The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-10-30
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s,u,o,soI Opiuions Of the Lending Journals
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LITIGATION ARISING FROM SUICIDE

LITIGATION ARISING FROM SUICIDE.
Prom the N Y. Times.
suit has lust been settled in our Superior
Court of q kind that always deeply interests
n community. widow brought an action
against an insurance company to recover
$40. OOO the amount of policy upon the lie
of her late husband. The company set up
for defense that the policy was rendered void
bv the suicide of the insured. 1t was
shown that he died suddenly, shortly
after an examination of his entangled
accounts with another company of which he
was an officer The defendant contended
that the deceased took strychnine; the
plaintiff proved by medical testimony and
post mortem examination that he died OF
heart disease. Upon the proof, the defense
was withdrawn and the case settled by pay
ment of the policy 1t is said that case of
actual suicide, that of man named Belden,
who committed the act in Ludlow street jail,
will be brought into our courts, as bank OF
this city holding policy on his life as col
lateral for a debt, purposes bringing an action
for recovery against the company that issued
the policy. !.
fends itself in a suit of this character. 1t
annears necessary that the defendant should
proye not only the fact of suicide, but the
intention. Even if the act is not at all accl-
dental it is probably committed during mel
ancholy or frenzy, when it is questionable
whether the mind of the individual Is en-
tirely under the control of reason. A COM
pany could scarcely expect to prove that the
deceased committed the act for the purpose
of precipitating the maturity of the policy;
vet it must clear up every doubt as to the
sanity of the person at the time of the occur
renee For, if the unfortunate man was not
q responsible being, the company remains
responsible for it's obligation. To free the
company his suicide should be as deliberate
as though he had considered the advantages
and disadvantages of his act, and selected it
as a iudicious mode of winding up his affairs.
It is currently reported that an insurance
was paid to the survivors of a lady who is
believed to have taken morphine for the pur-
pose of causing DEATH last year, in Connecti-
cut, and there was no attempt at htiga-
tion An English company, quite recently,
where there was no doubt about the suicide
of the deceased, is said to have deposited
$4,000, the amount of the policy, with
trust company in this city. to be paid to the
successful claimant. The insurance company
does not propose to dispute the policy, but
awaits the decision OF our Supreme Court
whether the payment shall be made to the
heirs of deceased wife or a present widow.
In addition to the difficulties of defense,
the odium that attaches to any delay in the
settlement of an insurance claim is apt to
work great injury to company. Ii Jury
can be persuaded to decide in favor of soul
less corporation and against an interesting
widow, the sympathies of the public are also
to be considered when the concern intends
to do any further business. The risk of such
occurrences is, moreover, not an important
element in calculating vital contingencies.
There are probably not more suicides in the
United States than one per annum to every
$4,000 of population. In our cities such acts
are proportionally more frequent, but the
ratio can hardly exceed one in 1900. Among
those whose lives are insured, being distinc-
lively the more prudent class, the actual num-
Der of suicides must be very small. In fact,
the real excuse for retaining the death by
his own hand clause in life policies, is the
fear that its absence may tempt the insured
to banker after feLO de Se With many of our
companies it is a dead letter; a form,
copied from forms in use in England; but
almost as much a relic of barbarism as the
former English statute under which person
committing suicide had to be buried by the
roadside with a stake driven through his
body, while his estate became escheated to
the Grown. But whatever may be the system
of an insurance company, litigation is, in all
respects, its worst policy. In fragrant in
stances a compromise can usually be effected
that would be cheaper than a lawsuit.
Already, indeed, some companies propose to
make the clause imperative after the policy
has run a certain length of time, and it is
probable that before long they will ''reform it
altogether"