A Death in the Everglades by Stuart B. McIver was a story of pioneering Florida in its earliest, most desolate years. Guy Bradley was the son of one E.R. Bradley, who moved their family to Florida from Chicago in 1876. To give some historical context for the year, this was the same year Rutherford B Hayes won one of the most contested elections of all time against Samuel J. Tilden. Off the heels of the Civil War only a decade earlier, reconstruction was ending and the times were a-changin'. As a bit of a side note, reviewing the Hayes-Tilden Election sounds a lot like what we just saw in 2020: "But the election process in Southern states was rife with voter fraud—on the part of both parties—and marked by violent voter suppression against black Americans....." This election was actually used as rationale for the recent Electoral College chaos (Smithsonian Mag, linked at bottom).
Anyway. Only a century after our country's foundation, we were still so young. Florida was a Wild West for Americans who needed to escape the law, wanted to escape society, or see the incredible Everglades. The Bradleys just couldn't stay put in any place for too long, leading them to our great state. It sure was a good thing the Bradleys came to Florida. E.R. Bradley took up the post office position in South Florida, pioneering the "barefoot route," finding that the best way to get from Palm Beach to Miami was on foot by the beach and by boats left at strategic points. The post office establishment was integral to successful settlement of Florida. As aforementioned, E.R. Bradley couldn't always stay put. He paved the way for the post office and later moved the family down to Flamingo, also known as "The End of the World," serving as the Superintendent of Dade County Schools. Later, E.R. Bradley worked for Henry Flagler as a surveyor in Flamingo.
In his father's footsteps, the young Guy Bradley was an important part of Florida's establishment as a state. The Bradleys grew up mostly in the Lake Worth area, at a time when everyone needed boats to get around. Suffering losses of their siblings early on and a bizarre disease weakening young Guy, life in the country was no joke. The people of Florida hunted for their food and relied on the environment for their livelihoods- this included the Bradleys. Prior to becoming Game Warden, Guy Bradley was an avid bird hunter and relied on it for fun as a kid. However, it was not the Bradleys nor their fellow Floridians that were problematic for birds; The problem of bird decimation came from foreigners like J. Lechavelier from Paris and George Elliott Cuthbert.
Hunters went to rookeries, shot them up mercilessly, and left recently hatched birds to die without parents. Tourists would come to our state and shoot birds and alligators from boats for fun. As early as 1886, the American Ornithologists' Union reported 5 million birds were killed for trade the previous year. That same year, the first Audubon Society was established. As feathers became all the rage, plume hunting was destroying bird populations in Florida. Action was needed. It wasn't until 1901 that a single bird protection law was passed in Florida, and the populations of birds like snowy egrets, roseate spoonbills, pelicans, and more were dwindling. William Dutcher, a long time president of the National Committee of Audubon Societies was integral in saving bird populations. After taking a days-long tour of local rookeries with Guy Bradley, Dutcher pushed relentlessly on government to pass a law protecting birds, finally successful in 1901. In June of 1902, Guy Bradley was named Monroe County game warden.
Guy's family had a history of being in law enforcement and he ached to carry on that legacy. This position, with all its responsibility, was dangerous. After all, at the End of the World, there lived people who wanted to start anew. Some of these people, like Captain Walter Smith, had no regard for the law. Throughout 1902-1905, Captain Smith and his family blatantly disregarded the bird protection law and members of the Smith family had been arrested several times by Guy Bradley. In addition, there were two gangs in Everglades: The Smiths and the Robertses. While Bradley was not directly part of the gang, he was close friends with the Roberts family. When the Smith home was shot at in the Spring of 1905, Captain Smith assumed it must have been the Roberts. In July of the same year, Captain Smith and two of his sons were on their schooner across from the Bradley home, shooting birds. Guy Bradley knew he had to arrest them for breaking the law with blatant disregard. As Bradley approached the Smith schooner in his little row boat, he was murdered by Captain Smith after a short conversation where the Captain would not give up his sons for arrest.
While it was well known that Captain Walter Smith murdered an officer of the law on active duty, no justice was served. He turned himself in to the Key West Sheriff's Office and a trial was held. However, according to Smith, " we won because...people there were lawless, frontier types," (p165).
Overall, this book was fantastic. It was short and while this post summarized only the main plot, the book was chock full of interesting historical tidbits. In a land of few people, Florida's politics was ruled by the lawless. I highly recommend.
This book was gifted to me for the holidays by my good friend, Millie. Thank you Millie!
Source:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/confusion-voter-suppression-and-constitutional-crisis-five-things-know-about-1876-presidential-election-180976677/
I loved reading this! Full of color and sounds like a fantastic book.
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