mellon mounds family kansas

[1][2] A knife with a four-inch tapered blade was reportedly found hidden in a mantel clock in the Bender house by Colonel York. They were never found and later I formed my own conclusions why. [7], A bad odor was noticed and traced to a trap door underneath a bed, nailed shut. Several weeks after the discovery of the bodies, Addison Roach and his son-in-law, William Buxton, were arrested as accessories. The media speculated that some of the victims had attempted to fight back after being hit with the hammer. In 1856, Hiatt, his wife and five children moved to Kansas Territory settling in Bloomington.Shortly after his arrival, Hiatt and two other men operated a saw mill but within a year Hiatt decided to move on and transported his family seven miles southwest. Co D 123rd Ill Infantry. Many of these censuses survive, and some are housed at the Kansas State Historical Society. . In the spring of 1873, Longcor's former neighbor, Dr. William Henry York, went looking for them and questioned homesteaders along the trail. 16-19) December 1872: During the search, the bodies of four unidentified males were found in Drum Creek and the surrounds. Many stories say that one vigilante group actually caught the Benders and shot all of them but Kate, whom they burned alive. Colonel York agreed that this was possible and remained for dinner. Contemporary newspapers reported his name as either "George W. Longcor" or "George Loncher", while Mary Ann is similarly reported as being either eight years old or 18 months old. One might have been Jack Bogart, whose horse was purchased from a friend of the Benders after he went missing in 1872. Kate Bender, who was around 23, was cultivated and attractive and spoke English well with very little accent. The men then physically lifted the cabin and moved it to the side so they could dig under it, but no bodies were found. Indexes for all of these censuses available online on our research room computers at ancestry.com. The search of the cabin resulted in the recovery of three hammers: a shoe hammer, a claw hammer, and a sledgehammer that appeared to match indentations in some of the skulls. Kansas completed state censuses in 1865, 1875, 1885, 1895, 1905, 1915, and 1925. 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. XLIV, No. The Mellon Foundation has committed more than $200 million to arts and humanities nonprofits devastated by COVID-19. Nothing on site identifies it as the serial-killing family’s former homestead. The meeting was attended by 75 locals, including Colonel York and both John Bender Sr. and John Bender Jr. After discussing the disappearances, including that of William York, it was agreed that a search warrant would be obtained to search every homestead between Big Hill Creek and Drum Creek. mellon family murders kansas. "Old Mrs. Bender was a dirty old Dutch crone. . Several groups of vigilantes were formed to search for the Benders. Their murders were carried out by use of a canvas curtain that divided the house into two rooms. Mellon Acres has been serving the Kansas City, Missouri area for several years and is nestled on a 32-acre private rustic estate, offering a scenic, countryside backdrop with all the modern comforts and conveniences. The Mellon family is rela tively new in terms of the great American fortunes. Both knew of William's travel plans and, when he failed to return home, an all-out search began for the missing doctor. Eyewitness testimony was given that Mrs. Monroe was Ma Bender. Relocating to Independence from, 7) December 1872: Johnny Boyle. Mound City was founded in 1855. 1) May 1871: Mr. Jones. Elvira was suspected[by whom?] When attempts were made to relocate the museum it became a point of controversy, some locals objecting to the town being known for the Bender murders. As more and more travelers disappeared, suspicion began to center on the Benders. Later, she married William Stephen Griffith. The probing continued until midnight, with another nine suspected grave sites marked before the men were satisfied they had found them all and retired for the night. 13-15) December 1872: Various body parts. According to the 1870 census, George and his wife, Mary Jane, were neighbors of. [18], 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. The Benders were widely believed to be German immigrants. From those who knew them and have written about them, we gather the following: Body found in Drum Creek with a crushed skull and throat cut. Mellon Contact Services (then Mellon Collection Services) was ranked 12th in the top 20 of the 2008 Best Workplaces Hellas list. [5][6], Around the same time, neighboring communities began to make accusations that the Osage community was responsible for the disappearances, and a meeting was arranged by the Osage township in the Harmony Grove schoolhouse. According to the May 23, 1873 edition of The Emporia News, he was identified with the name of William Bender. She mentioned stopping at the inn, as well as recounting the rumors of the murders spreading through their community. . Kate was believed[by whom?] The body of a young girl was found with no injuries sufficient to cause death. that when a guest would stay at the Benders' bed and breakfast inn, the hosts would give the guest a seat of honor at the table which was positioned over a trap door that led into the cellar. Ridge-top burial mounds were placed along Cahokia’s central organizing grid, marked by the Rattlesnake Causeway, and along the city limits. In mid-October, Deputy Sheriff LeRoy Dick, the Osage Township trustee who had headed the search of the Bender property, arrived in Michigan and arrested the couple on October 30, following their release on the larceny charges. 