Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1886-03-14
CROOKED CITY WAYS.
Dealings With insurance Companies
The Pains Some Men Take to
Get Into Jail,
Dishonesty and Trlckery Of Insured
A Glimpse Of the Worst Side
oi Human Nature.
FnlIy siHty Per Cent Of tho claims "a To-
surancs Companies Pound 60 80
Fraudulent.

Z NEW tNNf MufiN lUfe"~ NNtJ ttM lffV-
pie know that there Is class of men IN
every large city Of the United States who
attempt TO live by cheating Gre Insurance
companies, yet, If the insurance adjusters
alo TO be believed, this f. the case. An IA.
surance adjustcr is a man who Is CON.
questioned by companies TO visit the
places OF fros aud ascertain exactly what
the losses amount % They are not re-.
iainod Co beat down the insured or 10
cheat on behalf Of the company or conn
parlps they represent, bus 10 see that the
company or compan es do not get chent-
Cd. According 10 their estimates Of dam
ages payment " made by the companies,
aud they bear great deal Of responsible
lty, some Of them directing the payment
OF Sl,600000 Il year, and having Ia
Vulnerable chances 10 steal by awarding
excessive damages and then sharing the
proceeds OF the cheat with the insured.
The companies have no check upon them
| further than 10 change Rdiusters, aud 10
q gentleman who had what Casalus called
Gan itching PALM" the position Of ad-
| justcr, with good connection, would be
IA foretaste OF Paradise till no was caught
taking brides.
| There are not many good adjusters
doing business on their own account ia
the city OF New York, for the position Is
! a peculiar one, only TO be filed by an old
/ insurance man Of tried honesty, absolute
! nrmDess, keen eyes and quick wit They
| have 20 deal with the sharpest scamps
who dwell on Manhattan island, and
some OF the stories they tell are well
worth preserving. William II. Pitcher Of
the Royal is one Of the best known and
most successful Of them all, and he can
relate from his own experience tales Of
criminal cleverness which would make
cid detectives green with envy.
"People TALK he said the other day,
"of AN adjustment being Il case OF dia-
Inond cut diamond, but they are wrong.
Most frequently the diamond cuts us, |
think as a rule the insurance company
gets sailed seven times out OF ten by the
insured, These papers before me now
ON this desk contain n case In point.
They relate 20 II. Brindza, who lately
! lived IN WyckoR street, Brooklyn, but
VINO has fed TO some otner city Boston,
! | btllcye) To play there the came he
80 successfully played on the New
| York companies, Brindza was q
SLIM sawney Hebrew, aged about
tweniy.sryon, aud considerable Of
a smiler--ono who tried hard 20 i'm.
press upon you that he was gushiugy
innocent Of the worlds sinful ways.
There's warrant out for him now aud
we mourn hls loss lie notified us that
he had hnd loss on clothing insured in
our company. An adiuster went 10 see
his premises two days later aud found
him living on the FIRST floor OF house In
Wyckon street, He showed the adjustcr
into his sleeping room. a portable
closet, slightly charred on the inside,
stood in the middle OF tho moor, while
scattered around on chairs aud the sofa
were articles OF clothing, all more or less
wet and some Of them burned He said
that on the night OF the Are his wife went
TO the clpset TO get something for the
baby. She had carried the lamp with
her, and when she returned TO bed she
smellod smoke She woke him and he
discovered fire IN the closet, which was
only put out by strenuous OK.
ertion ilc claimed 5000 and we
settled for Sl80. He had sworn
that there was 10 other insur ,nco,
yet three days after that settlement he
made claim on another company. by a
lucky accident the regular adjuster of
this last company was sick and they en-
ployed another. When ho saw the name
and schedule ho said Why, settled ON
these very articles for the same man Il
month ago. He was then living on Gates
NV nue., He was insured In the Star com
pany them When Brudaa heard that he
was dlsGoye' cd he skipped to another
city. We afterwards found that these
same articles Of his had been paid for by
four different Insurance companies. He
knew how TO place his insurance through
In l.ttks Ksfhn ID Ian.
broker IN this city,
"Brindra was u professional, you see,
He wax making his living out OF those
burned clotho. aud that charred closet
which no carried about from place to
place. Some OF the amateurs are daisies,
though, aud bother us as much az the
professionals, Here, for Instance, IL the
case Of prominent brewer la Brooklyn
who made claim for $4,000 for beer
which he said was destroyed by dire. waa
convinced that there was something wrong,
and commenced an investigation. The
brewery whore the FIRE occurred had a
suh~cellar aud an UPPER cellar The allie.
gallon WAS that innttemptiug 10 put on,
the hre the iremeh had put water Ia the
beer tanks and sOurod the beer. An eX.
animation showed only one hole IN the
wall, aud this was small and II such a
height that q stream Of water sent
I through II could only have struck the
sides OF tho tanks. The allegation fur.
Their was that while the Are was In prog.
rcss the beer IN the TANKS IN the upper
cellar had been run Into the empty tanks
3 In the lower cellar took gaugors and
an analytical CHI mist along, and went 10.
10 the thing thoroughly. fhe Raugers
found that there were 1000 more "a Tons
~ heerin the tanks OF the lower cellar
. than the tanks aboyo, from which the
, beer was said to have run, would hold
These tankS, also, which were said u
have contained the beer at the time OF the
lire, had co0wohs and bugs In them, and
the chemist, by scrnpisg OF some Oh
! the mold aud analysing u, was pre-.
pared TO testify that The tanks had been
J empty long time, Then sc
/ went Into the lower cellar, aud boring
holes IN the Bottom OF the tanks there,
drew off the yeast, praylog conclusively
) that tho beer must have been nesting
there for n year previous To the IRE Thg
brewer wanted tn cumprnmlso Tor $4,000
! then, but We wouldn't Ne came dow Ia
J $1,000, and then We told him that There
ui1ht he u prosecution on our part II il,
, didn't drop his claim, iledroppcd III,
case wa~ not singular a. all, We have
many like Il, The only astounding cir
cnmslancc was our upsotting the claim,
"iiere L the most dating aud clever
atiomp, ~ deiraadug company that
over mel with The maa's name was
! Stadhr. He was n tall, fne-iooklnp