The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-03-14

| called respectable firm in this city They were
insured for 5000 900. on dry goods when their
/ building burned down, destroying all the con-
tents Their bills and books showed that they
had the goods represented, yet the adjusterwas
/ sure there was fraud, and the company refused
to pay. The other dry goods stores in the city
were furious at our standing out against this
honorable firm and they boycotted us and used
| all their influence to make things as unpleasant
| as possible for US. Arnold. Constable & Co. and
| H. B. Clafiin and others were among them, so
suffered seriously. It was discovered, on inves-
/ tigation, that there had been hole In the wall
| which divided the burned building from build
| ing onsthe corner of neighboring street, and
! further investigation showed that the firm had
taken out their goods at night through this hole
4 IN the cellar wall and up to the street, where
| they had loaded it on trucks and sent it
| to place in Rochester They would nave
| beaten US, only the Rochester man hung on to
the goods and wouldn't divvy up, and the thieves
consequently fell out One of the partners got
| away, but we had the pleasure of sending the
| other to prison.
"a woman once, to get the best of me, swore
| away the legitimacy of two of her children. She
claimed 800 for loss of household furniture.
| hunted among the ruins of the fire, turning the
| dirt up with stick One article in her schedule
| was French-pl mirror, valued at $75.
found piece of it at last and put it in my
pocket. How much did you pay for that mir
| 1t was present at my marriage When were
| you marriedr said /. I don't remember; about
| eight years ago, think she answered. Why
| said !, you have two boys in the Catholic pro-
because you adjudged unfit person to
take care of them How did you know thatF
| said she. Those boys were born before was
married. l pulled out of my pocket small
| piece of the meanest looking American glass you
ever saw in your life, and said, That's part of
your mirror, now, isn't Il, MADAME Yes she
said, now give me what you think it worth
We gave her $lS5 on this loss. She claimed
! 500, and she made money out of that
| People think that insurance companies are
! on the beat, and | must say that they do split
| hairs sometimes and show disposition to pursue
| an illiberal policy, but this hairsplitting and
| meanness isn't featherweight in the balance
compared to the downright dishonesty and
| trckery of the insured. About 60 per cent. of
| all the claims presented to insurance companies
| are fraudulent. / suppose that one reason for
| these many attempts at fraud is that there are
| too many adJusters and that some OF the ad
| justments are made very careessly. Sometimes
| a company will retain more than one adjuster.
| and they. having divided responsibility will
take the easiest way of settling the claim. Then
| they are ignorant of tho value of goods In very
many cases. A grocer, for instance, wants in
surance and has not taken stock for long
| time. He looks about him, and thinks ST. 600
| will about cover his loss if fire occurs fire
| does occur, and the man comes on the company.
| The company sends an adjuster, who offers
| So, 500 which the grocer accepts after haggng.
| To his astonishment he finds that he can replace
| his stock and have 81 900. He tells his neigh
| bors, who 60 and do the same thing whenever
business is dull. There are too many settle
ments and too few adjustments. An
insurance company hates the idea
of being sued and all the beats in
| town know this They know that iuries just
| like 10 get loose at insurance companies, and
they take advantage of the feeling the average
| man has against rich corporations. Several
| times / have been informed by jurors that
| fellow jurors had declared that no matter what
tho wiz yvQc hav ho fhay
would give verdict for an insurance company.
| Il suppose you don't know that it's the regu-
| lar thing among some tugboat men to have fires
| whenever they are IN want of new tackle. Some
times they strip off the takkle and sink it with
! buoy above, then have their fire and get new
| tackle from the company, and afterwards fish
| up the old tackle and sell it. The man who
| starts the fire fixes things so that no apparatus
! can be brought to bear to put it out till it has
made good Roadway. They always waken the
| crew time to get them safely off, and the fire
| takes place close enough to land to be convent
| emit In recent case of that kind one of the
| crew picked up a bucket and dashed its con-
tents on the fire. It proved to be oil instead of
| water. Yes. some of the tugboat men are as
| bad as the irebugs used to be the east side
| till Fire Marshal Sheldon got after them"
lone of the most interesting cases which came
under my official duty FIRE marshal for the
| city of Brooklyn" said Benjamin Lewis, who
! has been connected with insurance companies of
| New York and Brooklyn for the past twenty
self as an adjuster in Montague street, Brooklyn,
was the case of Morris Pleyenski, Polish emil
| grant. He was jobbing tailor, doing business
in Hudson avenue. nsar Myrtle He was an I'M
| washed, slovenly looking fellow with round
| shoulders. swarthy complexion, dark beard and
| hair and black eyes. His age was about forty
! years. and his height about five feet four inches
The place where he lived was the first story of
small brick dwelling house, yet when fire oc-
| CURED on these premises he presented claim for
| several thousand dollars to the insurance com
| pany from which he had got policy. MY sus-
| picions were aroused by the size of his claim
and commenced an investigation and unearthed
one OF the prettiest little plots ever heard of.
| When the fire occurred he and his
| family were away at picnic in
Myrtle avenue Park, so it was evident
! that he had not set his place on fire. was puz
| zled for time, but soon the whole thing came
out clear as day. The FIRE department had been
| pretty quick and some clues were left to work
| from. On the floor l found broken oil lamp
and piece of top cord burned through the GEN.
| ter. One end of the top cord was knotted and
| the other end was tied to the tail of mouse,
| while in the kitchen were the charred remains
| of a cat. When Plevenski left the house the cat
was sleeping quietly in the kitchen, the knotted
| end of the cord was attached to the burning
| lamp, while the other end, dangling down from
the mantel piece, was tied to live mouse. After
| the cat awoke it came into the shop, saw the
mouse and sDrang for it, pulling down the lamp
with its victim Every part of the house was
| clOSeu up, anu the cat coulu LOU escape Tue IRE
which it caused. When Pevenski found out
| that were his trail he left the city in
| great hurry, and don't know where he is now.
II can very frequently tell by looking at a
mans store whether or not he is mplating
fire. One case of that kind of premoniton /
remember well happened to me when / was an
| agent for the Star company The store in ques-
ton was located on Fulton street, Brooklyn, and
the owners name was Rosenweg. passed the
store one day, and, after looking at it for few
minutes, said, That mans going to burn outp
He was insured in the Star, and 1 Immediately
out arousing his suspicion The only reason
had for thinking he was going to burn up was
the way in which he had the front of his store
filed up with fancy goods, and the door windows
also covered go that no could see in from
the street. The night after had transferred