Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-03-20
WRITER OF THRILLER"
MOVIE SCENARIOS ENDS
LIFE IN MANIACAL FIT
1ohn Bradlett, His Imagi-
nation Fired by Phantom
Crimes, Hangs Himself
in Expiation of Supposed
"Acts."

The story OF suicidal mania induced
~ constant writing of thriller" see
..,,os for motion pictures has been dis
.,ossd by friends of John Bradlett the
ian who hanged himself early last Sun
s.v at the Windsor Hotel after writing
ssr,es Of letters telling of a long life
!, crime. Today, the friends, led by F.
RloomAeld, Of the Pittsburgh Theatre
supply Company, ended their investga-
,,on and announced that the dead man
r.s John Bradlett, for seven years man
.ssr of the Moving Picture World, one
:, the largest trade publications in the
,ountry and was well known as the au-
.hor of many popular blood and thun-
DER scenarios.
Bradlett the friends say, never COM
r,tted a crime In his life. He had taken
ma plots Of his stories and lived them,
Y,oomfield believes. Mixed with other
riId tales relating to his past life, which
included three terms in prison and COM
nilcity in many swindles, as described in
,be notes found in the hotel room, Brad
} ,stt had evidently thought OF the official
hanging of a murderer for in one of
,bs letters he referred to his suicide as
"the execution"
Bradett will be buried tomorrow after
mon. Services will be conducted by the
Pew Zed II. Copp, at the Cohocksnk
presbyterian Church, Franklin street and
Columbia avenue. Doctor Copp Is noted
oa 'the director of the suicide clinic"
,rbich he operated last winter for per-
sons contemplating suicide. Doctor Copp
endeayored to persuade them from end
ing their lives and to direct their con-
foundations into other channels
Bradlett, his friends estimate, had
written three scenarios a week for the
nast seven years. This was high speed
work and most of the plots were sem
sational It's this, his friends believe.
that unbalanced his mind. Until two
years ago he managed the Moving Pic
ture World, while he continued to write
scenarios as fast as he could run type
writer. His scenarios were highly sue
cessful.
Bradlett's suicide. last Sunday. was
Z Characteristic Before he climbed to the
radiator from which he jumped Bradlett
tied his feet tightly, and after adjusting
the rope about his neck, he bound his
hands. Both restraints were unnecessary,
the police say, but added to the horror of
the scene that confronted those who
broke into his room.
LEFT MANY NOTES.
Bradlett left copious notes and instruc-
TONS The rope was to be left about
his neck and no one was to remove the
bonds from his feet. He had picked out
5 the grave in potter's field he desired to
be buried in. This was Lot 249" per-
! haps a distortion of Conan Doyle's weird
story Of the reincarnated mummy.
Z All the notes were so dramatic, and
the crimes he confessed" to were of
4 such an amazing character, that the
police were veXed for failing to account
for the presence of so noted a criminal
In the city without their knowledge
Bradlett, his notes said, had been
whipped at the Wilmington workhouse
post; he had spent term in New
York prison and another in Indiana
Three times he had been implicated in
,swindles, and his ALIASES" were many
+ He wrote the life story of a criminal,
bounded and striving for reform, but
always succumbing to evil influences.
The notes, however, were all the prod
uct of a feverlsh imagination. Bradlett
has been known to Bloomfield and other
friends ever since his arrival in this
country from Switzerland. He had never
been in prison, they said; he had no
aliases and had committed no swindles.
According to his notes, Bradlett was
born in New York in 1866, whereas he
was really born in Switzerland in 1855.
the villain Bradlett began his career in
an immigrants hotel in New York. where
ne had committed robberies and aided in
swindling the hotel manager. But the
real Bradlett was in Chicago, getting
his start in a theatre. Shopllfting was
/ the next crime the villain Bradlett under
leok, according to the notes.
After that he stole typewriters and
again went to jail. The villain Bradlett
always went to jail, the letters said; and
always, after serving his term, was faced
With detectives, who dragged him down
again by telling employers OF his record.
bradlett, of the Moving Picture World,
never spent day in jail, his friends say.
VICTIM NO CRIMINAL.
The earmarks of the movies showed
plainly through all the letters found in
bradlett's ROOM He told of having been
partner to a fraudulent mining scheme.
and his determination to face the music
said.
When Bloomfield learned that the Brad
iet who hanged himself was his former
friend, he began an investigation to see
how far Bradlett's mind had wandered.
~ took all week, and today Bloomfield
announced that Bradlett was not known
.. any or the prisons he alluded to. The
eIher statements were disproved by
oloomheld's knowledge OF his friends
movements
subscription to keep Bradlett's body
Hom the Potter's Field was taken up.
me funeral will be held on Sunday.
here ' '''