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Midnight, Zero Hundred Hours, July 10th, 1945. Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

This night, 5 men await execution in their cells on death row at the United State central military prison. One by one, each is marched to the gallows — recently constructed over an elevator shaft at the prison salvage warehouse. All in attendance are called to attention by the prison commander, Colonel William Eley, who reads the sentence “to be hanged by the neck until dead.” Each condemned man is permitted to make a final statement. Colonel Eley pronounces “May God have mercy on your soul.” Then the prisoner is led to the gallows platform where his hands and feet are bound, while a black hood is placed over his head. A noose is guided around his neck. Silence fills the death chamber. At the commander’s signal, a lever is pushed forward, and the trapdoor of the gallows falls open. The process repeats 4 more times that night.

Zero hundred hours, July 14th, 1945. Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Two prisoners are hanged at the warehouse.

Zero hundred hours, August 25th, 1945. Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. 7 men meet their Maker in the dark elevator shaft.

Thank you for listening. Please visit the Karadah Project at http://www.karadahproject.com/ to find out how you can help change the world.

You can comment about this episode below or email me at prisoncitymurders@gmail.com

Werner Drechsler, recovering from a bullet wound to his right knee, disembarks USS Osmond Ingram assisted by Hermann Polowzyk

Sources

https://www.amazon.com/Killing-Corporal-Kunze-Trummel-Parnell/dp/0818403136

http://www.basehorinfo.com/news/2008/may/28/wwii_german_pows_buried_fort_leavenworth/

http://genealogytrails.com/oka/powcamps.html

http://blogoklahoma.us/place.aspx?id=839

http://www.militarian.com/threads/murder-at-aiken-pow-camp.608/

http://www.uboatarchive.net/U-118A/U-118POWs.htm

https://starsandstripes.newspaperarchive.com

https://www.augustachronicle.com

https://newspaperarchive.com/

https://www.ancestry.com/

https://www.genealogybank.com/

https://www.newspapers.com/

https://www.findagrave.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 51:44 — 71.7MB) | Embed

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March 10th, 1873.  Southeastern Kansas.

In 1873, there are many ways to die on the road between Independence, Kansas, and Fort Scott, Kansas. The Osage Trail is a dangerous one. Never mind natural dangers – unforgiving terrain, tornados, blizzards, rattlesnakes — this area has a well-earned reputation for harboring outlaws and raiders from nearby Indian Territory. Lately, settlers are especially jumpy. For the past couple of years, a surprising number of people have disappeared while traveling the Osage Trail. Even seasoned settlers – used to the dangers of the Old West – are becoming uneasy. Remains of murdered men have turned up on the prairie. There is talk of forming a ‘vigilance committee.’

Matters come to a head when Dr. William York, the brother of a prominent Kansas State Senator goes missing on March 10th, 1873, on his way home from Fort Scott.

The Fort Scott Daily Monitor: “The trace of him is lost at Big Hill, or Drum Creek, where it is more than probable he was foully murdered to get possession of his horse and other property which he might have had about him. The locality where he disappeared is a notorious one, this not being the first event of a similar kind that has transpired in the neighborhood.”

SOURCES

https://www.amazon.com/Bender-Tragedy-Mary-York/dp/1981809171

https://www.amazon.com/Murder-Mayhem-Southeast-Kansas-Larry/dp/1467141402

http://leatherockhotel.com/BloodyBenders.htm#Thumbnails

Wichita Eagle:    https://www.kansas.com

History of Labette County, Kansas (1901)

https://archive.org/details/historyoflabette00case/page/74/mode/2up

https://dailyjournalonline.com

https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82015484/1873-05-22/ed-1/seq-2/

https://www.murderpedia.com

https://www.kansasmemory.org/

https://newspaperarchive.com/

https://www.ancestry.com/

https://www.genealogybank.com/

https://www.newspapers.com/

https://www.findagrave.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/

The Bender Tragedy by Mary York