Download or read book Hell s Half Acre written by Susan Jonusas and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2022-03-01 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of NPR's "Books We Love" New York Times Book Review's "The Best True Crime of 2022" "Rich in historical perspective and graced by novelistic touches, grips the reader from first to last.”—Wall Street Journal A suspense filled tale of murder on the American frontier—shedding new light on a family of serial killers in Kansas, whose horrifying crimes gripped the attention of a nation still reeling from war. In 1873 the people of Labette County, Kansas made a grisly discovery. Buried by a trailside cabin beneath an orchard of young apple trees were the remains of countless bodies. Below the cabin itself was a cellar stained with blood. The Benders, the family of four who once resided on the property were nowhere to be found. The discovery sent the local community and national newspapers into a frenzy that continued for decades, sparking an epic manhunt for the Benders. The idea that a family of seemingly respectable homesteaders—one among the thousands relocating farther west in search of land and opportunity after the Civil War—were capable of operating "a human slaughter pen" appalled and fascinated the nation. But who the Benders really were, why they committed such a vicious killing spree and whether justice ever caught up to them is a mystery that remains unsolved to this day. Set against the backdrop of postbellum America, Hell’s Half-Acre explores the environment capable of allowing such horrors to take place. Drawing on extensive original archival material, Susan Jonusas introduces us to a fascinating cast of characters, many of whom have been previously missing from the story. Among them are the families of the victims, the hapless detectives who lost the trail, and the fugitives that helped the murderers escape. Hell’s Half-Acre is a journey into the turbulent heart of nineteenth century America, a place where modernity stalks across the landscape, violently displacing existing populations and building new ones. It is a world where folklore can quickly become fact and an entire family of criminals can slip through a community’s fingers, only to reappear in the most unexpected of places.
Download or read book Death for Dinner written by Phyllis de la Garza and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book A Treasury of Victorian Murder written by Rick Geary and published by NBM. This book was released on 2002 with total page 74 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Provides a collection of comic strip versions of murders in Great Britain during the Victorian era.
Download or read book Shadow on the Hill written by Diana Staresinic-Deane and published by eBookIt.com. This book was released on 2013-04 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It was the most brutal murder in the history of Coffey County, Kansas. On May 30, 1925, Florence Knoblock, a farmer's wife and the mother of a young boy, was found slaughtered on her kitchen floor. Several innocent men were taken into custody before the victim's husband, John, was accused of the crime. He would endure two sensational trials before being acquitted. Eighty years later, local historian Diana Staresinic-Deane studied the investigation, which was doomed by destroyed evidence, inexperienced lawmen, disappearing witnesses, and a community more desperate for an arrest than justice. She would also discover a witness who may have seen the murderer that fateful morning.
Download or read book In the Garden of Spite written by Camilla Bruce and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2021-12-07 with total page 481 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Riveting! Camilla, high-five! Amazing work!”—Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark, #1 New York Times bestselling authors of Stay Sexy & Don't Get Murdered An audacious novel of feminine rage about one of the most prolific female serial killers in American history--and the men who drove her to it. They whisper about her in Chicago. Men come to her with their hopes, their dreams--their fortunes. But no one sees them leave. No one sees them at all after they come to call on the Widow of La Porte. The good people of Indiana may have their suspicions, but if those fools knew what she'd given up, what was taken from her, how she'd suffered, surely they'd understand. Belle Gunness learned a long time ago that a woman has to make her own way in this world. That's all it is. A bloody means to an end. A glorious enterprise meant to raise her from the bleak, colorless drudgery of her childhood to the life she deserves. After all, vermin always survive.
