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Submitted: 7/20/16 • Approved: 10/23/18 • Last Updated: 10/26/18 • R54477-G0-S3
ASSISTANT SURGEON US Army
15th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry
Civil War Union
1840 - 1873
Birthplace, Ogle County Illinois
Murdered, May, 1873 at Bender Inn Labette County Kansas, a victim of The Bloody Benders. Brother of Col Ed York and Sen
The below photo is the first burial site of Dr York, the once orchard, on the Bender property as it is being excavated.
The Bender Family consisted of Pa, Ma, John Jr. and Kate (a Spiritualist). The family settled in Kansas in 1870, near the Great Osage Trail (later known as the Santa Fe Trail) and built a small inn also offering groceries to travelers headed West. It is evidenced that if a wealthy traveler stopped at the inn, he would be robbed and murdered... 21 murders are attributed to the Benders. The facts may never be known. The Benders fled and they were never caught. There are a number of stories about them being murdered by angry mobs, but nothing substantiated.
Later investigations revealed that none of the Benders were actually named Bender, and the only ones that were related were Ma and her daughter Kate. Pa was born John Flickinger around 1810 in either Germany or the Netherlands. Ma Bender was born Almira Meik, and her first husband was named Griffith, with whom she bore 12 children. Ma was married several times before marrying Pa, but each husband died of head wounds. Her daughter Kate was born Eliza Griffith. John Bender, Jr.'s real name was John Gebhart, and many who knew them in Kansas said he was Kate's husband instead of her brother.
Sources: murderpedia.org, mentalfloss.com/article/53672/bloody-benders-americas-first-serial-killers, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Benders, kshs.org/kansapedia
Photo courtsey of Judy Mayfield
Contributed on 7/20/16 by glendamack
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Record #: 54477