Smyrna times., 1881-08-31
Death-Bed Insurance.

English railroad mania, the petroleum
craze, the California mining stock specula-
tiOn when even the servant girls and the
little school children bought and sold
stocks, and others too numerous to men
tiOn-but none, we venture to saw. SO re-
markahle and at the same time SO revolt
ing rs the speculative fever known as the
Graveyard or Death-Bed Insurance bust
ness. No complete disclosure of this in
famous traffic seems ever to have been
made, but the meagre details which have
crrpt into the newspapers from time to
time are sufficient to show moral condi-
tion in the spectators which seems hardly
possible in civilized country. The mania
has reached its highest development, ap-
parently, in the good old State of Penn
vania, although it has become prominent
in Maryland also, and perhaps in other
States.
The mode of death-bed insurance ap-
pears to be as follows: a company formed
for the purpose, or decayed life insur-
NN4AON NOAiil ttdOBiS lllC tSSOSSIltIlI
principle of life insurance All the policy
holders are assessed at a certain fixed rate
upon the death of any person whose life
has been insured. For example. when
ever u death occurs, every person owning
policy Of u thousand dollars, usually
upon the life of some other persons. is as
sessed dollar and quarter, and larger
policy-holders in proportion. 4. is a farm
er who has neighbor, B., generally be-
lieYed to be at the point of death. Now
If \. can take out in ao4e aCroInnoda-
ting company policy of 81 900 on B. $
life, and d. dies after, say, only ten deaths
have occurred in the company, \. will
have paid $3.50 in assessments, and can
collect $1,000, getting very handsome
return ON his investment. This is the
whole story of death-bed insurance
specializing upon the chances of death
among ones GoighbOrs ana acquaintance,
and among strangers as well. 1t is prob
able that the number of sO-called respect
able people who have resortcd to this
method of making money by gambling in
cQrpses is small but the fact that the bus
lnesn itself should grow to the proper
tions it seems to have reached, even
among the brutal and ignorant, lisa matter
for serious reflection The stories that
are told of the amount for which lives are
insured, and of the suspicious attaching
to the deaths Qf some OF the insured, are
almost incredible 1t is said that doctors.
base enough to do SO. are bribed to dis
close the condition of their patients, or
even employed to gain information re-
specting the probability Gf death, Men
90 about from place TO place, spying out
the weak and sick, and either take out
policies themselves or furnish the informa.
tion to principals. Policies amounting to
enormous sums are taken out upon the
lives of insignificant and worthless per.
sons, probably because at one time the
signature of the insured was necessary
and such persons could either be easily
deceived or brihed with triilc. Infrn
men and women, without dollar in the
world, are said To have been insured foI
sums running up into hundreds of thous
ands of dollars. In some of these case.
death has been followed by suspicious O
murder. \ case occurred in Maryland
some months ago wherp pOar old negrt
died suddenly under suspicious oircum
stances, and it was found after his deati
that pQliploa upon his life amounting t.
many thousands of dollars had been takeI
out by strangers.
Like all other gambling schemes, The
game is organized against the gambler
The companies make assessments will
great frequency and regularity, and NJ
one can grove that the acquisitions ar,
not honestly made, The speculatOr il
his sickly neighbor's life finds the mal
living on with strange tenaclty while tn,
assessments keep pouring in. Sometime
they will amount to hundreds of dollar
in a single month, and prosperous mel
have been known to be ruined by them
The small speculator's mQneS IL sool
gone il SOME parts of Pennsylvania i
Is said that the storekeepers actually fine
it difficult to collect their bills becaus,
their customers are kept steadily payin,
out their money in these assessments
Whenever an assessment is left unpaiC
the policy is forfeited, and all that ha
heen paid in is lost In this way tn,
companies avoid the payment Of man!
of the large claims, all the while reapint
rich harvest.
A vigorous cooperation of the execu
tive officers and the Judiciary of Pennsyl
vania ought TO find means of crushing
some of the companies, and so breallin,
the bubble, even if it cannot be shown
that the business is illegal. Some jurists
however, are said to be of the QpinioI
that the common laW change of conspiracy
can be brought against them. In any
case another session of the Pennsylvania
Legislature ought not to be allowed t,
pass, as the last one was, without sue
cessful blow at this infamous traffic, Wbicl
is dark blot VRon Christian ciyiliza
tion.--N. y Tribune
.-----
CURED OF pRENKIAQ, -. A young frienI
| of ,,oino x.raa o,,cad ,esc ~, ;,aot;oIIa .lsn.