Download or read book Kansas Myths and Legends written by Diana Lambdin Meyer and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2017-10-01 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Kansas Myths and Legends explores unusual events, unsolved crimes, and legends in Kansas’s history. Each episode included in the book is a story unto itself, and the tone and style of the book is lively and easy to read for a general audience interested in Texas history. The more than a dozen stories answer questions such as: Is it possible that a family of four living on the Kansas prairie got away with serial murder for more than three years and escaped to another part of the country to continue their killing spree? Are there still remnants of a late widow’s fortune buried throughout her property? Is the well-marked grave of Buffalo Bill Cody indeed his final resting place, or did some loyal friends surreptitiously remove him from Colorado and fulfill his last wish to be buried near his namesake town? From rumors of the Dalton gang’s buried treasures to the disappearance of an entire town, Kansas Myths and Legends makes history fun and pulls back the curtain on some of the state's most fascinating and compelling stories.
Download or read book The Saga of the Bloody Benders written by and published by Nantier Beall Minoustchine Publishing. This book was released on 2007 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In graphic novel format, tells the story of a family of serial killers who owned a small general store and inn in Labette County, Kansas, from 1872 to 1873.
Download or read book Little House on the Prairie written by Laura Ingalls Wilder and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2016-03-08 with total page 357 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The third book in Laura Ingalls Wilder's treasured Little House series—now available as an ebook! This digital version features Garth Williams's classic illustrations, which appear in vibrant full color on a full-color device and in rich black-and-white on all other devices. The adventures continue for Laura Ingalls and her family as they leave their little house in the Big Woods of Wisconsin and set out for the big skies of the Kansas Territory. They travel for many days in their covered wagon until they find the best spot to build their house. Soon they are planting and plowing, hunting wild ducks and turkeys, and gathering grass for their cows. Just when they begin to feel settled, they are caught in the middle of a dangerous conflict. The nine Little House books are inspired by Laura's own childhood and have been cherished by generations of readers as both a unique glimpse into America's frontier history and as heartwarming, unforgettable stories.
Download or read book The Man from the Train written by Bill James and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2017-09-19 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An Edgar Award finalist for Best Fact Crime, this “impressive…open-eyed investigative inquiry wrapped within a cultural history of rural America” (The Wall Street Journal) shows legendary statistician and baseball writer Bill James applying his analytical acumen to crack an unsolved century-old mystery surrounding one of the deadliest serial killers in American history. Between 1898 and 1912, families across the country were bludgeoned in their sleep with the blunt side of an axe. Jewelry and valuables were left in plain sight, bodies were piled together, faces covered with cloth. Some of these cases, like the infamous Villasca, Iowa, murders, received national attention. But few people believed the crimes were related. And fewer still would realize that all of these families lived within walking distance to a train station. When celebrated baseball statistician and true crime expert Bill James first learned about these horrors, he began to investigate others that might fit the same pattern. Applying the same know-how he brings to his legendary baseball analysis, he empirically determined which crimes were committed by the same person. Then after sifting through thousands of local newspapers, court transcripts, and public records, he and his daughter Rachel made an astonishing discovery: they learned the true identity of this monstrous criminal. In turn, they uncovered one of the deadliest serial killers in America. Riveting and immersive, with writing as sharp as the cold side of an axe, The Man from the Train paints a vivid, psychologically perceptive portrait of America at the dawn of the twentieth century, when crime was regarded as a local problem, and opportunistic private detectives exploited a dysfunctional judicial system. James shows how these cultural factors enabled such an unspeakable series of crimes to occur, and his groundbreaking approach to true crime will convince skeptics, amaze aficionados, and change the way we view criminal history.
Download or read book Pioneer Girl Perspectives written by Nancy Tystad Koupal and published by South Dakota State Historical Society. This book was released on 2017 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A publication of the Pioneer Girl Project."
