The Washington bee., 1893-12-16
/ STRANGE CASE or MR BRADLEY
forsaking Home and Comfort, Late in
Lite for Hard Incopni,o.

Forsaking Home and Comfort, Late in
Lite for Hard Incogni,o.
The strange disappearance of Milton
Bradley from his home at FL Dorado.
Nan, three years ago, was a local
sensation of the hour. His confession
of identity and his death at Parsons
recently revive the interest in the old
story, though they do not solve the
mystery of his disappearance.
bradley was a prominent man in
Butler County. He was wealthy. own
ing several farms, and when elected
county Treasurer moved to Ell Dorado.
the county seat, where he lived and
served two or three terms, When he
left the farm he developed a great
passion for fishing He. with State
Senator Murdock. and NJ. Nj. Murdock.
OF the Wichita Eagle, and four or five
cronieS in the little country town. were
on the Walnut all the time fishing for
bass, which are found abundantly in
the clear, green, rock-bottomed river.
One day Bradley hitched up his COW
cred spring wagon, put a small tent
and some cooking utensils in the
wagon, with his fishing pole, shot gun
and rations, and started for a three
weeks outing trip. After he left the
bridge across the Walnut at Ell Dorado
he was never seen there again. The
very ravineS of the Walnut might have
swallowed him up, SO far as any clue
as to his whereabouts was concerned.
He was a prominent Odd Fellow, and
that organization spent several thou
sand dollars trying to find him. The
flint hills twenty miles east of FL
Dorado-a wild stretch of country
wherein there is a dead mans gulch'
and all sorts of cairns and gulleys-
We're searched. The Walnut River was
dragged for his body. But wagon, gun,
tent, man and dog were completely
obliterated, it seemed.
The newspapers contained detailed
descriptions of the lost man. A wan
dering man was found in Arkansas
the usual Arkansas wild man of the
| woodS-but he was not Identified as
Bradley by the searching party from
Ell Dorado that freed the crazy man
near Bentonville. Another wild man
turned up in Arizona. The County
Commissioners of Butler County sent
Mrs. Bradley down there with the
Sheriff, but the trip was useless. Every
little while photographs of some
strange man would appear at Ell Do,
rado to be identified as Bradley, but
none of them tailed.
AS the months wore by into years
the matter was dropped, and Bradley
was given up for dead. His estate
was probated. and, though he held
thousands of dollars in trust for 9th
erS, every cent was accounted for and
no one suffered the loss of a penny
His son and daughter and his wife
mourned him as dead. And as sucf
the community accepted him.
AS such he was to his former life
after he left the bridge on the Walnut
From that moment he began another
existence. He went to Parsons, where
he began life anew as a farm hand
He was then a man of nearly sixty
years, but manual labor, though he ha(
not been used to it for twelve years
did not discourage him. He did no
breathe of his identity, of his socia
position and his political influence il
Butler County, but persisted in his new
life. He read the story Of his OWL
: disappearance, of the search for him
of the mistakes of his friends, of tn
grief of his wife and children, and wa
| silent
A few moments before he died b
revealed himself to his new-fount
friends. But he did not explain hi
! departure. That was his secret, and
being always a silent man, he die'
with it unspoken. His wife identi
fed the remains, and they were in
tered in the bleak little graveyard OF
I the wind-swept hill overlooking tn
little town where the people fvho kney
him wonder and surmise and gossi
about the cause Of the strange dee
j which marked his latter days.-Kar
n sas City Star.