Wild in the Woods? The Disappearance of Milton Bradley

In 1890, El Dorado resident Milton Bradley (not that one) disappeared. He was missing for three years and his family only found him when he died, at which time it was discovered that he had been living under the name Milton Blakesley in a nearby town the entire time.

The Walnut Valley Times, El Dorado, KS, Sep 11, 1893

Who Was Milton Bradley?

Milton Bradley was born in New York and “came west at an early age.” I wasn’t able to determine who his parents were, but he was living in Michigan in 1850 when he was 17 with the Freeman family, the patriarch of which was a blacksmith, and under whom Milton learned the trade.

Milton married Sarah Jane Cline in 1851 and the couple had their first known child, a son named George, in 1859. Their second known child, a daughter named Lydia, followed in 1864. After Lydia’s birth, Milton disappeared for the first known time.

“…after the birth of Lydia, he left home and was gone for many months, his whereabouts undiscoverable. He returned of his own accord, explaining that he thought he saw Mrs. Bradley dying and was unable to witness it.” Source

Milton and his small family were among the first to settle in El Dorado, arriving around 1867. He worked as a farmer and a blacksmith and was a prominent member of the local Odd Fellows chapter. He ran for and was elected county treasurer twice, first in 1879 and again in 1882. He also served as a justice of the peace in El Dorado and chairman of the board of Butler County commissioners.

Articles about Milton said that he was quiet, inoffensive, and honorable. They also said he was an avid reader, a great mathematician, and notable for his frugality.

When Milton was elected county treasurer, it was said that the win somehow “cost him his farm.” He lived frugally and was distrustful of banks, and some thought that he left his treasurer job with at least $8,000 and that he had an income of five to eight hundred dollars a year. He was also considered a capitalist, investing in real estate and loaning money to those who needed it.

One article noted that Milton “was the victim of the severest headaches from which, after short confinement, he would apparently entirely recover,” which sounds similar to migraines.

The Disappearance of Milton Bradley

In April 1890, about four years after his daughter Lydia married and three years after his first grandchild was born, Milton left El Dorado. He told his friends and family he would be on a hunting and fishing trip. He took his horse and buggy, his dog, fishing gear and some camping gear. Folks also later assumed that he took all the money he had, as he left his wife with nothing but $20 (about $700 today).

After a little over a month, people started to worry about Milton and wonder if something bad happened to him. Even though he had made remarks to friends indicating he would be gone a while, his family and friends didn’t expect him to be gone that long.

The Kansas City Times, Kansas City, MO, May 24, 1890

Some people suspected that Milton died, perhaps a victim of foul play. A prevalent rumor was that he was murdered by horse thieves in the Flint Hills for his money (because he left none at home, he must have taken a fortune with him). Some claim his horse was sold at another town, facilitating the rumor. Other people claimed to have seen him with a full beard and dark complexion running naked, wild, and dirty in Arkansas in 1891.

The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, IA, Jul 20, 1891

In reality, Milton hadn’t been killed by horse thieves, and he was already settled somewhere when the “wild man” reports made the rounds.

During the summer of 1890, Milton was traveling through Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Missouri, wandering with an unknown purpose, sometimes in circles, seemingly never staying in a town but stopping in as needed. He kept a diary during this trip where on a daily basis he “chronicled with exactness” (and apparently extreme brevity) his travels during the time he was roaming. Milton even recorded that he was “at photographers” five miles north of Ferndale, Minnesota on June 4, 1890, presumably to have his photo taken (but I have not found a photo of him).

June 4: five miles north of Ferndale, Minn., at photographers; rain.

July 6: eight miles southwest of Columbus, Neb., wicked man, bad long drive, sorry.

Excerpts from the printed version of the diary of Milton’s travels.

Milton ultimately settled in rural eastern Kansas on October 4, 1890, about 120 miles away from his family. He wrote on that day he “moved half mile south [of Lanesville] into old house and commenced work for board for Mr. Wheat.”

Lanesville, located about ten miles east of Parsons, Kansas in Labette county, was just a whisper of a town, more like a neighborhood. But it had a post office, a store, and a couple dozen people, and that was apparently just right for Milton. Here, he told people his last name was Blakesley (his mother’s maiden name, but I’ve not been able to locate her). He also kept mostly to himself, but in conversation he did tell some people that he had a family.

One of the only peculiarities that neighbors noticed was that even though Milton was welcome to stay in Mr. Wheat’s home, he preferred to sleep on a pile of hay in a barn, a “bachelor’s hay stack,” with his horse. And while he was quietly working on the prairie earning just enough to get by, his Odd Fellows brothers back home in El Dorado were spending hundreds of dollars and hundreds of hours to find him while he was missing from home.

When Mr. Wheat sold his land and moved, Milton briefly went with him, but went back to Lanesville and began working for Mr. H.M. Livesay, the man who bought Mr. Wheat’s farm. He continued to sleep in the barn.

One day, Milton got sick while cutting hay. He was sick often during the six months that he traveled (he wrote that he was sick nine different days in his diary). He didn’t want a doctor and didn’t want to leave his bed made of hay in the barn. But Mr. Livesay called the doctor anyway.

Dr. J.M. Maher attended to Milton during his final hours, though there was nothing he could do. Milton’s last words were “Water! Water!” and “Fan me! Fan me hard!” He died just a few days after falling ill, with no money to his name, about 130 miles away from the family who had given up hope of ever finding him.

The farmer who knew him as Milton Blakesley found a notebook on his body. On the first page were the words “look on next to last page of this book for directions,” and on that page Milton had written the following:

“In case anything happens to me, send word to Mrs. M. Bradley, George M. Bradley and Lydia M. Robbins, all of El Dorado, Butler County, Kansas.”

Milton signed his real name to the note. A telegram was quickly sent to his wife alerting her that her husband was dead.

“Mrs. M. Bradley, Milton Bradley died at seven last night. Come quick to Lanesville, Kansas.”

Milton’s body was returned with a certification from the doctor that confirmed he “found [Milton] in a dying condition. Since then he has died. His disease was inflammation of the bowels. The disease was not contagious.”

Milton’s widow Sarah kept her own home until about six months before her death, when she moved in with Lydia and her family.

Even until her death, Sarah was described as “wonderfully strong and active for one her age and was always very independent, preferring to do for others than to be waited on.” She died from “blood poison” after injuring her hand on a tack. She was dead within a few hours of the injury.