The Missing Mr. Tod

By M.P. Pellicer | Stranger Than Fiction Stories
A man was found nine years after he disappeared. It made the papers in Daytona, however the one question never asked is what happened to him.

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Captain York's house on Ridgewood Ave. Daytona c.1895 (Source - Florida Memory)

James S. Tod was 23 years old when he was discharged from the Union army for a disability in 1863. He had served in the 1st Regiment, Ohio Infantry, Company E as a hospital steward.

In the late 1870s he came to Florida in the company of a Mr. Kleppinger, and settled in the area that would eventually become Daytona.  He occupied a log cabin in block 20 of what 20 years later would be Ridgewood Avenue. He stayed for about 18 months, returned to Ohio, but came back in 1886.  

He was known as a well educated man from a good family; his uncle being the "war governor" of Ohio. His one weakness was a love of strong drink. Some would say this was his undoing, when he went on a bender for a few days in 1892. He left Daytona and went south, last being seen at Fowler's Point. A few days after he disappeared, search parties went out for him, and tracked him to the shore of Strickland Bay near Spruce Creek.  But from there no further clue was found, of where he headed to.

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Ridgewood Avenue, Daytona c.1904

The fate of Mr. Tod seemed destined to remain a mystery until February 26, 1901 when Mr. Baker who lived on Turnbull Bay in Spruce Creek, was out hunting hog and came across a human skeleton on a low island in the marshes. 

Acting as a guide he brought Charles R. Cox and Oscar Michael to where he found the bones.

There was strong evidence even after 9 years to confirm the identity of the remains. First, his gold-filled teeth, his open-face watch pinned under the body, the truss he was known to wear, a big graphite pencil he used and his nose glasses with a tortoise shell frame were found with the remains. The under jaw was several feet away, and some of the limbs were scattered, possibly rooted around by hogs.

He carried a bunch of keys on a ring.  The iron ones had been mostly consumed, except for a brass one.

His sister Sallie Hucke had the remains shipped to Ohio, where he was interred with the rest of his family. 

What became of his partner Klippenger is unknown. Strangely there was no questioning as to what happened to Tod. There was no mention if he committed suicide, was murdered or simply got lost. Was it a lack of curiosity, or what's that saying about letting sleeping dogs lie?

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