Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1886-12-14
A STRANGE CASE

ever came before an American COURT A"e
facts are simple.
In 1883, Col. Walton Dwight, OF Bing
hamilton. N. Y, died under peculiar
circumstances. Three or four months
before his death, he applied to every In
surance company in the United States
70 insure his life. Being a healthy
robust man, of forty.one years, ne sue
ceeded in obtaining policies from various
companies, to the aggregate amount Oh
$3.50. 900. He was a bankrupt at the
time. and had to borrow the money to
nav the first quarters premiums. Two
months after the policies were issued, ne
made his will, leaving liberal requests to
almost every benevolent institution IN
Binehampton, and likewise to every
LAWYER of note. He was shortly alter
ward taken i'll. 1t appears that the doc
tors did not agree as to what was the
matter with him. On a certain day he
was up and about, and transacted bust
ness with his lawyer; his doctor visited
him in the evening and stayed till 10 P.
NJ; at IL P. M. he spoke cheerfully to his
attendant and ate a cracker; at ll:3O he
was dead.
An autopsy gave no clue to the cause
of death. Every organ seemed sound.
Heart, brain, liver, kidneys, stomach,
lungs, were all healthy, except that the
bronchi were congested and coated with
c But the post.mortem examina'
ton revealed a heavy indentation on the
neck, extending upward and backward
from o~sthyoides right round to the back
of the neck, and on left side below the
thyroid cartilage. The undertaken who
laid out the body testified that the crease
or indentation was not visible when the
body came into his hands, and that 1t
was caused by his bending the neck OF de-
ceased in the ice box. But five medical
experts testified, on a review OF the report
of the post.mortem, that in such a case
death could not have resulted from
natural causes. On this, several in
surance companies refused to pay, and
rested their refusal on the proposition
that the deceased had committed suicide.
They drew the attention of the jury to
the fact that, two days after the death,
the second premiums on the policies would
have come due, and Col. Dwight had no
money to pay them. Their theory was
that he had strangled himself in his bed.
The theory of the relatives was that he
had died from an overdose of morphine,
which he was taking; though the heart
showed no indications of anything of the
kind. On this state Of things the Court
below gave judgment against the com.
panies; and now the Court of Appeals
has reversed that judgment and ordered
a new trial.
The case must be admitted to be one
of no common difficulty. 1t is no easy
thing for a man to strangle himself in
his bed, and still less easy to do SO with.
out leaving marks which would attract
the attention of every one who saw the
corpse. The mark left by the cord in
hanging is familiar to all who have wit.
messed such horrid sights. 1t is not an
indention or a crease, but a strongly
marked, colore1 line, cutting into the
skin. Men who have been murdered by
.strangulation carry the imprint OF the
murderer's fingers to their grave. II
Col. Dwight did strangle himself, it
passes comprehension to know how he
did it, with what, and how the traces of
the crime was effaced. On the other
hand, it is, of course, a suspicious CIR.
cumstance that a man to whom 500
must have been a very large sum indeed,
should have agreed to pay that sum an.
nually in premiums for an insurance for
a quarter of a million dollars; and the
suspicion is strengthened by the curious
coincidence of the death with the ma
turity of the second payment. The
Court OF Appeals was likewise Influenced,
doubt, to some extent, by the produce
ton of a will which looks as if it had
been framed so as to conciliate the jury
who might have to pass on the will, and
the bar from whom its assailant would
have to be chosen.
There are cases in which an insurance
company owes it to its policy holders
not to allow itself to be swindled. But
as a rule it is bad policy for a company
to contest the payment of losses. Most
life insurance policies contain conditions
to base q contest on; and a
between a wealthy corporation
one side and a widow and orphans on
the other is most unequal. II the i'm
preston gained ground that a company
was resorting to legal chicanery to de-