Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1871-07-08
Miscellaneous.
A Hint TO Life Insurance agents.
The Fate Of B. II. Gum.
From the Cincinnati Commercial

From the Cincinnati Commerc,ai.J
BENJAMIN Z. Gum was the agent of an
insurance company. He came around to
my Office eleven times day to see IT he
could not persuade me to take out liic
policy in his company. He used to way
lay me on the street, at church, III my own
house, and bore me about that policy. Ii
l went to the opera, Gum would buy, the
next seat to me, and sit there the whole
evening, talking about sudden death and
the advantage Of the ten year plan. Ii
got into q street car, Gum would COW
rushing in at the next corner, and 3oliiv
my side and drag out a lot OF Y couia
tables and begin TO explain buo. IF I sat
beat his company out OF 9lrant, up would
down to diuner in n FIG the chair next to
come Gum, and, fllc cheerful anccdote
me, he woulditw insured in his company
about a J0 only last week, and was buried
for Sday. III attended the funeral Of
Sparted friend, and wept as they threw the
earth upon his coffin, l would hear whis.
per, and, turning around, there would be
the indomitable Benz y. Gum, burst
ing to say : Poor Smith Knew him well.
Insured for $4,000 in our company.
Widow left in comfortable circumstances.
Let me take your name. Shall I''
lie followed inc everywhere until atlast
i
left town suddenly one evening and hid
myself in q secluded country village, hop
ing to get rid of him. At the end of two
weeks l returned, reaching home at one in
the morning. l had hardly got into bed
before there was ring at the door bell. i
looked out, and there was Gum with an
other person lie asked if Max Adeler
was at home. / said L was the man. Mr..
Gum then observed that he expected my
return, and thought he would call around
about that insurance policy. lie said he
had the doctor with him, and if l would
como down he would take my name and
have me examined Immediately. i was
too indignant to reply. l shut the window
with SLAIN and went to bed again. After
breakfast in the morning l opened the front
door, and there was Gum sitting on the
steps with his doctor, waiting for me. He
had been there all night AS l came out,
they seized me and tried to undress me
there on the pavement in order to examine
me. l rctrcated and locked myself in the
garret, with orders to admit nobody to the
house until l came down stairs.
But Gum wouldn't be bafiled. lIe ac-
tualy rented the house next door, and sta
toned himself in the garnet adjoining niue.
| When he got fixed he spent his time pound
ing on the partition and crying "Hallo |
Adeler Adeer ! L say How about that
| policy Want me TO take her out now 2'
And then he would tell ME some more
anecdotes about men who were cut of inn
mediately after paying the first premium,
| But paid no attention to him and Ihado
no noise. Then he was silent for awhile.
Suddenly, one morning, the trap door OF
my Garret was wr0nched Off; and, upcr
Nkt G,B&ohrS,0 Edi PIotw VIII death tfh = ratcr t
coming down the ladder at me. l lied
from the house to the Presbyterian church
close by, and paid the sexton twenty dol.
lars to let me climb up to the point of the
stcople and sit astride of the ball. / pro.
missed him twenty moro if he would exclude
everybody from that steeple for n week.
Once safely on the ball made myself com
Portable with the thought that had Gum
at disadvantage, and determined to beat
hlm finally, if l had to stay there q month.
About an hour atterward, while waa
looking ut the superb view to the west.
heard ruStling around on the other side
OF the steeple. l looked around and there
was Benjamin Z. Gum creeping up the
side OF that .spirc i'll 4 balloon, in which
was the Doctor and the tabular estimates
OF the losses OF his company from the Ton
tine system As soon as Gum reached
The ball he threw his graphing iron into
the shingles OF the steeple, and asked me
at what age my father had died, and if any
of my aunts ever had the consumption OF
liver complaint. Without waiting to reply,
| slid down the steeple to the ground, and
took the first train .or tho Mississippi Val.
ley. In two weeks l was in Mexico.
determined to 80 to the interior and seek
some wild spot in some elevated region
where no Gum would ever dare to come
got on q mule and paid II guide to lead
me TO the summit of Popocatapeti. W.
arrived at the foot Of the mountain nj noon
We toilcd upwards for about four hours
just before reaching the top | heard Q
sound OtYOlccs, and, upon rounding point
OF rock, who should l see but Benjamin l.
Gum, seated on the very edge of the crater
cSplalning the endowment plan to hi,
guide, and Supplying him with mortali
ty table, while the doctor had the othcI
Guide few yards OF examining him, t,
see Ii he was healthy Mr., Gum arost
and said he was glad 10 sec me, becaus,
now he could talk over that business abou
tho policy without fear of interruption. Ii
Il paroXysm of rage pushed him back int,
, the crater and he fell u thousand feet be
low with II heavy thud. As he struck th
bottom heard voice screaming out some
thing about "non-iurieiturc, +" but there wa
, n suddcn CONFUSION Of the mountain,
cloud Of smoke, aud / heard no more,
; / know Il was wrong, i know had u
hight 10 Kill Gum in that manner but II
I forced me TO do it in self defense, and
hope his awful fate will bo warning /
, other insurance agents who remain anon
US,