The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1882-07-05
Graveyard Gambling.


There seems to be no limit TO the re-
sources and devices for gambling. The
cheUaiier d'indu8trie has developed
along with the artisan and the business
man in the march OF civilization. The
mania for speculation has seized upon
all classes and all degrees, from the
street gamins who toss pennies in the
alley 10 tho church dcacoDs who man
age rallies at the charity fairs. II will
be learned with dstonishmcnt, however,
that the staid, sober old State Of Penn
sylyania has promoted species OF
gambling which exceeds in grotesgue-
ness anything Of the kind that has yet
been discovered. A stroll through
Gamblers alley" in Chicago, which is
made up OF confusion Of Boards OF
Trade, bucket shops and pool-rooms.
with the click Of checks from neighbor-
ing faro and keno banks, would lead one
to believe that gambling had there been
reduced TO fine art, and that the most
yaulting speculative spirit or the most
threadbale and desperate sport could be
accommodated with every possible va
Iiety OF gaming. But the Quaker State
has invented new scheme. IL is known
as death-bed insurance, but might he
more accurately designated as graveyard
policy-playing.
Tho origin Of this new system of
speculation was probably the assessment
plan Of life insurance, which has led TO
the organization Of various associations
OF mercantile clerks, railroad men and
other branches OF trade for the payment
oil stated sum upon the death Of any
one oil the members. This payment il
assured by an assessment levied upon
the surviving members. 1t has been
found to work satisfactorily for time,
but the system is peculiarly exposed to
fraud. Ii has finally been seized upon
III Pennsylvania by professional experts,
who run the business very much after
the manner of "policy.shops." Death
bed insurance is described ms follows:
"a company formed for the purpose,
or decayed lifo-insurance company.
adopts the assessment principle Of lie
insurance. All the policyholders arc
assessed ut u certain fixed rate upon tho
death OF any person whose life has been
insured. For example, Whenever
death occurs, every person owning
policy OF 1000, usually upon the life
OF some other person, is assessed $l.25,
and larger policyholders in proportion.
A is . farmer who has Il neighbor, B,
generally believed TO be at the point of
death. Now, il A can take out in some
. accommodating company n policy Of
81, 900 on Bis life, and b dies after, say,
only ten deaths have occurred in the
company, A will have paid $3.50 in as-
sessments. and can collect 1000 get
ting very handsome return ON his III
vestment."
II appears that there is n set of ghouls
who make business of prowling about
houses, discovering the sick, aged or in
firm, and taking out policies ON the lives
of such persons. In other words, they
bet on the chances of certain persons
dying within few weeks. If their
"risk survives after the payment OF
few assessments, the graveyard gam
blers abandon their subject MS q bad in
vestment, and allow the policy to be
forfeited. If death occurs within the
limit Of risk they have determined TO
take, they realize $1,000 upon the
corpse. An enterprising and courageous
Spectator will probably take on large
line Of old men, II few smallpox cases,
one or two dipththeria patients, and,
occasionally, perhaps, risk u love-sick
maiden. An operator, We will say, de-
ternlines to Ego short" on twenty five
lives, in which Brights disease OF the
kidneys, chronic dyspepsia, alcoholism,
consumption, old age and general de.
bilily are the leading features of the
market. He estimates that by the time
he has paid out ten assessments Of 81 on
each Of his twenty-five risks, or $3.50 in
all, he will have corpse ready on which
he can realize FLOOD. If the market
goes against him and he has no cadavcrs
to deliver, he "lays down and forleits
his margins. Spectators in grain and
stocks will readily recognize the SINH
larity between their operations and the
graveyard policy business. Chicago
Tribune.