruff matriarch of the family.  While Kate distracted the guest with stories of her supposed psychic powers, her brutish father, John, or her haft-wit brother, John Jr., would appear from behind a canvas tarp and strike the victim across the skull with one of three hammers.  After Kate or Elvira cut the victim's throat to ensure their death, the body was dropped into the cellar through the trap door, where it would eventually be stripped of any monetary possessions and buried in the nearby apple orchard.  The family fled the area when word circulated that homesteads along the Osage Trail were being searched for clues in the disappearance of a well-known doctor.  Authorities eventually found the remains of approximately 20 victims buried near the abandoned cabin, and the "Bloody Benders" were never seen or heard from again.

The Cabin:  The Benders' cabin was a large, one-room structure divided into two areas.  The area on the south end of the cabin served as a living quarters for the family, while the area on the north end served as a grocery where dry goods were sold.  A stained canvas tarp, previously used as a wagon cover, separated the two areas and provided privacy for the family's living quarters.  The living area contained two beds, a cast iron stove, a table used to house tools, and a door facing the south end of the property.  The grocery included shelving used to display dry goods, a counter, a table, a bench, and a door facing the Osage Trail, which ran between the towns of Cherryvale and St. Paul, Kansas.  A loafing shed, used to provide shelter for the family's livestock, was positioned southeast of the cabin.  A vegetable garden and an apple orchard stood north of the cabin near to Osage Trail. 

The Floor Plan:  Since these events took place so many years ago, I found several discrepancies regarding the floor plan of the Benders' cabin.  As such, I turned to online pictures that were taken during the excavation of their property in 1873.   In doing so, I learned some very interesting things:

1)  Believed to have been German immigrants, the family was assumed to have little familiarity with the English language.  This is apparent, as a crudely drawn sign near the cabin read "grocry."

2)  When the Benders' abandoned cabin was searched, a bad odor was traced to a trap door that was nailed shut.  After opening the trap door, clotted blood was found on the floor of the cellar below.

3)  After murdered bodies were found on the property, a mob became so determined to find the missing killers they hung a friend of the Bender family from a beam in the cabin until he was rendered unconscious.  The friend was revived, interrogated, and hanged again.  After the third hanging, the mob finally believed he said he did not know where the Benders had gone, and he was released.

4)  While investigating the cabin, authorities found more than a dozen bullet holes in the roof and sides of the structure.  It was believed that some victims had attempted to fight back after being struck with one of the Benders' hammer.

5)  The Benders' cabin was destroyed by souvenir hunters who took everything, including bricks that lined the cellar and stones lining the well.

Sources:

Alexander, Kathy.  "The Bloody Benders-Serial Killers of Kansas."  Legends of America.  November 2023.  https://www.legendsofamerica.com.  Accessed 3 May 2024.

Anderson, Daniel, Smith, Robert, and Yadon, Laurence.  200 Texas Outlaws and Lawmen, 1835–1935.  Arcadia Publishing, 2008.

Geary, Rick.  The Saga of the Bloody Benders.  NBM Publishing, 2008.

Hintz, Charlie.  "The Bloody Benders:  America's First Serial Killer Family."  Cult of Weird.  2014.  https://www.cultofweird.com.  Accessed 4 May 2024.

Library of Congress.  "Devilish Deeds."  The Weekly Kansas Chief.  15 May 1873.  https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.  Accessed 3 May 2024.

Lindsay, Stacey.  "The Benders:  A Two Part Report."  KOAM News Now.  6 July 2026.  https://www.koamnewsnow.com.  Accessed 3 May 2024.

Miller, Daniel Right.  The Criminal Classes:  Causes and Cures.  United Brethren Publishing House, 1903.

Wilhelm, Robert.  "A Bender Family Album."  Murder by Gaslight.  11 August 2012.  https://www.murderbygaslight.com.  Accessed 4 May 2024.

Wilhelm, Robert.  "The Bloody Benders."  Murder by Gaslight.  6 November 2010.  https://www.murderbygaslight.com.  Accessed 4 May 2024.