Death in the Everglades : the murder of Guy Bradley, America's first martyr to environmentalism / Stuart B. McIver ; foreword by Raymond Arsenault and Gary R Mormino.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

McIver, Stuart B.

Series:

Florida history and culture series

The Florida history and culture series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Bradley, Guy Morrell, 1870-1905.

Bradley, Guy Morrell.

Environmentalists--Florida--Everglades National Park--Biography.

Environmentalists.

Herons--Florida--Everglades National Park.

Herons.

Environmental protection--Florida--Everglades National Park.

Environmental protection.

Murder--Florida--Everglades National Park.

Murder.

Everglades National Park (Fla.)--Environmental aspects.

Everglades National Park (Fla.).

Florida--Everglades National Park.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xviii, 187 pages : illustrations, 1 map ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Gainesville : University Press of Florida, [2003]

Summary:

Death in the Everglades chronicles the demise of one of 20th-century Florida's most enduring folk heroes. The murder of Guy Bradley represents a milestone not only in the saga of the Everglades but also in the broader history of American environmentalism. This fascinating biography of his abbreviated but eventful life is emblematic of the struggle to tame the Florida frontier without destroying it. As Stuart McIver unfolds the story behind this little-known crime, he also provides a window into Florida history during the creation of modern South Florida. Born in Chicago in 1870, Bradley moved to Florida as a young boy in 1876. Nineteen years later his father became associated with the developer and railroad magnate Henry Flagler, and in 1898 the family moved to the isolated coastal village of Flamingo. Situated on the southeastern fringe of the Everglades, Flamingo was a flash point in an emerging ecological battleground that drew the Bradleys and other pioneer families into a conflict later dubbed "the Plume Wars." At the turn of the century, the mass killing of egrets and other plume birds for feathers to adorn women's hats was a serious concern among the nation's growing cadre of environmentalists, especially among those who belonged to the Audubon Society, a conservation organization founded in 1886. In 1901, at the urging of Audubon Society leaders and the American Ornithologists' Union, the Florida legislature enacted a bird protection law that provided for the hiring of local game wardens, and a year later Guy Bradley assumed the dual role of Monroe County's game warden and deputy sheriff. For the next three years, from 1902 to 1905, Bradley matched wits and sometimes weaponswith an array of plume hunters and other nefarious characters, some of whom were strangers but many of whom were friends or acquaintances of the warden or his family. In the end, Bradley was shot and killed by Walter Smith, a man he had known for nearly a decade. How this murder came about, what happened to Smith and others left behind, and how Bradley's demise and subsequent controversies affected the environmental movement are intriguing questions that frame McIver's richly textured narrative. With the instincts and skills of a master storyteller, McIver--long one of Florida's most historically-minded journalists--has recaptured a tale for the ages, a story of personal sacrifice and collective awakening that altered the course of the state's natural and human history.

Contents:

1 The Feather Trade 1

2 The Letter 6

3 A Veritable Tropical Paradise 10

4 The Cruise of the Bonton 22

5 The Barefoot Mailman 30

6 Tycoons of the Plume Trade 36

7 Cuthbert's Rookery 46

8 The Palm Beach Dudes 54

9 Sharpshooter 64

10 Flagler Takes Charge 69

11 The End of the World 93

12 The Patriarch 100

13 A Matter of Law 107

14 The Badge 113

15 On the Job 121

16 A Boat Named Audubon 131

17 Trouble at Cuthbert 138

18 Life in Flamingo 143

19 Back on the Job 148

20 Shootout at Oyster Keys 152

21 No True Bill 155

22 The Fight Goes On 161.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 169-182) and index.

ISBN:

0813026717

OCLC:

52347479