The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-03-12
|, l. BRAGDON A SUICIDE.
NO ROOM TO DOUBT THAT A RODY
FOUND AT FORT LEE IS HIS.

A man VINO WltnOuJ uOuDC was Irving IL.
Rragdon, Civil Service Commissions in
brooklyn under several Mayors, once sec
rotary Of the Montauk Club and vice-presi-
dent of the Brooklyn Union Lea que Club,
killed himself yesterday afternoon in Fort
Lee. \. j.. His body was found in Knox
avenue by DR.. Russell Bayley. He had fired
o bullet into his right temple. The revolver.
with two chambers empty, lay beside the
body.
Braedon was released from Bloomin gdale
Asylum January IL last after Justice
Martin j. Keogh Of the Supreme Court had
arpointed Henry r. Barrett a commissioner
10 hear evidence as to his sanity and a
sheriff's jury had decided there was no
cause to keep him longer in Bloomingdale.
His wife, Millicent Badeau Bragdon, had
had him placed in Bloomingdale on Novem-
Der ~, 1895.
After his release he lived in the. Broadway
Central Hotel in Manhattan and wrote
articles for ma ga zines, as he informed his
friend and lawyer, Michael j. Tierney OF
New Rochelle. Mrs. Bra gdon, until a week
or two after her husband left the asylum,
lived at the Calumet apartment hotel at
80 West Fifty-seventh street. He called
at the hotel many times after he got out
0t ne asylum anu dsheu W SSt hCi' plc
refuse invariably, telling the hotel people
that she was afraid he would do her harm.
About two months ago she left the hotel
and went to live with their daughter. Mrs.
Bishop, at s2l st. Nicholas venue. Their
other child, William B.. Bra gdon, an archi-
tect, lives in Crawford, n. j. Yesterday
morning Mr.. Bragdon left the Broadway
Central Hotel after paying his bill and say
- l. .-a. oo;Dr o;tbor 70 n Eo unoA or RI
Atlantic City, he had not decided which.
The body was lying on a sidewalk when
Dr.. Bayley found it. Apparently the man
had shot himself only a short time before
DR.. Bayley came along. The only wound
was the bullet hole in the right temple and
Coroner Lees found it difficult to account
FOR their being two empty chambers in
the revolver. The dead mans andker-
chief and his shoes were marked Il. L..
Bragdon." There was nothing in his pockets
to indicate where he lived and Coroner
Lees sent the body to McNally's morgue.
in Fort Lee, to await the action of Mr.. Brag-
don's relatives. They did not know he
was dead until a reporter informed them
last night. Mrs. Bragdon is ill in bed, her
daughter said, from worry caused by the
release Of Bragdon from Bloomingdale.
Bragdon was about SIS years old. At
one time he was a member of the brokerage
firm of Howell Il Co. While in Blooming
dale a few months ago he wrote a letter
to Supreme Court Justice Keogh, asserting
that he was not insane and asking Justice
Eeogh to assist him in getting a hearing.
Justice Keogh questioned Bragdon and
was favorably impressed toward him.
He decided the case demanded further
inquiry and the appointment OF Henry
+. Barrett as commissioner to take evil
dence and the impanelling of a sherif's
jury resulted. Bragdon, his wife, the
Bloomingdale authorities and doctors
testified before the commissioner in the
hearing.
Bra gdon testified that even In Blooming
dale his mental activity was recognized.
Besides holding important Offices in po-
litical and club life, he said, he was fire.
oIently chosen az official scorer in baseball,
pool and billiard games. He insisted that
he had simply been in a condition of ex-
cessive nervousness due to overwork. One
day in 1898, he testified, Mrs, Bragdon called
In a doctor to examine him. He had the
misfortune to spit on the floor, he said
while the physician was present and that
was taken for a sign Of insanity.
Mrs Bragdon testified that she believed
her husband was undoubtedly insane. She
eaid thatl he pace. the floor nights NUT
tering to himself, and that sometimes he
would sit up in bed and swear violently
without reason. She was married to him
nineteen years before he was committed.
She said she was afraid when he was around.
Mrs. Bragdon had been paying his ex-
penses in B~loomingdale, about 500 a week.
The hospital authorities declared that
Bragdon was insane and certainly not a
safe person to allow at liberty. DR.. Samuel
B. Lyon, superintendent Of Bloomingdale,
said that Bragdon had Authorizations and
committed a number Of acts which a a
person would not do. Other doctors testi-
fed that Bragdon was insane.
His manner in court was composed n
gave DO sign of mental weakness. 1t had
@ most favorable effect on the sberiff's
jury, which returned a verdict OF sanity
promptly. Corporation Counsel Tierney
of New Rochelle appeared for Bragdon
and l. J. Beaudrias OF Yonkers for Mrs.
Bragdon.
Bragdon, it is stated, had no property
Of his own but was dependent on his wife
She was the daughter Of a Frenchman who
kept n grocery many years ago on the site
Of the Lord & Taylor store Of to-day, at
broadway and Twentieth street She owns
O part Of the ground on which the Lord d
Taylor store stands and has property also
In Long Island. She is about SIS years old.
Eefore she left the Calumet apartments
she employed detectives to watch her hus-
band and made no secret of her fear that
he meant harm to her. She told the hotel
people once that she expected he would
kill himself.
Mr.. Tierney said last night that there
was no OF her reason for Mrs. Bragdon's
having her husband confined in Blooming
dale except her fear Of him.
There was no question Of money in the
matter said Mr.. Tierney. Mrs. Bragdon
paid his expenses in the hospital. He had
no money 30 far as l know. Until a month
ago / heard from Bragdon pretty regu-
larly. He wrote to me that he was writing
stories for magazines about his asylum
experiences. l sent him a number OF let
ters he had written ne because he wanted