Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1879-05-30
The Dwight Insurance Case.


The matter Of the insurance on the life o
Col. Walton Dwight, Of Binghamton. N. Y.
is still kept before the public, by various ex
traordinary proceedings and rumors. The
last of these is yarn to the effect that the
insurance companies which are refusing t.
nay the policies on Dwight's life have dis
covered that he is not dead but that the
body OF another man was substituted fol
| his.
The whole case is one of the most inter.
estins and remarkable in the history of life
insurance. Col. Dwight was prominent
and active citizen of Binghamton, n. Y.
lie had been mayor of the city, and an sx,
tenslSe lumber merchant, and was worth at
one time over half million dollars. a yea,
OF f.- ., --..eu. lie died last NOvem-
Der, holding policies on his life to the amount
OF S25i 900 in twenty of the heaviest life
companies in the country. the National
Lie of Vermont being one Of them. He had
been sick for month or more and both be-
lore and after his death, extraordinary pre-
cautions were taken. both on his part and
on the part Of the insurance companies to pre-
vent fraud
Three weeks previous to his death, DR..
Porter, in behalf of several insurance COM
panies, visited the bedside of Colonel Dwight
and, after an examination, agreed with his
attending physicians as to the cause of his
illness, and that if he had another attack it
was liable to end fatally. When his death
occurred. five reputable citizens were at his
bedside. A corOner's jury held prolonged
Inquest over his body and found that he died
from exhaustion Of the vital powers pro-
duced by protracted vomiting, malnutrition
and the eneryating effects of malaral poison
terminating in fatal collapse
An autopsy was held, attended by fifteen
well-known physicians, conducted by the
eminent pathologist, DR.. Francis DelaGeld,
of New York. They all signed report, de-
claring the death to have been from natural
causes
One company, the great Equitable OF New
York, thereupon at once paid its policy of
$50. 900 on Col. Dwight's life The other
companies still contest the claims, and re-
Gently caused the remains to be exhumed,
and fresh examination to be made,
by one of the physicians, DR.. Swim
burn, Of New York, who conducted the pre-
vious autopsy, and who now declares it to
have been case of suicide, his theory be-
ing that Col. Dwight somehow made out to
hang himself to the head board of his bed, or
strangled himself by an overdose of medicine
when his wife and attendants were out of
the room
The heirs of Col Dwight have brought
suit against several of the New York COM
panies, and have retained Senator Roscoe
Conklin g as their counsel. 1t IS probable
that long and sharp legal contest will fol-
low. What its result will be it is not for
US to predict but if the companies should
win their case BY anything short OF an sbso-
lutte demonstration that Col. Dwight did not
die natural death, they will have greatly
damaged the general business of life insur-
ance. The New York Herald speaks the
thought of many when it says:
Without desiring to lessen the care with
which insurers investigate bogu. cases, we
must say that the reasons given by the |
Equitable company seem sufficient. If an
insured man cannot die without having
writers Of policies dig up his remains, ques-
ton his friends, pry into his habits and do
various other things inimical to prompt pay
ment to the survivors, the next best thing to
dying is for man to abstain from life in
'urance. No man carries q perfectly bal
,nced head from the cradle to the grave,
md if his personal foibles are to neutralize
ais payments of premiums on policies, life
insurance is a hollow and costly mockery.