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. In October 1870, five families of spiritualists homesteaded in and around the township of Osage in northwestern Labette County, approximately 7 mi (11 km) northeast of where Cherryvale would be established seven months later. From elopements to the all-out wedding extravaganza, Mellon Acres caters to your needs with a compassionate staff. 5) December 1872: W.F. According to contemporary newspapers, Elvira was born Almira Hill Mark (often misreported as "Meik") in the Adirondack Mountains; she married Simon Mark, with whom she claimed to have had 12 children. A county census was also completed at the time of application for county organization. Much folklore and legend surrounds the Benders, making it difficult to separate fact from fiction. [5][18] By 1873, reports of missing people who had passed through the area had become so common that travelers began to avoid the trail. Kate soon gained notoriety as a self proclaimed healer and spiritualist. [1][3] On April 3, Colonel York returned to the inn with armed men after being informed that a woman had fled from the inn after being threatened with knives by Elvira Bender. This page was last edited on 4 February 2021, at 12:37. 1870-1873", Sheriff Saves the Neck of a Man Who Murdered His Own Daughter, http://www.murderbygaslight.com/2010/11/bloody-benders.html, Scan of Chicago Daily Tribune, October 31, 1889, "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=1004795790, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. 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. Judge Calvin dismissed Mary Gardei's affidavit as she was a "chip off the old block"; he found that other affidavits supporting Gardei's were sufficient proof that the women could never be convicted, however, and he discharged them both. [1], One detective later claimed that he had traced the pair to the border, where he had found that John Jr. had died of apoplexy. Kansas Vital records The Foundation's grants database allows you to browse grants awarded by the Foundation since 1969. Copyright © 2006–2021, Some rights reserved. Originally scheduled for February 1890, the trial was held over to May. At her hearing, Mrs. Monroe denied any knowledge of Shearer or the manslaughter charge and remained incarcerated with her daughter. In Fargo (Season 4, Episode 9), outside the entrance to The Barton Arms, a Kansas Historical Marker plaque for “The Mellon Mounds” recounts the story of the Mellon family, who lured unsuspecting travelers into their home, killed them with a hammer, and buried them out back. Near here are the Bender Mounds, named for the infamous Bender family ~~ John, his wife, son, and daughter Kate ~~ who settled here in 1871. Mrs. Monroe resisted, declaring that she would not be taken alive, but was subdued by local deputies. In Fargo (Season 4, Episode 9), outside the entrance to The Barton Arms, a Kansas Historical Marker plaque for “The Mellon Mounds” recounts the story of the Mellon family, who lured unsuspecting travelers into their home, killed them with a hammer, and buried them out back. Buried in the apple orchard. [1][11][12][13][14][15][16], By including the recovered body parts not matched to the bodies found, the finds are speculated to represent the remains of more than 20 victims. A number of researchers question the ready acceptance of the affidavit's authenticity and suggest that the county was unwilling to accept the expense of boarding the two women for an extended period. They disappeared in the spring of 1873, shortly before inquisitive neighbors discovered the victims' bodies. [18] The hammers were displayed at the Bender Museum in Cherryvale, Kansas from 1967 to 1978, when the site was acquired for a fire station. The following is a list of indexes to Kansas state censuses, which are available in the State Archives research room in Topeka. Grants Database. It was confirmed that in Thayer the family had bought tickets on the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston Railroad for Humboldt. [5], Detectives following wagon tracks discovered the Benders' wagon, abandoned with a starving team of horses with one of the mares lame, just outside the city limits of Thayer, 12 mi (19 km) north of the inn. "[7], Word of the murders spread quickly, and more than three thousand people, including reporters from as far away as New York City and Chicago, visited the site. [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. The present generation is the third to be born in this coun try. A Kansas archaeology professor believes he's found the lost city of Etzanoa, spurring a rethinking of traditional views on the Native Americans' early settlement of the Midwest. Elvira Bender, who also allegedly spoke very little English, was 55 years of age and was so unfriendly that her neighbors took to calling her a "she-devil". Near here are the Bender Mounds, named for the infamous Bender family - John, his wife, son, and daughter Kate - who settled here in 1871. 