Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1871-06-01
GUM, INSURANCE A,
AGENT.
How He Followed a victim.

company. He came around to my of
fee fourteen times one morning to see
If he couldn't persuade me to take out
a life insurance policy in his company.
He used to waylay me on the street.
at church, in my own house, and bore
me-about that policy.
If l went to the opera, Gum would
buy the next seat to me and sit there
the whole evening talking about sud
den deaths and the advantages of the
ten year plan.
If | got into street car, this Mr..
Gum would come rushing in at the
next street corner, and sit by my side
drag out lot of mortality tables and
begin to explain how l could beat the
company out of a fortune. If l sat
down to dinner at a restaurant, up
would come Gun, and seizing the chair
next to me, he would tell a cheering
anecdote about man who insured in
his company for $4,000 only last
week, and was buried yesterday
If attended the funeral of depart
ed friend, and wept as they threw the
earth upon his coffin, would hear a
whisper, and, turning around, there
would be the indomitable Benjamin P.
Gum, bursting to say:
Poor Smith Knew him well. In
sured for ten thousand in our compa-
ny. Widow in comfortable circum
stances. Let me take your name
Shall l p
He followed me everywhere, until I
got so sick of Guns prosecutions that
left town suddenly one evening, and
HID Y1,y-colf IN n 1f,1
lage, hoping to get rid of him.
At the end of two weeks I returned,
reaching home i'll the evening. 1 had
hardly got into bed before there was
ring at the bell. He asked if Max Ad-
Ter was at home. I said 1 was the man.
Mr.. Gum then observed that he expect
ed my return, and thought he would
call around about that insurance policy.
He said he had the doctor with him,
and if / would come down he would
take my name and have me examined
Immediately. l was too indignant to
reply. / shut the window and went to
bed again.
After breakfast in the morning,
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 / came out, they
seized and tried TO undress me there on
the pavement, in order to examine me-
l retreated, and locked myself up in
the garret, with orders to admit no one
to the house until came down stairs.
But Gum wouldn't be baffled. He
actually rented the house next door,
and stationed himself in the garret adj
Joining mine. When he got fixed, he
spent his time pounding on the parti-
ton and crying: "HaIloo! Adler =
Adler, say - how about that poll
cy ?'' And then he would tell me about
men who were cut off Immediately af
ter paving the first premium. But
paid no attention to him, and made nc
noise. Then he was silent for awhile
Suddenly one morning the door o
my garret was wrenched off, and upoI
looking up l saw Gum with the doe
tor and a crowbar. and lot of deatl
rates, coming down the ldder at me. ]
fed from the house to the Presbyteri
) an church close by, and paid the sex
ton twenty dollars to let me climb NJ
t to the point of the steeple and 81
astride of the ball. l promised hin
|
erybody from that steeple for q week
Once safely on the ball, three hun
dred feet from the earth, 1 made my
) hself comfortable with the thought tina
I had Gum at disadvantage, and
determined to beat him finally, if hat
; to stay there a month.
/ About an hour afterward, while
: was looking at the superb view to til
I west, heard rustling on the othe
side of the steeple. l looked around
= and there was Benjamin P. Gun
: creeping up the side of that spire in
: balloon, in which was the doctor an
/, the tabular estimate of the losses of tn
: company from the Tontine system A
j., soon as Gum reach the ball he thre'
the graphing iron into the shingles {
r the steeple, and asked at what age m
k father died, and if any of my aunts eN
+ er had liver complaint or eonsumT
ton.
Without waiting to reply, I sli
; down the steeple to the ground, an
u took the first train for the Mississippi
:! Valley. In two weeks was in Mex
+: co. 1 determined to go to the interic
and seek some wild spot, in some ell
, waited region where no Gum would e.
Is er dare to come.
e. got mule and paid guide I
IF lead me to the summit. We arrived
II the foot of the mountain at noon, an
:. toiled upward for about four hours
:" Just before reaching the top I hear
st voices, aud upon rounding poi
ID of rocks, who should I see but Benz;
n P. Gum, seated on the very edge {
the crater, explaining the endowmel
plan to his guide, while the doctor hs
's the other guide few yards off, exam
,e ming him to see if he was healthy.
4 Mr.. Gum arose and said he was gls
e. to see me, because now we could tai
70 about that policy business without fe,
:. of interruption. In paroxysm {
y rage pushed him back into the or
it ter, and he fell a thousand feet belo
$ with a heavy thud. AS he struck Il
N bottom heard a voice screaming o
II something shout "non forfeiture" b
" there was a sudden convulsion of Il
G mountain, a cloud of smoke, and
n heard no more.
c. l know it was wrong. know 1 hi
~ no right to kill Gum in that manne
. . but he forced me to do it in s~lf
u" fense, and hope his awful fate will
IN warning to othore insuran ce agen
~ who remain among us.