The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1883-05-19
Mysterious Disappearances.

IL
Before the Medico-Legal Society last
evening William G.. Davies read a paper
on Mysterious Disappearance aud
Prescriptions of Death in Insurance
Cases" 1t sometimes HAPPENS he
said, "that man disappears complete
ly from the world without leaving any
grounds for conjecture or any basis for
imagination. Two cases recently oc-
CURED in this city. In one a man left
one dwelling in the evening to go to
another. His failure to reach the other
excited alarm, and within an hour the
police were on his track. In the other
a man left his home to take the train for
Boston. No clew had ever been found
to either disappearance Both were hap
Ply IN their domestic relations, wealthy,
free from any cause of anxiety, and
never suspected of insanity; neither had
a large sum of money III his pocket at
the time, and both left ample means en-
tlrely IN their own control. The police of
many cities had been called upon, rut
the search was fruitless. One of the
most remarkable cases Of disappearance
occurred IN London many years ago,
when man in comfortable circumstance
es left bis home and was not heard from.
Seventeen years afterward his widow re-
celved request for an appointment
with a stranger. Both her children were
dead and she had removed toanOtber part
of London. The man who wrote to her
was her husband. He had lived under
an assumed name in London from the
time of his disappearance, in a house
from which he could look into the viii
dows of his wife's rooms, and bad been
aware OF the passage of laws regarding
his estate owing to his peculiar disap-
pearance. he was sane and lived hap
PLY with his wife afterward, but would
never explain the cause of his conduct.
BY the laws Of England and America
man who was absent from his country
for seven years without tidiDgs hGving
been received could no longer be pre-
sumed to be alive" Some years ago life
insurance policies contained provision
that no presumption of death should
arise from disappearance until the policy
should have been continued in force by
the payment of premiums throughout
the time during which the man could
have been expected to live, according to
the company's table of mortality, reck-
oned from the date OF the policy. This
appeared to be the fairest rule. as it gave
to both parties what they had a right to
expect when the policy was issued. Ex-
Surrogate CALVIN asked If a sailor who left
port III United States man of-war could
reasonably be expected to be alive at the
expiration of seven years g? Judge Hull
mentioned the case of Judge Doolittle,
of Utica, who disappeared from vessel
in mid-ocean while on his way to Europe.
Gen. George w. Palmer, of the custom
house, said he was called upon few
months ago by an Englishman to search
for the passenger list of a vessel which
left England IN 1892, and in which the
mans grandsire had sailed. He had
never been heard from, and fourteen
years after his disappearance the court
administered his estate. The name
was found and the man was traced to
Michigan, where he had accumulated a
large estate, and left it to later heirs.
The action of both English and Ameri-
can courts was overthrow, and both es-
tates were administered according to
law