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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
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.genealogybank.com/
The Bender Tragedy by Mary York