Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1877-03-08

| cY. IL ID COlQ OF nlm LndI Seutemau "o'
once examining his duelling pistols. Taking
up one of them the General quietly remarked
"That is the pistol with which killed Mr.
Dickinson"
sWINDLING INSURANCE COMPANIES.
Some time ago, the failure of the Continen
tai Life Insurance Company, of New York
was announced, and the causes of the failure
are now being investigated in the Courts o.
that city. Among the witnesses examined
was S. U. Hammond, an ex-ageut of the
Company who was stationed in California
AS result of the examination, the public is
treated to the following revelations:
"Mr. L. w. Frost president of the Cont
nentaI was in California with me, remaining
there about three months ); I went there in
September, 1875, and remained until Februa
ry, 1876; when Mr.. Frost went there in Oc
tober, 1875, was instructed to buy up all the
outstanding risks of the Continental had
received from Mr.. Frost list, and succeeded
in buying nearly all Of them, and inducing
some of the other holders to take out new
policies; paid in orders upon H. H. Blake
the coast agent of the Company"
"What inducemsnt to sell did you hold out
to the policy holders ?" asked Mr.. Moses.
II told them the company was insolvent-
those were my instructions from Mr.. Frost
Mr.. Frost told me that the Company was in
great need of money; that many of the poll.
cies on the Pacific coast would be due in two
years, and they would be unable to pay them
as an illustration, permit me to cite case; a
party holds an endowment policy Of the Con-
tinental Life Insurance Company; that poll.
cy, from the time it was drawn out, has in
creased in value, so that now it is worth about
$4,000; in two years more it will be worth
$4,000; we'll, if represent to the person
holding the policy that the Continental is in
solvent, he will, in all probability, accept my
offer for release-s1O0 or 5000; the Cont
mental thus saves nearly the entire amount
that they would have to pay when the policy
would become due-$4,S00, for instance, out
of $4,000. If they would notsell, | exchang.
ed time policies for 'endowments.' A time
policy is one drawn out for twenty years.
During the first ten years it steadily increases
in value, while during the last ten years it as
steadily decreases. My instructions we're, if
to an exchange, to give the policy-holder a
time policy without telling him what the
transaction amounted to. The limit that he
was allowed to pay on policy, Mr.. Ham
mond said, in accordance with Mr.. Frost's
instructions, was 50 per cent. of the reserve
DUE but this be did rarely, very often paying
much less than that. For his services he got
$4,000 year and expenses, and commits
sion of 10 per cent, making between $4,000
and $4,000"
"Did Mr.. Frost ever tell you how much he
made out of this" ?"'
"Well, he used to come to my Office and
say: The Company has made so much to-day
1 recollect on one day, when he had made
that remark, for be made it on different occa-
sions, turning to him and asking him, who
is the Company" He laughed and replied,
Oh myself and my associates, or words
similar in meaning. l was merely an agent
of the Company, and obliged, consequently,
to do whatever I was requested to do. 1t
scared the people terribly. l knew the an
nouncement would create panic among the
poicy-holders of the Continental and so it
did and knew at the time that the Com
pany was perfectly solvent, because Mr.. Frost
assured me that all he wanted to do was to
relieve the Continental of some Of the risks
outstanding against it. The amount of risks
extingushed in California BY this plan was
fully s2000O00. Nearly all the policies
were drawn in favor Of married women, and
had to be signed by them before I would give
an order for the amount. 1 never saw the
persons in whose favor the policies were drawn,
but only the persons who had drawn the poll
cies These latter induced to bring the pol
ices to the former for their signatures. /
knew that this latter course was contrary to
the law, but didn't stop to consider that point
I worked to get the policies any way and ev.
cry way, and got them. Mr.. Blake objected
to buying up the policies on account of the
small sum which I offered for them, but after
private conversation with Mr.. Frost he en-
tered enthusiastically into the work."
Mr.. Hammond also stated that the value Of
the policies, when he first undertook to buy
them up, July, 1874, amounted to more than
S200O,O00, and he succeeded in pulling it
down to 100000, the Continental thereby
saving 81, 100000. The panic which followed
his announcement to the Southern policy
holders of the Continental, Mr.. Hammond
stated, was terrible. On all sides curses and
imprecations were hurled against the Cont
mental. The Governor of Alabama had
shortly before dismissed the Agent of the
Company from the State, and he then came
out in a circular, in which he bitterly in
weighed against the freezing process adopted
by the Continental.
Mr.. Hammond affirmed that every Life In
surance Company in this city plays the same
trick on its Southern and Western policy
holders when it finds itself in a strait for
money. He had also frozen policy.holders
in Omaha, Iowa, Nebraska and Ohio, but not
with such success as in California and the
Southern States. He made the negotiations
for reinsuring the Continental in the Southern
Life Insurance Company of Mobile, although
he knew at the time that the latter company
was almost insolvent. "It was none Of my
business" Mr.. Hammond said "all I had to
do was to find some company fool enough to
give bonds for the Continental" His salary
was 81, 500 per annum at first, but it was af-
terwards raised to $4,000. Mr.. Hammond
further testified that it was the intention of
the officers of the Continental to send him
through the Eastern States in January of this
year.
A DEFENSE OF BoARD1Ne-HousE Mis-
TREssEs-Nobody who knows anything about
it, can have any other feeling than compassion
for the ordinary keeper of a private boarding
house. She has been the prey of small sati-
rists since boarding-houses and small satirsts
were 1t has been customary to represent her
as willing and skiIlful adul1erator of victuals
and drink. a skiufint and sharper. In point