Download or read book All the Blood We Share written by Camilla Bruce and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2023-10-17 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A sinister novel based on the real Bloody Benders, a family of serial killers in the old West bound by butchery and obscured by the shadows of American history. The winds shift nervously on the Kansas plain whispering of travelers lost and buried, whispering of witches. Something dark and twisted has taken root at the Bender Inn. At first the townspeople of Cherryvale welcome the rising medium Kate Bender and her family. Kate's messages from the Beyond give their tedious dreams hope and her mother's potions cure their little ills—for a price. No one knows about their other business, the shortcut to a better life. And why shouldn’t their family prosper? They’re careful. It’s only from those who are marked, those who travel alone and can easily disappear, that the Benders demand their pound of flesh. But even a gifted seer like Kate can make a misstep. Now as the secrets festering beneath the soil of the family orchard threaten to bring them all to ruin, the Benders must sharpen their craft—or vanish themselves.
Download or read book The Bender Tragedy written by Mary York and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-12 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book contains The Bender Tragedy, and is a reprint from JUNE 8, 1875. It is written by Mary E. York, and is a descriptive firsthand account of the murder of her husband, by the Benders of Cherryvale. It surmises the Bloody Benders tragedy where so many people were murdered. Both the Longcor and York murder victims were neighbors of famous author Laura Ingalls Wilder when she lived in Kansas. The Longcors lived half a mile from Laura Ingalls Wilder, and are now buried on the Little House on the Prairie Museum property since 1873. It also contains two articles about the Bloody Bender saga. The first article is from the 1910 book: Celebrated Criminal Cases of America, and the second article is from the 1893 History of Labette County. There are many pictures of the scene and relative artifacts surrounding the Bender murders.
Download or read book Hell s Half Acre written by Nicholas Nicastro and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2015-11-10 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Welcome to the bloody end of bleeding Kansas… Based on true events, this unforgettable novel tells the story of the Bloody Benders, a family of grifters and thieves running an isolated feed store on the Kansas plains, boarding travelers along the Great Osage Trail. Beautiful Kate Bender was mysterious and well-versed in the dark arts; Ma and Pa were quiet and foreboding, speaking in guttural tones; and young John Bender was thought to be insane. On land soaked with the blood of conflict, the Benders made their home. And one by one, prairie travelers began to disappear… Rooted in history, this is a vivid tale of the Benders’ origins, and how they became some of the most horrific figures in early post-Civil War America. This gruesome Western thriller is perfect for lovers of Sweeney Todd, and fans of John Harwood and Sarah Raynes.
Download or read book The Benders written by Fern Morrow Wood and published by . This book was released on 1992 with total page 110 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book It Happened in Kansas written by Sarah Smarsh and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2010-08-17 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It Happened in Kansas features over 25 chapters in Kansas history. Lively and entertaining, this book brings the varied and fascinating history of the Sunflower State to life.
Download or read book Bender written by Michael L Frizell and published by . This book was released on 2018-09-19 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bestselling comic writer Michael L. Frizell teams up with artist and illustrator D.A. Frizell to capture the twisted underbelly of the West in Bender: The Complete Saga, the full-length graphic novel chronicling the true story of America's first family of serial killers, the Bloody Benders.
Download or read book Lovers Lane written by Rick Geary and published by NBM Publishing. This book was released on 2012-07-01 with total page 81 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The perfect ingredients for a juicy scandal and fascinating investigation are presented in this masterful graphic novel retelling of an unsolved murder from the 1920s. On the evening of September 14, 1922, Reverend Edward Hall and Mrs. Eleanor Mills take a stroll in the New Brunswick town park. Shots are heard and two days later their bodies are found lying neatly next to each other, love letters strewn around them, and a scarf obscures the fact that Mrs. Mills’ throat has been slit. The two had been involved in an affair and the press hungrily devours the story. No evidence is sufficient to lead to an indictment, so the mystery intensifies with conjecture: Was this a dual suicide? Was this perpetrated by a jealous rival? Four years later the case reopens due to new evidence indicting the reverend’s wife, but she is an upstanding member of the community who vehemently denies that her husband ever had an affair. This is a tragic story told with beguiling relish and expert illustration in a distinctive style fitting of the era.
