Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1881-05-04

The following, from the address Of
Judge Pearson, against Speculative
Insurance, as delivered last week to
the Grand Jury of Dauphin county,
is reproduced in the columns of the
Seatinel and Republican at the request
of a number of citizens. Ed.
"I am well satisfied that a large
portion of the insurance companies
supported for the purpose of insur-
ing lives are public nuisances and that
those carrying them on, those acting
as agents, and those acting Gs in
specting physicians for them ought
to be indicted and convicted for q
misdemeanor and that they enter into
a conspiracy in establishing such IN
stitutions and in conducting them In
the manner they do. We know, not
merely by public report in the news
papers, but by what has been tried
frequently in the courts, that these,
the men interested In these insur-
ance offices, are sometimes perfectly
honest. Generally speaking, they
know what is going on. And they
sometimes know that what is going
on is neither honest nor safe The
physician who certities to a man being
q good and suitable subject, proper
person to have bis life insured, knows
perfectly well he is over So years OF
age, feeble and miserable, and at the
same time hardly expects to hive a
year, and yet they will insure him for
twenty, thirty or forty thOusand dol
lars on his life, not IN favor of his
relatives, but in favor of some per
son or other who hires him to use
his name to have the insurance taken.
Those things unquestionably are q
high misdemeanor. They are a con
spiracy to cheat: 1t is an evidence
to cheat ON the part of those who
manage the company if they knew
what is done. 1t is a conspiracy to
cheat on the part of the physician,
the party who certifies to cases of
that kind-on those who take the in
surance. They cannot recover pen
ny ON them if they only knew it, but
at the same time they are misleading
many. In a neighbOring county it
led to a case of murder, where men
were hanged for a crime of this kind.
They conspired to get mans hfe
insured, which they did. in consid-
erable sum of money. They found
that he would not die quick enough
and they put him to death. The
whole thing is nuisance, deceiving
those who enter into them A man
goes there-he imagines he can take
insurance on the life of a man whom
he would not venture to trust with
S25. He takes an insurance on his
life for $4,000 and pays the insurance
for year or two and calls that fair
business transaction. 1t is such a
transaction that could not be recov-
erable in any court. The man is
cheating himself as well as the COM
munity. I have long intended to call
the attention of the Grand Jury in
this county to offenses of this kind
that have not been committed here,
but in the neighboring counties of
Lebanon, Lancaster and Berks they
have become very common. But
they are becoming common here and
will lead to great evil unless stopped,
and the effectual waJ to stop them is
to indict the Insurance Compa,ies
and to indict those who act as their
agents. They have no interest in the
lives of the persons. A man can
effect insurance where there rs an in
surance interest; as a relative, but
when insurable is in favor of a total
stranger it is strong evidence of an
intention to defraGd, and such would
disable them from ever recovering q
penny or the policy. Let it go on
for q little while longer and it Will
lead to murder. These persons will
get tired of paying on the policy.
Here is person who don't own a
penny-one whom no one would trust
with penny and nobody expects to
1--we six months. Yet they viii take
insurance on his life for fifty or sixty
thousand dollars. This is done by
strangers. 1t is practiced daily and
is in violation of the law. 1 should
have no hesitation in convicting any
agent of a company who took insur-
ance of that kind-no hesitation in
convicting for conspiracy. Only a
few days ago an old man complained
of them having insured his life for
$4,000, and they were to give him
S25, but only paid him So. This is
species of the worst kind of gam
bling. If the Legislature will pass
no laws to put a stop to such bust
ness the Courts of Justice, who have
the morals and interest," of the com
munity in their keeping, viii endea-
vor to look after it. 1 should never
hesitate a moment to convict any per-
son who should take insurance in that
way and under those circumstances" :"