Review: Little Slaughterhouse on the Prairie by Harold Schechter

 

Book two in the Bloodlands series. This one immediately got my attention because it mentioned Laura Ingalls Wilder and I loved the little prairie books growing up. Now as an adult, I understand that they are problematic. It also mentions that Laura Ingalls Wilder did an interview as an adult and talked about the Bender Family which this book is about.

The bender family was a family of four who owned a tavern or inn on the Osage trail. It was on the way to the city of Independence in Kansas and they were right down the road from the Wilders. The descriptions of these family members made them not intriguing and seemed downright rude. There was a rumor of incest and I automatically think hillbillies and hills have eyes type shit. 

There starts to be alot of missing people coming up and it is always right on the Osage trail near the Bender Inn. The book goes into detail of how the victims were slaughtered. There was no rhyme or reason for the murders. They could be wealthy or have pennies. There was one instance where it made me so angry and it was a father that was murdered and he was with his 18 month old daughter and when they found his grave, they discovered that the baby was buried alive with his body.

The Bender family also would drive the horses and wagons into the rivers and woods and when the horses would be found, they were found starving or starved to death. The Benders get caught and they go on the run. They are never found. The rumors abound that they went to Mexico, Florida and even all the way to Paris. We get vigilantes from the government and learn of corruption in the Kansas senate. 

We get information about a trial of two women from Michigan who looked like the Kate Bender and Ma Bender. A woman turns them in because she has a dream of someone standing behind her and trying to kill her and who killed her father by pushing him down some stairs. They get aquitted because they have people for them and even people from the location around the Inn say that they do not resemble or do. They get sympathy and the defense also finds out that the woman who could be Ma Bender was in prison at the time during the murders.