THE BENDERS Keepers of the Devil's Inn

Wood (Fern Morrow)

ISBN 10: 0960692215 / ISBN 13: 9780960692217

Published by Fern Morrow Wood, 1992

About this Item

Paperback. SIGNED. An account of the Bender murders. The 'Bloody Benders' were a family of serial killers who owned an inn and small general store in Labette County of southeastern Kansas from 1871 to 1873. The family consisted of John Bender, his wife Elvira Bender, son John, Jr., and daughter Kate. While Bender mythology holds that John and Kate were brother and sister, contemporary newspapers reported that several of the Benders' neighbors have stated that they claimed to be married, possibly a common law marriage.They are believed to have killed at least a dozen travelers before their crimes were discovered and the family fled, with their fate uncertain. Much folklore and legend surrounds the Benders, making it difficult to separate fact from fiction. Illus. + Bibliog. 107pp. p/back. From the library of true crime writer, Wilfred Gregg, with his personal b/plate. Sunned sp., tiny crease across bottom corner of fr. cover o/w Vg+. SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR.

Seller Inventory # 17862

Bibliographic Details

• Title: THE BENDERS Keepers of the Devil's Inn
• Publisher: Fern Morrow Wood
• Publication Date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0960692215
• ISBN 13: 9780960692217
• Binding: Softcover / Paperback
• Edition: First edition.
• Condition: Very Good
• Signed: signed by author
• Seller catalogs:
  • Serial/Mass/Multiple Killers

About this title

Synopsis

The book describes a series of murders perpetrated in the early 1870s by the four members of the so-called Bender family. The murders were committed at a roadside inn, on the prairie, nine miles from Cherryvale, Kansas. The author has sifted the reminiscences of long-forgotten neighbors for revelations; she has searched newspapers of the period and shares newly discovered documents; her skeptical eye examines the conclusions of previous chroniclers.

About the Author

Fern Morrow Wood spent her childhood in and around her father's country store in Strauss, Kansas. She started teaching in rural schools at the age of seventeen. Her teaching career continued in the fourth grade classroom in Cherryvale, Kansas, where she presided over the corner room for twenty-six years. Her insights into teaching and managing the elementary classroom have recently been published as Born To Teach. The author has published another historical novel, Pop and Bud, which is the story of her father as a country storekeeper through the Depression years. She has edited the ten-year history of the Southwest Central Region of the American Association of University Women and an anthology, Memories of a Country School, written by members of the Kansas Authors Club.