Bradford Shinkle

BRADFORD SHINKLE

CLAIMED BY DEATH

Covington Capitalist Dies at Family

Home on East Second-st., After Long

Illness — No Arrangements for Funeral

Yet Made — Leaves Wealthy Estate.

Bradford Shinkle died this morning at 10:30 o'clock at the family home, 165 East Second-st., Covington.

His death came after a long illness, he being practically an invalid for four years. His death was cause by a complication of diseases. He was stricken about 5 o'clock this morning and his physicians, Drs. Mark Brown, E. W. Mitchell, and Frank B. Cross, of Cincinnati, were summoned to his bedside. He rallied slightly about 9 o'clock, but shortly afterward took a turn for the worse and died at 10:30. His wife and children were at the bedside.

He returned from Miami, Fla., on April 1. He had spent the winter at the resort and came back much improved in health. He had not been back long, however, before he again began to fail, and he had been confined to his bed for four weeks. The funeral arrangements have not yet been made.

Bradford Shinkle, Covington's wealthiest citizen, and one of the most prominent business men in Cincinnati, was born in Higginsport, O., Sept. 29, 1845, being the only child of Amos Shinkle, who was destined from very humble beginnings to become one of the principal property owners in Covington, and the builder and main owner of the great Suspension Bridge linking Covington and Cincinnati.

The Shinkles moved to Covington in 1846, and the family has lived here ever since. The young lad attended the public schools of Covington, and graduated from the Miami University in 1864. It was during the war that his father organized a regiment of Home Guards, Bradford being Adjutant of the organization.

By the time of the war his father had already greatly prospered, having at the beginning made it a rule, so he once told an ambitious youth, to save a quarter out of every dollar he earned.

When Bradford Shinkle was a college graduate and wondering what he should do, his father was already interested in many enterprises, among them being a steamboat line with boats plying up and down the river. It was on one of these boats that Bradford Shinkle started to work, acting as its clerk. As the boat was nearing the Cincinnati harbor one day there was a tremendous explosion of its boilers and a number of people lost their lives. Shinkle was blown up and suffered injuries to one of his eyes, but swam ashore and was otherwise uninjured.

HE WAS MARRIED

In 1868 he married Miss Anna Hemingray, daughter of the wealthy Hemingray family, interested in glass works here and in Muncie, Ind. They had two children, A. C. Shinkle, now living in Cincinnati, and Miss Camilla, who married Dr. Frank B. Cross, of Cincinnati.

MANAGED THE ESTATE

His father died 13 years ago, leaving his vast estate in trust for his wife, who recently died. Upon the demise of Amos Shinkle, Bradford, as executor, took upon himself, the sole management of the estate and divided his time between his grocery business and the office in Covington, where the reality holdings were looked after.

He also became President of the Suspension Bridge Co., and showed his progressive spirit by at once undertaking practical reconstruction of the Suspension bridge. It needed widening and strengthening to meet demands of increasing traffic. For this purpose, he secured the services of William Hildebrand, at the time a comparatively unknown bridge engineer.

A GREAT WORK

His work on the Suspension Bridge won him a reputation and he afterward had part in the construction of some of the great bridges in New York. It was Shinkle who closed negotiations allowing street cars to cross the bridge, and fixed a sliding scale of tariffs, instead of charging the passengers for it, as a result of which the present system of green cars has to pay a gradually increasing price for the privileges it enjoys, greatly enhancing the income of the bridge company.

Shinkle also became the main owner of the old gas works of Covington, and secured for his company, five years ago, another franchise for 20 years, after being fought for a long time by some of the shrewdest politicians in Kenton County. Immediately after this victory, he sold out the plant to the present Union Light, Heat and Power Company at a handsome profit.

He was the heaviest holder of stock in the Fifth-Third National Bank of Cincinnati and the First National Bank of Covington, and directed the policy of both. It is admitted that it was due to his keen business sense that the Fifth National became such a strong institution. In addition to these holdings and his realty, it is understood he also owned extensive tracts of real estate out West.

Shinkle's first wife died a number of years ago, and in 1887 he wedded Miss Mintie Hemingray, a sister of the former. They have one child, a son, Bradford, Jr.

HAD SIMPLE HABITS

Although a man of great wealth, Shinkle never had the habits of most of the rich men of the day. He was a very abstemious liver, neither drinking nor smoking. He was not very much for high society, preferring the home circle.

SUPPORTED CHURCHES

Although not a member of any church, he was a liberal contributor to the First Baptist Church to which his first wife belonged and here his daughter sang in the choir until her marriage. He was also a liberal financial supporter of the Union Methodist Church, being loyal to his congregation because it had been his father's church.

Those who knew him best claim that, though he did not advertise his charities, as is the method nowadays, that, nevertheless, he was far more philanthropic than the general was aware of.

He is survived by his three children, Mrs. Frank Cross, A. C. Shinkle, who married a daughter of A. Howard Hinkle, of Cincinnati, and Bradford, Jr. His widow also survives him.