Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1894-01-18
TOOK HIS SECRET WITH HIM
IA .Aa'san' Recently Dead, Who ro-soa,
Home and Comfort.

)Sdet, who ForSooI
Home and Comfort.
The strange disappearance 90 NJ,
ton bradley from his home in Fl NJ w..
ADO Nam, three years AFRO was :
local sensation of the hour. SAVE -,
Kansas City Star His corfess;o, wy ~.
identity and his death at Parsons -
rev days ago revived the interest," -
the old story, though they do not Sow
the mystery of his Disappearance
bradley was prominent man in H.,
tier county, Kan. He was wealthr =
owning several farms. and y,han'
elected county treasurer, moved - y,
Dorado, the county seat. whare ha
lived two or three terms. Who, ~
left the farm he developed, a great ,,,s-
ST. for fishing. He with State sa a.'s
tor Murdoch and NJ. NJ Mur1ncl- ~ 49,
Wichata Eagle, and four or five c,on;as
In the little country town were on tho
Walnut all the time fishing for bass
which are found abundantlv in tho
clear. green, rock-bottomed river. One
Cay Bradley hitched up his covere !
S. ring wagon, put a small tent and
some cooking utensils in the waron
with his fishing pole, SHOTGUN ar
ratiols. and started for three weeks,
outing tip. After he left the BRIDGE
across the Walnut at e Dorado he
was neve, seen there again. The ve,v
ravines Of the Walnut mirbt have
swallowed him up, so far as anv 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
Hint hills" twenty miles east of Ell
Dorado-a wild stretch of country
wherein there is dead mans gulsh'
and all sorts of cairns and gulleys-
were searched. The Walnut river was
dragged for his body. But wagon,
gun, tent, man and dog were COM
pletely obliterated, it seemed.
The newspapers contained detailed
descriptions of the lost man. A
wandering 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 I'll
Dorado to be identified as Bradley, put
none of them Tailed. AS the months
wore by into years, the matter was
dropped and Bradley was given up 1or
dead His estate was probatec ana
though he held thousands of dollars IN
trust for others, every cent was ac
counted for, and no one suffered the
loss of penny. His son and oaughter
and his wife mourned him as deao:
And as such the community accepted
him. AS such he was to his former lite
after he left the bridge on the walnut
From that moment he began anoIne1
existence, He went to Parsons, where
he began life anew as farm MANI. ~
was then a man of nearly sixty years,
but manual la Dor, though ne hao uo :s
been used to it for twelve years. Wv
not discourage him. He dld not orea :ns
of his identity, of his socla! po sl.no,.
and his political influence III pu ,:ea
co .nty, but persisted IN MS new , liie'
He read the story Of has own otsup
pearance, Of the scar IN 1or n1l'' - VIZ
mistakes of his friends, or the q
his wife and children ana was
A few moments before he oieu nc ~
yealed himself to his new-founo'1rlenuo
But he did not explain his departure
that was his secret, and, being always
y silent man, he died with 1T unspoheh,
His wife identified the remains anu
thew were inferred in the pleak llI'io
graveyard on the wind-swept hlil over r
looking the little town where ms sue
cess in life was attained and Whers the
people who knew him wonder anu sur af
mise and gossip about the cause ~. ~
the strange deed which markeo 1siA