Bender, Kate (1849–)

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Bender, Kate (1849–)

American murderer. Name variations: Professor Kate Webster. Born 1849 in US.

Moved with mother, father, and brother to rural Kansas where they established a roadside inn 9 miles from Cherryvale (1872); calling herself Professor Kate Webster, gave séances and healing lectures in several small towns, attracting men who then visited the inn; with family, murdered them and stole their belongings (11 graves were found near the inn, and they were suspected in at least 2 dozen additional killings); in fear of being caught (May 5, 1873), fled premises with family. Accounts of their subsequent whereabouts (one which included their deaths at the hands of a posse) have never been substantiated.

See also Fern M. Wood, The Benders: Keepers of the Devils Inn (1992).