7. . "Kate proclaimed herself responsible to no one save herself." The texts read "Johannah Bender. She also conducted séances and gave lectures on spiritualism, for which she gained notoriety for advocating free love. Kansas County Marriages, 1855-1911 Ancestry . This was about 28% of all the recorded Mellon's in the UK. 16 Feb 1888. Secretly, the four made a living through murder and robbery. At this point, the customers began to feel uneasy and decided to leave, a move that almost certainly saved their lives. History. [2], Two men who had traveled to the inn to experience Kate Bender's psychic powers stayed on for dinner but had refused to sit at the table next to the cloth, instead preferring to eat their meal at the main shop counter. The stone slab floor was broken up with sledgehammers but no bodies were found, and it was determined that the smell was from blood that had soaked into the soil. In 1923 it was donated to the Kansas Museum of History by York's wife but is not on display; still bearing reddish-brown stains on the blade, it can be seen upon request. In the winter of 1872, George Newton Longcor and his infant daughter, Mary Ann, left Independence, Kansas, to resettle in Iowa and were never seen again. The women's identities were later confirmed by two Osage township witnesses from a tintype photograph. She maintained carnal relations with her brother, and boldly proclaimed her right to do so, in the following words found in her lecture manuscript: "Shall we confine ourselves to a single love, and deny our natures their proper sway?...Even though it be a brother's passion for his own sister, I say it should not be smothered. Before York left, Kate asked him to return alone the following Friday night, and she would use her clairvoyant abilities to help him find his brother. 2007. At Chanute, John Jr. and Kate left the train and caught the MK&T train south to the terminus in Red River County near Denison, Texas. Page 1. Outside the entrance to The Barton Arms, a Kansas Historical Marker plaque for “The Mellon Mounds” recounts the story of the Mellon family, who … The Bender cabin was destroyed by souvenir hunters who took everything, including the bricks that lined the cellar and the stones lining the well.[1][2]. It is conjectured[by whom?] While Bender mythology holds that John Jr. and Kate were siblings, contemporary newspapers reported that several of the Benders' neighbors had stated that they claimed to be married, possibly a common law marriage. John Bender, Sr. was around 60 years old and spoke very little English. All four had crushed skulls and throats cut. Though the bodies were found in the spring of 1894, the Mellons were never caught. Home of the Jayhawkers. While there is no definitive number, estimates report that the Benders killed at least a dozen travelers before their crimes were discovered. James Mellon was the son of the founder of Mellon Bank and patriarch of wealthy and influential Mellon family; He built the house in Palatka, Putnam County, Florida in 1883 to …. One of the families was John Bender Sr. and John Bender Jr., who registered 160 acres (65 ha) of land located adjacent to the Great Osage Trail, which was then the only open road for traveling further west. They were released after being found not guilty, but were then immediately re-arrested for the Bender murders. 1855-1925 Kansas Census Indexes. Kansas City, Kansas: Downtown Burial Mound A Native American ancestral grave site, left in place as the streets bend around it. 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. Buried in the apple orchard. Bright said. In 1891 there were 183 Mellon families living in Lancashire. State Senator Alexander York offered a $1,000 ($21,342 as of 2021) reward for the Bender family's arrest. This is a direct reference to the Benders. Another of Mrs. Monroe's daughters, Mary Gardei, later provided an affidavit claiming that her mother (then Almira Shearer), under the name of Almira Marks, was actually serving two years in the Detroit House of Corrections in 1872 for the manslaughter of her daughter-in-law, Emily Mark. January 23, 2021 Uncategorized 0. The front section also contained the kitchen and dining table, where travelers could stop for a meal or even spend the night. Secretly, the four made a living through murder and robbery. Vol. Located on a main road, the Benders sold meals and supplies to travelers. They buried their victims in a neighboring orchard, unbeknownst to the townspeople. A message requesting positive identification was sent to Cherryvale, but the suspect severed his foot to escape his leg irons and bled to death. John Bender Jr. was around 25 years old, handsome with auburn hair and a mustache, and spoke English fluently but with a German accent. 