Bloody Benders - Victims

Victims

• 1869: Joe Sowers. Found with a crushed skull and throat cut but not believed to be a Bender victim.
• May 1871: Mr Jones. Body found in Drum Creek with a crushed skull and throat cut.
• Winter 1871/1872: Two unidentified men found on the prairie in February 1872 with crushed skulls and throats cut.
• 1872: Ben Brown. From Howard County, Kansas. $2,600 (2009:$46,000) missing. Buried in the apple orchard.
• 1872: W.F. McCrotty. Co D 123rd Ill Infantry. $38 and a wagon with a team of horses missing.
• December, 1872: Henry McKenzie. Relocating to Independence from Hamilton County, Indiana. $36 and a matched team of horses missing.
• December, 1872: Johnny Boyle. From Howard County, Kansas. $10, a pacing mare and an $850 (2009:$14,875) saddle missing. Found in the Benders well.
• December, 1872: George Newton Longcor and his 18 months old daughter, Mary Ann. 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. According to the 1870 census, George and his wife, Mary Jane, were neighbors of Charles Ingalls and family in Independence while his wife's parents lived two houses away. Following the deaths of his infant son Robert from pneumonia in May 1871 and that of his 21 year old wife Mary Jane (nee Gilmore) following the birth of Mary Ann several months later, George was likely returning to the home of his parents, Anthony and Mary (Hughes) Longcor, in Lee County, Iowa. In preparation for his return to Iowa, George had purchased a team of horses from his neighbor, Dr. William Henry York, who later went looking for George and was also murdered; both were vetarans of the Civil War. $1,900 (2009:$33,600) missing. The daughter was thought to have been buried alive, but not proven. No injuries were found on her body, and she was fully clothed, including mittens and hood. Both were buried together in the apple orchard.
• May, 1873: Dr William York. $2,000 (2009:$35,000) missing. Buried in the apple orchard.
• ?: John Greary. Buried in the apple orchard.
• ?: Unidentified male. Buried in the apple orchard.
• ?: Unidentified female. Buried in the apple orchard.
• ?: Various body parts. The parts did not belong to any of the other victims found.
• 1873: During the search, the bodies of four unidentified males were found in Drum Creek and the surrounds. All four had crushed skulls and throats cut. One may be Jack Bogart, whose horse was purchased from a friend of the Benders after he went missing in 1872.

With the exception of McKenzie, York and the Longcors who were buried in Independence and McCrotty who was buried in Parsons, Kansas, none of the other bodies were claimed and they were reburied at the base of a mound 1 mi (1.6 km) south-east of the Benders orchard. The search of the cabin resulted in the recovery of three hammers that had been used as murder weapons. These hammers were given to the Bender museum in 1967 by the son of LeRoy Dick, the Osage Township Trustee who headed the search of the Bender property. The hammers were displayed at the Bender Museum in Cherryvale, Kansas from 1967 to 1978 when the site was acquired for a fire station. When attempts were made to relocate the museum it became a point of controversy with locals objecting to the town being known for the Bender murders. The Bender artifacts were eventually given to the Cherryvale Museum.