The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1868-09-05

L l.. /.
Far R EpToB's Having published,in.
your issne Of the92d instant, grosu
attack upon me, by a7fellow signing
hin himself o. "a. Hosther; Assistant
General Agent, you will. Of course,
extend the courtesy of giving me an
opportunity to reply Recent illness
prevented an earlier notice of this
fellow, Hosmer, who resorts to the
language of abuse and falsehood in
order to cover the miserably wretched
and pertdious character of the Gun
derwriters' Agency" of the city of,
New York. His epithet of '.duuy" is
scarcely worth notice. His other
epithet of "co,card" will notice, by
saying that, whenever he shall afford
meathe pleasure, I will engage to dis
abuse his mind of any wrong impress
sion he may have received of nv
courage. He says, in substance. that
i nave sought the shelter of acciden-
tai position to libel the "Agency,"
when he we'll knows that I have
taken every occasion to denounce it
as the leader of the robber band of
fire insurance companies; that,
through agencies in this State, from
shortly after the war and during '66,
preyed upon the misfortunes of those
who were unfortunate enough to suf-
fer loss and hold o policy in the
"Underwriters' Agency" or some
other equally treacherous of the pre-
datory horde. He we'll knows, too,
that more than twelve months ago T
wrote to the Agency. freely setting
forth the opinion I entertained of its
conduct towards me and, ut the same
time, expressing determination to
use my utmost exertions to have such
legislative restrictions put upon its
further operations as would, at least.
render it powerless for future fraudu-
lent dealing and inhiction of injury.
The dnimus. then, of the attack of
this fellow, Hosmer, is that I am
about to endeavor to carry out my
resolution to compel the Agency to
be honest and honorable, against it's
will.
will now briefly proceed to sum
up and show how much falsehood
this fellow has succeeded in mingling
with little truth. In June, '66, a
fire swept over the town of Newberry,
destroying large amount of proper
tty, and entirely consuming the dwell
ing of my brother and the building
i'll which we both carried on business,
together with nearly my whole stock;
involving me in q loss of about
II, 600. So it is not true, rs this fell
low says, that my stock was only
damaged For the little that was
saved, l am indebted to the kindness
of few friends, who broke open the
doors while the building was burn
ing and during my absence-hav-
ing been engaged in trying to
stop the spread of the fire, in Which
L came near losing my life, and in
assisting those in more danger, than
L supposed [ was. I sent on my
claim, supported by the affidavit Of
my former partner, and was answer
ed that 1 had no claim, because the
dissolution of co-partnership had re-
leased the company of all obligation
to pay. In consultation with my
friends, it was suggested that I
should bring suit against the agents
in this State, honorable men, which
l was reluctant to do; had been so
disposed, however, it would not have
availed, the Courts of this State hav-
ing been soon after closed. Thus
matters stood for months, until T put
the policy in the hands of friend,
with power to bring suit in the State
of New York. MY friend disobeyed
my instructions and compromised,
receiving $1,150-less S15O paid
attorneys. So it is not true, as this
fellow says, that gave o receipt and
discharge. The compromise was
made against my consent, and with
out knowledge that it was to be
made. My friend, understanding the
situation, and knowing the worthless
ness of the company at that time,
acted, Jas he said, for my best interest.
l am not the only one defrauded by
this villainous concern. Mr.. G. D.
Smith, who suffered in the same fire,
was compiled to make the best of u
bad bargain, and accepted, I think,
$500, for claim of $4,000, after, as
in my case, the lapse of year. So
much for this prompt paying concern.
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