Across the Fence: Hell departed

It was late May, 1873 when LeRoy Dick, appointed officer for the township of Osage, Kansas, along with an organized group of 75 men from Montgomery and Labette counties descended the surrounding hills to the Bender homestead. The Bender Inn had been abandoned for several days and nearly all merchandise, household goods and possessions had been removed. Officer Dick gathered up a few remaining items that might provide clues or perhaps evidence of what had happened inside the four walls of the 16 x 24 foot cabin.

Among the items that officer Dick confiscated were a carpenter's claw hammer, a cob...