12) December 1872: Abigail Roberts. Kansas, Compiled Marriage Index from Select Counties, 1854-1873 Ancestry . Senator Samuel C. Pomeroy's bribery of state legislators in his bid for re-election. The fate of the family remains unknown, with theories ranging from a lynching of the family to a successful escape. Colonel York, leading a company of some fifty men, questioned every traveler along the trail and visited all the area homesteads. Kate then became abusive toward them, and a short while later the two Bender men emerged from behind the cloth. "[4], In May 1871, the body of a man named Jones, who had his skull crushed and his throat cut, was discovered in Drum Creek. Another group claimed they had caught the Benders and lynched them before throwing their bodies into the Verdigris River. The St. Joseph Weekly Gazette (St. Joseph, Missouri). of murdering several husbands, but none of these rumors were ever proven. [18], A historical marker describing the Benders’ crimes is located in the rest area at the junction of U.S. Route 400 and U.S. Route 169 north of Cherryvale. He traveled extensively in the 1880s, caring for the family business interests in Kansas, Colorado, Idaho, and Oregon. The story of the Benders' escape spread, and the search continued on and off for the next 50 years. to have been born John Flickinger. The Mellon family name was found in the USA, the UK, Canada, and Scotland between 1840 and 1920. [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}37°20′56″N 95°29′10″W / 37.349°N 95.486°W / 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 serial killers in the United States, "The Bloody Benders – Serial Killers of Kansas", "The Bloody Benders, Kansas, ca. [11] Whether John Flickinger was really John Bender is unknown. [1][2] Although some of the victims had been quite wealthy, others had been carrying little of value on them, and it was surmised that the Benders had killed them simply for the sheer thrill. When he did speak it, it was so guttural that it was usually unintelligible. She advocated "free love," and denounced all social regulations for the promotion of purity and the prevention of carnality, which she called "miserable requirements of self-constituted society." After the third hanging, they released him and he staggered home "as one who was drunken or deranged". No documentation or definitive proof of their relationships to one another, or where they were born, has ever been found. After a cabin, a barn with a corral, and a well were built, in the fall of 1871, Elvira Bender and daughter Kate arrived, and the cabin was divided into two rooms by a canvas wagon-cover. It was named from Sugar Mound nearby, a hill covered with sugar maple trees. The Mellon family fortune originated with Mellon Bank, founded in 1869. Although stories abound, the ultimate fate of the murderous Bender family is uncertain. "The old man was a repulsive, hideous brute, without a redeeming trait, dirty, profane and ill-tempered." [2] Ma and Pa Bender did not leave the train at Humboldt but instead continued north to Kansas City, where it is believed they purchased tickets for St. Louis, Missouri.[1]. History. Records of the incarceration back up this affidavit. They were not pursued, as lawmen following outlaws into this region often never returned. The township trustee called for volunteers, and several hundred turned out to form a search party that included Colonel York. [7] Brockman would be arrested again 23 years later for the rape and murder of his own 18-year-old daughter.[8]. $2,000 (2021: $42,683) missing. “Bite-Size Bits of Local, National, and Global History”, By William Fischer, Jr., December 18, 2011, The Bloody Benders. After opening the trap, the empty room beneath, 6 feet (1.8 m) deep and 7 feet (2.1 m) square at the top by 3 feet (0.9 m) square at the bottom, was found to have clotted blood on the floor. KANSAS HISTORICAL MARKER THE MELLON MOUNDS. All but one had had their heads bashed with a hammer and their throats cut, and it was reported in newspapers that all had been "indecently mutilated". Lancashire had the highest population of Mellon families in 1891. Season 1, episode 15 (2006) of the TV series, The "Hitchcock's Birds, Hope Diamond, Phineas Gang" episode of the Travel Channel's show, The Bender Family is mentioned in episode 94 of the podcast. The most Mellon families were found in the USA in 1880. Dr. York had two brothers: Colonel Ed York living in Fort Scott, and Alexander M. York, a member of the Kansas State Senate from Independence who, in November 1872, had been instrumental in exposing U.S. No one ever claimed the $3,000 reward ($64,025 as of 2021), however. Marriage records of Linn County, Kansas, territory & state, 1855-1865 from court house, Mound City, Kansas Family History Library . She professed to be a medium of spiritualism, and delivered lectures on that subject. Kate soon gained notoriety as a self proclaimed healer and spiritualist. "[19][20] Some have cast doubt on the story, saying