The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1879-01-02
A Case Celebrated in the Annals of Life
Insurance.

A Case Celebrated in the Annals of Life
Insurance.
The publication of the record of
number of life insurance cases wherein
huge swindles were attempted or sus
pected, recalls the celebrated Holden
case, which occurred in Ann Arbor,
Mich, in the summer of 1857. A letter
from there thus reeounts iti
Some time previous to the murder-if
murder it was-Holden came to Ann
Arbor a stranger, and rented a small
house on West Main street, his family
consisting of wife and several chill
dren. He mingled but little with the
town people, and not much was known
of him, bat he was understood TO be a
tetired 'lumberman, and presumed to be
man of means. He was in middle age,
trihe below medium height, but square
builtand man of vigorous constitution
and health. Between what was at that
time the heart of the town and Holden's s
residence ran sVall creek, which was
crossed by a foot bridge on the line of
the sidewalk, and beyond this for twenty
or as;irty rods lay morass, which was
traversed by a continuation of the side
walk, for the construction of which a
plentiful supply of tanbark in the
vicinity furnished abundant material.
Between ten and eleven o'clock on a
night in August, the startling cry of
Murder!' was heard proceeding from
the lonely spot. Persons OH repairing
to the place found Holden lying on the
walk, shot, the bullet, which had evi-
IDENTIFY been intended for his heart,
having entered the cavity of the chest,
as shown by the post-mortem, and made
a tortuous track, in obedience to the
Instructions which it met with. He
was alive and conscious, but died, after
great suffering, the next day or the day
following. He had been spending a
day or two in Detroit, had returned by
the night express, and was pursuing
his way home when the tragedy was
enacted. .-., ...-.
He said that he was confronted on
the path by two men, one of them q
moderately tall and the other a shorter
man; that the taller man grappled and
struggled with him, exposing his left
side to his companion, and saying
"Why don't you shoot him p that
thereupon the shorter man fired, when
the two fled across the corner of the
morass. Ny impression now is that
tracks were reported to have been found
corroborative of this story; but Oil this
also that Holden claimed that his assas
pocket-book, containing a large amoun1
of money, which he had received from
a man in Detroit, but whose name ht
declined to give. NIB SGT.
Holden left policies on his life amount
ing,I think, to twenty-nine thousane
dollars. He left no money or property
comparatively, and but for advance
secured on the strength of the policies
his family would have found themselve
in immediate want. The insuranc,
companies alleged suicide, and refused
to pay. Suits were brought, but tn
claims were finally compromised fo
about one-third their face. After tn
| decay of the grass in the fall, pisto
was alleged to have been found, witt
the muzzle implanted in the soft turf
within easy throw of the scene o. tn
tragedy. This was claimed by the com
panies as Strengthening the theory O
suicide, because, it was contended, if h
had been left by the retreating assas
sins, it would have been simply droppe'
and would have lain on its side, whereas
being thrown. the barrel being tn
heavier portion. gave it a perpendie
ular descent, driving the muzzle int
the soft turf.
The tragedy itself occasioned intens
excitement, and the contest over tn
policies engendered a partisan feelin
| ,,l, Oh Iirb hs
Holden was Spiritualist, and spiritua
mediums essayed their art in an effor
to solve the mystery. Among others tn
late Captain E. B. Ward, of Detroit
made a visit to Ann Arbor in compan
with a medium who was then in hi
confidence. Two young men in. An
Arbor, who had borne bad character
and whose relative stature corre|ponde
with Holden's description of his assas
sins. were tried and convicted of th
murder, but being. given new tria
they were not again tried for tina
offense, their conviction, without doub
| having been due to a sympathetic in
l pulse to strengthen the widows cas-
against the insurance companies.
Those who believed Holden's stor
believed also that he might have tol
e who his assassins were had he chosen
e do So Holden had been dealer {
=, speculator in, or locator of pine land
b. and the theory was that in this advel
. turesome pursuit he had incurred Il
> mortal enmity of some persons, fro
whom he lived in continual fear of b
life, and that the conviction that b
!. day must soon come led him to exhau
his small means in an insurance on b
;. life for the benefit of his family. Othe
claimed to have evidence that Holdt
was gambler by profession, and
hold the theory that his assassins we
companions of the profession whom
had outwitted.- Others still surmis,
that the.murderers had knowledge of
g having received the money, and follow
d him from Detroit for the purpose
n robbery. Between these various tt
II ories and that of suicide, public opini
g was about equally divided, and
"a Holden mystery is no nearer a soluti
e to-day than it was twenty wears apO