Orangeburg times. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1872-1875, 1872-07-17
How aunn Went Off


the Life Insuranceq.Mnn beensmoref
thoroughly hit off than by 2 PhiladelPhia,
newspaper gentleman, who, infthee follow.
ing heart-rending manner, describes what,
nearly every healthy American citizen
has had the misfortune to experience ri
Ii HHis name was BenjaminiP Gum. He
came around to my office fourteen times
in. one morning ito o9see, if he could hots
persuade me to take ont q life.ipsurahce
policy in his company. He used to way
| fay me in the streets, at Church, iii my
| own house, and bore me about that poll
| Icy. III went to the opera, Gunn would
buy, the seat next tome, and sit there the
whole evening, talking about sudden
death and the Advantages of the. ten-year
| plan. If 1 got into street car, Gum
would come rushing in at the next cor
ner, and sit by my side, and drag out u
lot Of mortality tablcs, and begin to ex-
plain how / could beat his company out
of q fortune. IfIsat down to dinner in
restaurant, up. would come Gum, and /,
scizing the chair next to me, he would
tell q cheering anecdoteabout a man who
insured in his company for S., 600 only
last week, and was buried yesterday. If
L attended the funeral of departed
friend, and wept as they threw the earth
upon his coffin, I would hear a Whisper
and turning around, there would be. the
indomitablc Benjamin P. Gum, bursting
to say: "Poor Smith !knew him we'll.
Insured for ten thousand in our company.
Widow left in comforta BILE ecirculastances.
Let mo take, your name. Shall II" He
followed 4, me every where; until got SO
sick Gums prosecutions that ], left
tdiSn a5daenls bne evening md hid my
self ina secluded country village, hoping
to get rid of him. AT the end of two
weeks I returned, reaching homo Mt one
in the morning. L had hardly got,into
bed before there was a ring at the door
bell. | looked out, and there was Gum,
with another person. He asked if Max
Abeler was at home. I said I was the
mnu. MIR. Gum then observed that he
expected my return, and thought he
would cali around about that insurance
policy. He said he had the doctor with
him, and if l would come down he would
take my name, and have me examined
Immediately. l wuatoo indignant to re-
! ply | shut the window with a slam, and
went to bed again. After breakfast in
the morning | opened the 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 me aud tried to undress me there
on the pavement in order to examine me.
! retreated, and locked myself up in the
garret, with orders to admit nobody to
the house until came down stairs. But
Gum was not to be baflcd. He rented
the house next door. and stationed him
self in the garnet adjoining mine. When
he got fixed he spent his time pounding
on the partition, and crying, "Hallo,
Abcler! Abeler, Isay! How about that
lpolicy? Want to take her out now 2"
And then he woald tell me some ancc-
tdotes about men who wore cut off inn
mediately after paying the first prem
ium. But I paid no attention to him,
and made no noise. Then he was silent
for while. Suddenly, one morning,
the trap-door of my garret was wrenched
off; and upon looking up, saw Gum,
with the doctor, and crowbar, and a lot
of dcath-rates, coming down the ladder
ut me. 1 fled from the house to the
Presbyterian church close by, and paid
the sexton twenty dollars to let me climb
UP to the point of the steeple, and sit
astridc Of the ball " promised him
twenty more If he would exclude every
body from that steeple for week. Once
safely OH the ball, three hundred feet
from the earth, | made myself comfort
able With the thought that had Gum
at II disadvantage, and determined TO
beat hfn FINELY if I had to stay there a
| n -,