that Laura would have been only 4 when her family moved away from the area, and that the Benders were exposed in 1873, two years after the Ingalls left. 20) May 1873: Dr William York. Henry Hiatt was born in Dublin, Indiana in 1816. [9], More than a dozen bullet holes were found in the roof and sides of the cabin. [1] The family consisted of John Bender and his wife, Elvira, their son, John Jr., and daughter, Kate. [8] A Roman Catholic prayer book was found in the house with notes inside written in German, which were later translated. In 1937 she gave a speech at a book fair, which was later transcribed and printed in the September 1978 Saturday Evening Post and in the 1988 book A Little House Sampler. $10 (2021: $213), a, 8-9) December 1872: George Newton Longcor and his 18-month-old daughter, Mary Ann. The Benders used the smaller room at the rear for living quarters, while the front room was converted into a "general store" where a few dry goods were sold. All had been involved in disposing of the victims' stolen goods with Mit Cherry, a member of the vigilance committee, implicated for forging a letter from one of the victims, informing the man's wife that he had arrived safely at his destination in Illinois. Linn County, Kansas marriages, 1855-1884 Family History Library . Elvira and Kate Bender also planted a 2-acre (0.81 ha) vegetable garden and apple orchard north of the cabin.[1][2][3]. Their attorney also produced a marriage certificate indicating that Mrs. Davis had been married in Michigan in 1872, the time when several of the murders were committed. In 1911 there were 58 Mellon families living in Ontario. Mrs. Monroe now admitted she had married a Mr. Shearer in 1872 and claimed she had previously denied it, as she did not want the court to know that her name was Shearer at that time and that she had a conviction for manslaughter. Yet another claimed to have killed the Benders during a gunfight and buried their bodies on the prairie. Those are the words that have begun every episode of the television series, Fargo, for the past three seasons. Once in the cellar, the body would be stripped and later buried somewhere on the property, often in the orchard. Although the elder Benders kept to themselves, Kate and her brother regularly attended Sunday school in nearby Harmony Grove. Often, two women traveling together were accused of being Kate Bender and her mother.[10]. With the exception of McKenzie and York,[17] who were buried in Independence; the Longcors, who were buried in Montgomery County; and McCrotty, who was buried in Parsons, Kansas, none of the other bodies were claimed, and they were reburied at the base of a small hill 1 mile (1.6 km) southeast of the Benders' orchard, one of several at the location now known as "The Benders Mounds". The affidavits and other papers are missing from the file in LaBette County, so further examination is impossible. Dr. York reached Fort Scott, and on March 9 began the return journey to Independence but never arrived home. The body was then dropped through the trap door. [7], They then began to probe the ground around the cabin with a metal rod, especially in the disturbed soil of the vegetable garden and orchard, where Dr. York's body was found later that evening, buried face down with his feet barely below the surface. Deputy Sheriff Dick, along with Mrs. McCann, escorted the pair to Oswego, Kansas, where seven members of a 13-member panel confirmed the identification and committed them for trial. From there, they traveled to an outlaw colony thought to be in the border region between Texas and New Mexico. From Howard County, Kansas. It is in Morehead in Montgomery County Kansas. With the victim's back to the curtain Kate would distract the guest, while John Bender or his son would come from behind the curtain and strike the guest on the right side of the skull with a hammer. Their story is unresolved, and remains one of the great unsolved mysteries of the old West. The Bloody Benders were a family of serial killers who lived and operated in Labette County, Kansas, from May 1871 to December 1872. The victim was then dispatched from behind with a hammer, and the body was dropped into a basement pit, later to be buried in an orchard. The Bender artifacts were eventually given to the Cherryvale Museum, where they remain in a wall-mounted display case. McCrotty. ?," "big slaughter day, Jan eighth", and "hell departed. . She alleged that her father, "Pa Ingalls", joined in a vigilante hunt for the killers, and when he spoke of later searches for them she recalled, "At such times Pa always said in a strange tone of finality, 'They will never be found.' The Bender Family—Some New Light on Their Mysterious Disappearance. 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. Mellon's family is awaiting results of an autopsy and toxicology tests being conducted by the Mexican government, Mr. 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. The origin of the term “Jayhawker” is uncertain. On October 31, 1889, it was reported that a Mrs. Almira Monroe (a.k.a.

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