Harry Blagden, photo that ran with the story of his supposed kidnapping.
Plattsburgh Daily Press, February 16, 1932
Born: April 20, 1888
Died: February 14, 1957
Married: Mary W. Bradley
Children: Henry H. Blagden, Jr.
Henry Harrison "Harry" Blagden operated a boy's camp, La Jeunesse that was started by his father, Thomas Blagden. He also operated the Stockade Trading Post in Upper Saranac. He was the president of the Cady Sporting Goods Corporation in Saranac Lake. In 1919, he taught at the Lake Placid School.
He was listed in the 1930 U.S. Federal Census as Henry H. Blagden, age 42, Director of a boys' camp in Santa Clara, Franklin County. Also living in the same place were William Anderson and Margaret Jones, who were the camp's caretaker and cook.
He employed World War II veteran Charles A. Nash as a well-driller.
He is mentioned frequently in the booklet, Church of the Ascension: The First 100 Years, 1884 to 1984.
Malone Palladium, May 23, 1907
President Roosevelt Compliments Miss Bentley.
A chorus of 500 public school pupils in Washington, D. C., who were under the direction of Miss ALYS E. BENTLEY, formerly of Chateaugay, and a sister of Mr. JOHN E. BENTLEY, gave a musical entertainment in the National Theatre at the capital last week which the critics say would have been a credit even to professionals. The programme rendered included classical as well as popular choruses. The audience crowded the theatre and included the President and family and other distinguished personages. Among those mentioned in the accounts in the Washington papers is HARRY, son of Mr. THOMAS BLAGDEN, who is a regular summer visitor at Saranac Inn, and has a game park there that is one of the finest attractions in the Adirondacks. The boy HARRY is a chum of the President's sons.
During an intermission President ROOSEVELT went behind the curtain, and greeted the children and the members of the management of the entertainment. He warmly congratulated Miss BENTLEY upon her direction of the chorus and the enjoyableness of the occasion.
Essex County Republican, September 8, 1916
Henry H. Blagden of Upper Saranac will build two [open] camps, one on Fish Pond and the other on Big Square Pond in Franklin County.
Tupper Lake Herald & Adirondack Mt. Press, September 18, 1930
Sherman Jones, of this place, has erected the tallest flag pole in this section, which from the ground up measures over 52 feet and is located on the residence plot on Lakeview Avenue, Mt. View Heights, Sears Hill, owned by Mrs. Fred Jones. The pole, which is a remarkably straight one, was donated by Harry Blagden, who conducts a boy's camp and school at a location near Fish Rock Camp and Saranac Inn. The new flag, when it floats in the breeze at the peak of the pole, gives a fine view of the United States colors at a distance.
Lake Placid News, February 26, 1932
BLAGDEN PLANNED OWN KIDNAPPING
Writes Letter to Capt Broadfield, Blaming Worry for Disappearance — Trooper Head Declares Case Closed
Admitting that the kidnapping story was a hoax, Harry H. Blagden, Upper Saranac, wrote a letter to Captain Charles J. Broadfield, commander of Troop B, stating that the wide publicity given the case had led to the statement.
Officers are reported as having found numerous loopholes in Blagden's stories and were not surprised when the confession of the fabricated tale was received. Corporal Harry McCann of Troop B was in Cleveland last week where he made some investigations. Blagden was at that time at the home of a friend there after having told of being carried to that city in a truck and overpowering his captors. He told of having been kidnapped from a cottage at Lake Placid club. His relatives are said to have received a fantastic note from him saying that his abductors demanded a $1000 ransom for his return. In his letter retracting the wild tale of his capture and escape he blamed worry as the cause of his going away suddenly.
The letter was written from the home of W.R. Hunter at Arden near New York city to Captain Broadfield follows:
Dear Captain: I have at last gotten myself straightened out. I wish to state that I was never kidnapped. I had been worrying about the times, my problems and the future. The load seemed so heavy that I could not bear it. There just seemed to be no way out until alone in the cottage at Lake Placid this kidnapping scheme suddenly came to me. I immediately acted upon it. The farther I got into it the more difficult it seemed to turn back.
"In Cleveland after discovering the publicity and its effect on others I finally grasped the whole situation and used the story of my escape as the best way out.
"It has taken me till now to make this statement, which I should have made in Cleveland."
Captain Broadfield has reported the case as closed and has stated that Blagden cannot be charged with any offense.
For an earlier account of the "kidnapping", see Adirondack Record-Elizabethtown Post, February 18, 1932, 1st column.
New York Times, October 6, 1935
MARY BRADLEY ENGAGED
Troth to Henry H. Blagden Is Announced by Her Mother.
Special to The New York Times.
WASHINGTON. Oct. 5. - Mrs. Thomas Bradley of 1,601 Twentyeighth Street announced today the engagement of her daughter, Miss Mary Woodworth Bradley, to Henry Harrison Blagden, son of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Blagden, formerly of Washington, but now and for several years of Upper Saranac, N. Y. The marriage will take place on Nov. 30.
Miss Bradley was presented to society in Washington a few years ago, and is a former secretary of the Junior League,
Both families are among the oldest and most prominent in the history of the capital.
